Our wonderful team of co-residents, faculty,
and dedicated family members and I were able to experience the joy of providing
medical care in the Taulabe region of Honduras 2 weeks ago. The memory of our
trip will forever be colored by the pain of losing one of our dear friends and
colleagues in the preceding days, Ethan Sellers, whose moving poems can be
found below.
I’ll
never be able to write like Ethan, so for a more profound emotional expression
of the doctor-patient relationship on prior Honduras trips, I’d encourage you
to read his writings. While we were all experiencing the initial phases of
grief during the trip, we were united in our shared experience-- something
Ethan would have appreciated, I think. We found joy and humor in thinking of
him being here a year prior and excitedly yelling “Cheque leque panqueque” and
playing with all the children-- something he did with gusto with all the
children in the residency program whenever he had the chance. I could also
picture him every time I knelt down to check a patient’s feet, or each time I
stopped writing notes and just sat and listened as a patient shared their
story. Everyone we met was so generous with their time, patience, and in
sharing their lives with us. The exam space was in some ways more intimate than
at home-- we were invited into the local church to set up our clinic, and then
had the chance to sit directly facing our patients without the barrier of a
computer screen. It was truly family medicine in the best way, as mothers would
come in with 2-3 children at a time, and we would address each family member
individually before summing up the collective plan, with each child patiently
waiting for their turn to be examined. We also saw older couples coming in
together. Whenever I asked which patient the family would like to start with,
it was always the youngest-- and in couples, each person inevitably pointed to
their partner, demonstrating the selfless nature of the patients we were lucky
enough to meet and serve.
I
could see why Ethan loved coming here-- I did too, and I think the experience,
while painful, was healing to some degree in picturing him in his element
amongst the welcoming people here.
Joanna Ingebritsen, R3, KP Napa Solano
