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 I'm a Doctor - How Can I Help?
Dear colleagues & friends,
I'm once again recruiting for a team of medical professionals to join me on a teaching mission to THE SHAANXI PROVINCIAL PEOPLE'S HOSPITAL (SPPH), Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, PRC. We plan to be "on the ground" in Xi'an Monday, 10 November through Friday, 21 November inclusive.
I have recently completed a 5-week teaching tour and site visits throughout the Province. The opportunities are seemingly infinite, the doors wide open. SARS is completely controlled in this Province, thankfully. Members of the team will pay travel expenses to and from Xi'an, by the way, home of the renowned Terra Cotta warrior exhibit. While volunteering our time, expenses for room and board will be defrayed most generously by our hosts.
Our mode will be "serving through medical education". That is, be ready, willing and able to share your expertise with many new friends in your field. While SPPH plans to coordinate the logistics of our effort, we likely will teach in other environs as well ... medical/nursing schools, city-wide colloquia, etc. Most of our teaching will be among colleagues of like interest. Some may wish to lecture upon a topic of interest to a general, even lay, audience.
Volunteers on the team will have translators full-time. Weather will be similar to the central Midwest in November. Chinese seem to specialize in hospitality, which will include many rather elaborate evenings out, i.e. loooong hours. Tours of the famous sites are arranged. Spouses are most welcome, and may wish to get involved in projects teaching English, assisting in orphanages, etc.
Our Chinese colleagues are about the most eager "students" I have
encountered anywhere. During the past few weeks I had the wonderful privilege of visiting 2 of the 66 district hospitals in Shaanxi Province. My vision burns to bring quality medical care to EVERY PERSON in the entire province. This vision is endorsed heartily by our hosts. Xi'an, as you may have surmised, is the capitol city of Shaanxi. In the past year or so medical schools have merged, such that now we access to the medical schools, nursing schools and academic centers as never before. Additionally, we have a strong link to the Ministry of Health, which also supports the effort to bring healthcare to the people. So far as I can determine, this wide distribution/decentralization of healthcare delivery has never been the case in any part of China, and so, Shaanxi may well become a model for future systems in other parts of China to emulate. Our teams can play a strategic role in all of this.
What an immense challenge!
Specialties URGENTLY requested by our hosts: ob/gyn, cardiology, hospital administration, pathology (expertise in FNA, cytology, blood banking), interventional radiology (expertise in CT desired), endocrinology, nephrology, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, liver transplant surgeon, laparoscopic surgeon, anesthesiology, intensivist/ER physician, infectious disease, ICU/CCU nursing and OR nursing. If your specialty is NOT on the list, contact me anyway. Definitely, SPPH and the team can benefit by your contribution.
As you may know, I have been working primarily in sectarian situations for the past 9 years as a volunteer. My sectarian affiliation has ceased. I am inviting YOU to participate because you CARE about healthcare in developing nations, not because you subscribe to a particular creed. I remain a devout Christian, and there will be ample opportunity for us to examine our motives in joining such an effort and for freely sharing value/ethical/moral systems that might be highly diverse. I know that this interaction, and the interaction with our counterparts, will be highly productive, and likely a life-changing experience for many.
If you are interested and available, please contact me by email or by cell phone: 678-207-7549. I do not carry the phone at all times, but I use it as an answering machine, and will get back to you as soon as possible, remember, though, that I am often out of the country several months of each year (in places my cell phone does NOT work), so that email communication is best.
Doug
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