Sujet
Dr J V Larsen\\'s final week at Eshowe Hospital
Légende
A Road Less Travelled: a reflection on the boundaries of Dr J. V. Larsenís career\n\nMy father\\'s life has been defined by boundaries, both good and bad! Many of these he crossed, some to his credit, and some to his detriment. Always, however, it was in the service of others and his God. In the 1960s he crossed the boundary of what was socially acceptable In a nation dominated by the socio-political and economic system of apartheid. As a recently qualified doctor he took his young wife to live in rural Zululand to serve and live among the poorest of the poor on a mission hospital. Such was the multiracial character of that community and its impact of the surrounding area that the apartheid security police kept it under careful scrutiny. \n\nHe crossed the boundary of personal ambition when in the early 1980s he was given the opportunity to go to the top of his profession as professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the largest teaching hospital in the southern hemisphere, Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg. Instead he believed he was called to return to rural Zululand. Together with colleagues, he built a system of rural obstetric and gynaecological care that eventually saved thousands of lives.\n\nHe crossed boundaries when he entrusted the care of rural women to advanced diploma midwives whom he trained changing the whole pattern of obstetric care from one of disaster management to a working system - neonatal mortality dropped from 68 per 1000 in the hospital to 25, and from 47 per thousand in the district to 25.\n\nAll of this came at considerable cost though. He suffered severe burnout on at least two occasions. This was largely related to unwise political decisions which undid in two weeks the many years of building an effective primary health care system. It was largely the support of my mother which helped him learn his personal boundaries and the limits of his responsibility. \n\nThese pictures were taken in December 2004, the final week of Dr J.
Crédit
Photo12/Africa Media Online
Notre référence
APN09A01_164
Utilisation
uniquement en France, Belgique, Suisse
Model release
Non
Licence
Droits gérés
Format disponible
18,4Mo (687,9Ko) / 26,8cm x 17,2cm / 3163 x 2032 (300dpi)