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RAMAPO NEWS
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GAME NIGHT
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Convocation Speaker Details Experiences in Haiti 9.23.2010
A Publication by the Students for the Ramapo College Community
XLI No. 2
photo by Stefanie Mauro
First-year students, faculty and members of the Ramapo community gathered in the Bradley Center to hear David Waltonʼs explanation of the novel “Mountains Beyond Mountains.”
By MEGAN ANDERLE Editor-in-Chief
A physician who worked in Haiti and provided care for more than 500,000 devastated Haitian natives after the January earthquake visited Ramapo College yesterday to recount his experiences in the ravaged third-world country. David Walton, the topic of Tracy Kidder’s “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” recounted his experiences working with Paul Farmer using anecdotes, statistics and humor. The event was well-attended by firstyear students, faculty, administration and members of the community. He discussed the present state of Haiti and a plan for the future. The physician engaged his students with humor in the beginning of his lecture. “I know you’re wondering, ‘who is this guy? Why is he standing in front of me,’” Walton said. “Well, I’m kind of a big deal.” First-year student Matthew Zven said he felt Walton’s humor was unnecessary. “The way he started off made him seem concieded,” Zven said. The lecture made a somber turn when he Walton projected a collection of harrowing, but revealing, photos of Haitians in need of serious medical attention. One of the photos depicted a child who was hit in the face with a block of cement; another was of a boy with tetanus.
First-year student Melissa Shrieks said she felt the photos made the lecture more compelling. “The pictures made the book feel real,” Shrieks said. “What the Haitians suffered is beyond words,” Walton said. “Everything I’ve discussed is overwhelming for me, people I work with and the Haitians. Focusing on simple objectives has always been the best approach.” Partners in Health recruited other physicians to join them in Haiti. He said the international response to the crisis was “quick, but not quick enough.” “Our job was to call in physicians of every specialty to say ‘I need you now. You may or may not know what’s going on in Haiti, but drop what you’re doing,’” Walton said. There are 5.9 doctors per every 10,000 in Haiti, according to Walton. He used this statistic, as well as others, to illustrate his point of how limited access is to medical care in Haiti, Eight or nine months since the earthquake, 1.2 million Haitians are still homeless. On a daily basis, Walton and his colleagues treated malnourished children. Though the team encountered many obstacles, they had many successes as well. After treating a malnourished man for six months, the physicians added years to the Haitian’s life. “It’s not extraordinary that he is cured,” Walton said. “This is what happens when poor people received medicine.”
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see CONVOCATION on page 6