Stories From Health Workers: Comments From the Doctors
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Planet Care
801 Cedar Street
Suite 200
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-594-4027
info@planetcare.org
"It's been amazing. I didn't fully understand what groups like GHAP and Dr. Cynthia's clinic were doing, under what circumstances medical care was rendered. These backpack medics are risking their lives. I didn't know human beings had this combination of skills and courage. They are heroes. It's a privilege to work alongside them."
-- Dr. Fred Auerbach, helping train backpack medics in Mae Sot on his first GHAP trip, January, 2003
"Non-governmental organizations are only allowed in the white and brown zones inside Burma. The people in the black zone, deep inside, are getting no health services. That's where the backpack medics go. These guys are motivated, intelligent, and brave. There are land mines, they are being hunted while trying to provide medical care. They are alone out there with no backup. We're not trying to teach them to practice medicine like in the U.S. We're helping them learn to save lives. And the fact that we're not here all the time is good. It doesn't foster a sense of dependence."
-- Dr. Lawrence Stock, who teaches emergency medical care and surgical skills to backpack medics, on his 5th GHAP trip, January, 2003
"The backpack medics hike through the jungle to come to our workshops. They risk running into the SPDC. They are so dedicated in their desire to learn, and to see the extent of human perseverance is incredibly inspiring to me. These medics need and deserve everything. They have nothing, and I can provide a lot for a little. You know the feeling you get when you do something really good for somebody, something that really makes a life better? It's an unconditional pleasure. It's a tremendous joy when that little spot in the heart gets uncovered."
-- Dr. Richard Hahn teaches landmine injury and surgical skills to the backpack health workers, and is supporting four Shan students while they receive medic training at Dr. Cynthia's clinic in Mae Sot
"The Mobile Surgical Teams will treat people who can't get to a referral clinic. There are 30,000 people in the coverage area where it can take several weeks by boat and foot to get in and out. If we can send a Mobile Surgical Team, we can do the operation in the field. Each pack will have supplies to treat two major traumas. The supply packs need to be light, so the medics can move fast. It's dangerous. They may encounter conflict or land mines. Each team will have radios, but we know that the SPDC can intercept messages, so we change the frequency every 15-20 minutes."
-- Eh Kalu, Backpack Health Worker administrator, re: GHAP-sponsored program to provide trauma packs to the new Mobile Surgical Teams
"One of GHAP's first projects was to help the backpack medics with their health information system. It became clear right away that it's malaria that's killing people on the border. No one else is doing a malaria program in the villages inside Burma. They are doing it in the camps in Thailand, but not here. Every area has a slightly different strain of malaria. When people are forced to move because of the war, they no longer have immunity to the local strain, and they will bring new strains in. Malaria is the most common illness and the most deadly. It kills anyone, even in the prime of life."
-- Dr. Tom Lee, co-founder of GHAP, during a 2003 visit to one of four Malaria Control Program pilot villages
"Teaching health workers is my favorite part of coming to the border. We try to avoid doing much patient care ourselves. It makes western doctors look more powerful. It's better for us to observe and teach. The whole point is to empower the health workers, to help them work on their own."
-- Dr. Tom Lee, co-founder of GHAP
"We try to think about the most appropriate intervention for the community. Ideally villagers would get vitamin A from the right mix of foods they eat. And they would have oil to cook it in to help absorption. And they wouldn't be infected with worms, which blocks absorption. It's very complex. A vitamin pill isn't sustainable long-term. But until they can grow food, it helps. This is a first step."
-- Nurse Practitioner Anusha Dahanayake, on training health workers to dispense sight and life-saving Vitamin A to children inside Burma whose families have been displaced by the war
Copyright Planet Care
