Scripps physician discovers new sense of ‘peace’ and ‘excitement’ as visiting mission doctor in Sudan, Thailand and Cambodi
By Arthur Lightbourn

Change is nothing new for local resident Peter Aldrich.

He started out his career, armed with a Ph.D., as a research chemist with Dow Chemical in Michigan.
But after five years in the lab, he decided to chuck life as a solitary scientist and launch a new career which allowed him to work more directly and more closely with people.

He entered the University of Miami School of Medicine's accelerated program for Ph.D.s in science and in two years earned a medical degree and began five years of residency in internal medicine at Northwestern Medical School's McGaw Medical Center in Chicago.

In 1993, he joined Scripps Clinic.

Today, he's vice president of medical services for Scripps Clinic's regional sites and medical director of the clinic's urgent care/emergency services.

But that wasn't the end of changes in the life of this 53-year-old physician whom we interviewed at Scripps Clinic in Carmel Valley.

Aldrich was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was one of six children. His father, a former World War II Navy pilot, was district manager of a building materials company.

Initially, Aldrich entered the University of Illinois as a pre-med student, but was beguiled by chemistry and went on to earn both a master’s and Ph.D. in chemistry after which he joined Dow Chemical as a polymer science researcher.

He enjoyed it for awhile, he said, “but research is very dry.”

“One out of 100 projects would bear fruit and the average length of a projects was about four or five years. So there's this huge group of Ph.D.s that do research for their career and some stuff bubbles out of it and is successful, but the vast majority of it is an exercise in doing science. And you're surrounded by all these introverted scientists ... I began to long for a little more purpose and people and stuff.”

That's when he entered medical school and became a physician.

Aldrich made another life-changing decision several years ago, after a period of turmoil in his personal life and a divorce.

“It affects you in various ways,” he said, “and something happens, which is pretty hard to explain, but I think the Lord spoke to me …

“I was never a raging atheist but I was a typical science agnostic sort of person. Scientists and

physicians tend to be that.”

He joined the Horizon Christian Fellowship in Clairemont.
He doesn't feel comfortable with labels like “Born Again Christian,” but, he explained, “It's where you basically say your relationship with God is the most important thing to you and we believe it's through Jesus Christ, so that's what it's all about for us.”

He also discovered that his commitment to his faith and to his profession was “a great mix.”

“You're taking care of people who are sick and need empathy. I think what Jesus says to us is to take care of the needy and the hungry.”

He began participating in outreach medical clinics for the poor at his church.
“There was a physician there who does a lot of international stuff, and I always wanted to do that, and it just kind of scared me.”

He soon found himself heading a clinical team of 30 doctors and nurses from Scripps enlisted to assist Katrina hurricane evacuees in Houston, Texas — and shortly after that doing medical forays sponsored by Horizon Christian Fellowship North County into northern Thailand to help out at missions among remote hill country tribes and at orphanages in Cambodia.

Then, in February of this year, a call came from the Safe Harbor International Relief agency to help stem a meningitis epidemic in Southern Sudan.

“They said, 'Can you come right away?'

“At first I said, 'Yeah.' Then the next day, I tried to figure out how to graciously get out of it because of my obligations. But then I just freed up my schedule and it worked out.”

With the support and encouragement of Scripps president Chris Van Gorder, Aldrich obtained a donation from Cardinal Health of 500 doses of ceftriaxone, the injectable antibiotic to treat cases of neiserria and meningococcal meningitis, potentially fatal diseases which earlier in the year had claimed 15 lives a day at the Tonj mission station in the Southern Sudan and which was flaring up again.

Tonj is a town of 30,000 with no running water and no doctor.

With a church volunteer assistant, Aldrich flew to Tonj and, with the help of the mission's nurse and a Ugandan physician's assistant, began treating some 200 patients a day with antibiotics and intravenous fluids.

Meningococcal meningitis is a potentially-fatal bacterial infection of the thin lining (meninges) that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. It is transmitted by sneezing, coughing, kissing and by sharing drinking and eating utensils. Its symptoms include high fever, stiff neck, sensitivity to light, confusion, seizures, headaches and vomiting.

The World Health Organization reported 7,000 cases of meningitis in Southern Sudan this year and 430 deaths. The epidemics are cyclical and usually last about a month at a time.

From Tonj, Aldrich emailed Scripps president Chris Van Gorder: “Tough day yesterday. Lots of lives saved, but the epidemic seems to be picking up among the youngest kids. I lost a small infant yesterday as I struggled to get [an IV] line in him. It took me aback. His heart just stopped and his eyes rolled up. He was about 1 year old…I was kind of stunned. You just move on to the next one. It doesn't seem right, but you have to. They die too fast if you don't get to them.”

During his two weeks of treating hundreds of patients, Aldrich lost two, the infant boy and one male adult.

“We were usually able to save them, with those two exceptions,” Aldrich said. “You can really spring them to life with the antibiotics, the IV fluids and the other medicines.”

Despite the blistering heat and the epidemic conditions, Aldrich said he experienced “a certain peace.”
“When you are there you think, 'Where else should I be right now? I'm doing exactly the best thing I could be doing.' I guess we call it being in the center of God's will. And there's a tremendous peace with that.”

And, from a physician's standpoint, he added, “It's exciting clinically too. I hate to admit to that, but it's stuff I don't [normally] see….

“And the other thing, it's kind of exciting actually. I'm not a natural adrenalin junky or anything, but it's like an Indiana Jones sort of excitement. In Sudan, guns are going off every night and there's just all these people with AK-47s and you're traveling into someplace you have no business going hardly. There's a certain excitement about it.”

Aldrich will be going to Cambodia again for the third time in November for another two and one half weeks of working as a mission doc.