Feature Story

Dr. Emily Dow treats a young patient at Hospital
San Carlos

Dr. Emily Dow, a volunteer physician for Doctors of the World-USA’s health program in Chiapas, Mexico, is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California Irvine’s School of Medicine and has been going to the Hospital San Carlos in Chiapas, Mexico every year since 1999. 

Although I go for only one month each year, Chiapas is a big part of my life.  The nuns who run the Hospital San Carlos are a wonderful group of strong, efficient, and capable women who have a commanding presence even among men.  I look to them as great role models for the nurse auxiliaries who are mostly shy and sweet adolescents.  They themselves are getting trained for lives beyond what they know, and the ones who shine get scholarships to receive formal training in nursing.  Over the years, I've seen those who started out as bright auxiliaries who went on to get the training and came proudly back to the Hospital as full-fledged nurses.

When I think of the women of Chiapas, I think of those indigenous Maya women who are older than their actual age, those beaten down by poverty, back-breaking work, and multiple rounds of child-bearing.  It is a patriarchal society where men do all the decision-making and speak for the women.  When patients come to the Hospital San Carlos, they see a place run by women and staffed by a majority of women.  I hope that they don't look at that as an anomaly, but see that these might be possibilities even within their own communities.  I've worked with health promoters, which have traditionally been men, but I believe that there are women who are now elected by their communities to represent them as health promoters cropping up.  Changes come in increments, but they are inevitable.

When people express their admiration for what I do, my usual response is, “I do it because I love it.”  Not only is it a medical adventure where I have to draw upon everything I've learned and know to treat and manage illnesses, it is an incredibly fulfilling experience and an opportunity to get a glimpse of how those in extreme poverty live and cope.  I always wonder how it is that they were born into that life, while I was born to mine, and how fortunate I am to have the skill and the opportunity to do my part, however small, in bringing some relief to the situation.  As long as I'm able, I'd like to continue to be a positive part of the lives of the Chiapanecos.”

Dr. Dow, and the hundreds of medical professionals like her who volunteer their time, expertise, and resources, are helping to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people around the world.