Long-distance house call

Valley doctors treat patients on medical mission to Ecuador

LOU HIRSH
Managing Editor

As she's treated by medical personnel from the Valley, a young Ecuadorian girl holds a stuffed animal that was one of several toys collected by students at the Beth El Center for Early Childhood Education and Solomon Schechter Day School.

Patients in the United States can pine for the days when doctors made house calls, and those corporate HMOs didn't stand between them and their friendly family doctors. The people of Riobamba, Ecuador, will probably just remain thankful for the rare medical attention they received when doctors from the Valley came calling on a recent medical mission.

On a trip that lasted from July 19 to Aug. 1, several doctors from the Phoenix area, including some from the Jewish community, went to Ecuador to serve in public and military hospitals in Riobamba, a medium-sized city about 100 miles south of the capital city of Quito.

Dr. Bruce Mallin, an orthopedic surgeon who had previously gone on similar trips to Peru, said the people of Ecuador were grateful to have such care made available to them. Many of those who came were poor people in bad need of care, and local residents were lined up by the hundreds to be seen by doctors at clinics set up at a public hospital and a military base in the area.

"They were very thankful for the help and glad to see us," said Mallin.

Most of the efficient, highest-quality medical care in Ecuador is available only to the wealthy of that nation, who go to private hospitals for care. Most of the country's poor people must turn to under-funded, under-staffed public hospitals and clinics for care.

"There is no safety net for the people there," said Mallin. "If you can't afford private care there, your options are really limited. There's a real need for these visits from outside doctors."

A total of 39 Valley residents went to Ecuador, including 12 physicians of varying specialties, as well as nurses and technicians. All family members who went along, including doctors' spouses and children, did their share of the work, even if it just meant carrying supplies and setting up equipment, said Mallin, noting that the trip was not intended as a relaxing getaway, but a time to serve others.

"This was not designed to be a vacation," said Mallin. "We felt it was the right thing to do, and we met some nice people down there. We saw a lot of people who otherwise could not have seen a doctor for what was wrong with them."

The doctors had to make due with equipment older than what they were accustomed to back in Phoenix, but in many cases they were able to show Ecuadorian medical personnel more effective ways to use available equipment.

Mallin said the doctors saw about 1,200 patients over the course of the mission, conducting about 150 surgical procedures. In some cases, it was a matter of treating bone disorders and other degenerative diseases that otherwise would have progressed to serious complications due to lack of care. Many of the Ecuadorians were treated for gastrointestinal disorders that are common among the population due to living conditions and limited access to medicines.

The trip was organized by Mesa surgeon Dr. Nick Morrison, who has been conducting similar trips with his colleagues for the past eight years. Valley Jewish physicians on the Ecuador mission included Mallin, Dr. Steve Nathan, Dr. Richard Shindell and Dr. Peter Bankoff.

Nathan, a pulmonary specialist, said the rewards of the mission were felt almost as soon as the doctors arrived in Riobamba and set up shop.

"We were greeted by a lot of very nice, very appreciative people," said Nathan, who was accompanied by his wife, Marti. "It was a lot of work, but it's good to go on a trip like this and feel like you've given something back."

Nathan says the doctors felt secure at all times while in Ecuador. Security was provided by military personnel, who themselves were glad to have the doctors' help in treating their own medical conditions, as well as caring for members of the soldiers' families.

In addition to the staff and family members who accompanied them, the Valley doctors also had the support of young students in Phoenix. Prior to the trip, students at Beth El Congregation's preschool and the Solomon Schechter Day School helped collect toys that were later given to children who the doctors treated in Ecuador.

"The kids here in Phoenix really came through," said Risa Mallin, who accompanied her husband, Bruce, on the South American journey. "The response was wonderful."

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