Bangor Physicians Share Their Expertise in Sudan and Tanzania, Africa / 20 November, 2002

When Jill Seaman, MD, contacted David Clement, MD, and his wife Elizabeth Weiss, MD, to ask if they’d be interested in coming to Africa, to assist her in running her clinic in rural southern Sudan, their immediate response was yes. What began as a desire to assist a mutual friend, turned into an exciting one year sabbatical for Drs. Clement and Weiss. “Our groups, were both incredibly supportive of our request to take almost a full year away from the practices so that we could extend our expertise to other parts of the world and do some other things we had dreamed about doing together. It places a strain on a practice to be without one member for an extended period of time, and we are both grateful for our colleagues’ and patients’ support.” Dr. Clement is an anesthesiologist with Spectrum Medical Group and Dr. Weiss is an internist with Norumbega Internal Medicine.

From January to May of this year Drs. Clement and Weiss were in Africa. The first month was spent caring for patients in South Sudan. Dr. Seaman has worked for non-government health care organizations in Sudan and Ethiopia for thirteen years caring for patients with every type of disease. She organized her own NGO three years ago (Sudan Tuberculosis Project, www.Sudantbproject.org) to better use her knowledge of South Sudan. The living and health care conditions are poor. South Sudan is devastated by war. There is no electricity, no decent water, and virtually no roads. In fact, the area is still being bombed. At the clinic, Drs. Clement and Weiss cared for patients with tuberculosis, meningitis, parasitic disease, snakebites, and trauma. “We were prepared for anything to happen at any time,” stated Dr. Weiss.

After spending three weeks with Dr. Seaman, Drs. Clement and Weiss traveled to their next destination, Kilamanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) in Tanzania, Africa. Dr. Clement had volunteered to teach the local health care providers how to give anesthesia as part of his work with the American Society of Anesthesiology Overseas Teaching Program, a program that has been in place for ten years. KCMC is one of Tanzania’s largest hospitals with 450 beds and is situated at the foot of Mt. Kilamanjaro. While Dr. Clement taught paramedical staff how to administer anesthesia, his wife, Dr. Weiss, was teaching internal medicine on the in-patient floor. Five days a week, they both taught medical staff in the hospital. “Half my time was spent teaching in the classroom and the other half of my time was spent in the operating room. We were both there to teach.” In Tanzania, Drs. Clement and Weiss had a nice studio apartment, which usually had water and electricity. In their time away from KCMC, they climbed Kilamanjaro and went to game parks. Dr. Clement found teaching a challenge because of the different cultural approaches to health care and the lack of resources in the health care system in Tanzania. Because Tanzania has only six anesthesiologists for the population of 34 million, heavy reliance is placed on paramedical personnel with one to two years of training in anesthesia at KCMC. Clement found teaching these bright and eager students rewarding despite the difficulties imposed by the old equipment, drugs and protocols. Approximately 25% of the patients were infected with HIV/AIDS, which has become a huge burden to the hospital and Tanzania.

In May Drs. Clement and Weiss returned to Maine. In June they traveled out west and hiked extensively in Wyoming and Washington and visited friends in Alaska. In July they began the incredible feat of biking from Westport, Washington, to Eastport, Maine. The trip was 4,811 miles and took 61 days. “We feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to do what we did over the last year, “ stated Dr. Weiss. Dr. Clement is now back with Spectrum Medical Group at Eastern Maine Medical Center, and Dr. Weiss will soon reopen her practice at Norumbega Internal Medicine. “As well as enriching our lives and the lives of others, I believe these experiences make us better physicians. It’s wonderful to be back in Bangor where we feel rejuvenated and can better understand the health care system in this country,” stated Dr. Clement

Spectrum Medical Group

Established in 1996, Spectrum Medical Group is a statewide, physician directed multi-specialty physician group of 140 physicians specializing in the areas of anesthesiology, radiology, radiation oncology, pain management, and pathology. Spectrum provides anesthetics to over 50,000 patients annually. The Northern Anesthesiology Division provides anesthesiology services at Eastern Maine Medical Center, St. Joseph Hospital, and Acadia Medical Arts.

Norumbega Internal Medicine

Norumbega Internal Medical is a primary-care physician hospital organization (PHO) associated with Eastern Maine Medical Center. The PHO was started in the early 1990’s and is based in the Bangor area.