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Every spring, many thousands of Westerners travel high in the Himalayas to climb Everest and other mountains. Because of them, many thousands of Nepalese work to guide them, carry their belongings, and build facilities for the tourists -all at altitudes at which people do not normally live. Dr. Luanne Freer established a medical clinic at Everest Base Camp in 2003 to address the health issues that come with high-altitude tourism. Not only was the base camp area lacking medical expertise, but local people who worked in the tourism industry (and could not pay for care) were being ignored elsewhere.
The ER’s locale might be glamorous, but the work is often not. Headaches, diarrhea, upper respiratory infections, anxiety and ego-related issues disguised as physical ailments are the clinic’s daily bread and butter. And although the clinic’s resources have expanded dramatically over the past nine years, there is no escaping the fact that this is a seasonal clinic housed in a canvas tent located at 17,590 feet. When serious incidents do occur, Freer and her colleagues must problem solve with a severely limited toolbox. Often the handiest implement is duct tape.
“There is no rule book that says, ‘When you’re at 18,000 feet and this happens, do x.’ Medicine freezes solid, tubing snaps in the icy winds, batteries die—nothing is predictable,” says Freer. But it’s that challenge that keeps Freer and many of her colleagues coming back. This back-to-basics paradigm also engenders a more old-fashioned doctor-patient relationship that Freer misses when practicing in the States.
Read more about Dr. Freer and she clinic she established at Smithsonian. Link
(Image credit: Molly Loomis)
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Have you ever wondered what happens to the corpses of the fallen on the upper slopes of Everest? Sometimes they move or are buried by snow, but often they are anchored in place – chilling monuments to their own demise.
One climber in particular was abandoned by her party when it became clear they could not save her – and she has been visible to passers by ever since, including fellow climbers who came back following years and could still see her as they made their way up the slopes. However, one such climber is returning to bury the dead as best he can.
There’s an enormous lack of dignity in her circumstances. It’s almost like a road sign on the mountain – when you get to Fran, turn left. That’s not good for anybody.
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