Outstanding contribution from Dr Sherene Kalloo

“Having this medal came as a shock to me,” she tells me via phone-call. “I was recommended and didn’t know.”

Her voice is humble, open, and kind – much like the person.

Dr Kalloo is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist (OBGYN) by profession. Right before our phone conversation she confesses she delivered a baby girl with exuberance. “I’ve delivered over 10,000,” she adds sneakily. It’s a high number but she admits each time is like the first.

Her appreciation for life and helping others came from her “grassroots” background. Her father was a school principal, and her mother retired an acting principal. She was taught early on about being self-sufficient.

“My independence was given to me, my mother made sure I was independent. My father taught me, down to changing a flat tyre,” she laughs.

“It came from both my parents, wanting to help people. My mother had a similar nature; she was a teacher and was able to educate people. That’s where I got my love of wanting to educate as well, but in a different aspect.”

Early on in her career, she worked at St Ann’s Hospital in the field of psychiatry. This is where she first became attuned to some of the mental health issues facing women.

“I saw a lot suffering when I was training to be a doctor. It was difficult for me to understand why women are coming in with a host of problems but there were no physical problems. She comes in with headaches, back pain; it was all stress-related.

“At St Ann’s I had a deeper understanding of the psychological aspect of what women have to suffer. That’s when I started understanding women more in depth.”

She quotes marital issues, economic marginalisation, and domestic violence as some of the causes for mental health issues in women.

For 11 years, she trained and worked as an OBGYN in a completely male-dominated field. “[As a woman], I had to work ten times as hard to achieve my goals,” she comments. It was during these years that she encountered more women who needed health education. “I was fighting in a male-dominated field. I was the only female for the 11 years I was there. I was battling trying to help women.”

In 2007, a new local television station, WinTV, reached out to Dr Kalloo for an appearance on their health show “Medical Matters”. What was originally a one-time guest spot became a regular gig. Over the years, she has encouraged much needed discourse surrounding women’s health and rights through the show.

She gives her time freely because she believes the work is necessary, and the knowledge and help she inspires is rewarding enough. She has gotten many compliments on her work from viewers and listeners, to which she says, “It makes me feel good to know I’m making a difference out there. It makes me confident to go forward and continue to do what I’m doing.”

In 2013, she received the ASPIRE (Advocates for Safe Parenthood: Improving Reproductive Equity) Woman of the Year Award for her work with victims of domestic violence. “I try to help women who have been referred to me; guide them in the right direction, I try to empower women to become independent. Women who stay in abusive situations are dependent and then there’s the shame society dishes out to us. I try to show women that they can depend on themselves.”

Over the years, what she describes as her “holistic” management of patients has led her to be more than just a doctor.

“A patient comes in and is having a problem in her pregnancy. It’s not just about me taking care of her physically, but if I sit with my patient and try to understand what is going on at home, anything stress-related; these factors impound on managing your patient. In terms of holistic management of a patient, I’m more than an OBGYN; I’m a mother, a friend, a counselor.”

Another accomplishment she is proud of: she was one of the persons who advocated and pushed tirelessly for the availability of free HPV (Human Papillomavirus) shots at health centres across TT. HPV is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer. “We needed to get the government to get it into their immunization schedule so our women could benefit because it’s expensive. There was work through the Ministry of Health, the media, and eventually there was implementation and introduction of the vaccine two years ago.

“It is something that is very important and I feel strongly about. It is available to all women from the ages of 11-45. It is important for prevention of cervical cancer in future generations.” Dr Kalloo even had her son vaccinated since men may carry and pass on the disease.

She says it is no easy feat to juggle her many professional responsibilities, but she manages her time to keep up with her busy schedule. She is also a devoted family woman and mother of three boys: a 19-year-old medical student and ten-year-old twins.

She speaks lovingly of her sons and her open approach to motherhood. “I speak to my boys and let them know they can tell me anything.

“Every child and every relationship is different.

Society now is different than what I grew up in.

Technology has brought more challenges for our children. What we didn’t have to think about 20 years ago, they’re experiencing in primary school. You can’t live in the past and expect your children to be exactly what you were. You have to understand the challenges involved, tell your children what is out there, use words they know.

Abuse is a very common thing now, even with children.

“You must know when to be a friend as well as a parent. Know when to lay down the rules, but reward them when they do good; they have to earn things.” She also believes in the divine, and says the work she does as an OBGYN brings her closer to God. “People compare me to God sometimes, or compare doctors to God, but He works through me.” Earlier this year, on a trip to St. Lucia, Dr Kalloo experienced what she describes as her proof of God’s intervention. While at the poolside of a resort, she heard screams as a toddler was pulled out from underwater.

“I don’t know… maternal, medical, what instinct kicked in; I dropped everything and ran to this little boy. Everybody was panicking and thought he was dead because he was blue and not breathing.” She kept her “cool and calm” and administered CPR, instructing the youngster’s father to perform mouth-to-mouth. He survived.

“What are the odds I would be there at that moment to bring him back to life? It brings me such joy delivering babies; I’ve shed tears of joy to know I’m responsible for [that]. But that moment in St. Lucia was totally different, it was overwhelming.

“It was God through me.” She describes it as a miracle, and strengthened her appreciation for life and continuing to _ ght for women’s liberties.

Her work as an educator continues, and next on her list is finding ways to bring mortality rates stemming from pregnancy down.

“The figure isn’t where it should be. There can never be a perfect zero, but there are ways in which we can improve to bring the number down.” While Dr Kalloo’s soft and sweet voice and engaging manner may paint the picture of effervescence and maternal warmth, the work she has done is ferocious. As a mother, a medical practitioner, a counselor, a friend, she has taken on tasks to improve the quality of life for many of our nation’s women without seeking validation.

She is humbled by her National Award and the accolades and recognition she has received, but her true purpose is helping others and giving of herself without expectation.

“It’s just in me. It’s who I am. It is enough to know that in some way, what I have done has benefitted others. Other mothers, sisters, women – and men, too.