Final thoughts

This blog is best read from the first post to this post, so start at "Setting up the Clinic," and work your way to this final post.

On the last day, we had a closing ceremony for all the thank you’s. A dance group from near San Salvador danced for us, and at the end, Dra. Angela spoke. Through tears, she said that it was too hard for words to express the gratitude she felt for what PeaceHealth had done this week for the people of her community. She felt blessed to have worked with all of us and she learned a lot from us. Afterwards, she and I talked and she asked if I believed in Jesus. When I told her no, she said, with certainty that, one day, I will be a Christian. I took that as a compliment and gave her a hug.

Prologue

Mt Rainier from the plane as we land in Seattle

If you are thinking about doing this type of mission, and want to know what to bring, I brought my stethoscope, otoscope and ear specula for kids and adults, a urine sample cup ½ full of Hibiclens to wash the specula, a tuning fork to quickly check hearing (and act as a paper weight so the fans wouldn’t blow the paper off the desk), as well as a percussion hammer for a neuro exam. I didn’t really need anything else, except my pen, of course. A long piece of twine was handy as a clothes line.

As I type this up, several days after having returned, I’m struck by several contrasts to my usual day as a family doctor in Eugene. First, I now can’t believe what people complain to me about…3 days of a cold, funny feelings in their skin, relatively minor, self-limiting sorts of things. In our high tech world, have we lost so much touch with ourselves, that we now need the “experts” to tell us what our common sense should be able to tell us? I also walk around my neighborhood; marveling at the intact sidewalk, no wild dogs or chickens running around, no street vendors, no shops built into homes on the road, and I think why is it that I was lucky enough to have been born in a society as affluent as this. It is purely luck, and for not this luck, I could have been born in Eastern Europe, Central Africa, or El Salvador, where men in their mid 20’s are routinely killed for senseless reasons. I know this happens here too, and with that same bad luck, I could have been born in inner city Detroit, and have the same sorts of risks as the youth in El Salvador.  I just cannot take what I have here for granted anymore.

Lastly, I have to say that this is a wonderful thing that PeaceHealth does. As a part of this organization, I can say that I’m quite proud of this, and I have a better understanding of the mission of the group I have been working for these last three and half years. Even though I don’t share their Catholic beliefs, I do share the general idea of mission to help those who need the help, and I’m blessed to not only have the ability to do this wonderful work of medicine, but now to have a vehicle to deliver it to those in great need.

Respectfully submitted

Photo by Barb Bigelow