Dr. Masaaki Tamura felt helpless last March 11, 2011 when he learned that a devastating earthquake and tsunami had hit northeastern Japan, leaving thousands of his countrymen dead, injured or missing.
Dr. Masaaki Tam
Dr. Masaaki Tamura felt helpless last March 11, 2011 when he learned that a devastating earthquake and tsunami had hit northeastern Japan, leaving thousands of his countrymen dead, injured or missing.
Dr. Masaaki Tamura with some of his origami creationsIn addition to being thousands of miles away, Dr. Tamura, a research fellow at Einstein, didn't see how his skills could help. "I was shocked and wanted to do something for the victims, but I'm an obstetrician/gynecologist, not an emergency room doctor," he explained.
At the time, Dr. Tamura did what he could from afar. A gifted origami artist, he made paper cranes, which he and some of his Einstein colleagues sold, along with other items, to raise money for the disaster victims. In all, Einstein students and scientists raised more than $6,500 for the Japanese Red Cross.
But Dr. Tamura wanted to do more, so when he spotted a Facebook post from another doctor seeking an obstetrician/gynecologist to volunteer in Japan, he answered immediately, offering his help.
The timing worked out perfectly. In late summer, Dr. Tamura had to return to Japan to extend his U.S. visa. While there, he was able to spend a full week working at a hospital in the small city of Kesennuma, home to 74,000 people, located 300 miles northeast of Tokyo near the epicenter of the quake.
The altered coastline created by the earthquake/tsunami placed this baseball stadium in the sea. Baseball is very popular in Japan.Because the Kesennuma hospital is at the top of a hill, it was spared while other area hospitals were razed. "The area along the seashore is flat," explained Dr. Tamura, "and all the buildings there were destroyed."
As a result, patients poured into the Kesennuma hospital seeking care. From September 6 through September 13, Dr. Tamura handled the midnight shift, performing checkups on 20 to 30 pregnant women each day. In that time he also delivered five babies.
Some of the women were still reeling from the March disaster. One expectant mother was unable to smile even when sonograms taken at 16 weeks' gestation revealed she was going to have a healthy son. "She was suffering from bad memories," said Dr. Tamura. "Two of her other sons, ages 3 and 5, were swept away by the tsunami right in front of her