Trip_Wire (RIP)
01-05-2005, 14:20
(BacSi) Dr. Patricia Smith Friend to SF Passes (Comments from local SOG member at bottom.)
Dr. Smith provided care, compassion to Vietnam
By Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter
In the late 1950s, Dr. Patricia Smith, a Seattle native and University of Washington Medical School graduate, moved to the central mountain region of Vietnam and opened a hospital that was staffed mostly by Europeans and volunteers.
Her work affected people all over the world, not only those she treated but also the caretakers and physicians she inspired to follow her path, said her son Wir Smith, who, along with his older brother, Det, were adopted by Dr. Smith before she left Vietnam at the end of the war there.
Dr. Smith died Dec. 26 in Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia at age 78.
"She was an amazing person," said Wir Smith, a Seattle musician. "She was really a little like Mother Teresa."
In the wake of Dr. Smith's death, he said, the family received hundreds of messages from people about her impact on their lives.
After graduating from medical school and completing her residency, Dr. Smith felt incomplete, her son said. She read about an opportunity to work with lepers in Vietnam for two years, and she jumped at it.
"She said it was the most rewarding thing in the world," Smith said. "She fell in love with the place."
Dr. Smith had gone to Vietnam's Kontum region, according to an article in Vietnam magazine, and opened a hospital with funds from International Catholic Relief and the Society of Friends.
Initially, she was greeted with skepticism, the article said. The people had long relied on their own village leaders for healing. But their attitudes changed after she cured the daughter of one elder, and in time she became trusted and loved.
Sick villagers were said to walk more than 100 kilometers, entire families in tow, to come to "Dr. Pat's" hospital.
Dr. Smith and her work have been chronicled in numerous articles, and she was the subject of a CBS television documentary. There even are pictures of her in the White House with President Nixon.
"But she didn't pay attention to it," her son said of the publicity "She didn't like to be in the spotlight."
Wir Smith said his mother had always wanted to have children and first adopted his brother, now a Navy dentist, and then him. Their biological mother had been killed by shrapnel when Wir was an infant.
"My father asked her to adopt me," Wir Smith said. "He wanted me to have a better life."
Dr. Smith and her boys returned to Seattle when South Vietnam fell.
She settled in Bellevue and worked for Group Health Cooperative for 20 years, retiring in 1997 and moving to Lake Cushman near Hoodsport, Mason County. There, she found time to indulge her love of murder mysteries and crossword puzzles.
Dr. Smith is survived by her sons and by her sister, Christine Smith, of Bellevue.
From A SOG Member:
The sad news of the passing of a great BacSi [Pat Smith] and friend to the Montagnards and many Special Forces soldiers at Kontum, Vietnam.”
She was all of that! She ran a Leprosarium and General Hospital for Montagnards only, at Kontum, when we were in Dak To/Dak Pek in ’63-64.
She treated all our Montagnard wounded. We gave strict instructions to all MedEvac pilots (when we could get ‘em to take ‘Yards out of the AO) to fly them to Doc Smith and NOT the RVN Hospital.
Doc Smith would treat them and get them back to us. The RVN hospital would NOT even admit them! It was a two way street, too.
We were able to provide her with many goodies … meds, drugs, medical equipment, food for ‘Yard families, etc. We scrounged an X-Ray machine for her once (Jim Taylor & I had to get it operational … it had wires ). On one occasion, Doc Taylor wanted an autoclave for sterilizing stuff, so I ordered one from the “Company” who was our next higher. They apparently didn’t have one or access to one, so they sent us 24 BIG pressure cookers.
We kept two (worked fine) and gave the rest to Doc Smith. She was dee-lighted. We took care of her and she took care of us. Anytime we were enroute to Plieku, we would stop off in Kontum and see Doc Smith .. see if she needed anything.
Everything we gave her she USED, too. No BS trading or selling stuff on the BM. She was an honest, caring woman. She was affiliated with the Catholic Medical Relief Organization, IIRC.
I can see her now in her flip-flop shower shoes, tending to her patients with the whole ‘Yard family of every patient there in the hospital, all cooking in the court yard.
