It was 1989 when Dr. John Doty saw true poverty for the first time.
"My brother asked me to go on a short-term medical mission," he recalls. "I had always enjoyed canoeing, camping, backpacking — so I saw it as an adventure. I signed up on a lark."
But what he saw when he traveled to Peru on that mission changed him forever. "I was confronted with what poverty is. True world poverty is unimaginably harsh. When you see starving children, and when you see untreated health problems that are easily correctible, you're driven to do something about it."
He and his brother also realized the limitations of short-term medical brigades.
"You drop down in the community, you treat the kids for worms, you give them vitamins and treat the lice, but you can't really treat serious illnesses because you have no lab, no medical records, and limited medicines. Then, you get back on your plane and you might was well be flying back to Mars."
With no follow-up, within a few months, the kids they treated would be re-infested with worms and lice. Dr. Doty thought there had to be a better way.
More than a medical brigade
With a civil war breaking out in Peru, Dr. Doty and the medical brigade, realizing they couldn't go back there, sought out another place where they could minister. Through some connections, they were able to build a relationship with Dr. Nour Sirker in Nicaragua, so they set their sights there.
In 1992, a team from Doty's church, along with people from other churches around Austin, started taking medical teams to Nicaragua. But this time, they had a bigger vision — they wanted to do more than just treat patients for a week or two.
During the past 17 years they've done just that. They've developed and funded many different initiatives, including partnerships with five different clinics in Nicaragua, an effort to provide breast and cervical cancer care in cooperation with other groups (cervical cancer is the No.1 killer of Nicaraguan women between the ages of 30 and 60), and the development of a Nicaraguan cancer registry (with the help of donated computers).
The group also recruits U.S. doctors to get involved by building relationships with Nicaraguan doctors and passing along their expertise, knowledge, and skills. "I pair U.S. doctors with a Nicaraguan doctor in their specialty. The U.S. doctors will pick a topic, lecture on it, discuss cases, and transfer their knowledge to the specialist in Nicaragua. When they come back to the U.S., their skills and knowledge are left in Nicaragua."
Treating patients in a trash dump
In 2007, the group decided it was time to better organize what they were doing, and they formed Austin Samaritans. Dr. Doty left his oncology practice, the Southwest Regional Cancer Center, on Feb. 26, 2008 to become Executive Director of the organization.
He travels to Nicaragua every few months. Often, he'll visit Casa Base de Salud, a clinic Austin Samaritans supports in a squatter's settlement called La Chureca (translated: the wastebasket), located in the trash dump at the northwest corner of Managua, the country's capital. Thirteen hundred people call La Chureca their home, and more than 2,700 people rummage through the garbage to survive.
He's seen many changes there, including improved conditions within La Chureca and a partnership between the clinic and the nearby school, where Austin Samaritans helps with a feeding program. "The most fulfilling things are seeing the changes, as well as the dedication of Nicaraguan health care workers, teachers, and staff. They work under conditions that American professionals would find intolerable."
How you can make an impact
When he's back in the U.S., Dr. Doty travels around speaking to different groups and letting people know about Austin Samaritans and how they can help.
Currently, Austin Samaritans needs a full spectrum of medical specialties — as well as dieticians, nurses, physical therapists, audiologists, and even construction workers. "Whatever you do best in the U.S. — we figure out how to use that skill in Nicaragua."
"There are many willing partners, in Nicaragua and other countries," Doty says, "If you take the time to develop relationships with the indigenous health care workers, you can make a much greater impact than you can with a short-term visit. That's the key."
To find out more about Austin Samaritans, visit www.austinsamaritans.org.