2008.08.13: August 13, 2008: Headlines: COS - Togo: Medicine: Public Health: Alpine Avalanche: Dr. Peter Davenport served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Togo: Peace Corps Togo : Peace Corps Togo: Newest Stories: 2008.08.13: August 13, 2008: Headlines: COS - Togo: Medicine: Public Health: Alpine Avalanche: Dr. Peter Davenport served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo

By Admin1 (admin) (70.135.11.140) on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 - 3:32 pm: Edit Post

Dr. Peter Davenport served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo

Dr. Peter Davenport served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo

“The Peace Corps put me down in a tiny village with a pretty wide-open mandate to attack health issues” - water, cleanliness, etc., he said. “And then about half my time was spent working in the city, working with people who were fighting AIDS.We worked with them to reform procedures to meet international standards. That allowed them to get donors, doctors. “I got a lot out of it, a fantastic experience,” he added, “in terms of seeing another culture. “It’s a very, very poor area. But as a general rule, despite little money and short life expectancy, everyone seems to be enjoying life. These people work constantly, from sun-up to sundown, just to survive. You gain perspective from that.”

Dr. Peter Davenport served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo

A taste of rural medicine

Dr. Peter Davenport — from Peace Corps to Fort Worth hospital to Alpine.

By Mike Perry

If Dr. Peter Davenport’s one-month residency in Alpine is any indication, everything and everyone are connected.

Davenport is in Alpine taking what he termed a “rural elective” as part of the residency program of Fort Worth’s John Peter Smith Hospital (JPS).

He’s no stranger to at least one of the doctors at Alpine’s Pearce Clinic. Davenport and Dr. Adrian Billings knew each other while attending the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

After finishing in Galveston, Davenport headed off to the Peace Corps while Billings headed to JPS as a resident. When Davenport got back to the U.S., Billings was the head resident at JPS and helped Davenport enter the program.

Now, as his residency nears its end (Dec. 28), Davenport says he expects to enter general medicine, probably in a smaller city.

Alpine? Maybe.

Essentially, he’s spending a month in the Alpine program.

“It’s been great,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of [Pearce Clinic] work with Dr. Billings, a couple of C sections with Dr. James Luecke” and many more procedures.

“The scope of things I’ve done in a week and a half have been very impressive,” he said.

Davenport grew up in San Antonio and graduated from Churchill High. After that, he went to Colorado College in Colorado Springs, picking up a bachelor of arts in neuroscience, which, he says, is “basically the study of the human brain and its interaction with the body. … I guess I always had the idea I was headed toward medical school.

“And neuroscience overlapped so much with the prerequisites applying to med school.”

Two years with the Peace Corps in Togo - “a tiny sliver of a country in sub-Saharan Africa” - came next.

“I don’t know if had a particularly specific inspiration to go into the Peace Corps,” he said. “I kind of had a general sense that I’d been on a course toward medicine, but I felt like I had to do some work that wasn’t simply getting ready for that.

“I was born lucky as far as where I lived and my family, so I guess I wanted to give back a little, see if I could use what I’d been given. And, quite frankly, see the world and a different culture.

“The Peace Corps put me down in a tiny village with a pretty wide-open mandate to attack health issues” - water, cleanliness, etc., he said.

“And then about half my time was spent working in the city, working with people who were fighting AIDS.We worked with them to reform procedures to meet international standards. That allowed them to get donors, doctors.

“I got a lot out of it, a fantastic experience,” he added, “in terms of seeing another culture.

“It’s a very, very poor area. But as a general rule, despite little money and short life expectancy, everyone seems to be enjoying life. These people work constantly, from sun-up to sundown, just to survive. You gain perspective from that.”




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: August, 2008; Peace Corps Togo; Directory of Togo RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Togo RPCVs; Medicine; Public Health





When this story was posted in August 2008, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers RSS Feed
PCVs Evacuated from Georgia Date: August 19 2008 No: 1254 PCVs Evacuated from Georgia
The Peace Corps has announced that all Volunteers and trainees serving in the Republic of Georgia are safe and they have been temporarily relocated to neighboring Armenia. Read the analysis by one RPCV on how Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili believed that he could launch a lightning assault on South Ossetia and reclaim the republic without substantial grief from Moscow and that Saakashvili's statements once the war began demonstrated that he expected real Western help in confronting Russia.


 Contact PCOL Search PCOL with Google Site Index Recent Posts Bulletin Board Open Discussion RPCV Directory Register
Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act Date: October 27 2007 No: 1206 Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act
Senator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped this administration violate the civil liberties of Americans. "It is time to say: No more. No more trampling on our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are fundamental, basic, eternal principles. They have been around, some of them, for as long as the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them."