She was a great Lady, and a REAL humanitarian. God bless her. The world is a poorer place for her passing.
Dr. Smith provided care, compassion to Vietnam
By Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter
In the late 1950s, Dr. Patricia Smith, a Seattle native and University of Washington Medical School graduate, moved to the central mountain region of Vietnam and opened a hospital that was staffed mostly by Europeans and volunteers.
Her work affected people all over the world, not only those she treated but also the caretakers and physicians she inspired to follow her path, said her son Wir Smith, who, along with his older brother, Det, were adopted by Dr. Smith before she left Vietnam at the end of the war there.
Dr. Smith died Dec. 26 in Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia at age 78.
"She was an amazing person," said Wir Smith, a Seattle musician. "She was really a little like Mother Teresa."
In the wake of Dr. Smith's death, he said, the family received hundreds of messages from people about her impact on their lives.
After graduating from medical school and completing her residency, Dr. Smith felt incomplete, her son said. She read about an opportunity to work with lepers in Vietnam for two years, and she jumped at it.
"She said it was the most rewarding thing in the world," Smith said. "She fell in love with the place."
Dr. Smith had gone to Vietnam's Kontum region, according to an article in Vietnam magazine, and opened a hospital with funds from International Catholic Relief and the Society of Friends.
Initially, she was greeted with skepticism, the article said. The people had long relied on their own village leaders for healing. But their attitudes changed after she cured the daughter of one elder, and in time she became trusted and loved.
Sick villagers were said to walk more than 100 kilometers, entire families in tow, to come to "Dr. Pat's" hospital.
Dr. Smith and her work have been chronicled in numerous articles, and she was the subject of a CBS television documentary. There even are pictures of her in the White House with President Nixon.
"But she didn't pay attention to it," her son said of the publicity "She didn't like to be in the spotlight."
Wir Smith said his mother had always wanted to have children and first adopted his brother, now a Navy dentist, and then him. Their biological mother had been killed by shrapnel when Wir was an infant.
"My father asked her to adopt me," Wir Smith said. "He wanted me to have a better life."
Dr. Smith and her boys returned to Seattle when South Vietnam fell.
She settled in Bellevue and worked for Group Health Cooperative for 20 years, retiring in 1997 and moving to Lake Cushman near Hoodsport, Mason County. There, she found time to indulge her love of murder mysteries and crossword puzzles.
Dr. Smith is survived by her sons and by her sister, Christine Smith, of Bellevue.
From A SOG Member:
The sad news of the passing of a great BacSi [Pat Smith] and friend to the Montagnards and many Special Forces soldiers at Kontum, Vietnam.”
She was all of that! She ran a Leprosarium and General Hospital for Montagnards only, at Kontum, when we were in Dak To/Dak Pek in ’63-64.
She treated all our Montagnard wounded. We gave strict instructions to all MedEvac pilots (when we could get ‘em to take ‘Yards out of the AO) to fly them to Doc Smith and NOT the RVN Hospital.
Doc Smith would treat them and get them back to us. The RVN hospital would NOT even admit them! It was a two way street, too.
We were able to provide her with many goodies … meds, drugs, medical equipment, food for ‘Yard families, etc. We scrounged an X-Ray machine for her once (Jim Taylor & I had to get it operational … it had wires ). On one occasion, Doc Taylor wanted an autoclave for sterilizing stuff, so I ordered one from the “Company” who was our next higher. They apparently didn’t have one or access to one, so they sent us 24 BIG pressure cookers.
We kept two (worked fine) and gave the rest to Doc Smith. She was dee-lighted. We took care of her and she took care of us. Anytime we were enroute to Plieku, we would stop off in Kontum and see Doc Smith .. see if she needed anything.
Everything we gave her she USED, too. No BS trading or selling stuff on the BM. She was an honest, caring woman. She was affiliated with the Catholic Medical Relief Organization, IIRC.
I can see her now in her flip-flop shower shoes, tending to her patients with the whole ‘Yard family of every patient there in the hospital, all cooking in the court yard.
She was a great Lady, and a REAL humanitarian. God bless her. The world is a poorer place for her passing.