Jacquelyn Evans, DO Class of 2019
First year, came and went. After a year of didactic work, I was eager to return to patient interaction. I achieved one of my life-long goals and worked in the operating room in Arusha, Tanzania this summer. We traveled through a program called Work the World which has various houses stationed internationally. The program provided a placement in a hospital system in Tanzania, along with housing with students from all across the world! Our home had students from Ireland, various places in the US, Australia, Austria, England, Scotland and more! Each morning we were greeted with a local breakfast made in house which was followed by walk to the Dala Dala station for a ride into work. I was stationed in the surgical ward which included rounding with local medical students and doc for pre and post op cases. We witnessed and scrubbed in on various surgeries including, ORIFs, leiomyoma removals, burns, amputations, sterilizations, pediatric cases, births, C-sections, hernia repair, and more! After a hard days work, there was plenty of time to explore the area including the local cultural center Via Via. Local artist displaying and creating their work, whether the media was paint, sculpture, woodworking, jewelry, and clothing. Local food was delicious and readily accessible! Opportunities for cultural tourism were also available. Orphanages were nearby to meet the children and share some love along with tours of a coffee plantation, the old living grounds of the Massai tribes, hot springs, the magnificent Kilimanjaro (the worlds tallest mountain), drum making, knife painting, local dance clubs and many more. Down time was filled with Swahili lessons and comrade of learning about other housemates! Dinner was prepared and shared by members of the family and off to sleep in our mosquito-net covered beds. My most poignant experience came in the form of a 23-year-old girl named Masa. She entered the OR on my very last day, Friday at 4:30 PM. Only the attending surgeon, a scrub nurse, and myself remained. She came in stoic, expressing only a concern for us to take our time- a strange initial request we thought, unaware of the massive trauma she incurred while working in a textile mill. We uncovered the bandages to discover only fragments of her hand, mid forearm, and textile pieces. I left her surgery profoundly changed; a girl just a couple of years younger than me, lost the primary tool she used to make a living for her family. My hands had to remove the remaining portions of hers. I think of her every day. My time in Africa stirred a source of empowerment, knowing that I have the ability to positively affect the quality of other’s lives through the use of my hands. The experience replenished my thirst for the chance to heal, so I can better serve my patients.
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February 2018
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