A medical internship in Tanzania inspired Maite Tromp to pursue a career as MD Global Health. She got accepted into the residency program, which turned out to be an excellent base for what lay ahead. It didn’t however prevent her feeling overwhelmed when she first started working for Médecins Sans Frontières. Maite completed three missions for MSF in the Democratic Republic Congo and Sierra Leone, working together in teams consisting of local and international professionals, often in a remote setting. She felt useful, but sometimes frustrated due to the limited options at hand. Cases ranged from acute medicine, warranting quick decision making, to psychological care for people in severe mental distress. She enjoyed both. Upon her return to the Netherlands, Maite chose to continue her career in a field combining the acute and the humane and now works as emergency medicine physician in Diakonessenhuis, Utrecht. She still benefits from her background, for instance when refugees and other patients with different cultural heritage come to the emergency department for treatment. Maite also protocolled in-hospital arrangements for undocumented patients. Recently she volunteered for the Boatrefugee Foundation in Greece. Here she provided emergency aid to displaced patients according to international life support standards and used her pragmatic approach, empathy and cultural sensitivity while caring for people with a wide diversity of health issues.
Maite was recently interviewed by Dutch Radio 1 about her time in Moria, Lesbos for Boatrefugee Foundation; visit http://www.nporadio1.nl/achtergrond/3621-arts-op-lesbos-we-zagen-vooral-de-lichamelijke-gevolgen-van-onrust . Dutch TV show ‘Brandpunt’ produced a documentary about Boatrefugee foundation in Moria, available on: https://brandpunt.kro-ncrv.nl/brandpunt/fotoreeks-lesbos/
For more information about Boat Refugee Foundation, visit www.bootvluchteling.nl
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Maite, and colleagues in Moria Camp, Lesbos, for the Boatrefugee Foundation