Floating Doctors' voyage could help cure America's image problem along the way
A small crew plans to sail to 51 countries in a 60-foot schooner to help those who need medical attention.
In the wake of America's diminished reputation around the world, it is encouraging to be reminded that there are good guys among us working to improve our tarnished image. Sometimes they're right next door.
Take Ben LaBrot. He's a 32-year-old medical doctor who could clearly set up a successful practice in one of the tonier parts of L.A., enjoy holidays abroad in five-star hotels and generally live the life of a man who has it made.
Instead he's gathered a crew to sail a floating clinic to 51 nations primarily in Africa and Asia to bring free healthcare to those in desperate need, braving the storms of the ocean and the uncertainty of their welcome in the name of humanity.
I like that.
Born near Venice Beach, the son of a like-minded physician and a creative, caring mother, LaBrot was raised breathing salt air. A world traveler while still in his teens, he also trained as a marine biologist and seems drawn by a natural inclination to sail abroad and heal the world.
Toward that end, he has organized Floating Doctors and is preparing to set sail in November aboard the 60-foot schooner Endurance to test an idea born in his soul.
I learned of this on a backyard deck of his parents' home about a block from our house as a glowing full moon rose over the mountains of Topanga. It was the kind of magical evening when great plans are proposed, hopes soar and challenges reveal themselves. Monumental forces were at work here.
LaBrot was using the moment to unveil details of the two-year voyage by six men and two women, two of them medical doctors and the others prepared by inclination or training to navigate the high seas and treat those in need of medical attention.
An athletic 6-foot-1, 215-pounder with close-cropped hair and an engaging manner, LaBrot traveled to remote fishing villages in Mexico as a teenage marine biology student and saw up close the need for medical treatment among the inhabitants. Having observed it once, on subsequent trips he brought antibiotics and other medications furnished by his father for those he encountered. It was his first foreign medical mission.
"When you experience poverty so close to so much wealth, it makes it hard to put wealth on top of the list," he said, explaining an altruistic attitude. "You realize how lucky you are by accident of birth."
