- Manhattan doctor Lucy Doyle has done stints with the global medical relief organization Doctors Without Borders in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. But her latest assignment is a real eye-opener: New York City.
In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Doctors Without Borders has set up its first-ever medical clinic in the United States, and Doyle finds herself on the front line of disaster just miles from her day job.
“A lot of us have said it feels a lot like being in the field in a foreign country,” said Doyle, who specializes in internal medicine at New York’s Bellevue Hospital, now closed by Sandy’s damage.
“I don’t think any of us expected to see this level of lacking access to healthcare,” said Doyle.
Sandy’s death toll in the United States and Canada reached 121 after New York authorities on Wednesday reported another storm-related death, this one in the Rockaways. Tens of thousands are thought to be displaced in New York City.
DIRE SITUATION, 15 FLOORS UP
The situation in the Rockaways is dire: high-rises don’t have working elevators, street lights are dark and until a day or two ago, pharmacies had either been destroyed or were shuttered. The almost complete absence of police, coupled with the constant darkness, has left residents fearful of leaving their apartments.
“Their pharmacies are closed. Their doctors’ offices are closed. They need a way to get refills of the medicines they take all the time,” said Danya Reich, a physician at Beth Israel Medical Group in Manhattan, as she waited to see patients in a first-floor laundry room that was serving as a medical clinic. MORE
When I first came across this article, I was so happy that this Hurricane was going to receive the first help given to the USA from the International Group ‘Doctors Without Borders’! Then, I started to read the article; The doctors mentioned are from and have practices in the New York area to begin with; and I don’t understand why they are using the headline ‘Doctors Without Borders’.I think if more Doctors and people all living in the same country and communities step up and help each other out like Dr. Dave Ores did at the beginning by posting a sign offering his services in a time of need It just might make this country a little better?Despite my thoughts and question; I want to send a Thank You to the Doctors For Your Help. shera~Dave Ores, MD
189 East 2nd St
(between Avenue B & Avenue A)
New York, NY 10009
Neighborhood: Lower East Side(212) 353-3020Brian McDermott
Dr. David Ores examined a patient at the nonprofit health care cooperative on the Lower East Side that he runs.
Reuters/REUTERS – Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, doctor Lucy Doyle checks the blood pressure of Lorraine Bryant in her 15th floor apartment of New York City Housing Authority
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