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 Mission Doctors Association On-Line Fall 2003 Newsletter Dr. Mason Reports From Cameroon  Dr. Richard Mason, former President of the Board of Directors of Mission Doctors responded to an urgent request for a doctor to serve one month at Njinikom Hospital in Cameroon... following is his journal from his time there. NJINIKOM HOSPITAL CAMEROON 2003 JULY 07-02-03 Day one- Many hours of flying with a miserable time at De Gaulle airport in Paris finally arrived Douala, Cameroon to the smiling and wondrous Sister Xavera who ranted and raved about our lost luggage with amazing results. Then to Padro Pio maternity clinic for dinner, a welcome and a night's rest. 07-03-03 Up at 6 am, breakfast and off we went in a beat up Toyota truck to Njinikom hospital - an 8-hour wild drive to the highlands of Cameroon. 07-04-03 Happy 4th of July - no one even aware of our Independence Day. Met the staff and sisters, toured the hospital, deluged with mud and rain. 07-05-03 Began work with my helper, Kevin to translate any French or Kom. Many very sick patients - Malaria is still the big disease. HIV is second and of course all the many tropical diseases. Admitted a case of a little girl with osteomyelitis of the foot, a victim of neglect., then made rounds with Dr. John-Paul, a very capable Cameroonian doctor. 07-06-03 Sunday Mass with a beautiful choir and drums. Heavy and constant rain and still no suitcase so I am a mess sliding in  the mud.07-07-03 Monday is the busiest day in the clinic, admitted many malaria cases and severe PID (pelvic Inflammatory Disease) especially in the Muslim women where a man with many wives infects all of them. 07-08-03 Another busy clinic, the patients, though very ill, are very positive about accepting life's misery. Many travel 100 - 200 km to come here. Again a deluge of rain and we lost our power. 07-09-03 A four hour ride to the town of Bamenda - a very busy and noisy place but the only E-mail center. Much shopping with Sister Xaveria. 07-10-03 Finally my suitcase arrived and fresh clothes and boots for the mud. Long rounds - the osteomyelitis is doing better. The HIVE patients are difficult because of the stigma of the disease and limitations of antivirals. Many are beyond our power to save. No power again today. 07-11-03 A sunny morning - wow - market day today which is also a major social event. The people are beautiful, talkative and always smiling. 07-12-03 Sister Xaveria's nephew's wedding today and we were invited. It was a big celebration with much drumming and dancing. 07-13-03 More rain kept me indoors 07-14-03 Busy clinic - admitted Fr. Akim (our parish priest) with severe malaria. Many HIV today, more rain 07-15-03 thru 07-19-03 Busy clinic then left for Shisong Hospital for the nursing School Graduation. Another wild ride over dirt roads, mud and rain and no seat belts! A beautiful ceremony in a beautiful church. The hospital is also better equipped than Njinikom with a Cardiologist and one cardiac care bed. 07-21-03 Back to Njinikom and greeted by 2 medical students from Germany. 07-22-03 thru 07-28-03 A very busy time but the medical students were a big help. 07-29-03 As usual much rain and much illness. I am preparing to leave but I feel sad because there is so much more work to do. Dr. Peter whom I replaced is back and I know that things will go on. I visited the orphanage as I have every day and said goodbye to the children and Sister Ada who is their only mother. She is a saint. They gave me a going away celebration. It was a very warm and wonderful party. I discovered that I had fallen in love with the people and my hope is that someday I may return. To view a recent article published in the Tidings Newspaper titled "Richard Mason, MD, Mission Doctor at Last'" by R.W. Dellinger click here.  2004 Plans for Cameroon Underway Several doctors have already made plans to serve in Cameroon for 2004. Dr. and Mrs. Brannen, who served there from 1991 to 1994 will return in January and will shepherd a pilot program from the University of Washington Medical School. (see next article) Joining them at Shisong in March will be Dr. Peter Meade and in April, Dr. Regina Hur. Dr. Kate Bolton and husband John Ruley will spend the month of June at Njinikom Hospital. Dr. and Mrs. Louis Coda, with their children, will be serving in Cameroon from July 2004 through January 2005. For doctors interested in short-term service the Annual Retreat / Seminar offers an opportunity to learn more and prepare for this important work. Click here to learn more. MDA Accords with African Tradition Return to Shisong Mission Cameroon By George E. Brannen MD FACS Professor, Department of Urology University of Washington School of Medicine Guilt was the overwhelming emotion I felt at departure from the SHISONG Mission in late 1994. After three years work and the first Urologist in the Republic of Cameroon, I had introduced transurethral surgery. It was clear upon my departure that no Physician was available to continue urologic surgeries. Following my return stateside, efforts to continue