ALUMNI ACTIVITIES Voices of Volunteers From Richmond to Haiti to Kenya and Uganda, alumni are finding ways to serve others – here, they share about their experiences…
Postcards from Haiti
Emily Nelson Maher, M.D. ’97 and a favorite patient in Haiti
“The patient’s hope and faith amazed me most of all. On several occasions, an entire tent of patients would randomly burst into song…often they sung spiritual hymns, but I even heard “Frère Jaques” coming from a tent one day. Most of these patients had lost a limb. All of these patients had lost several loved ones. None of them had homes or enough food or water, yet they all sang.” – Emily Nelson Maher, M.D. ’97, Haiti 36
Emily Nelson Maher, M.D. ’97
I
travelled to Haiti 10 days after the earthquake with a group from Partners in Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. I am an anesthesiologist, and our group consisted of anesthesiogists, nurses, and surgeons. We worked in the University Hospital in Port au Prince. I provided sedation or general anesthesia for about 60 patients while there. Our team also provided post-operative care and pain control. We also attempted to set up an organized operating room. The conditions for the patients were truly horrific...all of the patients were crowded in hot tents, and there were not enough resources for them. The conditions outside of the hospital in the city of Port au Prince were even worse. There is not enough food or water. There is not proper trash disposal or shelter. There is a huge need in Haiti. I have done international work in Tanzania and the Dominican Republic, but these experiences did not prepare me for the suffering and devastation in Haiti. I thought about Miss Tanner, Mrs. Hickey, and Mrs. Siff while I was there. The patients were all Creole speaking. I had not used my French (which I learned at Collegiate) for 12 years, but enough of it came back to me to communicate with my patients. Thank goodness for all my French teachers at Collegiate! I was able to comfort my patients with the bits of French I remembered. Upon her return to the U.S., Emily wrote an essay about the experience. You can read it on the Alumni News page of our web site: www.collegiate-va.org.
Spark