Alex Brown aids in delivering a baby, among other medical procedures in Nepal

On July 12, Alex Brown (’21) traveled to Nepal through the program Projects Abroad where he observed and worked in numerous hospitals, helped deliver a baby and participated in other medical procedures. Leaving for two weeks, Brown first traveled 14 hours to China. Then, after a six hour layover, he flew to Kathmandu, turning the eligible age for his program, 16, during flight. The purpose of this trip was to expose himself to the medical field, an area he had no prior experience in, and to see if he has what it takes to be in such a hands-on field.  Projects Abroad is a social-outreach curriculum with the intention of bringing in any available hands to communities in need. In this case, that meant bringing 21 teenagers to observe and work in highly understaffed medical clinics in rural Nepal. These hospitals, as Brown saw, were not the same meticulously scheduled, sterile institutions that are expected in America.  “People that had been waiting there for days were lined up in the hallways, still waiting to receive medical treatment,” Brown said.  Through the Projects Abroad curriculum, these teenagers were able to compensate for the understaffing in medical clinics and learned about medicine themselves. Being outside of Kathmandu, each hospital was often in the middle of nowhere, resulting in little staff and minimal medical equipment. Brown was able to see the effects of the system firsthand from day one, where the unexpected started to define the rest of the trip. “The medical system there is on a walk-in basis. Each day you walk in and have no idea what you’re going to see,” Brown said.  Between the five hospitals that Brown worked at, he saw a spectrum of issues, from basic eye problems to severe wounds. Starting at the Chitwan Medical College (CMC) located in Bharatpur in the Chitwan district, he rotated between the Radiology Ward, the Emergency Room (ER), the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the Child Delivery Unit. Working in the Child Delivery Unit, he participated in the birthing procedure of a baby, handing the doctor rags and tools through the entirety of the mother’s labor. In the ER, Brown helped to hold together the eye of a man that had gotten into a car accident while it was stitched by a doctor.  After leaving the CMC, Brown went to three other hospitals in the Chitwan area where he witnessed multiple abortions, vasectomies and the implantation of an intrauterine device. Brown went into this experience not knowing exactly what to expect. Now that he has taken part in it, he can confidently say that medicine is something he is considering for his future.  “Overall, I feel extremely grateful to have been given this opportunity. While I’m still unsure of my future, I know that I would have no problem with working in the medical field. I was able to see that I’m capable of handling the intensity of an ER situation, so now I know that it’s something that I can actually pursue in the future,” Brown said.