global involvement brought me to realize that many fine intentions fall short of projected goals. In fact, the introduction of unsustainable technology to the developing world plagued the World Health Organization in the 1980's. Thousands of water projects, for example, had failed to realize impact. Western Eurocentric biomedicine cannot be precipitously "implanted" into a new culture with the assumption that the population is "waiting" for medical care. Anthropologists suggest that all indigenous societies have a health care system which includes recognition/definition of illness, patterns of resort to treatment, and a cultural response to varying outcomes. Consequently "advancements" must be in response to demand from the population and the Physicians. Sustainable development requires active participation of persons from the culture. A "complete adult" in tribal culture has a spouse and a child. Respected status is achieved by means of additional wives, multiple children, extended relatives and generous gifting. During mid-service my value was culturally recognized by my enthronement as Shufai - an honorary lineage head and hereditary title of nobility. You see, this honor is not for the person, it is for the people. It is a responsibility to the ancestors, the living, and the unborn; and its design is to seek health for the land and for the people. I was designated because past behavior predicts future behavior. In order to honor my title properly, I was to continue for the people's benefit. "The Fon (Chief) is a rich man; the Fon has nothing" is an Nso (tribal name) proverb indicating that people continuously gift the leader, who in turn redistributes the goods to the people. So I departed having received considerable generosity and a title. But I was solemnly trying to project how I might behave honorably from the USA in accordance with their tradition. To accumulate material benefits in their culture is regarded as "eating your relatives" and is a form of witchcraft. Africans call it shame; it's the chief reason that many Nso people who come to America do not return home; they cannot demonstrate the generosity expected of them. While coping with reverse culture shock and bearing a high level of guilt, I continued to work with Mission Doctors Association and participate in retreats. Efforts to continue rapport with SHISONG subsequently led to visits by additional MDA Providers, permitting continuity of US medical care at this mission site. The need for Urology Services at SHISONG was listed in the first Newsletter of the newly-established International Volunteers in Urology, Inc. In response, Dr, Aromire in the Ukraine recognized his colleague Dr. Ivan as an interested candidate. With less than 1 years' gap in urologic presence, Dr. Ivan remains to this day. Responsibility of traditional leadership is permanent. Our grant application to Rotary International permitted the building of a laundry room for the hospital. Our local Rotary Club and St. Brendan's Catholic Church have made available many thousands of dollars directed to education in this indigenous community - including primary school, nursing school, teachers training, AIDS education, and sponsorship of special celebrations. Since our departure, a local rotary club in Cameroon (NW Province) has been established with which we collaborate for service projects. EduCare Africa has received nonprofit status and further collaborates with us on education efforts. Relationship with MDA and other organizations in the global community permit my return in rapport with the culture and my traditional status. The urologic community has generously loaded me with transurethral equipment. The urologist on-site (Dr. Ivan) awaits reintroduction of the technology and Doctors from other regional hospitals plan to assess this potential. The new technology is now demand-based and participatory. The University of Washington has insightfully sanctioned this program and plans to retain me on the faculty as well as send three medical students and a nurse. They are accepting of my intended ongoing commitment; and have designated a resident to work on-site for two months. Mission Doctors Association plans to add two additional short-term doctors and to provide long-term continuity following my departure. The President of Maple Valley Rotary Club (Washington) intends to join the Cameroon Rotarians at the SHISONG Hospital laundry room dedication. During the past decade many of these definable benefits have been the result of intense effort from my wife Carolyn. In Nso culture I am expected to have multiple wives. She compensates for this traditional shortcoming by showing the generosity of many. So, we hope to return with increased and sustainable impact from the perspective of the community in Cameroon as well as from that in the USA. Further insights will be submitted within the year. Dr. George Brannen and his wife Carolyn plan to remain in the SHISONG Mission, Northwest Province of Cameroon January through June, 2004. They plan to make service in the developing world an ongoing annual commitment.
