Undergraduate Provides Medical Aid in Rural Mississippi

Q&A with Brad Stone

Brad Stone, a candidate for the Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree who plans to go to medical school, withdrew from his fall 2005 courses and spent nearly three months providing medical aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi.

What made you decide to volunteer?

In the summers I work as an EMT on an ambulance. I recall sitting in the rig and discussing the utterly desperate need in the Gulf Coast. I felt that I couldn’t not be there. I am the type who sees something wrong and does something about it. Some hippie friends from the Rainbow Family [a group who promotes peace and understanding] were talking about going down there to set up a community center and free kitchen. I figured I’d go along and try to do something medical if I could.

How did you wind up in Waveland?

Basically we drove around until we found a town that had sufficient need. We encountered a Christian outreach group from Texas who needed help in Waveland, a town 42 miles east of New Orleans. Waveland, with a population of 7,000, was actually hit harder than New Orleans. Their town was completely destroyed, with no buildings left habitable and few even standing. For several days the residents received no outside assistance and literally felt abandoned.

What did you do while you were there?

I ran a free, tent-based medical clinic. I was there for three months, from five days after Katrina to December 3. I was all signed up for classes when I left. I thought I would be there for four or five days volunteering with another organization and doing my small part. I had no idea I would come into a place with a vacuum of any medical care.

When I got down there I was doing first aid out of a small tent. The Rainbow Family was running their free kitchen, which was very popular—people drove from miles to eat there. Since the local hospital was destroyed and there were no doctors, it quickly became clear that there was an urgent need for medical care. The heat was 110 degrees and the humidity was 100 percent. Quickly, I fell into the roll of administrator/director of the clinic. I was on the phone for many hours a day trying to get doctors and nurses from around the country to volunteer. Some came from as far away as California and some from as close as northern Mississippi. I also made contacts with Pfizer through a company called International Aid, and they supplied a bulk of the medications and other medical supplies.

In three months we treated 5,000 patients. All free, all with love. It was by far the most amazing experience of my entire life and I am simply glad to have been part of it.

Has your experience changed your ambitions?

Taking the semester off set me back a year, academically speaking, but the three months I spent running the New Waveland Clinic only made my resolve to become a doctor stronger. I have seen the value and skills a doctor has, and I want to be able to use those values and skills to help humanity.

More information about the Rainbow Family's work on the Gulf Coast:
http://www.rainbowsandbelievers.com/

A news article about the Waveland clinic:
http://mednews.stanford.edu/releases/2005/october/lebaron.html

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