"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start." My story begins in Nepal, spins around the globe a few times, and most recently has been set in southern California, where I am now finished with my family medicine residency in Ventura. The next chapter is in Honduras, which is where I'm inviting you with this blog. Please join me in my journey! With a trans-continental, global story, people like you are the roots I rely on to give me a sense of home, and the freedom to fly wherever it is I am led next.
Let me get a foundation started: who, what, where, when, why.
I'm a family medicine physician, who loves delivering babies, taking care of women and children, traveling, becoming more fluent in Spanish, running, reading, and eating chocolate. I was born in England, raised in Alaska, went to college outside of Boston, medical school in the Pacific Northwest, and residency in southern California. Since I was 6 years old, I've wanted to be a doctor and practice medicine abroad. Through a long series of events, I've felt called to serve at Loma de Luz Hospital in Balfate, Honduras. The timeframe is tentatively to get there in January 2014. I'm planning to do some language studying while I'm at the hospital, but will hopefully get started with work soon after moving there.
Why medicine? It started with watching my mom work in rural Nepal, but that example alone was not enough to get me through the 11 years of post-high school education required to be a family physician. I've always felt that medicine was more than a job, it is a vocation that I was called to. Frederick Buechner says "Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need." I've seen the deep need for compassionate medical care that exists both in the United States, but even more so around the world. I feel undeservedly blessed that I have a job that I love. Interacting with people, hearing their stories, getting to know more of the fascinating systems of the human body, it is never boring. Many times I've commented: "we have the strangest job," and it never fails to amaze me that I have the privilege of being involved in some of the most intimate details of people's lives. Throughout history, the healers have often been one and the same thing as the priests. In our modern western world, though science has attempted to separate body from soul, secular from sacred, it still seems true that medicine cannot heal by addressing the physical alone. Through Christ, I have a hope that there is more to this world than the physical, and as a physician I have the privilege of struggling through the questions of healing and wholeness with people.
Why Honduras? As with medicine, it feels like there are many factors that have lined up for me to be going to Honduras. Loma de Luz was where I felt confirmation in 2004 that I was called into medicine and that this would likely be overseas for at least some part of my career. Through residency I've been improving my Spanish language skills with a largely Hispanic population at our hospital. Delivering babies is a passion, and they have recently started doing deliveries at Loma de Luz, with a need for someone who can help with obstetrics and general medicine. It feels like the right place at the right time.
More details: I'm being sent through the Post-Residency Program of Samaritans' Purse for 2 years. None of the opinions expressed on this blog represent the policies of the organization. I'll be doing clinical medicine- seeing patients in clinic, delivering babies, taking care of hospitalized patients, and staffing the emergency department. I'm excited to work with a great team of Honduran staff as well as other American physicians and nurses. I hope this blog can help you feel like you're there with me too.
Follow this link to sign up for my updates by e-mail (every 2-3 months).
Let me get a foundation started: who, what, where, when, why.
I'm a family medicine physician, who loves delivering babies, taking care of women and children, traveling, becoming more fluent in Spanish, running, reading, and eating chocolate. I was born in England, raised in Alaska, went to college outside of Boston, medical school in the Pacific Northwest, and residency in southern California. Since I was 6 years old, I've wanted to be a doctor and practice medicine abroad. Through a long series of events, I've felt called to serve at Loma de Luz Hospital in Balfate, Honduras. The timeframe is tentatively to get there in January 2014. I'm planning to do some language studying while I'm at the hospital, but will hopefully get started with work soon after moving there.
Why medicine? It started with watching my mom work in rural Nepal, but that example alone was not enough to get me through the 11 years of post-high school education required to be a family physician. I've always felt that medicine was more than a job, it is a vocation that I was called to. Frederick Buechner says "Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need." I've seen the deep need for compassionate medical care that exists both in the United States, but even more so around the world. I feel undeservedly blessed that I have a job that I love. Interacting with people, hearing their stories, getting to know more of the fascinating systems of the human body, it is never boring. Many times I've commented: "we have the strangest job," and it never fails to amaze me that I have the privilege of being involved in some of the most intimate details of people's lives. Throughout history, the healers have often been one and the same thing as the priests. In our modern western world, though science has attempted to separate body from soul, secular from sacred, it still seems true that medicine cannot heal by addressing the physical alone. Through Christ, I have a hope that there is more to this world than the physical, and as a physician I have the privilege of struggling through the questions of healing and wholeness with people.
Why Honduras? As with medicine, it feels like there are many factors that have lined up for me to be going to Honduras. Loma de Luz was where I felt confirmation in 2004 that I was called into medicine and that this would likely be overseas for at least some part of my career. Through residency I've been improving my Spanish language skills with a largely Hispanic population at our hospital. Delivering babies is a passion, and they have recently started doing deliveries at Loma de Luz, with a need for someone who can help with obstetrics and general medicine. It feels like the right place at the right time.
More details: I'm being sent through the Post-Residency Program of Samaritans' Purse for 2 years. None of the opinions expressed on this blog represent the policies of the organization. I'll be doing clinical medicine- seeing patients in clinic, delivering babies, taking care of hospitalized patients, and staffing the emergency department. I'm excited to work with a great team of Honduran staff as well as other American physicians and nurses. I hope this blog can help you feel like you're there with me too.
Follow this link to sign up for my updates by e-mail (every 2-3 months).
