BY PHIL VERNON
On Tuesday, Sept. 16, islanders have a unique opportunity to learn about the situation inside Gaza through the eyes, mind and heart of a physician.
Saskatchewan born and raised, Dr. Deirdre Nunan is an orthopaedic trauma surgeon who has dedicated the last decade to working in international humanitarian contexts in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Haiti and more. She has served multiple missions in Gaza in the past year and a half — returning to Canada just one month ago.
What’s happening, she said, is “absolutely catastrophic for the Palestinian people and completely preventable. Being there you have a profound sense of the injustice of the situation.”
As part of a dedicated and highly skilled team of operating room surgeons, Nunan and her team are daily faced with bombing casualties with multiple life-threatening injuries. While other members of the team address a patient’s complicated internal injuries, she may be staunching the flow of blood from a massive leg injury of the same patient before amputating the limb.
Having the opportunity to do such hands-on work with her Palestinian colleagues, who she says are “the most heroic people I’ve ever met in my life,” is what makes it meaningful. Yet she fears for the safety of her friends, colleagues and their families; both the European Hospital where she worked in the spring and Nasser Hospital where she was posted most recently have suffered serious bombing attacks.
Nunan will be speaking at All Saints by the Sea Anglican Church this coming Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in the upper hall. By sharing her firsthand experience and witnessing of the human face of the conflict, Nunan hopes to inspire us to act, connecting with others in initiatives here and around the country.
Admission is by donation to the presentation, which will include a slide show and Q&A session. Funds raised go to support Grown by Our Hands, a grassroots community initiative launched from within Gaza promoting home-based food production, providing families with seeds, tools, soil and training. Initiated by a friend, Nunan said Grown by Our Hands gives her “an immense degree of hope.”
Nunan will also be speaking in Nanaimo on Sept. 11, Duncan Sept. 12 and Victoria Sept. 14.
For further details, email pcvernon@gmail.com.