Mildred M.G. Olivier - Global Health and Volunteering Beyond Borders: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sometimes the best intentions are not enough. Sometimes even the latest knowledge and most advanced skills are not enough. Sometimes a physician can come from abroad, motivated by a strong desire to do good, and unintentionally make things worse. It does not have to be that way.

This book is a resource to assist healthcare professionals who want to ease suffering, save lives, and promote health equity around the world. I called on many highly knowledgeable and experienced colleagues to contribute chapters. Each chapter provides information about its author(s) and an inspiring quote. The authors are from diverse backgrounds, many from the regions they address, who can provide a more authentic perspective than can be found in many other books on global health.

As a first-generation Haitian-American, I have had a unique vantage point on healthcare delivery in developing nations. I am a veteran of countless medical missions to Haiti and other Caribbean countries. Following the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, I spent many days there responding to the medical crisis. I had a tremendous advantage over most volunteers: I know the country and the culture, I speak the language, and I count dear friends and colleagues among Haitian medical professionals there. After Haitis catastrophe, scant hours after the first shocks, medical assistance arrived in waves. In the absence of an extant organization to coordinate and manage those waves, a sobering lesson was served up. Good intentions are not enough.

For as long as I can remember, I had a passion to be a doctor to help others. As the first child in a Haitian family, I never experienced undue pressure to be successful, but I was expected to make the most of opportunities that seldom exist in an impoverished nation. My parents moved to the Chicago area expecting to return one day to live again in Haiti. Instead I grew up in the Chicago area, excluding the 1 year we lived in Montreal, Canada. My undergraduate degree was in biology and psychology from Loyola University Chicago. I graduated from Chicago Medical School and trained in ophthalmology at New York Citys Harlem Hospital/Columbia University for my residency, where there was a large Haitian community. The experience galvanized my determination not only to work in the underserved community but also in the subspecialty of glaucoma, a blinding disease that disproportionately affects people of African descent.

During my residency, neuro-ophthalmologist Dr. John Mitchell often went to Haiti. It was an ideal time in my life to become involved, so once I had completed my glaucoma fellowship, I joined his medical missions. We went in collaboration with another Haitian ophthalmologist, Fritz Allen, MD, and a team of physician and non-physician volunteers to bring educational materials, give lectures, and treat patients. Local Haitian ophthalmologists were also team members, essential to help bridge inevitable differences.