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Infant check-ups are just one of the many ways Dr. Debra Selby serves the children of Sierra Leon, Africa in the pediatric clinic.

Losing her older brother to leukemia when he was eight years old sent young Debra Selby on a mission of healing and helping others. That mission has led her to make history both in her family, and to a faraway land, all while fulfilling her desire to serve others.

“I was very close to my brother and losing him to leukemia was tough, but the 1960s and leukemia did not go together very well,” said Debra Selby, MD. “When he died, I knew I wanted to serve others. Medicine was my calling.” On the road to accomplishing her goal, Selby made family history by becoming the first to graduate from high school.

Selby, a native of West Virginia and a diehard West Virginia University (WVU) fan, met her husband, John, while in college at WVU in Morgantown, West Virginia. The couple married Selby’s first year of medical school at West Virginia University School of Medicine, from which she obtained her medical degree.

Although Selby knew medicine would be her career, due to her experience of dealing with her brother’s illness, she never considered pediatrics. Her experience during her pediatric rotation, however, changed that because she found it to be the only area she truly loved. “It became clear to me that pediatrics was the path I was to follow,” said Selby. “I love that kids get better. I feel like I am making a difference in someone’s life.”

She remained at WVU for her residency in pediatrics, which she completed in 1990. Selby went into practice in Morgantown for one year at Cheata Lake Clinic. Her personal mission of serving others, however, led her to search for an area not served by a pediatrician. In 1992, Selby relocated her family, which then included a son and a daughter, to Paris, Tenn., where she established the Paris Pediatric Clinic, PC. “With no pediatrician in Paris at that time, I knew I would feel useful and serving a need,” said Selby.

The first few years in Paris were hectic and at times overwhelming for Selby. “The clinic and I were very well received, but there was a transitional period for us,” said Selby. “People are very loyal to those who work in this community. The support for the clinic in the beginning was tremendous and has continued, so much so that over the years, we have had to add two additional pediatricians.”

Selby’s mission of helping and serving extends beyond the walls of her clinic, from making house calls to chronically ill patients around the Paris area to running a pediatric clinic in Sierra Leon, Africa, as a part of a mission team. For the past two years, she has traveled to the country with the world’s highest child mortality rate as a member of a mission team with members of her church, First United Methodist of Paris. “Our minister met a man from Sierra Leon several years ago, and one thing led to another,” said Selby. “Our church has been involved in missions there for the past four to five years, but their trips are usually in January. I have always wanted to go, but being a pediatrician, there is no way I could be gone in January.”

An opportunity to go to Sierra Leon for a ten-day mission trip in April came up last year, and Selby jumped at the chance. Her role on the team would be to serve as physician for a pediatric clinic. Since the area has little access to clean water, the team mainly concentrated its efforts on medicines for parasites. During her first trip, 400 children were treated through the clinic; this April the number increased to 480.

“No one in Sierra Leon realized how great of a need there was for pediatric care. It is not uncommon for kids to be lost in the shuffle; they hold no real place in the culture of the society they live in,” said Selby. “In fact, the clinic tries to not start seeing adults unless they are in dire need, because if we did, we may not get to see kids anymore.”

Besides general medical supplies, Selby personally collects ambu-bags and bulb syringes, which she distributes to midwives in the area. “With 25 percent of babies dying there, I have made it my personal mission to try to keep these babies alive,” said Selby. “One of the things I do while I am there is to lecture midwives on newborn resuscitation, but many of the midwives do not even have the basics, such as a bulb syringe or equipment to suction a newborn’s nose.”

The team also works with “Project Peanut Butter” in an effort to help meet the need for food in the area. This program utilizes peanut-based, Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). This energy-dense, lipid paste is very similar to commercial peanut butter, but has added vitamins and minerals, powdered milk, vegetable oil and sugar. This paste has been used successfully in home-based care as the singular therapeutic food for severely malnourished children. The paste has a 90 percent recovery rate, and in 2007, UNICEF, the United Nations Systems Standing Committee on Nutrition, the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme issued a joint statement endorsing RUTF as the standard of treatment for severely malnourished children worldwide.

“In pediatrics, whether it is in northwest Tennessee or in Africa, there is no hurrying,” said Selby. “You spend lots of time with the patient and their family. Over time, you develop a relationship with them. And sometime around the time they head off to college, they will actually have a conversation with you.”



August 2008

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