An emergency physician for the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, Mark Stinson braved ground zero and then Afghanistan only weeks later.
As dusk fell along the border with Afghanistan, the barge inched on cables across the Panz River. Dr. Mark Stinson knew that from a distant ridge, Taliban artillery
could rain hellfire upon him at any moment. On his way into a country thrust into chaos by war and poverty, he mulled how he would get out if he had to. He made friends with barge operator. He patted thousands of dollars he had duct-taped to his body. He kept a compass close at hand. He made plans to always identify himself as a physician, maybe an Irish one. "I am an American," thought Stinson, 44, an emergency physician with the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, as he stepped ashore. "What am I doing here?"
But Stinson goes where people need doctors the most-ground zero in September, Afghanistan three weeks later. With three bags of medical supplies he crisscrossed the Northern alliance territory for eight days, treating long lines of refugees suffering everything from scabies to tuberculosis. "These were the worst circumstances I've ever seen," said Stinson, who spent 2 1/2 weeks at ground zero for the federal government and has braved war and natural disaster around the world through the aid group Relief International. Yet Stinson's is hopeful for Afghanistan's future. "We can make a difference there," he said. "This country can become self-sufficient."