| mabi |
Posted
on 30-Apr-01 03:47 PM
Jack went to Nepal to measure the flow of Khumbu glacier but fell in love with the Nepalese. He established a America-Nepal Health Alliance, a non-profit organization, that has been conducting health camps in the various parts of Nepal at various capacities.
Read his new experience:
Hi. The power seems to be stable for the moment so I'll try (yet
again) to give a summary (not my strength) of what we've been up with
this most recent medical camp.
We arrived in Nepal Friday 13 April (New Year's Eve -- 2058), rested,
celebrated the New Year, packed medicines/equipment late into
Saturday night, and left Kathmandu Sunday for an 8 hour bus ride to
Pokhara. Monday morning 2 chartered planes took 20 of us and all our
equipment to a remote airstrip -- a third plane would come Tuesday.
Because of winds that build up each morning there's a small window
for getting planes in and out of the area. We hiked up-river 5 miles
for the night (11,600 ft), back down on Tuesday to get the 10 people
who just flew in, then continued downstream another 16 miles to
Chame, the site of the medical camp (8,600 ft). The camp was
Wednesday through mid-Monday. The camp organizers in Manang District
(like a state) expected 100-200 people because of the remoteness and
low population density. We had 1600 patients and had to extend the
camp an extra day: general and orthopedic surgery, eye surgery
(including 17 cataract operations), ob/gyn, pediatrics, and general
medicine. Local school children helped with registration and kept us
plied with chia (milk tea) and crackers. Sleeping was in comfortable
trekking "hotels."
When the camp closed at noon Monday we packed and started the 2.5 day
walk downstream to the road and bus. All but one of the porters got
a late start and remained 1/2 day behind for the duration -- so we
walked 42 miles with only the clothes we were wearing; very difficult
walking on steep trails with thunderstorms and places where we had to
pick our way across landslides. It was some of the most exhausting
walking I've ever done. The lodges where we slept gave us blankets
and food but toothbrushes were in short supply. We reached the bus
Wednesday afternoon, our packs arrived 8:30, and we left at 10 PM,
getting back to Kathmandu at 6 the next morning. The first American
staff left for home the next day (Friday) and the second bunch left
yesterday, Sunday 29 April.
Here's one of many stories from the trip: There was an old man who
works as a porter for trekkers in the Annapurna area who planned to
walk 2 days to the medical camp for a cataract operation. He had no
money and on arriving at the camp accepted a job as porter for a few
days. This was no problem, he figured, as the camp was to be in
place for a long time. At some point he realized that the load he
was carrying was *from* the camp and that the camp had closed. He
was too late. Incidentally, even at his age (50?) he was faster than
the younger porters and carried the one load that kept up with us.
Alas, though, it wasn't our personal gear. During a rest break we
learned that he'd not eaten in 24 hours so we got him fed and on
hearing his story and confusion about the timing of the camp the
Nepali doctors instructed him to come to Kathmandu on our bus.
They'd have him admitted to the Teaching Hospital where he would have
his surgery at no charge. One of our volunteers from Boston donated
money to cover his living expenses in Kathmandu, his bus fare back to
Manang District, and the wages he will lose during 2 months of
convalescence in which he cannot carry heavy loads. This last point
is most important because it would be easy for him to start carrying
too soon just to feed himself and jeopardize the surgery. His
operation was yesterday and today he leaves for home with new vision.
In all, this camp required 16 hours by bus, three planes, and 70
miles of walking by our team of 30 medical staff. As has been the
case with each of our camps, I heard not a single word of complaint
from anyone at any time. Everybody took each day in stride
(literally and figuratively) and showed great generosity of spirit
and commitment to the task at hand. As always, it was privilege to
be part of this.
I'm spending this week working on the HIV/AIDS collaboration we've
developed with the 3 main hospitals in Kathmandu. When we
established the working group in February, the plan was for monthly
meetings. Yesterday they had their 5th meeting in 2.5 months and I
learned that the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control has even
asked them for assistance with some projects, so things are really
moving on that front.
I leave Friday with Drs. KP Singh and Subarna Acharya for their 3
months of training in the US through a generous grant by New England
Baptist Hospital. They're very excited about the whole venture and
can't believe that at 37,000 ft. they'll have time to watch 6 movies
between Singapore and Frankfurt and then 3 more before JFK. For all
of us it's a dream come true (the training, not the movies). Judy
Waligunda continues make connections and organize opportunities for
them in surgery, endoscopy, echocardiography, pacemaker implantation,
and... the list just keeps growing! The word "unbelievable" comes to
mind.
So that's it for the moment. Hope you all are well. I'm looking
forward to getting home and catching up with you.
Now if the power will just stay on long enough for me to send this.
Love to all,
Jack
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