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Tuesday, 28 March 2023

2023 Susie West: An outstanding doctor


 

                                             Susie West: An Outstanding doctor

                                                                                  

                                                                                  Eduardo C. Gerding

 

                              Having those girls on board was the best thing that could have happened.

                                    Captain Martin Reed, Chief Officer on SS Canberra in 1982   9

 

Foreword

Susie West was born into an east London family in 1950. Her memoir starts with Susie’s life as a twin in a family of four girls in east  London. Her twin then falls ill, giving Susie contact with the medical profession.

 

Bedford College

Susie West studied biology at Bedford College graduating in 1972. Bedford College is a university of further education located in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. In this regard Susie says: “My fondest memory of Bedford is the wonderful setting. Deep in Regent’s Park was the best place to start my Botany studies”

  

The Middlesex Hospital Medical School

Ever since she was a child, Susie had wanted to be a nurse. The truth is that he never imagined that one day he would become a doctor and never considered the possibility of pursuing a military career. 9

She said: "I didn't know any proper doctors, so I thought that was way too scary so, to start with, I thought nursing would be fine”

In 1973 Susie entered Middlesex Hospital Medical School which has a history dating back to 1746 and in 1987 merged with University College London Medical School. 4

We also know that her orientation in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Calcutta Medical Hospital had a great influence on his life. 4

Entry to P&O

After completing her training as a GP, she started working at P&O and, coincidentally, she was in Canberra when the conflict in the South Atlantic broke out.

The nursing sisters had worked on P&O ships since the 1930s, but it was not until the 1970s that female surgeons were allowed to join shipping companies. 9

Had Susie been in the Royal Navy at the time of the conflict, she would not have been able to serve on the front lines as until 1990 women were not allowed on board in the Royal Navy. 4 . However, these rules did not apply to civilian women in a war zone. 9. Susie persuaded one of the naval medical officers to take her aboard. 4

The swiming  pool on the SS Canberra was converted into a flight deck and the entertainment area was adapted to create a triage area, a resuscitation area and a four-table operating room. The nightclub was transformed into a 50-bed recovery ward. 9

It was decided that entertainers and beauticians did not have to stay, so before sailing, the ship's crew was reduced from 800 to 413 people, 15 of whom were women, including Surgical Assistant Dr. Susie West. 9

Note:

 Surgical assistants, also called surgical first assistants, help surgeons with tasks such as making incisions, placing clamps, and closing surgical sites. Surgical technologists, also called operating room technicians, prepare operating rooms, arrange equipment, and help doctors and first assistants during surgeries.

 

Dr West thus went from being a cruise ship medic catering to elderly tourists, and eager for an exciting career, to drawing blood from the 3rd Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, of whom there were around 3,000. 9

 

Combat zone

Susie remembers that many of the Royal Marines thought that there would not be much resistance from the Argentine conscripts. 9 ("Everyone said, this is going to be avoided, there will be no blows" "There will be no bloodshed" 9

On 21 May, while lying in the San Carlos Strait and supporting Operation Sutton by bombing the Argentine airstrip at Goose Green, HMS Ardent was attacked by at least three waves mainly of Argentine Navy Skyhawks (A4Q). The air raids resulted in the sinking of HMS Ardent the following day and the loss of 22 out of a crew of 199 who then left ship on the frigate HMS Yarmouth. 1,2,5

Note:

Operation Sutton was the code name for the British landings on the shores of San Carlos Water, at Ajax Bay and Port San Carlos, near San Carlos on Isla Soledad.


HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy Type 21 frigate, built by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow and launched by the Duchess of Gloucester on May 9, 1975. On April 19, 1982, Ardent sailed from Devonport for the Falkland Islands, as part of the Royal Navy’s amphibious task force.( HMS Ardent Association- The ARDENT’s final moments.https://hmsardent.org/ardent-final-images) 5

"This was real war," Susie said. "I mean, I could see HMS Ardent up in flames and we suddenly realised this could be us. "We're big, we're white, the sky is clear, we could so easily have been sunk... and yeah, it was very scary. "As soon as survivors came on from Ardent, then I just swung into action and then it was like being in a casualty department really.”

Susie couldn't really see the drama of the fight in all its intensity. Besides the casualties, the naval aviator José César Arca had been hit 10 times and at a certain moment, due to an alleged lack of fuel, the British pilot Clay Morell abandoned the fight. 6

 

The consequences

The fear and excitement of the conflict soon gave way to physical and psychological damage. Arca precisely said: "After the war one continues to live the war." Aware of this, Susie collaborated when she returned to Great Britain in the therapy sessions for ex-combatants. 4

 

Post conflict activities

When the conflict ended, Susie returned to her activities as a GP in Chingford, Essex combined as a Naval Reserve medic and as a Metropolitan Police Forensic Medical Practioner. 4,7

Note:

GP (General Practitoner)  is a doctor based in the community who treats patients with minor or chronic illnesses and refers those with serious conditions to a hospital.

 

  

The book

Susie West wrote her book An Ordinary Doctor: General practice &beyond  (West Jolly Books, 192 pages) because she realized that her daughter and son knew very little about her career. 7

The book begins with the memory of the body of her father who died at the age of 52 when she was 14 years old. 4

The book ends with a description of what she considers to be wrong with general practice in the National Health Service(NHS) today and offers suggestions on how to change it. 4





Final Considerations

“ Ideally, the practitioner is a physician, with the breadth and depth of training sufficient to diagnosis and treat not only common illnesses but to figure out and discover uncommon presentations of common maladies, as well as to think of rarer diseases that are bound to occur among a given population of patients.  Managing overlapping and complex multiple illnesses present in a single patient is another skill not easily undertaken by ancillary personnel attempting to do true “primary care.” These functions are unlikely to lend themselves to protocols or algorithms.  The ability to know when one does not know implies that one has at least known of the existence and pathology of the gamut of medicine, not just the likeliest presentations of illness.”

“ No matter in what country one finds oneself, there are problems.  For example, with more basic surroundings, one does not have to worry about being sued in court and one’s life savings taken away.  In advanced countries, one is limited by turf battles and certification (other specialists may not want you doing procedures they feel are only their prerogative). If the government or commercial clinic is paying one’s salary, it’s too low.  If one is in the marketplace vying for patients, one must worry whether patients can pay.” “ Some of us find ourselves practicing in settings, not of our choosing and not geared to make the most of our skills” 3

“I think of appreciation as an offering of love in which someone is acknowledged or seen. This acknowledgment is fulfilling the psychological need for belonging and love.” 8

I´d like to end this paper with the following suggestions written by Pediatrician Dr. Wendy  Shofer:

“ How can you admire and offer gratitude to yourself for your beautiful contributions to the world? How can you offer yourself appreciation for the person you are and the doctor you have become? How can you receive appreciation for how you have persisted, fallen, triumphed, and survived?

Get yourself the gift you want: Write love notes to yourself, treat yourself to a bear hug or a massage, take a walk in the sun, tell yourself how f’ing amazing you are and how the world is so much better with you in it. Appreciate yourself. Acknowledge yourself.

As long as we seek gratitude and appreciation from others, we gamble on what we may receive. You will be missing a wellspring of appreciation from within.”