New York ( CNN ) -- When Dr. Jessie Stone decided to give up her career as a doctor in New York in favor of full-time kayaking , she could never have imagined that a kayaking expedition in Africa would ultimately lead her back to it . A native of Purchase , New York , Stone worked hard to achieve her goal of becoming a doctor , attending New York Medical College . But at the time of the expedition , in 2003 , Stone had decided a full-time medical career just was n't for her . `` I really did not see myself going back to medicine , '' she said . `` Then the trip to Uganda happened , and everything changed . '' According to the UNHCR , the United Nations refugee agency , Uganda has one of the highest malaria death rates in Africa . Despite being warned the country was facing a dire outbreak , Stone embarked on a cross-country kayaking trip to the Nile along with E.J. , a boat designer for one of her kayaking sponsors , Wave Sport . They took antimalarial drugs and slept under mosquito nets . They figured they 'd be fine . They were wrong . It was n't long before E.J . came down with malaria , and Stone 's background as a doctor was called upon . `` Luckily for all of us , E.J . ended up being fine , '' she recalls , `` but it was a wake-up call . '' It was a wake-up call that piqued Stone 's interest as a doctor . If E.J . could catch malaria despite precautions , how about those who lived in these malarial regions year-round ? Stone went to the nearest village and conducted a 50-hut survey . The results astounded her : `` Nobody had a mosquito net , not one single person we interviewed . Everyone reported at least one child in their household dying from malaria , and everyone wanted more information . '' Residents of a small village named Kyabirwa asked Stone , or `` Dr. Jessie '' as she 's known locally , to stay and build a clinic . `` I knew absolutely nothing about it , '' she admitted . But the will was there : On her return to New York , Stone raised $ 25,000 -- enough to build a clinic and found Soft Power Health Uganda . Stone says that aside from the funds , the support and encouragement of the villagers was vital to bringing the project to fruition . `` To do this work , you need the community 's support and blessing , '' she said . `` The entire process is a shared endeavor . '' Kyabirwa is 10 kilometers ( 6.2 miles ) downstream from Jinja , Uganda , which sits at the source of the Nile River . The clinic now receives 50 to 100 patients a day -- up from eight to 10 when it first opened . Patients run the gamut from tiny babies with malaria to those with advanced cancers and other disorders . As well as treating patients , outreach and educational programs form a large part of Soft Power Health 's doctrine . Stone says its malaria outreach programs have taught more than 100,000 people about prevention and provided more than 45,000 mosquito nets to the community at a fraction of the cost . With one of the highest birth rates in Africa , Stone discovered , many Ugandans had little to no education about conception or contraception . Her family planning outreach works in 39 villages every three months and has overtaken even the malaria outreach in popularity . Stone describes vast differences in the communities she serves since the clinic began . She says knowledge of malaria prevention is much more widespread , and she 's seen a huge increase in the numbers of people sleeping under mosquito nets . Stone says Soft Power Health 's reputation has grown to the point where patients now come from all over Uganda . ( It has implemented a referral system to assist with some more complicated diseases ) . These days , kayaking has taken a back seat to doctoring for 44-year-old Stone , who has relegated it from full-time job to part-time stress reliever , but she still takes part in freestyle kayaking and will be competing in the American circuit in Colorado this summer . Stone now lives in Uganda five or six months of the year , despite the fact that a recently completed dam has turned the nearby section of whitewater she used to kayak into a lake . She says the locals fear that fewer kayaking opportunities mean she 'll leave , but she reassures them that as long is the need is there , so is she . `` I feel very lucky to be able to do this work , '' she said . `` You just never know what life has in store for you ! ''
Dr. Jessie Stone gave up medicine to be a kayaker , but medicine found her again . She is helping tackle malaria in Africa . Soft Power in Africa also offers outreach and educational programs . Family planning education has become even more popular than other efforts .