The Birth of Adopt A Doctor
August 14, 2003
Throughout my life, emotion and intuition have often directed intellect. Such was the case with the birth of my idea for Adopt A Doctor.
On a cold winter night last February, I found myself sick in bed with a severe case of the flu. Rather than sleeping the time away, I had turned on the the radio. I was ill-prepared for the emotional impact the first feature story would have on me.
A Washington, D.C.-based physician was being interviewed about his work assisting doctors in Central Africa with their life-and-death struggles to provide health care--under the most hostile conditions imaginable--to tens of thousands of sick men, women, and children. One of the African doctors was present in the studio and presented the following tragic tale.
At the end of the month, when money and supplies were virtually non-existent, a woman arrived at his clinic complaining of symptoms consistent with the common cold. The doctor was unable to provide medicine and was forced to send her home with the instructions to get rest and let the cold to take its course. Soon the woman reappeared at the clinic; she now had the flu. Still the doctor had no treatment options available. Within a short time the woman contracted pneumonia, which exacerbated her heart disease. She soon died.
The woman died from complications resulting from the common cold. There I was lying in bed with the flu, the possibility of death never even crossing my mind.
When I mustered the strength, physically and emotionally, I contacted the D.C. physician from the radio program. He informed me that his African colleague was depressed and altogether incapable of continuing his current work. He did not have the resources he needed to properly practice medicine. He had just graduated from medical school and felt inexperienced. There were no other doctors in the vicinity who he could consult for advice. His patients were dying and he was barely surviving himself. The African doctor was planning to move to South Africa, where he was certain he could make twenty times his current monthly salary.
How much was the doctor earning in Central Africa? Just $70 USD per month--$50 of which went to pay his monthly rent.
I asked the D.C. physician to ask his African colleague if he would be willing and able to continue his work in Central Africa if his salary could be increased. The African doctor's response: "Yes. Can you find someone to double my salary?" My answer to his question came quickly and easily: "Yes."
When the sadness subsided, I conceived the idea of helping support doctors who are working in the poorest countries in the world. The idea evolved into a plan by which we will help these doctors through the greatest campaign for civic engagement that Rhode Island has ever seen. In the developed world, we seldom die because we get a cold. Once our program succeeds in our mission, thousands in the developing world will no longer die this way either.
Ray Rickman
President
150 Chestnut Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903 • (401) 421-0606
Adopt A Doctor is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All contributions are fully tax-deductible.