In March of 2016, Joe Barin, a registered nurse at Advocate Christ Medical Center, used about $3,000 of his own money to go on a medical mission trip to Jordan.
Accompanied by more than 60 other doctors, nurses and clinicians from Christ, Barin spent 10 days triaging and administering primary care to refugees who had fled the civil war in Syria.
The trip was one of many organized by the Syrian American Medical Society, a national global medical relief group that was founded at Christ. The nongovernmental organization provides medical and dental assistance to refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Bangladesh, in addition to Jordan.
Barin said the camp he visited had about 39,000 people living in it but only “one or two medical clinics.”
“We’d see around 200 patients a day. For these people even getting aspirin or Tylenol was a huge ordeal,” he said.
The opportunity to care for people who didn’t have access to basic health care not only helped get him out of a personal funk he was in at the time, Barin said it made him a better nurse.
The hospital recently announced that this fall it will honor SAMS (www.sams-usa.net) during its annual Salute Gala.
On Oct. 20, Christ physicians of SAMS will receive the inaugural Advocate Humanitarian Award.
“We created this new (award) to be able to recognize the stellar work that’s been done outside of the hospital environment with the clinicians who practice here,” said Doug Hutchings, vice president of development.
He estimates that close to 40 doctors, nurses and other health care workers have participated in SAMS missions. Others, he added, have volunteered on behalf of other NGOs, including Doctors without Borders and MedGlobal.
To enable more hospital workers to participate in the volunteer work, Hutchings said, the hospital also will establish a Medical Missionary Scholarship Fund (donate.advocategiving.org/site/Calendar?id=101043&view=Detail) during the fundraiser, which will be held at the Chicago Hilton.
The scholarship, he said, would enable doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and pharmacists who can’t afford to spring for the travel costs to participate in medical mission work.
The mission work is apolitical and voluntary, Hutchings said. “It is not of a specific religion or culture and it is open and available to all to help.
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“The way I look at this is that it results in stellar care at the bedside. These are people who not only are witnessing medical situations that are hazardous, they come back and they’re enriched and fulfilled. That enables them to provide even better quality care for our patients here,” he said.
Hutchings said more than 500 people are expected to attend the Salute Gala but anyone is welcome to donate to the cause.
In addition to the scholarship fund, he said, other money raised from the event will benefit a number of areas around the hospital.
Barin, who has been a nurse for 11 years, said while in Jordan he helped care for a child who was suffering with croup.
“Here in the U.S., it would be an easy treatment — a steroid and a nebulizer. But over there, it was a huge ordeal,” he said. “This child was rushed by our doctors to the hospital to be saved in the ICU. The doctors negotiated for an IV bag and that was all paid for through funding from SAMS.”
Barin, who lives in Tinley Park, also worked with as a communications liaison.
“The conditions are quite different. Here you have private rooms. Over there, we shared one large room. The doctors would go around the room with translators and I would handle the prescription medication,” he said.
He recalled that when two of the doctors didn’t have the medications they needed, “they sent drivers with money from their own pockets to pick them up.”
He said donations from a stent company enabled the team to treat 39 patients in a rented catheter lab.
“Thirty-four required intervention which means they had substantial blockages. Without a stent, these patients probably would have been dead within a year,” he said.
The experience, Barin said, “really opened my eyes. It rejuvenates you because here in the U.S. you sometimes get burnt out by a lot of First World problems. This kind of trip rejuvenates you as a nurse.”
He said the medical mission fund will enable more health care workers the opportunity to participate in humanitarian work that can “truly shake you at your practice and shake you at your core.”
Experiencing the turmoil that people in wartorn areas go through, he said, creates a sense of humility and makes you appreciate what you have around you.
“On top of that, it helps enlighten you and enables you to truly empathize with your patients,” he said. “Once you have immersed yourself in another culture, it creates a better compassion and understanding for the people you take care of.”
Even though it has been two years since Barin traveled to Jordan, he said, “just thinking about the memories elicits strong emotions. This is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”