Doctor returns to his Neah Bay roots to help

After returning several times each year, doctor secures grant for emergency equipment

By PEGGY ANDERSEN

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Eric Orzeck was born in Neah Bay, a remote community at the far northwest tip of the contiguous 48 states, when his father was stationed there as a Bureau of Indian Affairs doctor nearly 60 years ago.

The place made an impression.

For four years now, Orzeck, now a doctor himself, has left his endocrinology practice in Houston several times each year to work at the Indian Health Service clinic in his hometown, a community of about 2,300 people, most of them members of the Makah Indian Tribe.

"I look at this as being a necessary part of my life, so I carve out time for it," Orzeck said in a telephone interview Friday.

This time, he brought more than his own medical services to the clinic, which is staffed year-round with several doctors and a dentist. Orzeck helped the clinic secure a $22,000 grant for emergency-service equipment that will help save lives.

The check was presented to the Makah Tribal Council at a Friday luncheon honoring Dr. Wayman Wendell Cheatham, medical director for Novo-Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company based in Princeton, N.J.

Cheatham flew to Seattle on Thursday and was driving to Neah Bay during the midmorning interview with Orzeck.

"He was warned that he had to get out of Seattle and west of Puget Sound before he even thought of spending the night or he'd never make it in time," Orzeck said with a laugh.

He downplayed his role in the grant, which will pay for a portable defibrillator for use in clinic ambulances.

That will enable heart patients to receive treatment en route to the nearest hospital at Port Angeles, 50 miles east on a narrow, twisting road along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Until now, patients were stabilized in Neah Bay and then driven to the hospital without further attendance.

"I just lobbied hard for it - explained the uniqueness of the situation, the fact that the tribe is just without significant resources," Orzeck said, Novo-Nordisk "has funds that they can allocate for these purposes without any strings."

Novo-Nordisk's primary product is insulin used in treating diabetes, which is a serious health problem in Neah Bay as in many Indian communities.

Most of the money - up to $17,000 - will go for the portable defibrillator. Additional money will be used to buy a pulse-oximeter, a diagnostic tool used to measure oxygen saturation in patients with asthma or other breathing problems.

"We also got little things like a generator," Orzeck said, noting the fragility of power lines in the face of fierce winter storm winds. The generator will be used for the clinic's oxygen concentrator.

The acquisitions with the modest grant will make major improvements in community health care, he said.

"The slightest change seems to be a major event " he said.

Orzeck's family left Neah Bay when he was 3 years old, but his mother stayed in touch with Mimi Washburn, whose family for decades owned the town's general store still the source of virtually all necessities in Neah Bay. The store has been sold, but still bears the Washburn name.

Orzeck stayed in touch as well, occasionally visiting her at her home near Tacoma.

"I was curious about the place where I was born," he said. "And I was intrigued by talking to her about the people in Neah Bay, the problems they were having.

"And then I found a way to work at the clinic, which gave me access to the community and a way to help."

Many people remember being treated by his father, he said. Some women named children for David Orzeck, who delivered many babies during his years in Neah Bay.

This article appeared in The News Tribune, Saturday, January 9, 1999 p. B3 Tacoma, Washington.