Medical Humanitarian Internship

Aaron Bergman, Peacework Development Fund, Belize

“We saw patients with cases varying from simple ear infections, and stomach viruses, to a tumor in the abdominal region to a one month old baby who was 3 pounds at birth and was still only 3 pounds. The baby looked all shriveled and emaciated and was barely moving. It was heartbreaking to see and to add to this was the fact that the other doctors would not admit the baby.”

“The first language in Orange Walk, the town in which we stayed, was Spanish not English as I was told it was going to be. So upon getting there I had to dig into my memory for the Spanish I knew still dwell there from high school. I actually got by pretty easily understanding the patients who didn’t speak English (which was most of them in fact) and would convey their message to my father who accompanied me as a volunteer pediatrician. I would then relay the instructions for treatment back to the patient’s mother or father.”

“The practice of medicine here in Belize is very backwards. The doctors have very little knowledge it seems and it is very frustrations seeing them turn away people who should have been admitted, yet admitting people who did not need to be admitted.”