...and instead of heading the other way, these folks stuck around and did what needed doing. They're Dr. Ruth Berggren and Dr. Tyler Curiel. They're a couple of intelligent, well-known doctors, and a married couple to boot.
Besides medicine, another of life's aspects they share is an odd proximity to tragedy. They were there when dikes failed and the waters drowned much of New Orleans. The two doctors stayed with patients too sick to be moved, day after day, wondering if the world had forgotten them. Finally, Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper shone the national spotlight on the hospitals that rescue efforts seem to have forgotten, and the choppers arrived to ferry patients and doctors out safely.
Ms. Berggren was raised in Haiti, and returns there often to care for the sick and teach UT Health Science Center students medical ethics. She'd only been back to San Antonio from such a trip for 36 hours when the earthquake nearly leveled Port Au-Prince. Feeling the call of duty and a tug on her heartstrings, she headed back to the tropical country, joined shortly thereafter by husband Tyler.
They sat down recently with Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies to relive their experiences, and tell south Texans that what they know about Haiti...isn't the Haiti these doctors know at all. Their stories are fascinating and well-told, their pictures beautiful and revealing.
We invite viewers to spend an hour tonight at 8 with two of San Antonio's most interesting people. I can guarantee that you'll learn something you didn't know, and you'll feel just a little better about the world.
