First Global Health Experience

It has been such a long time since I last wrote in this blog. Since that time, I think I have forgotten how to write. After two years of solid chemistry lab reports, it would be shocking if this update does not end up in passive voice. So, here it goes.

Working on Medlife this past year finally culminated into the mobile brigade in June. I've always fantasized about global health. What would it be like working in the field? Traveling a country to administer vaccines and save a child dying from malaria? I had a romantic, almost superhero-like view of everything from living in tents to slowly but steadily picking up the local language. So with this picturesque image of healthcare in my mind, I flew to Lima for two weeks of patient care in Pamplona, an impoverished community build on rocky mountains just beyond Miraflores. What I saw was a combination of my hopes and dreams and reality. Shadowing doctors, I realized many of the illnesses we encountered were common: chicken pox, anemia, Hepatitis. But what was amazing was that whereas in the United States, these diseases come and go. Scratchy children pick up oatmeal at the nearest drug store, take acetaminophen, drink O.J. and are ready to go. But there, in Pamplona, without such easy access to care, small problems such as anemia become chronic without access to iron pills. It was nice being a part of this group that provides these basic, necessary reliefs. Something that really stood out to me as an argument against NGO work that a Medlife staff pointed out is that these arguments against NGOs' ability to be sustainable belittles the current problems the poor are facing. Just because it's not sustainable a women who has chronic back pain shouldn't get medication if only for temporary relief? One of the biggest challenges in global health is finding that balance between immediate, temporary relief and permanent healing for the long term. Both are just as important.

Another thing that hit me hard while working with Medlife: personal health. During the first week of work, a couple of friends got sick. They had symptoms of a typical cold: fever, headache, tiredness. Since we were living and working together so closely, the bug spread through our group really fast, and by Thursday, I was feeling it. After almost passing out while watching a dentist pull a child's teeth (not fun, pre-dents I admire you), I dragged myself to the bus to sweat out the fever and dizziness. I realized that global health is hard. Obviously this is true. But from my romantic ideals, I never included down time or defeat. Though sometimes, even with these things, you find yourself getting tired, going through the motions, and lacking that enthusiasm which sparked your interest in medicine in the first place. Especially when sick. It makes me appreciate so much more the healthcare I have at home and how important it is for everyone to have this important resource. Somehow, in the context of it all, getting sick in Lima feels way worse than getting sick here without that security.

After Peru, this summer has still been really awesome. (There it is, that darned passive voice.) I not only got to explore a new part of the world but also feel like I know so much more about life. Not just what is going on at the national and global level of politics and news, which I've done such a better job keeping up with, but finding balance within myself and learning to accept chaos and try not to be such a schedule control freak.