David Sklar faced the impossible: suturing wounds, delivering babies and attending the sick of a rural Mexican village in the '70s - and then he went to Stanford Medical School.
Sklar, now associate dean of graduate medical education at UNM, will talk about his recently published book, La Clinica: A Doctor's Journey Across Borders, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center tonight.
Sklar said his book has been a work in progress for the past 10 years and is based on his time in Mexico.
"I went just before I started medical school," he said. "I thought I would be helping with supplies and some patients."
Instead of just helping out, however, he and the other volunteers were left in charge.
"I started to take care of the patients in the village to the best of my ability," Sklar said. "Bit by bit, I started learning how to be a doctor before I even went to medical school."
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Sklar said he decided to go to Mexico not only to gain more knowledge about medicine but to help the villagers.
"I wanted to try to make their lives better," he said. "I knew that they were in a very difficult situation and suffering and a lot of times didn't get any medical care."
Sklar said that at the age of 22, it was difficult to adapt to the lifestyle and medical resources to which he was unaccustomed.
"At that time, they didn't have electricity, and we didn't have the technology that existed in the United States," he said.
In the isolated Mexican village, he and the other volunteers took on tasks far beyond their training, he said.
"A lot of us were doing things that we would not be doing in the United States," Sklar said. "In the U.S., we would have probably been working with a doctor and getting more supervision."
Sklar said his experience in Mexico was so inspiring that he felt it needed to be written down for others to read.
"I felt that it influenced my whole life in such a significant way, (that) I wanted to share it, particularly with other doctors and people who are interested in international medicine," he said.
Dr. Frank Huyler, clinician ed-assoc., said he helped Sklar edit his book and believes everyone who wants to go into the medical field should read it.
"I think it's a very insightful and interesting examination of a career in medicine," he said. "(It shows) the altruistic side of medicine as a service profession and also some of the less admirable qualities of certain doctors."
Huyler said Sklar's book is unlike most other doctors' books, which are more analytical than personal.
"It was very interesting to see someone reveal personal experiences as he did," he said. "It put a lot of things out there for people to think about."
Sklar said he was compelled to write the book so that his experience and memories would not die but could live on and inspire a new generation of doctors to help those in need.
"The clinic has pretty much gone away and doesn't exist the way it was anymore," Sklar said. "I just felt that by writing it, it would keep that whole idea more alive."
He also hopes his book will encourage others to get involved in helping people across the world and make them aware of the risks such a job requires.
Sklar's lecture is part of the "Voices of the Southwest" lecture series presented by UNM Press.
Christina Frain, who is part of UNM Press, said the series was discontinued but has been brought back this year.
"Our plan is to make it an annual event," she said.
The series' speakers are authors of books that have been published by UNM Press, Frain said.
All speakers will be broadcast live on KUNM for those who aren't able to attend, she said.
"Medicine in the Developing World" talk and signing with David Sklar
Today, 7 p.m.
National Hispanic Cultural Center
1701 Fourth St. S.W.
Free
