Sometime in life, the people that inspire us the most are not people that we see everyday; they might not even know our name. It's a lesson in the importance of always trying to choose love everyday because you never know whom you may touch with your kindness--even people that you may not even know!
My Spotlight Sunday this week is for Dr. Paul Farmer. I had to read one of his books, Pathologies of Power, for my Law class my freshman year at UCSB. At the time, I was just totally mesmerized by the book (proof that some GE's are totally worth it!). I remember that my good friend at the time that was taking the class with me didn't even really read the book. We were supposed to write a huge paper on it (mine was 26 pages!) so I'm not sure how he pulled that off... but I was kinda bummed at the time because I really was inspired by what I was reading and wanted to talk to someone else about it. Fast forward a few years... getting into the medical world by volunteering in the SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, taking all my nursing pre-reqs, doing EMT, and being on the human cadaver team... I finally found some people that I could talk to about it. Someone mentioned his name one time and I almost stopped in my tracks. You mean THE PAUL FARMER?! YOU READ ONE OF HIS BOOKS TOO?! Well as it turns out... anyone who really is inspired by and convicted to reach out to underserved (under served... not un deserved!!!) medicine has read at least one of his books. I gave my copy of PoP to my Medical Microbio professor because she just had to read it. (in my mind at least). It was so rad that I finally had people that I could geek out with. As time went on... I found more and more people that thought the way I did--the way that Dr. Farmer does: There are people all over the world, in rich countries and poor, in large cities and desolate areas, that are dying simply because they don't have the access to proper healthcare. I'm not talking the most expensive, radical, insane drug that is cutting edge technology. I am talking about people that die because of diarrhea. People that die because they were unable to get proper healthcare for a broken bone and got an infection. People that don't have access to medicine to treat tuberculosis and in turn are not only dying themselves, but infecting those around them. The sadness of it all is that some people get treatment and some will die all because we either won or lost some sort of birth lottery.
At his talk, Dr. Farmer (I keep wanting to just call him Paul...!) talked about how he was hit by a car in his early 20s. He said that he had multiple surgeries and physical therapy and was fine. And when he thought about how it would have been if the same thing had happened to some of the people he worked with in Haiti... the outcome would have been different. He said that it wasn't a question of if they might have died... it was highly improbable they would have lived.
Things such as that just absolutely break my heart. Dr. Farmer said himself that “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world." And I have to agree. It is just absolutely heartbreaking that people can die in one place and be up and running around in the other just because of where they were born and what type of economically advantaged family they had the (mis)fortune of being dropped into. Heartbreaking. It's the only word for what happens to my soul when I think about it.
The beautiful thing about Dr. Farmer's stories and books is that he has been fighting for decades to help end the inequity of human rights in healthcare. He has done so many inspiring things and saved so many lives that I could write a few books myself on it all. He has been the hands and feet of change. He understands that price and cost are not the same thing and that every human being is worthy of being helped. He isn't flipping economies upside down or creating some socialist society. He's not coauthoring Obamacare or saying everything should be free. Armed with reason, intelligence, and compassion he has transformed cities, negotiated with drug companies, re-prioritized agendas, and has saved lives. I really challenge you to learn more about him and about Partners in Health.
He is a huge hero of mine and an absolute inspiration. Hearing him talk just really affirmed how important it is for me to finish nursing school so that one day I can really effect change by teaming up with people who are fighting for their right to medical access. One of the greatest things was afterwards, he signed books for hours. Literally until past midnight. It didn't matter that he just came to Santa Barbara from SIBERIA... he stayed until past midnight to meet and greet everyone that was there. The line was sort of long, sort of not... so why did it take so darn long? Because when you went up there, he wanted to know about you. He wanted to hear part of your story, your journey, what you aspired to do. He cared about each individual. We were never a sea of faces that he was talking down to in a crowd... we were people that meant something to him. The essence of his work proclaims this in medicine... that we are all important... but to see that in person just left me speechless. This famous person that cared enough about you to hear your story. Amazing.
Thank you Dr. Farmer for all you have done and continue to do. This Spotlight Sunday only begins to cover the impact you've had on my life. Cheers to you!
:)
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