2005 Trip

In May 2005, the Gar Tibet Health Project traveled to eastern Tibet with a diverse medical team including doctors, nurse midwives, acupuncturists, massage therapists, and Tibetan doctors.
Members of the 2005 medical team treat a patient at an outdoor clinic in Daju, a remote mountain village near Gargon. Yeshe Tsomo (white hat, upper right) translates.

Nomadic Tibetans from Gargon and nearby villages flocked to Gargon on hearing of the doctors' arrival. Each day for two weeks, the Gargon monastery courtyard was crowded with visitors seeking treatment. Inside the makeshift clinic room translators, doctors, and patients clustered in small groups on stools and wooden cots, discussing medical histories and treatment options.
Tibetan doctor, Dr. Namlake

Members of the medical team also visited other locations in the Gargon area to offer care to still more remote populations of Tibetans. The group received special permission to treat a group of Buddhist nuns in the midst of a three-year closed retreat. After carrying heavy packs full of Tibetan and Chinese medicines up a steep, wooded path, members of the team were invited into the retreat house itself to treat the dozen isolated nuns. They also treated women in the nunnery village below.

A large group of doctors also visited the neighboring mountain village of Daju, becoming the first foreigners the villagers had ever met. For three days, they ran a clinic for the people of this small village, surrounded by a panorama of forested mountains, glacial bowls, and prayer-flag-traced ridges.

2005 Midwifery Training

Building on the 2004 training with a group of women from Gargon village and the surrounding area, the GTHP team offered a two-week midwifery course, which met daily.

The women gained a broad range of skills in caring for pregnant and post-partum women, and in assisting during the birth process. They participated in birthing scenarios and discussed practical solutions for keeping the birthing environment safe, clean, and warm in the challenging environment of alpine Tibet. The team also offered shorter talks and classes for interested members of the community at Gargon and Daju villages. These talks always drew crowds, and, with the help of translators, villagers were able to ask the doctors questions of their own.

Needs Assessment

Gargon Village 2005 Fathers Focus Group

One key objective of the 2005 trip was to perform needs assessment surveys, gathering information about the perceptions of the people of Gargon and Daju about health, sanitation, and other needs of their villages. This effort was led by Tara Lumpkin, PhD, a medical anthropologist.

Age/sex groups including adolescent girls, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and grandfathers were targeted, in order to provide a broad range of perspectives on issues including maternal/child health, medical facilities, common illnesses, cleanliness, and others. The group also administered lengthy individual surveys to village mothers to learn about their thoughts and experiences related to pregnancy, birth, and motherhood in Gargon. The information gained from these surveys has improved our understanding of the health issues faced by Tibetans as we move towards establishing a permanent clinic at Gargon. Click here to download a copy of the 2005 Needs Assessment Report.[pdf]