Peace Corps Medical


My wife and I worked with Red Cross disaster services and with St. Vincent de Paul to help people around Missouri when the kids were in school. We did this because we, she more than I, knew that helping others is vital for a full life.

You know this if you are religious and have taken to heart your scriptures, whatever your tradition. You know this if you are a good person and have rolled up your sleeves to volunteer. It is not always easy, commonly difficult, and sometimes frustrating – and yet we generally keep doing it as long as we are able.

The American Red Cross pulled out of my St. Charles county Missouri a few years ago leaving many volunteers and the people they served out on a limb as far a local disasters are concerned. I don’t want to talk bad about the Red Cross but in any organization the bureaucracy and people at the top can loose focus on the work, the mission and become more concerned about personal/organizational safety and financial security.

Medical


Going into a different culture and frequently a different climate with different foods puts some stress on the body and exposes the system to new “experiences”. Not necessarily talking about amoebic dysentery, but the volunteer will need medical support from time to time.

There is a rather rigorous medical qualification to pass before you can get on a plane. Once on the plane and in country the volunteer will typically receive good medical care. Peace Corps and the volunteers make mistakes. The medical staff sometimes miss things and sometimes volunteers decide that they don’t need to do certain things.

There was a very unfortunate case in Ghana shortly before I arrived and a case that could have been unfortunate for a fellow volunteer while I was serving. The second involved acute appendicitis and a long overnight bus trip that turned out fine and was therefore a badge of honor for the volunteer and laughs for the rest of us, at least those in the remote Upper West.

Peace Corps medical staff, responsible for the health of the volunteers, might not have completely appreciated the humor of that situation. However, I always found the doctors there to be level headed about the conditions in Ghana – things happen. And they did have a sense of humor.

58 years ago on March 1st John F. Kennedy signed the Executive Order to establish Peace Corps.   His vision for service to the US by serving abroad was not to take the easier safer path. (Also not the reckless or overly dangerous path.) Our pledge is to face difficulties and most volunteers and many staff members recognize that volunteers will sometimes suffer unfortunate consequences.

Some volunteers might sign up for easy, but I think most sign up for Peace Corps because of the potential for difficulties. We don’t want easy – we are proud to carry on the tradition.

I’ve known Peace Corps Medical Officers and staff in DC who seriously look at the situation and work hard to figure out a way with proper risk management to get a volunteer into a country or to keep a volunteer at a site. There are also cases of medical conditions that cannot be supported in one place but supportable in another and so a person might serve in a different place.

I’ve also heard of situations where it appears that staff suffers from an over abundance of caution or maybe a desire to take the easier and safer path. If true that is unworthy of the Peace Corps legacy and unfortunately blocks some people from serving people with the greater need.

When medical rejects a candidate for a country or an extension request there is an appeal process. Peace Corps is part of the US federal government and in some cases I’ve been told that they will “circle the wagons”. Also some people don’t find the appeal process to be very transparent nor find staff always willing to go into specifics – which makes discussing, understanding, and appealing the decision challenging. Sometimes appeals work, sometimes not so much.

I’m not trying to attack Peace Corps. I knew it was a federal agency before I signed up and therefore it would be frustrating at times. I did want to give a sense of some of the frustration that might be felt by Peace Corps volunteers, particularly 50+ volunteers. We signed up to face difficulties – sometimes the difficulties comes from ourselves, sometimes from the host country, and sometimes from staff and policies.

Direction of this blog


I’m almost two years into this service and I’ve begun thinking about my next step. I’ve also been thinking about the people I know in the Caribbean, in the US, in Ghana, and around the world. It is obvious that the world is suffering and more is needed to prevent the worst from happening. I don’t exactly know what my future posts will be, but some might not be about a bed of roses.

I also like to post pictures. While I have none of children this week I’ve been snapping some of flowers over the past year. I thought it might be nice to share some pictures after a somewhat somber post. And I’ll also look for a chance to take a picture of a bed of roses in the tropics.























Love always,
John

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