The only doc - Dr. Louise Ivers

[slipslidingaway]

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/17/the-only-doc/

By Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Medical Senior Correspondent

"Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Louise Ivers, an infectious disease specialist at Harvard Medical School, was at a meeting of the World Food Program in a United Nations building in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit. She escaped to the building’s driveway unharmed. Within minutes of her arrival 350 injured Haitians gathered in her driveway, looking for medical help.

...Ivers, the country director for Haiti for Partners in Health and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard, got to work. She and Kim Cullen, her research assistant, set out to find materials they could turn into medical supplies.


...Early the next morning, Ivers heard about a makeshift clinic with about fifty patients in a tent on the United Nations compound next to the Port-au-Prince airport. She gathered together about 100 of the injured people she’d been treating, and set out for the clinic.

“I thought this was going to be an actual clinic with doctors,” she says. “But when I got there, I asked who was in charge, and someone said ‘Toi’ – you, you’re in charge. I said, ‘Really?’”

Again, she was the only doctor..."

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Unbelievable is the only thing I can manage as far as words....

[slipslidingaway]

3. Yes, she sounds like an exceptional person, been working there since 2003 ...

April 1, 2008

http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/medicine-health/articles/louise-ivers-i-can-t-sleep-night-because-things-i-see-0

"...Ivers’ road to this remote community in one of the world’s poorest nations has been a winding one. She grew up the middle of three children in Dublin, Ireland. At age 16, she was asked to select a course for her collegiate studies and chose to become the family’s first doctor. It was a risky choice, since she didn’t know any physicians other than her family doctor, but she says now she can’t imagine doing anything else.

...“Most doctors from the U.S. or Ireland have no idea that to be effective in a place like rural Haiti, you always have to go the extra mile,” Farmer said. “Going the extra mile might involve, as Louise learned, wading across rivers to do home visits or transport a patient. It will certainly mean helping to build lab capacity and basic infrastructure, and training community health workers — not tasks we learned about in medical school, residency, or fellowship training. It will mean learning how to get your patients fed and, better yet, learning to keep people away from hunger.”

Farmer said Ivers tackled all those tasks and more without a word of complaint.

“She’s never said, ‘Hey, this is not in my job description,’ no matter how outlandish certain tasks would seem if presented to her at Harvard,” Farmer said.

Ivers is fluent in Creole and compassionate with her patients..."

[BrklynLiberal]

11. She is heroic and courageous...

[slipslidingaway]

12. Here is an updated article, she came back to Florida Sat night ...

for a couple of days rest and then will return.

She posted in the comment section of the article, some people were saying she should have stayed to help.

Haitian earthquake victims arrive in Palm Beach County

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/haitian-earthquake-victims-arrive-in-palm-beach-county-182788.html

"Thank you for your heartfelt comments. Having not slept or eaten a meal for 4 days and receiving mild leg injury during the quake, I returned to recuperate briefly, continue fund raising, coordinate ongoing work in a place with good communications and will return in 2 days. I have never received a salary for my work with patients in Haiti and left only after others arrived to take over. You can read what our team has been doing and help if you wish."

http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti
Louise Ivers
6:09 PM, 1/17/2010

[BrklynLiberal]

14. I wonder how many of those who criticized her gave money, much less thought about actually going

to Haiti to help!!

[slipslidingaway]

16. Probably none :( n/t

[dkf]

2. True hero.

Makes me cry.

[slipslidingaway]

4. Definitely :) n/t

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended for medical heroism

Thanks for the thread, slipslidingaway.:thumbsup:

[slipslidingaway]

8. Thank you :) n/t

[inna]

6. wow, kudos to her.

i'm crying right now.

[slipslidingaway]

9. No wonder so many people turned to her for help. n/t

[malaise]

7. Bravo lady

:yourock:

[slipslidingaway]

10. As always she will be one of many heros that people will probably ...

never hear about.

[gleaner]

13. Thank you Dr. Ivers ....

You put the injured first, and that is a shining example every doctor should follow. You have earned my greatest admiration and thanks for providing the very best help anyone could ask for.

[slipslidingaway]

17. :) n/t

[Solly Mack]

15. K&R

[slipslidingaway]

18. :) n/t

[Hekate]

19. KnR