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doctors without borders
18
NOV / DEC 2014
I
Healthcare Journal of new orleans
send out. And each team could be completely
self-functioning. The next time an NGO or
the government is looking to hire people for
vaccination, all those people now have expe-
rience and skills.”
Considering the combat near some MSF
mission locations, such as Sudan and South
Sudan, and the targeting of aid workers by
warring factions, the level of risk could rea-
sonably give someone pause. How does the
balance of risk and assistance level out for
someone like Reynaud?
“Maybe I’m just kind of dumb, but I’ve
never been in a situation where I was wor-
ried about my own safety,” he says. “There’s
usually a team leader or a project leader,
someone whose job is always monitoring
the situation. If they say the situation is OK,
starving, and they just need help.”
She encourages anyone with a passion for
that kind of work to pursue it.
“Even though it’s called Doctors Without
Borders, it is by no means just physicians,”
she says. “When I’m working, it’s me next to
the lab technician and the pharmacist and the
mental health officer. People have very differ-
ent backgrounds, but everyone is an equal,
and I really liked that dynamic. People don’t
know that you don’t have to be a doctor. If
you’re medical – an EMT, a pharmacy tech-
nician, a lab technician, then there’s a place
for you.
When Reynaud decided to establish a
practice in the United States, he did so with
the understanding that his employer would
allow him to spend six months every year
overseas on missions for MSF. Beyond the
invaluable medical expertise he gained on
the missions, he wants to make a positive
impact with his work.
“There are a lot of problems in the world,
and there’s a lot of work to be done to solve
some of these problems,”he says. “It’s a great
thing to be a part of what I see as the solu-
tion … every little bit you can do has immea-
surable benefit for a lot of these people.”
n
then I’m fine with that. But if they say, ‘Now
it’s time to go,’ you drop everything and you
go. I’ve never felt a situation was too danger-
ous for me to work.
“I don’t think guns are going to protect
you. I think you’re safe without the gun.
When they know you have no guns, there’s
no reason to shoot.”
Dhand agrees. She volunteered for other,
smaller NGOs and says MSF has a better
structure in place to protect volunteers. No
weapons of any kind are allowed in MSF
facilities. The organization’s impartial nature
– providing care to anyone in need – gives it
access to the people most in need.
“
Who else is going to do it?” says Dhand.
“The people in those situations have somuch
need you can’t even imagine. They’re literally
A refugee camp clinic in
Kenya. Inset: A nutrition
center in South Sudan.