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Drawn to disaster: Doctors giving aid

When a natural disaster strikes, physicians give their time and skills to help victims heal their wounds.

By Damon Adams, amednews staff. July 9/16, 2001.

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By day, Lauren Shaiova, MD, and her fellow physicians treated dozens of villagers left battered by the fierce storm.

At night, after the wounds had been mended, the doctors often slept on cement floors or in village homes that had survived intact despite the harsh winds and rains that struck weeks earlier.

Hurricane Mitch cut a swath of destruction through Nicaragua, and Dr. Shaiova and two other doctors from New York were among the medical personnel who came to aid those in dire need of care.

In times of natural disasters such as 1998's Mitch, doctors put aside their practices, load up medical supplies and journey to areas stateside and around the world to help victims of nature's fury. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes compel them to travel in hopes of alleviating pain and suffering.

What struck Dr. Shaiova when she volunteered was the ruin left by Mitch. More than 2,800 were killed. Thousands were left homeless, including communities buried in a mudslide at the base of a volcano. Bridges and roads were washed away. Food and supplies were hard to come by.

"The devastation [was] ... amazing because I'd never seen a natural disaster," said Dr. Shaiova, who works for Beth Israel Medical Center's Dept. of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care in New York City. "One day you're fine, and the next day your life is wiped out."

To reach the destitute, Dr. Shaiova waded through waist-high water, what was left from more than 30 inches of rain dumped on Nicaragua. She and other doctors were welcomed by villages wherever they went. [...]