Last year, a Lebanese woman arrived to the SAMS polyclinic in the Bekaa Valley, asking for an urgent appointment with me as internist for her father. “The clinic is so crowded but I can wait, ” she said. I examined her father, an 85 year old man struggling with chronic...
More than half a million Rohingya refugees have fled persecution in Myanmar, seeking refuge in makeshift shelters in Bangladesh. In order to respond to the growing need for medical care in Bangladesh, SAMS Global Response (SGR) has partnered with a local medical organization, Gonoshaathata Kendra (GK) to assess the situation...
Salah, a young Syrian, once lived in rural Damascus with his family. As violence escalated, he and his family fled Syria for Lebanon. They now live in the Beka’a Valley, home to over a million Syrian refugees. Although he is now far from the aerial attacks that plagued his hometown,...
With the Syrian conflict continuing through its seventh year, 5 million Syrians are displaced outside of their home country. Over 1 million Syrian refugees now reside in Jordan, the sixth highest refugee-hosting country in the world. For refugees who have fled from devastating conditions such as siege and aerial attacks,...
My GP colleague left in the last week and I found myself the sole ‘generalist’ medical provider. There was an American obstetrician & gynaecologist who was newly arrived and would care for most of the women’s health patients. Having been there for two weeks, I was allocated the clinical lead....
I made my decision to leave specialist training in emergency medicine last year. My reasons for leaving were multi-factorial but for the most part I lost my confidence as a doctor. When so much of my life was dedicated to medicine, I essentially felt like I lost myself. So I...
Since ISIS took control of Mosul in June 2014, 3-year-old Mustafa had only known life under ISIS rule. Last week, he learned how to run for his life as he desperately ran to escape a sniper’s bullet. Now, living a few miles outside of Mosul, Mustafa is fearful and easily...
“Refugees here are in need of much more than just physicians – there is a need for all types of healthcare workers, from speech pathologists to physical therapists to child psychologists and more.” Obadah Moushmoush recently joined the SAMS medical mission to Lebanon, where he has been supporting physicians...
It’s 7 pm on a Tuesday in the Bekaa Valley, and Dr. John Kahler has just completed the single most medically challenging day on a medical mission in 27 years. Since July 13th, Dr. Kahler has been in Lebanon, where he is providing care on a medical mission alongside physicians...
Vickey Patel, PT, MS, is a physical therapist who recently joined our SAMS medical mission to Jordan in July. Together, she and Lydia Palmer, an occupational therapist, supported 70 patients in need of rehabilitation and therapeutic care. She shared with us her motivation for joining a SAMS medical mission, and the story of...
Dr. Nour is a Syrian pediatrician working with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). For four years, she has been practicing within conflict zones inside Syria. She recently spoke at a UN OHCHR/WHO Meeting on Child Mortality in Geneva. She shared with us her remarks from the meeting, detailing attacks...
Cardiologist Dr. Waseem Akhter joined the SAMS Medical Mission to Jordan in July of 2017. Throughout the medical mission, he and his colleagues performed 63 cardiac catheterizations. On the first day of the medical mission, he met a patient whose experience he shared with us. I am called to the...
