Each of us has something to give to a world in need. The DWC practice model allows many of us the opportunity to give significant amounts of time to serving throughout the world. Dr. Daren Tompkins is a perfect example of the impact our providers are making around the world!
– Gary Morsch, M.D., M.P.H.
From Kansas to Zambia: a DWC physician’s passion and calling |
Issue 14 Oct 2011 |
The applause was scattered and a little weak. As I sat with my classmates at the University of South Florida on Match Day, the day when every medical student in the country finds out where he or she will be spending the next few years of their lives in residency, their reaction to the announcement of where I had matched was very subdued. I don’t think they knew whether to clap for me or pity me. Surely I must not have “matched” at my first choice.
“Could he really have chosen to go to...don’t say it...Kansas??” Well, yes, I had chosen Kansas and with good reason. First of all, it’s just a great place. Friendly people, small towns, the beauty of the plains and, of course, that awesome Midwestern beef.
But as great as all of those things are, I actually chose to move from the Sunshine State to Kansas for the residency training. As a college student I felt the calling to medical mission work and when the time came to choose a residency, I chose the program I believed would prepare me best for that kind of work. That training program happened to be in Wichita.
While in residency I found out about a great little organization called Docs Who Care. I started spending weekends and time off working with DWC in small towns across Kansas, and through that, I began to understand not only how rewarding small town medical practice can be, but also the significant need for rural doctors in this state.
When I finished residency, I was proud to see many of my residency classmates scatter across the
Midwest to start their careers as rural family doctors. I, too, would soon be working as a rural doctor, but in a slightly different context. I continued to follow the calling I’d sensed in college, and it led me to a small hospital in the Zambian bush called Mukinge.
My family and I were blessed to be able to spend two years in Zambia shortly after finishing residency, serving the beautiful people there through the work at Mukinge Hospital. The healthcare needs in that part of the world, as in many others, are staggering. With tremendous poverty, harsh living conditions, malnutrition, poor access to care and an adult HIV prevalence of ~15%, the challenges faced daily at Mukinge are overwhelming.
However, in the midst of those pressing needs, Mukinge Hospital and those working there are offering hope and healing to people truly struggling with unspeakable sickness and suffering. I was blessed by the opportunity to serve them through medicine and I look forward to returning to Mukinge soon. My wife and I have been accepted to return as long-term missionaries and will be headed back with our four children within the next year.
In the meantime though, there is work to be done right here, and I have continued to work with Docs Who Care. They do a wonderful job providing healthcare to rural communities in need. They also provide physicians the opportunity to get out to those places to serve the people of rural America through medicine. That’s a great thing. In fact, I’m going to add it to the long list of reasons why I love Kansas!
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