Journey of Healing

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Those words, which history credits to Chinese philosopher Confucius, certainly hold true for Shorter College alumnus Dr. Eric Nix (’98), whose journey has taken him far from his native Calhoun, Ga., and enabled him to spread healing and compassion both at home and abroad.

The First Step

The road map for Eric’s journey began with an early interest in medicine and became even more clearly defined when, at age 14, he saw his grandfather being treated for a stroke. Almost immediately, he began volunteering in the emergency department at Gordon Hospital, where he spent four hours each Saturday night shadowing a physician or nurse. “That’s when I became devoted to pursuing medicine as a career,” said Eric.

He worked to pursue that goal, earning a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry from Shorter in 1998.

While at Shorter, Eric found a new direction for his journey through his participation in a MAYTERM trip to England and Scotland. “Prior to that, I had never been to another country,” he expressed. “After experiencing a different culture – albeit a developed one – I became hooked on foreign travel. I decided that I wanted to devote at least a few months each year to international relief work since many third-world countries do not have physicians to provide much needed basic medical care.”

The Preparation for the Journey

After graduation, Eric took a two-year hiatus from school to work full time as a paramedic at Gordon Hospital. “My experience as a paramedic proved one thing: the unpredictable nature of emergency medicine appealed to me,” he recalled.

Eric continued to develop his interest in emergency medicine throughout medical school at Mercer University School of Medicine and continues to do so, even now, as a senior resident in emergency medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, the primary teaching hospital of Yale University School of Medicine.

Fortunately for Eric – and many patients half a world away – he found that the shift work of emergency medicine allows him to take extended time off to travel. For Eric, that travel is not simply for his personal enjoyment but to put his medical skills to work making a difference in nations that are lacking in medical care.

The Road Less Traveled

Earlier this year, Eric took his extended time off – funded in part by the Yale/Johnson & Johnson Physician Scholars in International Health program – and spent two months working at two hospitals in Livingstone, Zambia. In this tourist town founded by explorer Dr. David Livingstone, Eric found more than the famed Victoria Falls. He also found himself face to face with the “third-world trio of infectious diseases” – tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. And, he found that in Zambia, one of the world’s poorest nations, the obstacles to providing quality health care are numerous.

“Even at the highest level facility, there is always a shortage of medicines,” he said. “I frequently found myself altering treatment regimens for inpatients mid-course because a medicine that was available on the first day of hospitalization is suddenly out of stock on the third day.”

He adds that the Zambian hospitals where he worked have no CT scanners, no neurosurgeons, no ventilators, no ECG machines, and no blood glucose machines. Laboratory data is available, but quite limited.

“One patient, whom I suspected of having an inflammation of his pancreas caused by his HIV medicines, was admitted and treated based on clinical exams alone. There was no lipase – a test we order in the United States – to determine if he truly had pancreatitis. He was only 8 years old, and I wasn’t about to take a chance. So, I admitted him on clinical suspicion alone, ordered him to have nothing by mouth to rest his pancreas, changed his HIV medicines, and ordered IV fluids to keep him hydrated. His condition quickly improved, and he was discharged home, pain free, only three days later.

“Hippocrates once said that ‘medicine is entertainment while nature heals itself.’ I feel that even in the most primitive of situations, medicine does make a difference.”

The Adventure of Medical Relief

While in Zambia, Eric was assigned to spend most of his time in the Bindi ward, a 30-bed pediatric unit. “There was only one trained pediatrician, and his duties were primarily administrative,” Eric recalls. “The other physicians have either never completed residency training or completed training in other specialities, such as adult medicine. The training of most of the physicians there is limited to one year of internship prior to starting work on the hospital wards.

“In some respects, I was both one of the most trained and one of the most inexperienced physicians there – trained in the sense of extensive residency training in a variety of adult and pediatric diseases, and inexperienced because of my lack of familiarity in treating patients with tropical diseases in such a limited resource setting.”

In addition to his time in the pediatric ward, Eric spent some time in the outpatient department (OPD), which is similar to emergency departments in the United States. There, he saw patients on a consultation basis instead of seeing every patient that arrived.

“During the afternoon hours of the OPD, I primarily saw assault victims - either those that were beaten, had been stabbed or had been involved in road traffic accidents. ”

The Route to Understanding

Eric adds that his experience in Zambia was “at the same time rewarding and depressing” due to the enormity of the needs present. Zambian men have an average life expectancy of 35, while the life expectancy for women is 37. “One estimate is that almost one in four Zambian children will never survive to the age of 8. I believe it,” he stressed.

“Not a single day went by without me hearing of two or three children dying during the night. Zambians consider it a miracle if a child survives into adulthood; I sometimes considered it a miracle if a child survived a night in the hospital.”

Even with the hardships they face, Eric adds that the people of Zambia touched him deeply and gave him the greatest sense of reward for his efforts. He remarked, “Despite the adversity they faced, the Zambian people have remained strong willed and steadfast toward maintaining their way of life. They are a happy and courteous people.

“After spending time here, I can finally relate to the commercials on television that state for the price of a cup of coffee one can feed a child in Africa for a day. This statement is as true as it is absurd. I do not think I can purchase my typical nightly cafe mocha without reflecting on what I have seen.”

The Path Ahead

Eric, however, plans to do much more than reflect on the needs in underdeveloped nations. As he finishes his last year of residency, he will also prepare for a two-month trip to Asmara, Eritrea, in 2008, where he will work with people in refugee camps in the United Nations Temporary Security Zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia. After that, he plans to return to Northwest Georgia and practice emergency medicine – and continue to spend two to three months each year overseas.

“Eventually I plan to obtain a Master of Public Health degree in international health,” he said. “This will give me better preparation in developing sanitation and preventive medicine programs to prevent disease before it occurs.”

In closing, Eric added, “I think the education and cultural experience I received at Shorter have prepared me well for my career. “There is a sense that after graduating from Shorter, you can go anywhere and do anything you want.”

With Dr. Eric Nix, the journey ahead is almost certain to bring healing and compassion to many, many lives.

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