By Renuka Phadnis, Freelance Journalist, Bengaluru, India
From Sevakshetra in Bengaluru, India to Cook County Health and Hospital Systems in Chicago to Verrettes in Artibonite, Haiti, Dr. Shreeyala Uday has chased her dream of caring for the vulnerable across the globe. Born and educated in Bengaluru, a cosmopolitan city in southern India often called the Indian Silicon Valley, Dr Shreeyala was interested in the Indian Air Force but destiny had other plans. She got married in 1996 and moved to Chicago, where she settled down with her family and started her career as a physician.
In June 2016, Dr. Shreeyala travelled to Haiti with a 10-member team of doctors, residents, nurses and pharmacists. She collaborated with physicians from Indiana University who had visited Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake disaster. She was able to find an opportunity where she could work for those who were in dire need of medical attention and healthcare. After her week-long medical camp in Haiti, Dr. Shreeyala spoke to me on the phone about her experiences there. Her team treated 100-150 patients a day. She noted that children came on their own, unaccompanied by parents or other adults, often having traversed long distances alone. They were quiet and well behaved, unlike the often pampered children in city hospitals. In her own words, “the children make no noise and are too scared to protest or shout when they are being examined.”
She also noticed that there were only a handful of older patients. This was probably because many succumbed to disease at a young age due to poor access to proper healthcare. The “old” people were between 50 to 60 years and she met only one person who was 68. She noticed that a trip to the doctor was considered a serious matter and an important event in the lives of Haitians. Diseases such as cholera, malaria, typhoid, dengue, chikungunya, TB, HIV and Zika, were common and killed people in large numbers. The older patients often did not have access to life saving medicines. They moved from one medical camp to another to get whatever care they could and were completely dependent for their medicines on what was dispensed at these camps.
Dr Shreeyala was won over by the friendly warmth and innocence of Haitians. She found them to be big-hearted and has plans to go back again. She said that much more needs to be done for the health care system in the country. The people were affectionate and kind to her team which was led by Professor Joseph, a local citizen of Haiti held in high esteem. He helped them with logistics like security and vegetarian food. Dr. Shreeyala said: “After visiting Haiti, I realised how much we have to be thankful for. In Haiti, water is scarce, it is a commodity. Yet, people are kind-hearted. They are not at all greedy.” She recalled the enthusiasm of a young boy, a teenager, who led her team on a hike over a nearby hill. As it got dark, the team decided to return. But the teenager was visibly disappointed that the team had not seen the view of the city from the top of the hill. She said, “He gained nothing from it. Yet, he was genuinely sad that we missed seeing the scene.”
One of the residents guided them through Verrettes in their vehicle. He would stop the vehicle whenever he saw a familiar face and chat with them about matters of the heart. There would be a public display of genuine affection on almost every street and then they would move on. The vehicle would continue on its journey of providing health to the people.
Working for the underprivileged in Haiti is not completely new to Dr. Shreeyela Uday. She has been working for years with the people of southside Chicago, one of the most crime riddled inner city areas in the United States. After she graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she decided to work in a public hospital where she could serve the under privileged and needy. She joined Cook County Hospital, which is known as the “Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital of Chicago” in reference to the hospital of the same name in New York that loyally served immigrants for decades. A historic hospital, it has featured in the movie “The Fugitive”, and is also well known for the first blood bank and first trauma center in the United States. The Emergency Room (ER) was famously visited by Princess Diana. It is indeed a haven for hundreds of immigrants without access to any other hospital or doctor. She has worked at the Fantus Clinic in the Ambulatory Screening Centre (ASC) as part of an ethnically diverse team of doctors with 10 different nationalities treating an equally diverse set of patients. She said: “For the first time in my American life, I came across people from countries I had only heard of: Ghana, Nigeria, and Egypt besides France, UK, Canada, Bangladesh and Nepal.”
At the Fantus Clinic, she worked part-time for a while when her children were growing up. She also worked at Austin Clinic, a community clinic in Chicago’s West Side at the intersection of Cicero and Chicago Avenue, one of the most dangerous places to be where gangsters ruled the roost. The area was replete with policeman who watched the place like a hawk. “I would go under police escort to my clinic, especially at night when I had to go to the parking space. At times, I would be the last person to leave and there could be people lurking in the shadows,” she says.
Most of her patients were African-Americans with cardiac failure, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and lupus. Some of the patients would bring her little gifts as a token of their regard and affection for her. A Peruvian lady brought a wooden bird, a Tanzanian lady got a tanzanite, a Filipino lady brought her perfume, another a shawl knitted at home and some brought her homemade pies. She worked at Fantus Clinic for four years and at Austin Clinic for six years. She is now a hospitalist at the main Cook County Hospital.
Dr. Shreeyala Uday’s selfless work for the disadvantaged is heart-warming. One feels proud that a doctor from India has made a difference in the lives of many people in different countries and has helped them live healthy, happy lives.
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