By Jamie Cirbus
This is now my third trip to Guyana to work at Georgetown Public hospital, fondly referred to as GPHC, in the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E). Each trip has been eye-opening, motivating, inspirational, at times frustrating and heart-wrenching, and always immensely rewarding. I am fortunate to be the current Global Health Emergency Medicine Fellow at Vanderbilt, meaning I will spend much of my time this year working in Guyana.
In 2010, in partnership with GPHC, Vanderbilt began an Emergency Medicine Residency Program here. Now, led by a handful of residency graduates in Registrar positions and visiting Vanderbilt faculty, the program continues to flourish. It is truly amazing to hear about and see how far the care provided in the Accident and Emergency Department has come. It makes my time working here exponentially more gratifying knowing that not only am I able to provide direct patient care but more importantly, I am helping to train future Emergency Medicine Specialists who will then continue to pass this knowledge along.