Mission Trips. Why do we do them? A physician’s personal journey to Nirvana.
Suresh Antony M.D
So why do we do mission trips? I suppose for each one of us there is a reason. Some truly feel the need to care for those less fortunate, some want to see what medicine is like in the Third world, some go on working holiday-, some to escape the emotional and physical stress of first world medicine and some to experience unusual diseases and disease states not usually seen where he or she lives.
I belong to the latter. Medicine has always been a big part of my life. The science of medicine and the “fascinomas” of medicine play a big part in my life as a physician and as an educator. I have always felt the need to look after the less fortunate but the long and arduous road that we take to become physicians tends to build an emotional wall around us. Over time we tend to t0 feel the pain and the emotional stress our patients go through. We tend only to see the science and the “magic” of us making them better. We develop a sort of God-like mentality. Many times, in first world countries we do what we have to do to make the patient well and the rare occasions that we are told “thank you” from some of our patients are the good days. More often than not, many of our patients take their health care for granted. We are indentured servants of the government and are paid to look after them. Sometimes, just not being sued is a good day!. What has it done to us as a profession? What has happened to the reason we went into medicine? When I first came to Antigua I was hoping to see unusual diseases in infectious diseases. Organisms with high drug resistance, severe parasitic infections and other diseases that I would never get to see in the States. Instead. I saw poverty, poor dentition, broken bones badly fixed or healed with horrible gait problems, tumors in nasal cavities and other diseases that should have been fixed as children or as young adults. But, I also met wonderful human beings who came to see us with open trusting hearts and smiles on their faces. They did not know us but trusted these “foreigners” to help make them feel and yes, sometimes look better. And yes, we did that on most occasions. I sometimes can’t help but wonder if we left feeling good and proud about ourselves rather than feeling honored to be trusted by these wonderful people.
Back in the States, we went about our lives. Many of the folks we looked after in Antigua, forgotten. Then, it was that time of the year again. I felt something stir deep in my soul. I needed to go back to Antigua-what was the reason? Maybe a little more of “wanting to play God” again or hoping to see a fascinating case again? I did get to see many unusual infections in the subsequent trips I made, which have since been published in the literature. But God had other plans for me-especially my soul! I began to see much more than the scientific curiosities I was allowed to help with. I began to connect disease states to people with names. I connected smiles to their names and over the next 3 years recognized and grew to care for them.
I saw my colleagues fix people who could not walk and was fortunate enough to see their smiles of appreciation and gratitude. Children born with horrible deformities like cleft lip and palate being made whole again. I watched as Matt Pogo’s hands gently created a full and beautiful face in a child with a horrible deformity. I saw the Hand of God guide his hands as he gently and expertly corrected her defect and made her the angel she was meant to be. A child of God! . We had become the Hands and Feet of God. I finally felt that peace of understanding flood my soul as I fully and truly comprehended what God had done with my life. For that I shall be eternally grateful.
Suresh Antony M.D
So why do we do mission trips? I suppose for each one of us there is a reason. Some truly feel the need to care for those less fortunate, some want to see what medicine is like in the Third world, some go on working holiday-, some to escape the emotional and physical stress of first world medicine and some to experience unusual diseases and disease states not usually seen where he or she lives.
I belong to the latter. Medicine has always been a big part of my life. The science of medicine and the “fascinomas” of medicine play a big part in my life as a physician and as an educator. I have always felt the need to look after the less fortunate but the long and arduous road that we take to become physicians tends to build an emotional wall around us. Over time we tend to t0 feel the pain and the emotional stress our patients go through. We tend only to see the science and the “magic” of us making them better. We develop a sort of God-like mentality. Many times, in first world countries we do what we have to do to make the patient well and the rare occasions that we are told “thank you” from some of our patients are the good days. More often than not, many of our patients take their health care for granted. We are indentured servants of the government and are paid to look after them. Sometimes, just not being sued is a good day!. What has it done to us as a profession? What has happened to the reason we went into medicine? When I first came to Antigua I was hoping to see unusual diseases in infectious diseases. Organisms with high drug resistance, severe parasitic infections and other diseases that I would never get to see in the States. Instead. I saw poverty, poor dentition, broken bones badly fixed or healed with horrible gait problems, tumors in nasal cavities and other diseases that should have been fixed as children or as young adults. But, I also met wonderful human beings who came to see us with open trusting hearts and smiles on their faces. They did not know us but trusted these “foreigners” to help make them feel and yes, sometimes look better. And yes, we did that on most occasions. I sometimes can’t help but wonder if we left feeling good and proud about ourselves rather than feeling honored to be trusted by these wonderful people.
Back in the States, we went about our lives. Many of the folks we looked after in Antigua, forgotten. Then, it was that time of the year again. I felt something stir deep in my soul. I needed to go back to Antigua-what was the reason? Maybe a little more of “wanting to play God” again or hoping to see a fascinating case again? I did get to see many unusual infections in the subsequent trips I made, which have since been published in the literature. But God had other plans for me-especially my soul! I began to see much more than the scientific curiosities I was allowed to help with. I began to connect disease states to people with names. I connected smiles to their names and over the next 3 years recognized and grew to care for them.
I saw my colleagues fix people who could not walk and was fortunate enough to see their smiles of appreciation and gratitude. Children born with horrible deformities like cleft lip and palate being made whole again. I watched as Matt Pogo’s hands gently created a full and beautiful face in a child with a horrible deformity. I saw the Hand of God guide his hands as he gently and expertly corrected her defect and made her the angel she was meant to be. A child of God! . We had become the Hands and Feet of God. I finally felt that peace of understanding flood my soul as I fully and truly comprehended what God had done with my life. For that I shall be eternally grateful.
