The Foreign Service Journal, September 2003

Brooks travels to each of the posts he covers every three months, and when emergencies arise. He is in almost daily contact with patients at the other posts, as well as the local health care providers there. When he is in Delhi, Brooks usually sees walk-in patients every morning, and then sees scheduled patients. While he does have regular office hours, he is never truly off duty. He and all Foreign Service medical practitioners must be available 24 hours a day for medical service or consultations, and to arrange medevacs. Embassy New Delhi employees and family members suffered from high stress and poor morale in 2001 and 2002, due to a number of causes, including 9/11 and the war in nearby Afghanistan; the threat of nuclear war between India and Pakistan, and the subsequent autho- rized departure of non-emergency personnel and depen- dents; and management problems at post. Brooks has taught many emergency response courses at his posts for Americans and FSNs, as well as courses on chemical and biological weapons. The 2001 anthrax scare hit his region hard, as multiple envelopes containing white powder arrived at mailrooms inDelhi and Colombo. Brooks played a key role in the response to these threats, and held town meetings to discuss the situation with the community. Brooks grew up in India, where his parents were mis- sionaries. He now calls South Portland, Maine, home. He has a B.A. in Asian religions from Swarthmore College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He joined the Foreign Service in 1992, following four years as a family physician in Eastport and then Bangor, Maine. Since join- ing the Foreign Service, he has served in Bridgetown, Nairobi and Islamabad. Brooks and his wife, Betsy Dorman, an artist, have two teen-age children. ■ F O C U S S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 33 Shawn Dorman is the Journal ’s AFSA News editor. She was a Foreign Service officer from 1993 to 2000, serving in Bishkek, Jakarta and Washington, D.C. This account, along with numerous others, can be found in the 2003 edition of AFSA’s Inside a U.S. Embassy: How the Foreign Service Works for America , which she edited. 2000 N. 14th Street ■ Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Telephone (703) 797-3259 Fax (703) 524-7559 Tollfree (800) 424-9500