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Next stop is Africa
Daughter of Stafford County parents earns medical degree, which she'll use to serve others in Africa
Date published: 12/1/2008
By CATHY DYSON Not only did Trixy Franke choose a career that combined medicine and faith, but she also picked a husband willing to work in the wilds of Africa with her. "I told him I wouldn't marry him unless he was," she said. The 28-year-old still goes by her maiden name, except she has been "Dr. Franke" since she graduated from medical school in 2006. She and her husband, Bill Colwell, visited her parents, Antoinette and John Franke of Stafford County, during Thanksgiving break. It was the first time Franke had been home in a year and a half, but it won't be the last time the couples will be separated. They'll have an ocean between them for the next six years. Franke is fulfilling a quest she has had since her teen years: to bring medical care to those who need it most. She and Colwell will work for the Adventist Health Institute in Rwanda. He'll direct the agency's programs in the east-central African country, and she'll work in a hospital or clinic. Franke was a homeschooler who graduated from then Mary Washington College in 2001 with the highest grade-point average in her class. She then went to medical school at Loma Linda University in California, with the agreement that her debts would be forgiven after she spent six years abroad as a medical missionary. Franke is a Seventh-day Adventist, and Loma Linda, along with the clinics in Rwanda, are affiliated with the church. She and her husband will head to Africa sometime after June--when she finishes her residency in Indiana. For the past three years, Franke has worked 80-hour weeks at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in South Bend. She has learned about birthing babies and treating heart attacks, along with orthopedics, pediatrics and sports medicine. She probably paid more attention to parasites and diseases of poverty than have most medical school students. And she's had her passport stamped plenty, as she went on six missions to Africa and Asia. Each trip convinced Franke she's headed where she's "most needed and called." She admits she occasionally wonders if she should stay stateside and pay back her medical debts. She guesses she could do that in about three years.
Date published: 12/1/2008
Talking about Haiti...
(posted by
Mandrake
, Dec. 2, 2008 1:14 pm)
I can't figure out why American companies that farm out
American labor to China didn't do the same for Haiti. Plenty of
unemployed labor, short supply chain and lots of opportunity. I
realize the politics in Haiti scare investors away, but "make a
deal" and pay off everybody.
Mandrake
(posted by
msdaisy
, Dec. 2, 2008 8:34 am)
There are millions of people all around the world that do volunteer to help in places like Africa and Haiti, places where poverty is so bad it’s unimaginable. To be in these 3rd world slums and look into the eyes of starving children with sunken eyes and swollen bellies living under a piece of cardboard, it really makes you ill to see children here having a temper tantrum because they want the $150.00 Nikes, or the designer jeans. Every Child in the US should spend 24 hrs in one of these places.
Yes, a wonderful thing
(posted by
msdaisy
, Dec. 2, 2008 8:16 am)
She may some day be another Dr. Lillian Cingo, an absolutely incredible woman who manages the Phelophepa Health Train in S.A., that travels to remote villages and provides health care to those unable to get any other care. Poverty stricken, sick, living in horrific conditions, the people that walk miles to the train are not angry or bitter, but kind and grateful. It’s very touching to see so many sincere smiles on such pitiful faces. Please read: http://www.cauxbusiness.net/node/27574
Dr. Franke is forgoing the big USA MD salary
(posted by
Mandrake
, Dec. 1, 2008 6:33 pm)
and helping people who lead miserable lives because they had
the misfortune to be born in countries run by selfish, power
hungry pigs. If there were a million people like Dr. Franke at
work in Africa helping the people, Africa would become a
decent place to live.
All the best Dr Franke
(posted by
Numa
, Dec. 1, 2008 11:00 am)
Service to any community is service to all communities. Go with God, Dr Franke one must follow the calling of their heart.
the ratio of MDs to population:
USA about 1 to 335 (AMA)
Rwanda about 1 to 20,000 (WHO)
While most medical students receive federally subsidized loans (reducing interest charges) the average medical school debt is $139,517 (AMA 2007). I believe Dr Franke's tuition payback is funded through her medical school and church, not through US tax payer money.
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