Paste your essay in here..Book Report
Mountains Beyond Mountains:
The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
By: Antonio Torres, RN
Mountains Beyond Mountains is an amazing account of Dr. Paul Farmer, an American physician with a passion for healing the sick, particularly those of marginalized and poor communities in Haiti. The book is narrated in the lens of a man named Tracy Kidder, a literary journalist, but a seemingly regular person who is used as a comparative subject in light of Paul Farmer’s moral and almost saintly persona. The biographical work begins by introducing the characters in the eyes of Kidder, as he meets Dr. Farmer in Haiti for the first time following the beheading of a prominent Haitian leader. Dr. Farmer is described throughout the book as a man of outstanding, and at times, inconceivable selflessness. He is a humanitarian worker who has a passion for the people of Haiti and other third world countries alike and extends his philanthropic philosophy into every aspect of his life. This is referenced and alluded to in almost all aspects of his collective story. As a revered professor of anthropology and medicine, he is not only a highly intelligent individual, but a compassionate one. This is seen early on in the biography when Dr. Farmer meets one of his HIV-positive patients and reviews his case in a holistic manner, one which leads Dr. Farmer to buying his patient a 6-pack of beer, because he believed this holistic approach to patient care was most effective. For the most part, it surely was! Patients and the medical community alike share a deep respect for him because of his holistic care.
After his initial encounter with Farmer, Kidder flies back to Haiti several years later to observe Farmer’s work. It is discovered that Farmer has established his own non-profit called Partners in Health(PIH). It was more apparent and evident that Dr. Farmer had an immense passion for helping the disadvantaged peoples of Haiti. At PIH, Dr. Farmer would see many patients a day, most not having to pay a cent out of their own pockets. He did this by having several wealthy affiliates and donors in the states that funded the medical expenses. Given his anthropological background, Dr. Farmer was also culturally competent and sensitive to the Voodoo beliefs of the Haitian population. Although he did not believe in Voodoo, he came to the belief that an understanding of it can only help his endeavor of treating patients who oftentimes are skeptical of Western medicine.
To fully understand the motivations behind Dr. Farmer’s selflessness, Kidder takes us into the development of the mind of Farmer. Essentially, Farmer was a child prodigy. At a young age, Farmer already excelled in studies like herpetology and biblical studies. In high school, he graduated top of his class and was offered a full scholarship to Duke University. It was also noted that when Farmer was a boy, his father had a passion and desire for helping others. His father urged him to do community service, which led him to pick citrus alongside the black workers in their Florida community. Although this may be where Farmer got his kind characteristics, Kidder does express that this is not the whole picture. There are many people who may have had similar circumstances but do no express such passion for other’s well-being. However, it is evident that his experiences with people of color as a youth, definitely inspired him to be a person who values service to others. Despite being raised in a time with much racial tension, his upbringing molded him to be an individual who expresses fair treatment to all.
In the early 90’s, Farmer was banned from entering Haiti due to the political climate at the time that opposed liberal ideology. Around this time, Farmer brought PIH to Peru to help with outbreaks of drug resistant TB(MDR-TB). TB medications at the time were very expensive, so treating such cases required much funding which oftentimes, did not come from the pockets of governmental bodies, but from donors who gave to PIH. At the time, Dr. Farmer was also associated with a man by the name of Jim Kim, who was a co-founder of PIH. Jim Kim partnered with pharmaceutical companies which in turn helped in lowering the costs of TB medications throughout Peru. It was clearly evident to Kidder that Farmer was an extremely busy man as he was not only in midst of all of his philanthropic medical endeavors, but surprisingly enough, Kidder gets married to a woman named Didi Bertrand. Farmer and Didi become parents to a child named Catherine. Kidder notes that his fatherhood actually exposed much of his “humanity”. He was so consumed by his passion, that oftentimes, he neglected those in which should be easiest to love. Namely, close family and friends. There is even an instance in which he foregoes spending more time with his wife in exchange for investigating the TB populations in Russian prisons.
In the year 2000, PIH is awarded 45 million dollars to help eradicate TB in South America. After this monumental achievement, Farmer resumes his hands-on work in Haiti as well as lecturing around the world. In the concluding chapters of the book, Kidder meets a young boy in Haiti who is inflicted with facial cancer. Farmer’s assistant, decides that it would be in the best interest of the child to emergently fly the child to Boston for treatment. Upon arrival to Boston, the attempts for saving his life would be futile and the child dies. Farmer was deeply wounded by this incident and was reminded that no matter how much he gives of himself to save others, there will always be people living in subpar circumstances. Regardless, Farmer comes to the conclusion that saving life is worth the sacrifice…no matter the mountains needed to traverse or monetary cost. He aims at explaining that “liberation theology” is practical and applicable vs. the cost-efficiency claims that are typical for the Western world. Conversely, Farmer poses a confrontational example of the United States and other first world countries as nations that care for their own without thinking of the negative implications that their complacency hold.
