Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 October 2005 — Page 3
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2005
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
PAGE A3
LIVING UP TO HER NAME Dr. Mercy Obeime provides care, advocacy [or Nigerian patients
By FRAN QUIGLEY For the Recorder
Even though Dr. Mercy Obeime was born, raised and educated in Nigeria, she nearly cut herself off totally from her native country. By 2001, she and most of her family had moved to the U.S., and Obeime
was making what she expected to be a final visit to
Nigeria.
But it was on that visit when the country’s desperate health care crisis showed her its tragic face. “I went to see one of my medical professors at his office. He was not there yet, so I was waiting for him when a man carried in his sick wife,” she said. “In Nigeria, you have to have money up front to get treated, and he was desperate because he had been out looking for money all day, and then came back to find his wife even sicker. “My professor was not there, so I tried to help the woman. But just as I was preparing her for examination, she died, right in front of me,” the doctor continued. “She would have lived if her family had been able to afford treatment earlier.” Obeime said, “I was very upset. I’m a doctor, but here in the U.S., patients don’t just die in my office. Then her husband tried to run away with her body, because he was afraid someone would ask him for money to bury her. As he ran away, her little son was running beside him, holding his mother’s hand and saying, ‘Mommy, I’ve been telling you I am hungry all day and you have not fed me. I need some food!”’ Obeime, whose medical practice is located at St. Francis Hospital’s Neighborhood Health Center on South Madison Avenue in Indianapolis, is no stranger to seeing the primary medical care needs of the poor. Even so, she was crushed by the experience in Nigeria. Obeime had witnessed a common phenomenon in Nigeria - a preventable death occurring because the victim was too poor to afford medical care. It was business as usual for a country where the World Bank reports the life expectancy is 45 years of age, and two of every 10 children die before age 5. “After that woman died right in front of me, and I saw everything else that was going on, I asked myself, “What can I do?”’ Obeime said. Inspired in part by IUPUI political science professor Scott Pegg and his wife Tijen, who asked their wedding guests to forego buying gifts in favor of donations to their adopted Nigerian village, Obeime launched her own Mercy Foundation with a 40 th birthday party that raised the organization’s first $15,000. Then, the Indiana doctor who thought she would never return to Africa led the Mercy Foundation’s first trip to Nigeria in January, 2004. She and her husband Chris, also a physician, led a team of volunteers who traveled to the village of Uromi and treated thousands of people. During that and two subsequent trips to Nigeria, they
have given HIV tests, performed surgeries and lent support to an orphanage where many of the children have lost both parents to
AIDS.
In the plight of those AIDS orphans, Obeime found distressing evidence of a persistent AIDS stigma in African communities where lack of treatment makes an HIV diagnosis a death sentence. “We see patients who think that arthritis is the result of a curse, so what are they thinking when a person just wastes away? They think a god is killing him for some bad thing he has done. So part of our medical education is to let people know that this is not due to witchcraft,” she said. Obeime has not stopped at providing education and treatment to individual patients. Increasingly, she is an advocate for the world community and the Nigerian government to address the systemic causes of the suffering she treats. At the invitation of Bono’s DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa) group, Obeime attended the July G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, where the world’s wealthiest countries reached an agreement to cancel $60 billion in debt owed by the world’s poorest countries to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Fund. Obeime freely criticizes both the U.S. for foot-drag-ging on forgiving loans made to curry Cold War favor with African countries (“The West knew the loan money was not being used for the people, so why did they keep giving the governments the money?”) and the Nigerian government leaders for siphoning off loan revenue and oil dollars without benefit to the country’s poor (“Teachers are not paid, there are no drugs in the hospitals, and the leaders have been partying with the money.”) When she speaks on these issues, Obeime knows that she has extra credibility that comes from being an African, a physician, and someone who continues to find an inspiring answer to her own “What can I do?” question. Obeime hopes she will soon be one of many with that kind of credibility. “One of my goals is to encourage people like me, first-generation Africans, to do the same thing I’m
doing.”
