Standing on the freshly cleared grounds for the future International Health Development Network Mission Hospital, I listened intently as Dr. Agamah laid out his vision for the future: that the village he grew up in would have access to modern medical care, that each and every citizen would seize ownership of his or her well being, and that he would rise to meet a challenge his parents had laid before him. He had the privilege of an American education, a successful medical practice in the States and a healthy and loving family, but still his parents asked more of him: to give back to his community and enlist his advanced knowledge for the service of others.
That was two years ago in the summer of 2006. It was Dr. Agamah's tenth year going back to his home county and providing free medical care to his village and the populations that surrounded it. This was a momentous year: he was finalizing the purchase of a large plot of land from local tribal chiefs with the promise to build for their people a mighty modern medical facility. This would be leaps and bounds ahead of the original exam room from ten years before: the shade of a mango tree.
I am sure that spending those two short weeks with Dr. Agamah after my first year of medical education changed my perspective in life. I had traveled extensively before this trip, but never with the poise and purpose due to the moment of throwing yourself at the absolute service of your fellow man. With just one MD staffing the makeshift clinic (then, the reconstructed living room of his parents' house), our days would stretch late into the night in order to see our average of fifty patients. My mind stressed under the flood of new stimuli not just trying to learn and implement new medical knowledge but also wrestling with the ideas of charity, wealth disparities and stewardship.
This medical mission trip in February 2009 offers me a special opportunity to fulfill a promise I made two and a half years ago. A tribal elder leaned in toward me during the land dedication and asked if I would come back once they had their hospital up and running. He asked me not to forget about them and their need. He asked me to serve.
The opening ceremony for the IHDN Mission hospital was in June 2008. I attended the presentation at Dr. Agamah's church upon his return and watched in awe: where before there was dirt and grass there now stands a three story facility with numerous in-patient beds, an emergency room and even a functional operating room. I remembered not only the old man who reminded me not to just be a tourist in this endeavor, but also of all the patients I saw during my trip. I thought about everything I've learned here at Washington University School of Medicine over the past two and a half years and all that I have yet to learn.
My goals for this elective are simple: I want to continue to expand my education as a doctor in training through careful and precise history taking as well as paying astute attention to physical exam findings in order to learn to rely less on expensive tests and equipment. I look for more exposure and experience in the arena of international health and medical relief, and to see in action what leadership in the global health care community looks like. Most importantly, I want to answer, for the first of many times in my life, the challenge Dr. Agamah has laid before me.