August 6, 2008: This Month's Top Stories Date: August 6 2008 No: 1250 August 6, 2008: This Month's Top Stories
PC in Budget Crunch may cut PCVs by 5% 5 Aug
Garamendi first to announce run for governor in 2010 2 Aug
Bob and Pat Parish receive president’s award 31 Jul
Sam Brownback removes block on Kathleen Stephens 31 Jul
Peace Corps Removes Ban on HIV-Positive Volunteers 31 Jul
RPCVs organize online for Obama 31 Jul
Peace group awards perfect rating to Sam Farr 29 Jul
How Hill used back channels to negotiate Korean agreement 27 Jul
Voter surge may hurt Shays 26 Jul
Matthew A. Hamilton writes: A Shadow on Ararat 25 Jul
Gates says Tools of inspiration are indispensable 15 Jul
An interview with Composer Gabriela Lena Frank 13 Jul
Ginny Farmer to swim in Olympics for American Samoa 11 Jul
Dodd is possible vice presidential candidate 11 Jul
Carl Pope supports the Pickens Plan 8 Jul
George Packer writes: Obama’s Iraq Problem 7 Jul
An Interview with PCOL 4 Jul
Ifugao hopes for tourism boost after Campbell Trial 3 Jul
Peace Corps To Quit Kiribati 3 Jul
Tony Hall asks: Where is moral outrage over food crisis? 3 Jul
Wofford raises awareness about global poverty 2 Jul

New: More Stories from June and July 2008

July 1, 2008: This Month's Top Stories Date: July 16 2008 No: 1245 July 1, 2008: This Month's Top Stories
Sarah Chayes continues work in Kandahar 29 Jun
PCV Catherine Saltwick killed in Automobile Accident 2 Jun
Richard Stoll returns to Tonga for capitol’s rebuild 2 Jun
Peace Corps Reopens Program in Liberia 4 Jun
Tu Dang is a Foreign Affairs Officer 4 Jun
Bethany Hedt takes aim at AIDS with statistics 5 Jun
Expanding opportunities for deaf PCVs 5 Jun
Peace Corps/Kenya Program Reopening 6 Jun
José Klein is plate artist 9 Jun
Kenyan Prime Minister Visits PC Headquarters 19 Jun
Michael Meyer's writes "The Last Days of Old Beijing" 20 Jun
Chuck Ludlam writes: Congress Enacts PCV Tax Law 24 Jun
Dodd Speaks in Opposition to FISA Bill 24 Jun
Christopher Hill critical to success in Korea Talks 25 Jun
Mark Gearan writes: Hillary Clinton's Contribution 25 Jun
James Rupert writes: Pakistan Fights Taliban 27 Jun
Elaine Chao hails U.S.-China dialogue 28 Jun
Obituary for Bud Keith - Champion for Disabled 29 Jun
Life in prison for killer of PCV Julia Campbell 30 Jun
John Coyne writes: PC Archives at JFK Library 30 Jun
Mark Shriver to Chair National Commission on Children 30 Jun

New: More Stories from May and June 2008

June 1, 2008: This Month's Top Stories Date: July 16 2008 No: 1247 June 1, 2008: This Month's Top Stories
Senator ties up Kathleen Stephens appointment 1 May
Philip Dacey writes "The New York Postcard Sonnets" 31 May
Sophia Polasky writes: Luncheon with the president 30 May
Arnold Wendroff warns dangers of ritual use of mercury 30 May
Lynn Lurie writes “Corner of the Dead" 29 May
Obama Urges Grads To Serve Country 26 May
Nick Mucha promotes development at surf destinations 25 May
Don Crosby and wife serve in Thailand at 70 23 May
Matthew Handley pursued case of 12 murdered Nepalis 22 May
Zig and Irma Sokolnicki receive President's Award 21 May
Bruce Sterling writes: Steve Cisler RIP 20 May
Colorado to host Peace Corps Reunion in August 19 May
Hugh Pickens writes: Death Be Not Proud 17 May
Zachery Scott writes: Being a gay volunteer 14 May
PCVs in China Are Safe after earthquake 12 May
Louis Adams relives PC days in Morocco 12 May
Jemison say US leaders have made foolish decisions 11 May
Amy Smith's low-tech inventions have high impact 8 May
Bill Moyers on the 2008 Elections 8 May
Don Odermann creates Education Fund for Latin Players 5 May
Peter Hessler wins National Magazine Award 2 May

New: More Stories from April and May 2008



Read the stories and leave your comments.








Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Alpine Avalanche

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Togo; Medicine; Public Health

PCOL41998
64


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: