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| Professor Ivar Mendez with Bolivian children. (Photo courtesy of Ivar Mendez) |
These are the stories that will break your heart: children who are too malnourished to stay awake during class; mothers who don鈥檛 get adequate prenatal care because the clinic is a plane-ride away; the 13-year-old girl who died of a toothache when a makeshift remedy鈥攁pplying a heated nail to deaden throbbing exposed nerves鈥攚ent horribly wrong.
鈥淚t isn鈥檛 right for someone to die because of a toothache,鈥� says Ivar Mendez, professor and head of AV俱乐部鈥檚 Division of Neurosurgery and chair of the Brain Repair Centre.
As busy as he is, Dr. Mendez isn鈥檛 one to shake his head and shrug his shoulders, wondering what can be done. These days, his work as a respected clinician and scientist often intersects with his humanitarian efforts. He鈥檚 generous to share his knowledge in neurosurgery, medical care and techniques鈥攏ot to mention equipment鈥攚ith doctors in Rwanda, Bolivia, China, Cuba and parts of Canada too. He鈥檚 pioneering the use of a remote-presence robot for medical care in the Inuit community of Nain in northern Labrador.
From Bolivia
鈥淚 feel we each have a personal responsibility to narrow the gap of inequality in the world,鈥� he says, as he shows photographs of three places in particular where he鈥檚 directed his efforts: Aucapata, Bolivia; Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador; and Kigali, Rwanda.
鈥淓arly on I made a decision,鈥� continues Dr. Mendez, who arrived in Toronto as a teenager with his family from Bolivia. 鈥淔or every invitation I had to speak at Harvard or any other big centre, I would spend the same amount of time in a Third World country, doing what I can to contribute.鈥�
Time and again, he returns to Bolivia, his homeland and the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Called 鈥渢he rooftop of the world,鈥� the landlocked South America country is breathtakingly beautiful, boasting a diversity of ecosystems, from high mountain ranges to tropical rain forests. Over 60 per cent of Bolivia鈥檚 people are indigenous, mostly Quechua or Aymara, eking out a meagre existence through subsistence farming.
On one trip, to Aucapata, an isolated village in the Andes, Dr. Mendez sat in on a class at the local school. He noticed the children were lethargic and could barely stay awake, much less respond to their increasingly frustrated teacher.
鈥淚t was nothing they could control; they just didn鈥檛 have enough food,鈥� he says. As a brain specialist, he realized their hunger was affecting their ability to learn and retain knowledge. The solution was obvious and he immediately set about putting a school breakfast program in place using his own money.
Six years ago, the program was launched to provide a nutritious breakfast鈥攎ilk, oatmeal, bread and fruit鈥攆or 60 children. Today, the program feeds 5,000 children in 24 schools. There鈥檚 been a jump in attendance at the schools for boys and girls, improved grades and more participation among the kids. It鈥檚 been easier to recruit teachers too, he notes.
Dental care
It was afterwards that Dr. Mendez heard the story of the girl and her fatal toothache. That spurred a program of dental hygiene for the children, who weren鈥檛 brushing their teeth and had mouthfuls of cavities as a result. They鈥檝e since got into the habit of washing their hands before breakfast and brushing their teeth afterwards. As well, Dr. Mendez hired a dentist and brought in modern dental equipment and a generator. Within three months of the dentist鈥檚 arrival, she attended to almost 900 patients who hadn鈥檛 been to a dentist before.
Next, he decided to focus on those young minds, now eager to learn. He supplied the children with sturdy computers that can be hand cranked in areas where there is no electricity.
鈥淭he idea is that these children don鈥檛 need to speak the same language for some subjects, like math, art and music. But perhaps the girl in Halifax and the Inuit child in Labrador and the boy in Bolivia can get together to work on a musical composition. It鈥檚 been very exciting to see what they鈥檝e come up with.鈥�
Dr. Mendez鈥檚 humanitarian work is being recognized with a 2010 Humanitarian Award by the Canadian Red Cross, the same award given to AV俱乐部 Chancellor Fred Fountain last year. The awards dinner takes place Wednesday, November 10 at 6:30 p.m. Logan MacGillivray, the 13-year-old founder of Listen to the Children, will also be honoured. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call 424-1427.
鈥淢aking a difference to children really matters,鈥� says Dr. Mendez. 鈥淭hey are the going to be the leaders of the future. They are the ones who will improve their own countries and propel them forward.鈥�
MORE PHOTOS: See photos of Dr. Mendez's humanitarian work in Bolivia.