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Sister Lewende in Malawi It was my first case in Malawi. I don’t even remember what it was, but I knew there was an HIV rate of 30% among surgical patients. After scrubbing I looked at Sister Lewende, my assistant and one of the local nurses.   With horror and disdain, I asked, “Sister, where is your eye protection?”   She looked at me calmly and addressed me like I was a child. “Doctor, we have none,” she said.   Embarrassed, I realized I was an asshole.   Low resource setti

Operating room in the DRC I once worked in a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I was on a mission with an international NGO. We had a 100% post-operative wound infection rate.   I went to the Field Coordinator and told her of the problem.   She said, “It’s a dirty African hospital.”   “F-U,” I said. “I’ve worked in forty 'dirty African hospitals' and never had this problem. Patients are safer at home, waiting for laudable pus. When did this start and what happened

Operating in Sierra Leone For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for want of care about a horse-shoe nail.   Benjamin Franklin   Like the above proverb, once in Sierra Leone there was almost no surgery for want of a lightbulb.   In 2008, Surgeon OverSeas (SOS), the NGO I helped found, was involved in the first assessment of surgical need in the country

Slovenia 1991. I was next to the photographer. “Men and women who venture into someone else’s war through choice do so in a variety of guises.  UN general, BBC correspondent, aid worker, mercenary: in the final analysis they all want the same thing, a hit off the action, a walk on the dark side,…never blind yourself with your own disguise.”   - My War Gone By, I Miss It So, Anthony Loyd     In 1991, a few months before starting medical school I was hanging out in Czechoslovak

Post-tsunami Indonesia. Three months after the 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami, I was working in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. We had a second earthquake, a mere 8.7, which was indeed better than the 8.9. There was no tsunami for the second quake which was centered near the island of Nais but there was substantial damage.   I went with a team to assess the need. We ended up in the town of Singkill and tried to care for about 30,000 displaced persons. The team consisted of a logistician, a

Thirteen hour bus ride from Freetown, Sierra Leone to Conakry, Guinea. Photo Susan Hale Thomas I’m not like other humanitarians. It’s true. When you ask most aid workers why they do what they do, most reply, “To help.”   Sure, that’s an overall reason, but let’s face it, we could help back home or in many other ways. Why are you out in the field? Far from home? Usually uncomfortable.   For me the real answer was to have fun.    To many it sounded crass. I’ve gotten criticized

LESSONS FROM CHAOS In the realm of memoirs, few narratives stand out quite like that of a surgeon who finds themselves in the most unexpected places. “Lessons from Chaos” is not just a recounting of surgical procedures but a candid exploration of the motivations and experiences that drive a medical professional to the frontlines of conflict. This memoir invites readers into the world of a surgeon who didn’t go to war zones to save the world—rather, they went because they thou

FOOTPRINTS IN THE KALAHARI is the first book in a middle grade adventure series. Two brother, Thomas and Samuel, love travel and animals....

Explore Global Surgery Through Engaging Reads Are you interested in global surgery? If so, here are three enlightening books from Johns...