Doctors Without Borders

Doctors without Borders is an international medical humanitarian organization composed of doctors, nurses, and other medical and nonmedical professions who work to provide health care to patients in regions facing wars. The group also helps set up programs to help stop the spread of infectious diseases in those countries.

According to the University of Florida’s news, the president of the board of directors of doctors without borders in the United States, Dr. Darin Portnoy, has opened a clinic in Liberia to help Chechen refugees get emergency health care in Georgia and coordinated primary care programs in the Sudan so that they can help form programs to control tuberculosis in Uzbekistan and measles in Nigeria. Dr. Portnoy spoke at the University of Florida’s performing arts center; he wanted people to know what he and his group are doing so that people can help with money. One of the students, Heidi Nagel, who organized this play said that he wishes that the community will be made aware of what those doctors without borders are doing and help to contribute so that they can make a different in those places that need help. He said: “This to me is the primary altruistic example of what I believe in as a doctor.” Medical students and public health students from the College of Public Health and Health Professions have spent the past year planning and raising money to bring Dr. Portnoy to the University of Florida so that he can let people know what his organization does. The students are planning on selling photos, too, just to give donations to the organization. This is a great thing that those doctors are doing. I understand that they are not doing it for money, but just to help patients.

Knowing that they don’t get pay doing it, I think it’s an amazing thing that they are willing to do. Like Heidi Nigel said, I think this is what it really means to be a doctor, just having a heart to save someone’s life without putting money first. Knowing how dangerous certain places that those doctors go to, they still go anyways knowing that they are risking their lives everyday. They do it for the love of people, and they are willing to risk everything they have. They depend on other people for food and places to stay. I think everyone who can help in any way should do so. Knowing how much money doctors actually make a year, it is very amazing knowing that they would give up that and just volunteer to help people from other countries for free. People should do everything they can to help the doctors Without Borders organization afford all the supplies they are going to need to help those patients. I’ve learned that some of the Doctors do die doing this job. In Somalia, the Doctors Without Borders were attacked, but they were able to escape. I think places like Somalia make it hard for those doctors to provide help for them. I understand that when those doctors decide to volunteer they know where they are going and how dangerous it is, but the country’s government should be able to provide security for organizations like Doctors Without Borders. I think that’s the least they can do for them, knowing that they are helping their people. I understand that Somalia and mostly other countries in Africa are dealing with a lot of problems, and it is hard for those countries to provide security for their people, but I think they should do everything they can to secure organizations like Doctors Without Borders.

Dr. Richard Heinzl, one of the founders of Doctors Without Borders in Canada, said that we all have to make a difference in this world. When Dr. Heinzl came to visit Denver, he told them stories about the Doctors Without Borders experiences in places like Iraq, Cambodia, and Mozambique and how he related to them. Dr. Heinzl is currently CEO of Cardio View, an information technology company in the field of cardiology. His presentations have been called "a life-affirming celebration of the ability we all have to make a difference in this world, and a how-to guide for organizations that want to inject more energy and commitment into their culture, and become more global in their outlook."