By Stephen and Stephanie Milone
We travelled with our three children and Dr. Peter Agwa to this beautiful area at the foothills of the Himalayas. Our visit to Herbertpur Christian Hospital was a success. We achieved our goals of establishing new friendships and a plan for the educational advancement of the staff. Working closely with newly graduated Family Medicine staff and residents, we discussed patient care during morning report and we also joined them on daily hospital ward rounds. We observed the outpatient clinic which runs most days of the week. We provided twice-daily didactic teaching sessions on various core topics in Family Medicine including management of chronic pain, antibiotic stewardship, common conditions, and ECG interpretation.
The local family physicians appreciated our coming alongside as Family Medicine mentors and teachers for the first time in their careers as they are otherwise trained by specialists. They were enthusiastic to learn as much as they could from us and commented how their practice will change. We left Herbertpur with an understanding that we would be welcomed back in the future not only to provide Family Medicine mentorship, but to also include mentors in: Surgery, Radiology, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Mental Health Counselling, to name a few. In turn, they taught us about Malaria, Typhoid fever and other tropical diseases. Our Team was well looked after with delicious traditional Indian meals.
Our children made many local friends in the village and are already asking when we can return to assist at the home for children with special needs. We look forward to our next visit which is tentatively planned for March 2016.
Find out more about our India North Mission Team
The Herbertpur Christian Hospital is 657 km away from Nepal. Nepal and surrounding areas were affected by the recent 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 25th.