Ex English teacher came back to treat as a doctor

N. Stuart Harris, a doctor at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital and former English teacher, rushed to Kesennuma for a five-day volunteer relief trip.

The wilderness medicine specialist first went to Japan in 1989 to teach English on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program in Iwaizumi, a small fishing town on the Pacific coast of Iwate Prefecture, north of Kesennuma.

Reaching Kesennuma by the next morning, he began assisting those who sustained injuries in the earthquake and tsunami.

The Medical College of Virginia graduate worked with local nurses at community centers, a junior high school gymnasium, a Buddhist temple and at any place people gathered in temporary shelters, waiting for aid. His team members treated a total of more than 1,000 people during their stay.

An American doctor's goodwill