New Truck Puts Treating Guatemalans within Reach By Mark Kummer, MD Travel in rural Guatemala poses many challenges. Because of a lack of maintenance of the roads and their general poor condition, it takes a great deal of time to travel even short distances and at times with the large potholes, the buses refuse to run. The schedules of the bus may require getting up at 3 am in order to get to some of the locations and it is very difficult to go out and come home on the same day and have any time for work. The places that I go to have no physicians or nurses and with the travel difficulties, diseases that could be treated rapidly and effectively remain chronic problems that often lead to disability. There are some health promoters who have completed the 6th grade and then a course in medicine for 18 weeks. One of the goals of the program here is to upgrade the training of the health promoters in the villages and to do some primary preventive care as well. There are no phones, electricity or running water in most of the villages. On one trip I was stopped along the road to treat three patients; a man with a machete wound to the hand, a young girl 16 years who was in labor, and a little boy with malaria. Because I now have a vehicle, I can take the time to stop and evaluate a problem without being left behind. This truck also makes it easier to transport patients back to the hospital. From the farthest villages (approximately 5 hours in car), when there is an emergency, the people with cars sometimes take advantage of the poor and charge Q1,000 (a little over US $125) to take someone to the hospital. For most families that is more than they earn in the whole year, so the village pitches in, but it takes resources that could be used for more productive things. For those who cannot manage to raise the money, it leads to people waiting for an exten  ded period of time to take the bus that runs once a day. What often happens as a result is that people who are seriously ill must endure this waiting time and the irritation of the bumpy bus ride. At times, women deliver babies on the bus and without adequate care the babies die or suffer complications. Others with bleeding or dehydration do not survive the waiting time.Of course, one truck will not solve all of the health problems of the Peten, but it certainly has already made a difference in the lives of some of the people that I have been able to treat. Now that we have a reliable car because of the generosity of people in Los Angeles, I would like to get a plastic topper for the back and a stretcher so that I can carry medicines and also do patient transports when needed. Thank you to all our supporters for the generosity. Cavanaghs Accept New Assignment Dr. and Mrs. Timothy Cavanagh have accepted a three-year assignment to St. Theresa's Hospital in Zimbabwe. Dr. Cavanagh, who recently retired from the Indian Health Service, has served in Arizona, New Mexico and Alaska for more than 23 years. Sheila Cavanagh is a surgical technician and is looking forward to the opportunity to offer her skills both in the operating room and as a teacher for nursing students studying there. Tim noted, "We are very excited for the opportunity to work with the Stoughtons and other Mission Doctors Association volunteers at St. Theresa's Hospital. We have heard so much about the high quality of the medical care and compassion demonstrated toward the people they serve." Tim and Sheila Cavanagh have four daughters who are presently in college. Preparing for this assignment, the Cavanaghs are taking part in the formation program in Los Angeles that began in August and will be completed in December. They accepted their assignment at a ceremony held at the Mission House on September 26, 2003, together with Lay Mission-Helpers, David and Jill Kalinski and Vicki Smith. The Kalinski family, David, Jill and sons Peter and Samuel, will begin an assignment in the Marshall Islands in January, and Vicki will be teaching in Cameroon. Tim and Sheila will join Dr. and Mrs. Richard Stoughton, who have been serving at St. Theresa's for several years. The Stoughtons are excited to have the additional medical missionaries; Dick noted, "I think that he and I are going to complement each other quite well." Paperwork is already underway for visas, medical license and work permits. Are you interested in serving three years at a mission hospital or clinic? Click here to learn more. New Projects Need Support At the September Board of Directors meeting several new projects were discussed that will need the support of both the Auxiliary and Century Club members.
The Mission Doctors Association Board is excited to take these projects on, confident in the support of our friends. Are you interested in learning more about how you can support? Your support can make all the difference in the world! Auxiliary Dinner Dance Plans are underway for the primary fundraising event for Mission Doctors Association, the Auxiliary Dinner Dance, to take place February 21, 2004 at the Wilshire Country Club. This year's honorees are Clyde and Peggy Von der Ahe, long time friends and supporters of Mission Doctors Association. One of the highlights of the event is a silent auction that has proved to be a tremendous success in recent years, more than doubling the funds raised. Donations are currently being gathered for this event. If you are interested in making a donation of goods or services please contact our office. Dr. Linda Novak recently noted that she would offer her home in Bend Oregon for a week of skiing or hiking. Benefit co-chair, Mary Lou Malphus gratefully accepted the offer, and said she just might be bidding on this herself! Mission Rosary Now On-Line  The Mission Office of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles offers an opportunity to pray for the needs of the Missions with a unique Web Rosary.Images of the missions and missionaries (a few of our own Mission Doctors) punctuate the mysteries and help focus our prayers for their needs. This Rosary will also be available on CD. To pray this rosary click here. If you would like to have a copy please let us know. Msgr. Anthony Leuer Remembered  Funeral Mass was celebrated Sept. 23 at Holy Trinity Church, San Pedro, for Msgr. Anthony A.F. Leuer. Msgr. Leuer held many positions throughout the Archdiocese, most recently as the chaplain at Marymount College.Msgr. Leuer served as the Associate Director of the Mission Office from 1972-1979, and continued to teach the formation program of Lay Mission-Helpers through 2001. During his time with the Mission Office he visited many lay missionaries in Africa and Asia, and will be remembered for his intelligence, kindness, and smile. Born in Long Beach, Msgr. Leuer made his theological studies at North American College in Rome, where he was ordained a priest in 1961 for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Bishop Niederauer noted during his homily that the biggest thing about Msgr. Leuer was his heart, something anyone who knew him would certainly agree with. |
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