And Other Remembrances of Lisa

A Short Biography

Lisa was born April 14, 1956 in Lafayette, Indiana and died March 23, 1996 somewhere along the Blue Nile, Sudan. It is not how or why she died in a far away land that make her my hero, but how she lived. She had obtained hero status with me far before her death.

Lisa's family moved from Indiana to Atlanta, Georgia in her final year of high school. She graduated from the University of Georgia at Athens in 1978 and obtained her medical degree at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1984. Lisa completed her family practice residency in Huntsville, Alabama in 1987, being named the outstanding resident of her class.

After completing her residency, Lisa sought a place to practice medicine where she could provide medical care to an under served area. After researching and receiving offers from many areas across the county, she came to Scarbro, Fayette County to interview with the New River Health Association (NRHA), a primary care clinic providing services on a sliding fee scale. She and the Association found a mutually acceptable situation. She became the first family physician and medical director of the new North Fayette Family Health Center at Lookout, in northern Fayette County. This was a satellite clinic of the main Scarbro clinic run by NRHA. This satellite clinic was started to provide local access to medical care to a remote area of the county. Because her desire was to provide a service to those less fortunate, Lisa never considered private practice. She was not interested in maximizing her income, or worrying about the administrative hassles in managing a practice. Working for NRHA allowed her to provide medical care, while keeping the administrative hassles to a minimum. She bought a home in Fayetteville, close to the New River Gorge National River, and settled in the community.

Though she was providing a valuable service to a medically under served area, the desire to provide service to the most needy was growing. In July 1987 she traveled to Bolivia for two weeks of volunteer community work. In the fall of 1989, she worked for two months in Washington, D.C. with the Health Care for the Homeless. On our third bike ride, she told me she would be leaving Fayetteville in the future to do service in a 3^rd world country. Shortly after that conversation, she started researching organizations that provided medical services in third world countries. She would donate her time and skills. All she sought was room, board, transportation, and health insurance. Her kitchen table was usually covered with an assortment of flyers, information pamphlets as well as assorted medical journals. In November, she submitted her resignation to NRHA to be effective in May. This would allow them time to recruit a replacement, and she felt it was too easy to postpone making a commitment to go to the 3^rd world if she continued in her current capacity.

She felt her services to the people in Fayette County were not as essential in 1995, as they were when she arrived in 1987. More physicians had moved into the area and she complained that she could no longer practice the type of rural medicine as she had when she first arrived. No longer was it considered acceptable to make a terminally ill elderly patient comfortable and let nature take its course. There was the expectation of referring the patient to specialists, putting them on ventilators and dragging out the inevitable. She felt this provided the patient with no extended quality of life, extended the suffering of the family and ran up family debt while depriving the patient of their ultimate spiritual reward.

Immediately after the termination of her duties at the clinic, she went on a one week medical mission to Guatemala. This was with a group called Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps founded by Stan Brock who was on the television show "Wild Kingdom." At that time, she still had not found a 3^rd world situation she thought was suitable for her.

Marshall University Medical School wanted her to take a position with a hospital serving the indigent population on the island of St. Lucia, in the Carribean. Many Marshall students did rotations at the North Fayette County Health Clinic, and Lisa always got the highest marks with the students. Marshall U. wanted to send students to St. Lucia and needed a board-certified physician at the location. Many of her friends encouraged her to take this position, but this didn't fit the 3^rd world situation Lisa was looking for. I recall her mentioning a clinic in the slums of Nairobi she had found out about. I said that sounded like a very dangerous situation and her reply to that was, "If it isn't dangerous to be there, it probably isn't needy enough for me to go." I tried to convince her that there were plenty of places that needed her services without needing to put herself at risk.

To prepare herself for her 3^rd world experience, Lisa took a month long course in tropical medicine in July 1995 at the University of Arizona at Tucson. This became Lisa's big western adventure. She lined up a couple three week "locum tenens" positions with the Indian Health Services after the course to extend her stay in the West. One was at Peach Springs, Arizona, on the rim of the Grand Canyon and the other was on the Mescalero Indian Reservation in southern New Mexico. Between the course and the stints with the Indian Health Service, she visited Brice Canyon and Zion National Parks (camping out), as well as visiting her sister Kate and family in Albuquerque, N.M.. She was totally taken with Brice Canyon and talked a lot about returning there.