More leaders like Obeime would be a real boost to the struggle to address the AIDS pandemic, says Dr. Robert Einterz, director of the Indiana University School of Medicine’s program in Kenya providing HIV treatment and prevention. “Mercy is a wonderful example of a person who is contributing both here and in Africa,” he says. “She does so by demonstrating altruism, compassion and integrity. “In a word, she lives up to her name - a blessing of divine compassion.”
Dr. Mercy Obeime
NEWS BRIEFS ► Continued from Page 1 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sponsored by The Indianapolis Recorder, the resource fair will feature various health screenings including cholesterol, sickle cell and syphilis, as well as housing information, legal services, obesity information and fitness training. A book mobile, information on health and prescription medicine, state social services, employment and training resources as well as other services from local agencies and businesses will also be available. In addition, there will also be a moonwalk to provide entertainment for children. For more information contact Kelly Sankowski at (317) 924-5143.
State NAACP conference Oct. 21-23 The Columbus/Bartholomew County Area Branch NAACP will host the State Conference, "Conscience of a Nation" in Columbus October 21-23 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center. Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington Bureau, will be the keynote speaker at a banquet on Oct. 22. Tickets are available at the Columbus office, 153113th St., Suite 1310 in Columbus. Gwen Wiggins and Joe Tucker, both of Columbus, are co-chairing the event.
Advertising with the Indianapolis Recorder WORKS!
2901 N Tacoma Avenue Indpls., IN 46218 Phone: 317-924-5143 Fax: 317-921-6653 Email: advertising@indyrecorder. com www. indianapolisrecorder. com
Policies ■ We reserve the right to edit, properly classify, cancel or decline any ad. ■ We will not knowingly accept advertising that discriminates on the basis of sex, age, religion, race, national origin or physical disability. ■ Advertising of $100 or less per issue to be paid in advance. ■ Other advertising will be subject to credit approval. ■ Standard payment terms-Net 10 days.
Deadlines Ad Type: Deadline: All Advertising 4:30 p.m. Friday, week (except religious) before issue date Religious Noon Monday, week of issue
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER USPS 262-660 Published weekly by: The George P. Stewart Printing Co., Inc., P.0. Box 18499, 2901 N. Tacoma Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46218. Periodicals paid at Indianapolis, IN. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Indianapolis Recorder, P.0. Box 18499, 2901 N. Tacoma Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46218. Subscription price by mail or carrier: $39 per year; $29 for 6 mos.,75 cents per copy. National advertising representative: Amalgamated Publishers Inc., 45 W. 45th St., New York, NY 10036. Member: National Newspaper Publishers Association, Central Indiana Publishers Association, Hoosier State Press Association. SUBSCRIBERS BY MAIL: We are not responsible for replacing issues missed due to change of address or late renewals. Please allow two weeks when placing a new subscription or change of address order. Call (317) 9245143.
Do you know someone who needs help getting or keeping phone service? Financial assistance is available. Stay in touch with family and friends. Know that help is just a phone call away. Call your local phone company for details.
Telephone Assistance Program Lifeline & Link-up
FML {FfSTHVAU Thursday October 20th
Every Thursday through October 27, 2005, 4:00-6:30pm Enjoy neighbors, entertoinment and some of Indiana's freshest produce!
#i
FREE ON-SITE PARKING • WIC vouchers will be accepted.
Where Spiritual Journeys Meet mQ ^ e f j s | 0[[l t e( ] j n ^ southwest corner of the church parking lot near SStfi and Illinois Street 1 NORTH | UNITED METHODIST CHURCH A community program provided by North United Methodist Church
www.norlhchurdiindy.com (317) 924-2612
Featuring: Mozie the Clown, Face Painting, Games, Candy, Pumpkin Decorating and More! Music By Rev. Sharon A. White and George Middleton
PAr.F
TVAM MA^FMTA
Rl ATK