LIHU‘E – Dr. Jeffrey Goodman of Kilauea is back from his latest overseas medical mission, this time to Liberia in West Africa. Goodman is associated with the Santa Monica, Ca.-based International Medical Corps, and previously served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
LIHU‘E – Dr. Jeffrey Goodman of Kilauea is back from his latest overseas medical mission, this time to Liberia in West Africa.
Goodman is associated with the Santa Monica, Ca.-based International Medical Corps, and previously served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
His travels to Liberia turned into a two-part journey, Goodman told the Kauai Rotary Club at the club’s weekly Friday noon meeting held at Kauai Lagoons.
He began his work in restoring a medical clinic in December, but was soon forced to leave due to violence during the United Nations’ attempt to demilitarize former rebel troops, Goodman said. Gun fire and dangerous riot conditions created a panic in a refugee camp he was at, Goodman said during a computerized slide presentation.
He was able to return after the first of the year for six weeks to continue his work in educating in-country medical staff, in setting up permanent medical facilities, and in helping to heal the ill and wounded.
Goodman told of the pidgin-like English expressions used by Liberians, a number of whom are descended from African Americans who migrated to the African nation beginning in the late 1810s. Many of the place names of the nation have links to the United States, like Monrovia, the nation’s capitol, which is named in honor of President James Monroe, he said.
The International Medical Corps is one of the top ranked non-profit organizations in the United States, Goodman said, but has a low profile due to saving funds by not using advertising to seek donations.
Goodman told of a few highlights of his medical work in the war-torn nations. He said he was honored by the Queen of Jordan for his work in transporting seriously ill child cancer patients out of Baghdad. Seeing first-hand exotic locales in the Middle East was another.
The long-time North Shore doctor who founded the clinic at Kilauea in the 1970s is scheduled to leave again in June. He’ll then check-in at the IMC headquarters for an assignment to a destination yet unknown.
On the Web: http://www.imcworldwide.org