There were definitely many things about the book that took me off guard and surprised me. The ease of learning for Dr. Farmer is one of the first to comes to mind. While many of his fellow medical school students studied endlessly to achieve success, Farmer would often be absent from class doing humanitarian work, and still managed to surpass the grades of many of his medical school counterparts. This fact is a testament to his brilliance and it shows that academia truly comes natural to him. Dr. Farmer also surprised me in his non-conformity to Western medicine in the sense that he would make house calls that were often very time consuming and seemingly ineffective. This showed a level of commitment to his patients that very few physicians are willing to take. Throughout the book, I tended to identify with Ophelia. In Kidder’s writing, I felt a tension that was present in his relationship with Ophelia. Although Farmer is an undoubtedly genuine person who is intelligent and caring, his relationships paid a price. Like his girlfriend and lover Ophelia often felt, there was often an internal commentary that hinted towards moral superiority on Farmer’s end. Although this wasn’t intentional, it seems difficult to be in an intimate relationship with someone so “good.” There was an instance in which Ophelia accused Farmer of being self-righteous, and Farmer got visually upset. Ophelia on the other hand, felt a sense of self-preservation in proving his “humanity.” I related to Ophelia in this way. She may have felt morally inferior and seeing Farmer reveal that he has innate flaws would have been a relief!
Farmer’s initial encounter with TB in was in 1988, when he was then treating a woman with TB. At that time, during treatment, he had to return home due to a traumatic injury caused by a car hitting him and causing him to break a leg. The woman later died, but this instance led him to work harder in his devotion to treating the people of Haiti of TB, HIV-AIDS, and later, MDR-TB. I believe this unrelenting determination to the well-being of his patients is rooted in his upbringing. The writings of Kidder describe Farmer’s father as a competitive man and his mother a kind woman who supported the family. These positive attributes may have been the key to this nature vs. nurture complex which is themed throughout the book. More notably though, I think his father’s devotion to community service is what really set Farmer’s heart on seeing the world through a compassionate lens. Volunteering his time alongside Haitian workers would have definitely been an imprinted image in his developing mind.
The title “Mountains Beyond Mountains” is a Haitian proverb that relates to the village of Morne Michel. It is a significant village in Farmer’s practice as it is a faraway community that sent Dr. Farmer patients. There was a particular instance in which Farmer made a visit to the village to track down one of his patients who stopped coming in for treatments. This reminded him that for every metaphorical (and at times physical) mountain that he successfully climbs, there is always another ahead. For every patient Farmer successfully treats, there is always another waiting for the precious resource that is medical care. Kidder thus uses this proverb to question whether Farmer’s efforts are truly worthwhile if there is always another obstacle in Haiti’s path, be it medical, economic, political, or otherwise.
Farmer and PIH brought many primary prevention services to the countries they service. First and foremost, their measures taken to provide vaccines to the Haitian people is one of the most prominent. Being a severely underdeveloped nation with much political turmoil, Farmer recognized the need for proper preventative care if cycles of disease and poverty were to be broken. PIH also runs AIDS prevention programs which help educate people in the countries they service. This particular program is especially helpful in Haiti where HIV-AIDS, as Farmer argues, is a stigmatized and often racially motivated scarlet letter that is not based in science.
I have never done any overseas work, but I personally think I could work in Haiti. I have always had a passion for missionary type work and would love to help people in need. However, it would have to be for the correct reasons and someone where I truly believe that I could make a lasting impact. If it was simply to help people to boost my ego, it would not be a worthwhile venture. However, if I had a plan, or joined a group already making significant strides in improving said country’s medical infrastructure, I would gladly take part in helping developing nations.
In summation, I think Dr. Farmer is a well-intentioned man who truly wanted to help people. However, while reading through the book I developed an unwavering feeling that Dr. Farmer may have ulterior motives. Maybe it is because in light of my own desires, and my own goodness, he is far superior, and it makes me uncomfortable how someone can sacrifice so much of themselves for the greater good. I have a hard time comprehending how he can push his loved ones to the side to help people he does not know. To me, loving and being loved are what it means to be human. For Dr. Farmer, it seemed like he was good at the first but found difficulty in the latter. It is noted that his father was seemingly reluctant to show pride and affection, so maybe it is not his inherent fault. Regardless of this speculation, it is undeniable that he has made an enormous humanitarian impact on many developing nations. Because of his many outstanding contributions and compassion for others, I left reading the book with a sense of appreciation for the man, and also with a sense of urgency in helping others. Dr. Farmer showed the world that at the end of the day, life is just “mountains beyond mountains”. There will always be more to do, but doing something, and doing right, is a crucial component of being a compassionate human, which is something we should all strive for.