This western excursion did not stop Lisa's search for the right 3^rd world organization. She flew to Chicago to interview an organization there concerning a placement, but wasn't satisfied with the proposal. We had planned on me to flying out the 1^st of October to spend a week or so camping before driving back to West Virginia. Our plans were modified a little when she learned of a small relief organization in Golden, Colorado called Lalmba. For some reason, after all organizations she had reviewed, Lisa was sure this was going to be the situation she wanted. She was concerned they would not accept her, but I told her she need not worry about that. The only question was if she wanted to accept their position. She was so sure this was the right situation that on the way out of Albuquerque, we had to stop at a book store and pick up a book and tape on Arabic. An interview was scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 7- 8, and our plans were made around that interview. That weekend, I stayed with my nephew in Colorado Springs, while Lisa went on to Golden. When she returned Sunday from Golden, she was beaming and anxious to return to West Virginia to get her affairs in order, for she was to leave on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Upon returning to Fayetteville, Lisa finalized the selling of her house and did the multitude of other items necessary to get ready for an extended period overseas. She invited friends and neighbors to stop by and see if she had anything in the house they could use - placing some on loan, but giving a lot of items away. Lisa took a lot of clothes to the local clothes pantry, and made a couple trips (an hour drive) to Charleston with her car loaded down with recyclable materials. With all the things she had to do, she still found time for weekend camping trips, and visitation with a multitude of her friends. One of the problems she had in getting the house cleaned out, was just the number of people stopping by to say goodbye and wish her well.

Lisa's experiences in the Sudan are documented in her own words in the "Letters From Sudan" section of this WEB site.

The Lisa I Knew

I met Lisa the middle of May 1994 when she and a friend were the only two people who showed up for a bike ride I was leading in the New River Gorge, close to her home. She introduced herself as Lisa Elliott. It was late in the ride and only after several specific questions that I learned she was a physician. This was, I learned, very typical of her. I never heard Lisa tell anyone voluntarily in a social situation, that she was a physician. Even a direct inquiry about what she did, might bring a response that she worked in a health clinic.

Though Lisa could have made far more money in a private practice, she was still well paid in relation to the general population where she lived. But Lisa chose to live a modest life, donating a large portion of her salary to charities and her church. Her house was a comfortable dwelling of modest size, but not fancy. Her Toyota Corolla provided all the transportation she needed. I remember the soul searching she did when she decided to buy a new road bike to replace her ancient Schwinn 10 speed. She was concerned about the cost, because of the materialistic aspect of the purchase, not because she is was a monetary burden. I argued that the amount of gas she would save and the health benefits more than offset the cost of the bike. She bought a moderate priced Trek bike that she got on sale. When I decided to buy a road bike to replace the one I purchased in 1980, she encouraged me to get a more expensive model than she had bought. It is not the best example, but it is one I remember where she applied a much stricter standard to herself, than to others. That is one thing I remember about her. She set very high standards for herself, but they were for her. She didn't project her expectations of herself on others.

Lisa was very religious (spiritual). God was who she looked to for guidance. She was very involved in her church and served in different capacities. She tired to let her religion guide her life, but she didn't preach or try and tell others what God expected of them. She was consumed with what God desired of her. Rather than telling people how to live their lives, she showed them.

On a day off, you might find Lisa volunteering at the local clothes pantry, or making a home visit on a patient that hadn't shown up for their appointment. I recall a couple times where these home visits were brought about by the persons spouse telling Lisa they couldn't get the person to come in for treatment or a checkup.

The one thing I remember about Lisa, was she made the most of her time. When she died, it seem such a waste for someone who had so much to give, and tried to give so much to others, should dye so young. Why had I been granted 7 more years of life than she? But I also wondered how many more years it would take me to equal the amount of living Lisa did in her almost 40 years.

I remember her appreciation of nature, her curiosity about everything and her joy in learning anything new. She loved biking and any form of exercise in the outdoors. She was always up for a new outdoor adventure and was often the inspiration in organizing outings for others. When we were biking, she would take time to enjoy the scenery, soak in her surrounding and really appreciate the wonders of nature, rather than just taking a quick glace. I remember this wonderful person who cared so much for others.