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Students urged to help Flying Docs |
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Written by Dave Mabell
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Friday, 14 November 2008 |
A handful of motivated Lethbridge students will be heading to Central America this summer.
But they won’t spend much time at the beaches, the markets or the cultural attractions. Instead, they’ll be helping impoverished people deal with filth and disease.
That’s the offer from the Flying Doctors of Canada, a hands-on project co-founded by a former Lethbridge student. Dr. Benjamin Cavilla, a University of Lethbridge science graduate in 2000, is now in general practice in Victoria.
But he was back on campus Friday to tell a group of pre-medical students how they might learn the realities of life and health in rural areas where no doctors are available. But first, Cavilla described his response to a disaster he saw on TV, while he was still a student at U of L.
That event was the 1998 hurricane that stalled over Honduras, dumping nearly six feet of rain on the rapidly dissolving land. At least 17,000 people were reported dead or missing and the devastation was so great about a half-million were left homeless.
“Entire villages were washed away,” he said. “I remember being really moved by that.”
Moved enough to decide he’d dedicate his life to medical relief instead of becoming a medical specialist. And moved enough to start laying plans, while completing medical school at the University of Alberta and brainstorming with friends.
“There were just three of us, sitting in a pub and having beer,” but that was all it took to get the ideas flowing. The three recruited more expertise — dentists, and people with more logistical and support background — and The Flying Docs of Canada was incorporated earlier this year.
The group’s first Doctors of Tomorrow project is planned for next August, likely in Nicaragua or Guatemala, but Cavilla has already started recruiting volunteers who want to deepen their understanding of health care in the depths of poverty.
“It will be a life-changing experience,” he warned.
Fifteen students will be selected from the U of L, the U of A and the University of Calgary, he said. They’ll be in Central America a little less than two weeks.
But during that time, they’ll be expected to take part in health education and in facility construction — maybe a clean water source or a cinder-block clinic building — as well as experiencing clinical care up close.
And that means meeting people suffering parasite infections, abscesses, cancers and the whole range of tropical diseases. Part of each student’s time will be spent alongside a doctor or dentist, as patients are assessed and treated.
“You’ll hear the patients’ stories,” and realize how profoundly living conditions affect their health.
Students will be asked to prepare educational materials before they leave, but Cavilla knows Flying Docs organizers will be much busier. Before deciding on a project location, he said, they want to ensure there’s a way for local people to continue the work after the Canadians go home.
“We want to help communities stand on their own,” even if that means providing longer-term assistance to a doctor who’s willing to move into the rural setting. Preparing for their first visit, he added, the Canadians will also be recruiting engineers, teachers and others who can make a similar impact.
“We’ll partner with other professionals who are just as eager to help.”
Eagerness is a key to the students’ success, too. Successful candidates, selected on the basis of their written applications, will be asked to fund-raise for medications and other medical needs — as well as to cover their own travel.
In Lethbridge, Cavilla said, the Rotarac group on campus has agreed to help in that process.
Additional financial help, from community as well as campus, will allow Flying Docs to accomplish more on their first project. Further details are available online at www.flyingdoctors.ca
Medical volunteers realize they can respond adequately to only some of their patients’ needs, Cavilla said. But that’s equally true in affluent Canada.
“You hear heart-wrenching stories, and there are things you know you can’t do,” he said.
“But you also have experiences that are incredibly rewarding.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 10 August 2009 )
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