APR-C-1

INDEX TO THE APR-C-SERIES
THE SCRAMBLE FROM UVA CHARLOTTESVILLE
THROUGH DERWOOD, DULLES, FRANKFURT, DELHI
TO THE DHARAMSALA MEDICAL MISSION

  1. Index to the Apr-C-series on "Dharam-02" Medical Mission with a surprise post-Boston and pre-takeoff
  2. In a tight schedule of more split second strategies before departure on a five week absence in multiple far flung venues, I am handed a big surprise:  a SNAFU in the UVA Visiting Professorship scheduling leads to a last moment scramble in readjusting the split second complex takeoff plans for India and Nepal--Who would have thought that the 106th Boston Marathon might not be the most exciting and demanding event in my week's schedule--and we aren't up to half way into the week yet!
  3. If you think that the SNAFU at UVA was enough adventure for this trip already pre-launch, wait until you get a chance to enjoy the process in the misadventures of the “Super Shuttle” ride to Dulles, the closed L/H flight for which I am ticketed and reserved for extra baggage allotment, and, now, somehow, am airborne, enroute to FRA, on another carrier, to rendezvous (late) with other students expecting to meet me in FRA, for the flight to DEL.
  4. Not there yet…arrival in India—and forward progress toward Dharamsala.
  5. Dharamsala----Arrival Message.
  6. Launch Medical Mission to Dharamsala.
  7. First clinic day in Sherbaling monastery with a virgin crew of clinicians and   the boxed pharmacy I have carried along.
  8. Second day of clinics in Sherbaling Monastery.
  9. Moving on, the ride up the forested mountain to Barot, in the pre-monsoon rains, and a long hike from the village up to the “Holiday Home,” before the washout and the retreat in front of the pre-monsoon deluge.
  10. The first clinic day in Barot, and the cold rain continues, and the students and I see a wide variety of patients in a full day with a good case presentation and discussions.
  11. The second full day of clinic over-run in Borat, with my trying to bring the team up to speed, in moving the patients through in time for the student case presentation tutorials and then a brief tourist trip to the highest village in this valley, Lahori, to walk through the quaint trails of this remote mountain village to witness everyday looming, tailoring, charcoal ironing and wheat millstone grinding by millrace  water power—even getting involved in a high altitude village volley ball game.
  12. The last clinic day in Borat, for a total of 771 patients here added to 298 from Sherbaling, summing to 1,069 patients for this series of medical camps:  with an afternoon excursion to the Uhal River trout aquaculture and the netting of three big rainbows for dinner, celebrated with the health care staff of the Borat PHC center.
  13. The pull out from Borat and the seemingly endless road trip back to Dharamsala, out of the mountains of Borat and into the Hotel Bagsu at MacleodGanj.

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