For Dr. Stephanie Becker, who owns her own practice in Hicksville, N.Y., participating in medical mission trips — such as the one she recently volunteered for in Honduras — provides her with an opportunity for both a professional and spiritual reboot.
“Practicing medicine in America, we have so much to get distracted by,” she explained. “When you travel and do international mission work, none of that matters. All you do is bring your skills set to people who really need it and who really appreciate it. And there’s something so special about that. It makes you appreciate and remember the roots of why you’re doing what you’re doing.”
It’s Pure Medicine
With about 10 mission trips under her belt, Becker decided to volunteer her time and expertise to patients in Honduras through SEE International this past February. With the help of another volunteer ophthalmologist, the team was able to perform 46 free cataract surgeries within a three-day period.
“Forty-six surgeries in three days in the U.S. in a surgery center is kind of normal, but when you do things with power failures and trying to find generators and not your normal set-up, it’s a lot of work,” Becker said.
The team was provided with donated equipment and supplies procured through SEE International. And a host optometrist from the area of Honduras they were operating in helped prepare patients ahead of time, including performing vision screenings and obtaining post-operative measurements. Both the volunteer team and host optometrist handled the post-operative care. And when Becker returned to the U.S., she continued to have email follow-up with the host optometrist to check on surgery results.
For Becker, being able to help volunteer her time and skills to patients in need in Honduras is one of the most incredible parts about being a doctor. “It’s pure medicine — there are people who need cataract surgery, they’re blind, and you go there and you do what you’re good at and you make them see,” she explained. “When you see a small child leading an older person with a stick down the hall because they can’t see, and at the end of the day there’s a room full of sticks that no one needs anymore, it’s huge. It really brings you back to why you went into medicine.”
A Family Effort
The Honduras team also had some extra help as Becker brought her 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, along as a volunteer. Hannah helped by administering pre-op eyedrops, managing surgical logs and charts, and helping with post-operative visits.
Becker said though in the beginning she had to con her daughter into coming by saying she could miss a day of school, by the end it gave her a greater appreciation for how others live in other parts of the world. “My daughter really enjoyed the connections she made there with the staff, the patients and their children,” Becker detailed. “A lot of (patients) came with their entire families to the waiting area and she would help entertain the kids, and she went to the local mission school.”
And, Becker said, it also gave her daughter a better understanding of what she does as an ophthalmologist. “You can intellectually understand that your mom does eye surgery, but when you can see the difference between a before and after in a more concrete way, then she can understand why the long hours and why be on call,” she added.
A Big Adventure
Becker's volunteer works also extends to her own community. Both she and her daughter volunteer for the North Shore Animal League as a foster family for dogs who are not yet adoptable. One of their most recent fosters was a puppy with a heart murmur. “He stayed with us for a month until he could get his cardiac evaluation, and of course by that time all my friends had seen his face on Facebook and we found him his forever home,” Becker said. “It’s a great project because it keeps dogs out of the shelter system.”
And Becker is also involved with the organization Dress for Success, which provides professional attire for low-income women to help support their employment search. Becker owns a salon and day spa called The Loft Salon & Spa in Stanford, Conn., which is Dress for Success donation drop-off center for their local county.
Whether she's donating her time to help those in her community or halfway around the world, Becker said she gets involved to do her part to help make things better. “At the end of the day, your footprint is not just your house or car or the things you've bought — (it's) what you've done for humanity,” she added.
And, Becker said, taking part in mission trips like she has to places like Papa New Guinea, Nigeria and India, can not only help make doctors become better surgeons, but also gives them an adventure that sometimes in the hecticness of life can become forgotten.
“We all started out young and wanting adventures, and sometimes the adventures get put on the back burner,” she added. “It’s important to have intellectual growth, stimulation, (and) do things in a different way.”
Doctors considering volunteering for future mission trips are invited to contact Dr. Becker through her office if they have any questions.