After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, there was an influx of medical
volunteers and desire to help in such a traumatic event. While
this displays admirable initiative, there are many
factors that go into international medical volunteerism outside of the desire
to do good work that require experience and understanding of local culture.
In one study, co-authored by Richard
Gosselin of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, almost two-thirds of the
surgeons who volunteered in Haiti had no prior disaster experience.
When a nation has declared a natural disaster, "disaster
relief" is primarily in the first 24 to 72 hours following the event.
In this situation, outside aid must be completely independent of local
resources; providing their own medicines, staff, food, water, sometimes
electricity and anything else needed to perform their role. The troubled area
cannot be depended on or depleted of remaining resources when providing
assistance. Many medical volunteers do not recognize or have the capacity to provide
these resources when traveling to provide assistance; military and governmental
organizations, primarily, are able to.
As days, weeks and months go by, the focus is on humanitarian aid.
Many organizations will have developed a base for care and semi-permanent
facilities. At this point, medical volunteers are able to connect and work with
a well-experienced and community-integrated group to efficiently provide care.
In this setting, doctors are able to use resources immediately available to
them to perform surgery in a safe and effective way for the nation in need.
With social media and news outlets, charitable organizations and
medical providers have expressed the consequences of "inexperienced"
medical volunteers. Questions we need to ask ourselves are:
When are we doing more harm than good?
Is this the best use of our skills and time?
How can we avoid recreating the wheel?
What can I learn before going into a culture completely different
from my own?
Whether you are a community volunteer or a volunteer with a
specific skill set, it is crucial to consider these questions when helping in
disaster relief or humanitarian aid.
In the coming months, IVUmed is performing two surgical workshops
in Haiti, one in Pignon and one in Deschapelles. Both the leaders and many of
the volunteers going on these trips have been at least once a year for the past
two years. This has given us the opportunity to develop relationships and
partner with other organizations, such as Project Haiti and well established
hospitals in the region.
Leading universities are taking the next step in developing effective global health practitioners. Collaboration among health professional schools nationally, or even internationally, will create unity to battle the need for care across the world.
After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, there was an influx of medical
volunteers and desire to help in such a traumatic event. While
this displays admirable initiative, there are many
factors that go into international medical volunteerism outside of the desire
to do good work that require experience and understanding of local culture.
In one study, co-authored by Richard
Gosselin of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, almost two-thirds of the
surgeons who volunteered in Haiti had no prior disaster experience. .jpg)
In the coming months, IVUmed is performing two surgical workshops
in Haiti, one in Pignon and one in Deschapelles. Both the leaders and many of
the volunteers going on these trips have been at least once a year for the past
two years. This has given us the opportunity to develop relationships and
partner with other organizations, such as Project Haiti and well established
hospitals in the region.
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