Viewpoint

When Less is More

Larry E. Patterson, MD
FROM THE CHIEF MEDICAL EDITOR

I just returned from my latest medical mission trip to Guatemala. These trips have been a part of my professional career for almost two decades, and something I plan to continue indefinitely.

I'm far from alone in doing this type of work. Many of you regularly donate your time and your skills in a wide range of places all over the world. We've featured many of you in this magazine and told your stories as best we could. Many others have expressed an interest in going, but there's always “something” that stops them. That's understandable: with the economy still on life support, and new and innovative problems handed down to us from the government and private insurers, sacrificing time from your practice is getting harder and harder to justify. Financially, at least.

Nearly 10 years ago I wrote a piece in these pages explaining why I serve on these trips and why you might want to consider going yourself. With many Americans rethinking our priorities in light of the economic crisis, I think these trips are more important than ever — for the impoverished patients first and foremost, but also for ourselves.

Of course the main reason we go is helping those far, far less fortunate than us, and usually far less fortunate than the most unfortunate in this country. When that 35-year-old mother of seven had the patch removed from her eye, and we all watched her as she looked upon her youngest child for the first time, there truly wasn't a dry eye in the house. The need in so many places is so great. We aren't talking about an executive who's having trouble seeing his golf ball. These are folks with bilateral count fingers to light perception cataracts!

But there are benefits to you, the doctor, as well. You get away from your regular routine. And I really do mean “get away.” You practice in an environment that only remotely resembles anything back home. You start learning to make do with less. When our microscope foot pedal ceased to operate this trip, we quickly learned that you can focus and zoom manually, painful though that was. You can re-learn ECCE… and appreciate and love your phaco machine all the more when you return.

You may even experience a spiritual reawakening on a trip like this. Almost everyone I've ever brought with me on these trips senses a closer connection with their maker than they feel at home.

And you begin to appreciate all that you have. On these trips I see people who have so little but seem so much happier than our materially-rich society. Perhaps because they are not aware of all they allegedly “need” to be happy (as defined by Western standards), they've figured they'll just be happy with the basics, along with family and friends. That's a lesson we all need to relearn every few years, and this recession has been a very stern teacher.

Worried you can't afford to take off a week or two to go on these trips? I respectfully suggest that you can't afford not to go.