WINCHESTER, Mass. — When most people think about a summer vacation, the goal is usually much-needed rest and relaxation from their daily job responsibilities.
Dr. Keren Wilson of Winchester Hospital takes a different approach; one that is Positively Massachusetts.
She goes to the Dominican Republic every year to provide medical care to children who otherwise would go without it.
Dr. Wilson travels about 4-5 hours on a bus from Santa Domingo to Barahona where she sees crushing poverty.
“Many of the houses have no running water. Many of them don’t even have floors...you ask the kids, ‘When do you have a belly ache?’ And a lot of them say, ‘When I don’t have food.’”
Many of them would go without medical care too, if not for the annual trip Dr. Wilson makes from Winchester Hospital.
She provides all kinds of health screenings for the children and sees everything from fungal infections to scabies and lice.
“I would say a lot of GI issues, and again, this is primarily because of sanitation issues with the water. Sometimes the food is contaminated,” she said.
For the past four years, Doctor Wilson has traveled to the Dominican Republic with other medical volunteers and suitcases full of medicine.
“I actually love it because you’re going there and you’re just treating patients. You’re not worried about the computer. You’re not worried about insurance. You’re just able to be in the moment.”
Her trip is sponsored by the non-profit Children of the Nations, an organization that provides medical care and other services in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Cheryl Cuthbertson, the organization’s vice president of engagement and sustainability, said that everyone loves Doctor Wilson. “She’s so easy to work with and she loves being there and it’s just something that she commits her life to every year, and we are just so grateful that she does.”
Doctor Wilson brings her two teenage daughters on the trip, believing these visits provide life lessons.
Despite recent cases like New Hampshire nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter being abducted in Haiti, Doctor Wilson says she feels safe in the Dominican Republic.
She’s already thinking about next summer. “I want to try to get a vision screening going for well-child checks. Each time we go, we try to add another screening.”
It’s all about improving the quality of life for so many children, even though they’re more than 1,500 miles from where she usually practices.
“What I am really hoping to do is know that I’ve made a difference, right?”
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2023 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
