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Hospital, set up his slit lamp along with
other equipment for eye examinations. Dr.
Lowrey was experienced in native eye prob. lems and.on this trip he conducted special
studies on the lens for the detection of radiation cataracts.
The schedule called for examinations on
about 15 children and 8 adults a day. However, not all the natives could come to the
village and a numberof very old or crippled
individuals had to have “home”visits. Since
there were no vehicles, and for that matter
no roads on Rongelap, some afternoons
baa
The company-type tent used for sleeping quarters
on Rongelap.
were spent in hiking to isolated huts to ex-
amine older people.
Other expeditions were carried out by
traveling in.a very small boat powered by
fixed up as pediatric and adult medical an outboard motor on loan from the Trust
units. Ezra Riklow and another native prac- Territory. Dr. Ezra, Dr. Hitching and mytitioner obtained the histories and acted as self set off to visit one old lady, said to be
101 years old. She lived at the extreme end
interpreters. Dr. Alfred Hitching, a Gilberof
the island about 5 miles from the village.
tese, had joined us on Majuro where he
was stationed, working for the Trust Ter- We carefully wrapped our medical and laritory. He was a very intelligent fellow, and boratory supplies in a plastic-covered box
the first native physician to join a survey and set out down the lagoon. Before we
could get the boat fairly launched a large
as a memberof the medical team.
wave swamped us, and we had to bail out
EXAMINATIONS ON RONGELAP
the boat and rescue our plastic-covered box
On Rongelap the schedule called for the of equipment. Since we wore only shirts,
examination of about 240 Marshallese, in-
cluding exposed adults and children, children born to exposed parents and a comparison poplation of unexposed natives who
had returned to Rongelap after 1957. After
a preliminary interview. each person was
given a check sheet and routed through ei-
ther the pediatric or adult medical unit. Dr.
Hitching and I each had a cubicle, and we
carried out the examinations, writing up
our findings as we finished each case. Records of prior examinations were available
and the results were compared and any new
abnormalities noted. The laboratory was
established in the rear half of the dispensary hut. a hot and uncomfortable situation.
The variety and large numbers of laboratory
tests posed special problems for Dr. Leo
Meyer, pathologist and chief of the laboratory, and a veteran of nearly all the prior
medical surveys. Occupying the front half
of the dispensary hut, Colonel Austin Lowrey, our opthalmologist from Walter Reed
November, 1962
shorts and sneakers, no great harm was
done, and we started out again, rather wet
but undismayed. This time we managed to
get off shore and following a rather “roller
coaster” type trip, we made our destination
safely. The very old, toothless lady lived
under her hut, and we crawled in under to
examine her and obtain the laboratory specimens. The flies, always a nuisance, were
thicker than usual, but things became even
more complicated and crowded with the arrival of a variety of scratching chickens followed by several small curious pigs.
ENIAETOK
The trip back was comparatively dry and
uneventful since the wind had calmed down
during the morning. Several days later a
larger expedition consisting of Dr. Ezra,
Hitching, Bob Conard, Austin Lowrey, Bill
Scott and myself set out in a dory-like boat
to visit the small islet of Eniaetok, where
there were some 14 elderly Marshallese, a
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