“A Ship in port is safe. But that is not what ships are for.”
—Grace Hopper
FLOATING DOCTORS CELEBRATES ITS NINTH ANNIVERSARY THIS MONTH. WE THOUGHT IT APPROPRIATE TO TAKE TIME TO CELEBRATE ITS TOPANGA ORIGINS WITH THE COMMUNITY.
In 2009, Dr. Benjamin LaBrot’s dream, Floating Doctors, was launched from here in Topanga and put to sea by supportive, romantic citizens of our beautiful community.
For seven years Ben, a child of these sun-drenched mountains and seas, lived through the brutal winters of Dublin, Ireland, attending the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), which had a special program for the practice of global medicine. It was the right fit; in 2001, it was one of the last clinically based teaching programs, i.e., hands on the patient, not the data-driven, fill-in-the-boxes computer medicine taught today.
At Ben’s graduation, all the new doctors had clothing from their respective countries flowing beneath their open robes—kafieyehs, sarongs, dashikis, kilts and hakamas, turbans and white-winged hats—quite Hogwarts, for you “Harry Potter” fans.
During those seven, cold years spent among medical students from all over the world, Ben’s dream began to take shape. He knew he loved the ocean; he knows the waters of the SANTA BARBARA? Channel off the California coast like most people know their back yard. He knew he loved medicine. And he knew, from time spent with the Masai in Africa, he was meant to bring medical relief to those who had access to none.
Back home, near his beloved Pacific Ocean, Ben began to manifest his dream. Topanga stepped up to the plate. Eight years ago, in his column for the LA Times, Al Martinez introduced Floating Doctors to the world, legitimizing Ben’s dream of bringing medical care by boat to remote coastal peoples who have no access to health care. More than equal credit goes to Joanne Martinez, my beloved neighbor, who asked Al to do it.
The McCalla boys, Matt and Andrew (Andrew was Sky’s first boyfriend at Topanga Elementary School), were working for Direct Relief in Santa Barbara and helped secure a donation of a million dollars’ worth of medical supplies. The Topanga Messenger and Katie Dalsemer’s photos gave the Floating Doctors’ dream further legitimization. Topangan Judi Meindl-Holman, USC emergency room doctor, signed onto the Board of Directors. Amelia Weiss, world class diver, cave explorer, biologist and born-and-bred Topangan, served with Floating Doctors for more than a year. Most of all, Ben’s amazing sister, Sky, partnered with her brother, bringing the dream to life as COO of the project.
A small band of volunteers set about restoring a derelict, rotting, dying ship Ben had discovered in Florida. Sky, with her partner Noah Haas, re-fiberglased the entire decayed 78-foot hull of the Southern Wind, reviving the brave boat that would be their home for the next five years.
On Jan. 12, 2010, Ben, Sky, a small crew of volunteers, a mastiff named Giles, and a cat with an attitude named Tweek, having spent a year resurrecting Southern Wind, were ready to answer the urgent call for help from Haiti following the earthquake of 2010. They plunged into their destiny. Floating Doctors brought the medical supplies from Direct Relief, and nailed donated lumber to the deck, since a deforested Haiti had few materials for rebuilding.
They arrived off the coast of Petit Guave, Haiti, to find decomposing corpses being eaten by dogs, as the children of the dead knelt helplessly nearby. Ben and Sky looked at each other, thinking, “What are we doing here? How do we do this? OK…showtime!”
They loaded their patched-up Zodiac and abandoned themselves to life on life’s terms. The first mobile clinics of Floating Doctors were on the beaches of that devastated nation, in a town totally cut off from help other than by sea.
From post-earthquake Haiti, where they treated more than 10,000 patients cut off from medical care, Floating Doctors went to Roatan, Honduras. Then back to Haiti for the cholera epidemic in the north. Then to the Comarca—10,000 square miles of remote island and mountain Ngabe communities in northern Panama, where they have built the first, permanent center, manned by volunteers from all over the world.
Tens of thousands of people have been treated by Floating Doctors. They have seen the percentages of maternal and infant mortalities plunge, treated emergencies and chronic conditions, followed up these treatments by regular visits to the communities, established dental care, provided palliative care, partnered with Operation Smile to repair hundreds of cleft palates, and included veterinarians on their teams. Furthermore, they have deployed anthropology volunteers to study and preserve the culture of the people they serve.
Working from a philosophy of sustainable ethos, Floating Doctors has brought remote, isolated communities solar energy and clean water installations.
Along the journey, Dr. Ben married a beautiful volunteer from…guess where? Topanga. Guess who? Kariné Tchakerian, daughter of Yedvart Tchakerian, a long-time Topanga resident and beloved benefactor. Sky and Noah, Ben and Kariné have since added two first mates to the crew, Sidney Blue and Aya Blue, next-generation volunteers.
When you live in a community of individuals, dreamers and artists, with people who love animals and wildlife, the character of your town penetrates your being and, therefore, your work. Topanga is infused in the ethos and individuality of Floating Doctors with qualities of generosity, competency, outside-the-box thinking, tolerance, kindness, appreciation of beauty and freedom and adventure and great humor—all part of the Topanga mix that floats the project.
To learn more about Floating Doctors, visit floatingdoctors.com; Facebook; and YouTube.
Happy Ninth Anniversary Floating Doctors.
Note: Paula LaBrot and husband, Dr. George LaBrot, are the proud parents of Dr. Ben and his sister Sky.
