VOA标准英语2009年-Real Medicine Foundation Works with Partne

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles, CA
01 October 2009
A California doctor is taking a message of healing to impoverished¹ parts of the world through an organization called the Real Medicine Foundation. The German-born physician is making a difference by building partnerships³ through her foundation.

 
Dr. Martina Fuchs
Responding to a disaster

It began in Sri Lanka, where Martina Fuchs, a Los Angeles-based pediatrician, wanted to provide medical help in the aftermath of an immense natural disaster.

"I decided⁴ after the December 2004 tsunami⁵ in Southeast Asia to help. And I just wanted to help as a person and as a pediatrician," she says, "And I knew I would be able to do something."

Forming partnerships and rebuilding communities

Working with Sri Lankans, Dr. Fuchs helped build a clinic and later became involved in rebuilding communities -- helping⁶ people recover psychologically and economically from the tsunami.

As the work expanded, she created the Real Medicine Foundation in 2005. The non-profit aid group went to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and to Indonesia and Pakistan in 2006 and 2008 in the wake of devastating⁷ earthquakes. In each case, Fuchs says her foundation worked with local partners, including clinics and makeshift emergency schools.

 
Main concepts for the Real Medicine Foundation is friends helping friends helping friends
"One of the main concepts for the Real Medicine Foundation is friends helping friends helping friends," she explains, "So we believe in working together, working with as many partners as possible because then you can just accomplish more and you can reach more people."

One partnership² is with a clinic in a Spanish-speaking neighborhood of Los Angeles. The foundation got help from volunteers to create an educational and community center above the clinic. They were sent by another non-profit organization called Big Sunday.

The group's founder⁸, David Levinson, says that one Sunday each year, volunteers help out with community projects like this. "We sent in our team to paint, to redo the floors, to put in closets and shelves and really set it up," he says, "And it's been a big undertaking⁹, involving a lot of people and weeks of planning. And it's great because it's going to keep lasting¹⁰ for years to come."

The project is the Real Medicine Foundation's second partnership with a local clinic. And Martina Fuchs says more are planned for mothers and children.

"We are often starting out with a clinic in an area of extreme poverty. And then we add maternal¹¹ child care programs; we add outreach programs on hygiene¹², family planning, sexuality; HIV-AIDS programs, education [and] prevention," Dr. Fuchs said.

The Real Medicine Foundation operates with partners in more than a dozen countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas -- offering what Dr. Fuchs calls "integrative health care". She says the foundation grew out of a promise she made in tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka.

"People kept approaching me because everybody had lost everything, and I promised to help," she adds, "And it's very important for me to keep my promises."

Dr. Martina Fuchs says the international effort came about simply, through people helping people.

1 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

10 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

11 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

12 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。