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| Name |
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Regis Schilken (regehschilken@aol.com) |
| Date |
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February 18, 2006 |
| From the Prologue to its final Dedication, Dr. Robert McKersie's book, In the Foothills of Medicine is not just a story of one man's legacy to heal his fellow man on opposite sides of the globe. It is an epic of courage, passion, enlightenment, inspiration and above all, a tale of human love. Throughout each inspiring page, the reader can see an unspoken virtue in Dr. McKersie that he could never attribute to himself. Persons of his caliber are blind to their own goodness. He is a physician in love with the beauty of human existence. In the beginning pages of In the Foothills of Medicine, Dr. McKersie writes of the nine hour automobile ride into India's magnificent Ganesh Mountains to a camp, from whence a hike of several days would walk him to the first medical clinic of Tipling. Mostly, he dismisses the discomforts endured himself, but consistently writes of the trials and courage of those carrying heavy clinical supplies and equipment over steeply inclined, seldom-trekked mountain footpaths. These precipitous ascents and descents in some places were so hazardous, that a misplaced footstep or loss of balance could result in a death-tumble of hundreds of feet. So why does he travel regularly to these remote medical outposts and leave his practice in the United States? McKersie is a thorough idealist. In these remote mountains of Nepal he can practice medicine as it should be practiced. He can establish a relationship with patients, because they need help and because they are human and beautiful. Here, he does not worry about salary. Rather, he worries about curing infection, controlling tuberculosis, stabilizing diabetes or a failing heart, or epilepsy. In Nepal he does not hassle over medical insurance. The mountains provide no such aid. Instead, he labors to mend a broken arm or leg, or to deliver a baby. Nor does he obsess about begging specialists to see poor or underprivileged patients free of charge. Instead, he and a handful of doctors and nurses are the "general" specialists. They provide what help they can, then counsel village family members on continuing care. A half world away during part of each year, Dr. McKersie is a regular family physician doing his utmost to provide the same kind of personal health care to patients on the South Side of Chicago as in distant Nepal village medical clinics. But should that statement not be reversed? McKersie would say, "No!" He often feels frustrated here in the United States attempting to arrange needed health care for seriously ill patients lacking insurance. In addition, there is the ongoing struggle for affordable medicines for those without big bucks. In the end, people who cannot pay for health care in this country are tantamount to a Nepalese villager. In the Foothills of Medicine is a fascinating story - an adventure that leaps from its pages as you follow one doctor's efforts to heal the sick and promote social change in two vastly different cultures: Nepal and the United States. His vision of the latter is simple: the US needs a vital health care system now, for every citizen regardless of income. Dr. McKersie's tell-it-like-it-is memoir will grab your interest from its first page. This book is an outstanding read for everyone, but has a special message to those involved in health care. It is a critical document for every politician. It is my hope that readers of In the Foothills of Medicine will urge their congress women and men to live up to their social responsibility and not rest until vital health care is available to every United States citizen. Hats off to Doctor McKersie for his remarkable story. |
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