A conversation with Lancaster County doctor who won award for international volunteer work [Q&A]

Dr. Virginia Hall, who has served low income, pregnant mothers from Lancaster County since 2021, has been honored with a statewide award for her volunteer work in India and Sierra Leone.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society recently honored her with its International Voluntary Service Award, citing her work teaching and providing medical care overseas.

Hall has been to India around 10 times, where she gave medical lectures on obstetrics and gynecology as well as internal medicine, she said. She has been to Sierra Leone once, on a trip with the United Methodist Committee on Relief where she helped build a well, which was her first time leaving the United States. Hall believes in cultural competency, she said, which drew her to volunteer overseas.

Though her work with the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is behind her — Hall retired in 2018 — she continues to volunteer her time, providing free prenatal care to low income patients at Hope Within Ministries, according to director Anne Marie McAlester. The clinic is near Elizabethtown and serves residents of Lancaster, Lebanon and Dauphin counties.

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In addition to volunteering at the Dauphin County nonprofit, the 77-year-old is chair of the Foundation of the Pennsylvania Medical Society and a delegate on the American Medical Association's Senior Physicians Section Governing Council. Hall graduated in 1972 from what is now Drexel University College of Medicine. She has been married for 54 years, and has a son and daughter.

Hall recently discussed her work. Her responses have been edited for length and clarity.

What inspired you to go into medicine?

I liked science and I liked people, and it's a perfect marriage of both.

What led you to volunteer at Hope Within Ministries?

Well, I have all this knowledge, and yet it's not being used. When people retire, the biggest problem that most of them have is they lose their identity. And it's not identity, it's when you see people in need.

I was the oldest of eight children in 11 years, and we did not have access to medical care. Some issues that should have been taken care of for some of us were not. So I'm willing to help anybody who needs it whenever I can.

What does a typical day or typical week look like at Hope Within Ministries?

I'm usually there one day a month, but I know they have a lot of family practitioners, and they have a few internists (internal medicine specialists) that come and volunteer time. It's always busy. You know, full service: we draw labs, we have agreements with the various hospitals to get the lab work drawn, and if they need something, we refer them on.

What's the most rewarding part of your work with Hope Within Ministries?

Just seeing people get restored to health, or better their health.

What did your work in India and Sierra Leone look like?

In Sierra Leone, I was helping mix mortar. But I ended up debriding (removing dead tissue from) one of our cook's legs for the two weeks that we'd been working there, and something that had covered the entire side of her leg.

I was thinking western medicine and I found out that I had to think very differently. She was so tender when I was examining it, I thought, "oh, she must have osteomyelitis (a bone infection) underneath it all." And when I found out we'd have to take a boat across the lake, I'd have to run the X-ray machine, develop it and then read it, and then try to scrounge up some antibiotics, I said "plan B."

I had brought along some medical supplies and I ended up cleansing that wound twice a day for the rest of the time I was there. By the time I'd finished, she had less than an inch of scab. She was gonna have a scar.

What were some unexpected aspects of working in India?

I'm very blessed to be at (Christian Medical College & Hospital in Ludhiana, India) because it is one of the better medical schools, so they have a lot of access to things.

Everybody carries their medical records in tote bags. So you get to read all of this stuff. You can't look it up online until you have the patient in the room with you, so you may have a huge tote bag of stuff to go through before you can really figure out what's going on. That's an adjustment.

I won't say electronic medical records here are much better in some ways, but it's a very different way of looking at things.

Tell me about the moment you found out that you'd received the Pennsylvania Medical Society's International Voluntary Service Award. How did you react?

I was surprised. I never did this for accolades. I did it because people need care. And if you can augment their care in any way, or assist in that care, It's what we should be all doing as physicians.