Healthcare Traveler - January 2009 - (Page 32)

Nursing from the heart THE CARAVAN of vans in which we trekked across the Mongolian countryside. On the left is a Buddhist shrine. a non-profit organization that performs cardiac repairs on children in Third World countries. During the first part of our mission, we traveled through the Gobi Desert, screening 1,000 youngsters in remote villages for heart defects. The second week, members of our team performed heart surgeries in the Mongolian capital city of Ulaanbaatar. For a glimpse into this unique country and its people, read on as I share some of my lasting memories— and advice for starting your own travel career. Life in the desert Our journey began in a rickety Russian school bus, as my colleagues and I trekked across the South Gobi Desert, devoid of any roads. We were greeted at the clinical site by swarms of children and families. Attempting to appease the restless little ones in line, we made balloon animals and sang songs in our broken and mostly non-existent Mongolian. Inside the clinic, we performed up to 200 on-site echocardiograms to diagnose the children on the spot. Those with operable cardiac defects were either placed on a waiting list for surgery by our team or a visiting team from Japan. More complicated defects were referred to U.S.-based surgeons who operated on them free of charge. At the end of a long day, we sat our fatigued and dusty bodies down to a traditional Mongolian meal 32 Healthcare Traveler January 2009 of mutton, cucumbers, and tomatoes. To wash it down, our hosts offered us fermented mares’ milk. I longed for a hot shower, but quickly reminded myself this was the Gobi Desert. Instead, I found myself laughing as I tried to fit my hair into a bucket of freezing water. Shivering, I poured small bowls of cold water over goose bumps for the remainder of my bath. As I walked across the camp towards my ger (a traditional, transportable Mongolian lodging), the crisp air amplified the silence surrounding me. I marveled at the boundless desert that stretched for miles in every direction and the starlight that illuminated a vast ebony sky above me. Arriving at my circular tent, which had a hole in the top to allow smoke from a stove to escape, I was glad for its shelter from the harsh desert temperatures. I lay in bed that night, nestled under heaps of wool blankets, my cot hugging the potbelly stove burning sheep dung, and I reveled in the perfection of the moment. Surgery in the city Our adventure in the Gobi came to a close as the surgical week of our mission began in the eclectic place known as Ulaanbaatar. If you think offroading across the Gobi Desert in a Russian school bus sounded unnerving, driving the streets of this capital city was even wilder. I cringed as I watched a family of five weave in and out of traffic on a www.healthcaretraveler.com http://www.healthcaretraveler.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Traveler - January 2009

Healthcare Traveler - January 2009 Editor’s Desk Contents By the Numbers Paws for Thought Field Notes In a Flash Med Ec-cerpts Dream Destinations Nursing from the Heart Drug Update Professional Update Clinical Tips On Assignment Cityscape Name It Advertiser’s Index Contest Rules When In… It’s in the Bag Dot.com Tax Facts Big Deals Starter’s Kit Going the Distance Allied Corner Classifieds Tales from the Road

Healthcare Traveler - January 2009

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