I recently received a book for my birthday called “Going Home” by the well-known Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich That Hanh. I started reading it on my flight from Minneapolis to Seattle en route to Chiang Mai, Thailand. During this flight I also started to think about what I might write about in my first blog post and quickly this idea of “going home” entered my mind.
It was nearly 10 years ago that I first came to Thailand. Shortly after graduating college (3 days to be exact!), I moved to Chiang Rai, the northernmost province in Thailand to teach English. The University that I taught at (Mae Fah Luang) was breathtakingly beautiful, located ~30km north of Chiang Rai city, and about an hour from the border with Burma and Laos. It was a magical year for me. I had not spent much time outside of the US before this and I was struck by how incredibly at home I felt in Chiang Rai. It was quiet, rural, warm and inviting. I learned many things in Chiang Rai, among them how to live at a slower pace of life and how to hold things more lightly (my students told me more than once, “teacher, don’t be so serious!”).
When I returned to the US to start medical school the following year, I asked my advisor at one of our first meetings when I could return to Thailand. It was not until two years later that I took a 3-week trip to Thailand where I visited friends in Chiang Rai and volunteered at a mindfulness-based recovery center called New Life Foundation. I started my internal medicine rotation shortly after returning from Thailand that summer but decided that I would take an extra year during medical school to return to Thailand through our Flexible MD program. During that year (2013-14) I spent 8 additional months in Thailand doing rotations at Chiang Mai University hospital (Hem-Onc, Family & Community Medicine), doing a research project related to palliative care in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia in a rural area and completing 8-weeks of Yoga teacher training.
When I started residency, many people thought I would pursue global health given my previous experiences in Asia. However, this was not the case for me right away. I decided that I wanted to consider other things and keep an open mind as I started this new phase of training. But, as you may have guessed, I was quickly drawn back to the global health community. A very wise mentor in medicine told me early on in medical school that it is important to “find your tribe” in medicine because without this it can be a difficult and isolating road. He did not define exactly what he meant by “tribe” but I took it to mean the people with whom you resonate, share values and feel inspired by. For me, these were the people in the global health community. I found these people to be compassionate, service-oriented, talented and yet very humble; they were people who saw medicine as more than a job - who advocated for vulnerable populations such as refugees and immigrants, stood up for social justice and human rights, and deeply valued human connection.
It was for many of these reasons that I decided to do this global health chief resident year. I think it will be a unique opportunity to connect with people all over the world who are passionate about improving the health of all people and working towards creating a more just and compassionate society. I also look forward to supporting those who are part of the global medicine program at the U of MN specifically through education and community building. As I mentioned above, I am fortunate to be able to return to Thailand - my “second home” - for 6 months this year. The U of MN has a long-standing relationship with Chiang Mai University Faculty of Medicine that includes resident and medical student exchange programs and collaborative research. I continued to be interested in end of life care and am grateful for the opportunity to spend time in the ICU and palliative care services and work on an educational project related to palliative care in global health.
I will try to post on this blog at least every couple of weeks while I am abroad. Throughout my travels and my life, writing has been something that I have enjoyed and found very helpful. Each time that I lived in Thailand previously, I kept a blog (I'm happy to share the links to these if you are interested) and I look forward to doing the same this time. I feel that writing and reflection are important aspects to our work as healthcare providers but unfortunately we often do not have time for these with our busy schedules in the US. My co-global health chief resident Shemal Shah also plans to post on the blog while he is in Tanzania starting in January. We hope that you can learn more about Thailand and Tanzania through our writing and that our work can foster continued collaboration between the U of MN global health community and our partners around the world.
Sending warm wishes from Thailand,
~ Megan
Photos:
Maharaj Nakhorn Hospital (locals call "Suandok").
Chiang Mai University Faculty of Medicine
With one of many elephants around campus; favorite animal in these parts. ;-)
