Lessons
in El Salvador, Sara Doorley ('05)
Sara is currently an internal medicine resident at Einstein/Montefiore
Medical Center, in the Bronx, New York.
"Wright
State School of Medicine provides exposure to many educators and researchers
who are also great clinicians and excellent mentors. It provides a friendly,
non-threatening atmosphere for learning where questions are always welcome." --
Sara Doorley (Year IV)
Written
By:
Nancy Harker, Boonshoft School of Medicine Office of Public Relations
When Sara Doorley, a fourth-year medical student at Wright State,
decided to reaffirm her reasons for becoming a physician, she did it in an
unusual way. She took a leave of absence from medical school, gave up graduating
with her classmates, left her home, and spent nine months in a small rural
health clinic in the border town of Santa Marta, El Salvador.
After a five-week intensive course in medical Spanish, Sara moved to her
assignment in Santa Marta, where she volunteered through the Doctors for
Global Health organization.Santa Marta is a rural community that lacks running
water, reliable public transportation system, dependable electricity, or
a sanitation system. There are no job opportunities even when the average
wage is only $4.50 per day. The government allows its people to farm the
land near their home and to eat or trade for necessities what they grow.Sara
lived on the local diet of red beans, tortillas, eggs, and avocados—every day, three meals a
day. A local family generously provided her with her own room. She shared their
life experiences, learning to bathe with only a bucket of freshly drawn water
out of the outdoor cistern. "Day-to-day life was hard in that it was so
different from the States, but through these challenges I developed a great
appreciation and respect for this community that lacks access to basic resources," says
Sara. She was awakened early each morning by the sound of roosters and
critters— scorpions, tarantulas, and bugs.“As with any service
project, I got so much more out of it than I gave,” says Sara. "From
this experience I learned a great deal about life, about who I am, and about
medicine. I rediscovered the type of physician that I would like to become.
I realized that this is something I can do anywhere in the world and make a
difference. I learned valuable lessons that I have brought back with me and
will be able to use while working in the bustling hospitals in the United States,” she
continues. “Listening, really listening, is an important aspect in the
art of practicing medicine. It was my experiences in El Salvador that solidified
my commitment to medicine and will enable me to heal, educate, and serve those
who are disproportionately burdened by injustice. I learned that suffering
is universal, and that people are just people, no matter where they live.”
She shadowed and assisted physician Aristides Perez, M.D., a
family practitioner for the Ministry of Health in El Salvador, usually seeing
around 30 patients a day. She learned about tropical diseases and general family
practice medicine. Sara assisted with well-baby checks and pre-natal counseling,
handed out vitamins supplied by the Ministry of Health, and taught general
health classes. Now Sara plans to include into her final months of medical
school a research study on chagas disease—a tropical parasitic ailment
transmitted through the bite of a bug. The disease can cause heart failure,
especially in children, if left untreated and is very familiar to the people
of the Santa Marta.
Sara is a resident of Fairborn, and a graduate of Fairborn High
School. She holds a B.S. in science pre-professional studies with a fellowship
in infectious disease from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
She wants to continue her medical training with a residency in internal medicine
and a fellowship in tropical medicine.
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