A Bainbridge pediatrician spends a month in Sumatra assisting families.

Bainbridge pediatrician Linda Warren has a busy medical practice, three children and a husband who commutes to Seattle.

But for one month, they all made do without her as she tended to the more pressing needs of Sumatran villagers.

The coastal people, still reeling from the destruction of homes and loss of friends and relatives in the wake of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, flocked to the outdoor clinic where Warren spent four weeks in February and March helping those with fevers, diarrhea, skin infections, breathing difficulties and “hurt hearts.”

“I would never have done it with kids at home, were it not for the magnitude of the disaster,” said Warren, who taught English in Indonesia 25 years ago, and knows the language. “I was more anxious about being away from my family that long, than perhaps anything else.”

Warren volunteered with the Portland-based Northwest Medical Teams, working in the devastated coastal village of Lamno, about 40 kilometers south of Banda Aceh.

The village had a population of 8,000 people before the earthquake and tsunami struck on Dec. 26, killing 5,000.

Now the village has become a center for an estimated 15,000 refugees, some of them suffering from malaria and dysentary, infections, wounds, and burns.

“A lot of people said their hearts hurt and they were worried about their lungs,” Warren said. “Some of these symptoms were related to the trauma they had experienced,” and most likely had post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Warren worked in an outdoor clinic and then rotated through three or four of the refugee camps nearby. She and other medical providers carried their supplies and medicines with them. Because there was no electricity, the medical teams frequently worked by flashlight.

“The idea of privacy was nonexistent,” she said, noting that people would crowd around as procedures were being performed, and sometimes had to be shooed away.

“There was no lab, no X-rays, no surgeon and minimal nursing care,” she said. “The families of the sick had to cook and clean, give medications and change dressings. If someone was really sick, we had to send them to Banda Aceh for care.”

Many parents showed up at the clinic terrified, carrying a feverish child. Since Indonesia has a high infant mortality rate, and fevers are associated with death, their anxiety was understandable, Warren said.

The entire health support system in Lamno was wiped out by the giant waves, which caused destruction a half mile inland. In addition to carrying people, houses, cars, and boats away, the salt water killed all the trees, rice paddies and vegetation.

“It looked like a nuclear bomb went off,” she said. “We met kids who had lost parents, mothers who had lost everyone, husbands who had lost wives and children,” she said. “One dad brought in a little girl, 11, with a terrible case of scabies that had become infected,” with open wounds that would not heal.

His family was filthy, and he and four children were living in a barn, with animals.

Warren treated the girl’s wounds, and with a bit of the money sent along by donors from Bainbridge Island, she bought the girl some new clothes at the market.

“There are so many people who need help, you really can’t single people out,” she said. “But in some of the worst cases, we subtly did what we could.”

All told, the people who survived the diaster were in fairly good medical condition, Warren said, because clean water and portable bathrooms had been supplied early on by humanitarian groups like OXFAM and Doctors Without Borders.

The people also had plenty of rice and sardines, thanks to donations from the World Food Program. By the time Warren left Sumatra a week ago, farmers were beginning to sell fruits and vegetables again.

Medical supplies, tiny matchbox cars and cash were donated by Warren’s colleagues and friends at the Virginia Mason Clinic in Winslow; families at Ordway School where her son Houston is a student; supporters from Lakeside School where daughters Sylvia and Katherine are students; and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, where her husband Hootie is an oncologist.

She also took 60 pairs of prescription glasses that had been donated. Several of the pictures she brought back show smiling villagers, delighted at being able to see with their new glasses.

“People really wanted to help,” Warren said. “People dropped things by my desk, and my colleagues filled in for me while I was away – during flu season. My family, my co-workers and my patients all contributed. It was a joint effort.”

Now that Warren has returned, Virginia Mason Clinic pediatric nurse Janice O’Connor is preparing for month-long stint in Indonesia with Northwest Medical Teams, which has more than 20 volunteers and staff on the island of Sumatra.

She hopes to take more glasses and other medical supplies along for the trip.

Warren was part of the third group from Northwest Medical Teams to treat the people of Lamno. She returned from her one-month stint two weeks ago.

She and the other medical personnel lived in a house without running water, and with electricity only from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

They were helped by local people who served as translators and drivers, who were saving their wages to rebuild their homes.

The region has also been plagued by civil war. Warren and the other doctors worked in secure areas, but the sound of gunfire could be heard less than a mile away.

The people, Warren said, were incredibly resilient, patient and appreciative for the help, despite being ill, destitute and having to wait in long lines for medical care.

“We saw a lot of people every day,” she said. “And if they didn’t get seen that day, they would come back the next. Most of us, living in a tent and having lost half our family, would not be so pleasant and grateful. They were always smiling, trying hard, lovely people.”

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Mercy mission

Later this month, Virginia Mason Clinic pediatric nurse Janice O’Connor is heading to Indonesia with Northwest Medical Teams to provide care to villagers. Anyone who would like to donate used eyeglasses can drop them by the clinic lobby at 380 Winslow Way. People interested in making other donations can call Dr. Linda Warren at 842-5632, or see the Northwest Medical Teams website at www.nwmedicalteams.org.