Dr. Maybell Nieves
A World-Class Medical Background
My name is Maybell Nieves. I became a medical doctor in Caracas, Venezuela,
graduating from Universidad Central de Venezuela. After a 3-year specialization in general surgery, I was honored to study in Milan, Italy, at the prestigious European Institute of Oncology under Professor Umberto Veronesi—the father of modern breast surgery.
The breast-conserving techniques he pioneered, which I learned during my time there, have saved countless women worldwide from needless mutilation.
My name is Maybell Nieves. I became a medical doctor in Caracas, Venezuela,
graduating from Universidad Central de Venezuela. After a 3-year specialization in general surgery, I was honored to study in Milan, Italy, at the prestigious European Institute of Oncology under Professor Umberto Veronesi—the father of modern breast surgery.
The breast-conserving techniques he pioneered, which I learned during my time there, have saved countless women worldwide from needless mutilation.
Forged in Crisis: When the Medical System Collapsed
But that is not my greatest contribution.
When the economic crisis hit Venezuela, severe staff shortages forced me into more and more ER shifts. Inside the emergency room, I dealt with everything from gunshot wounds to heart attacks and diabetic comas. As we ran out of medications, electricity, and even running water, I had to pioneer new, ingenious methods to save my patients using only what we had left.
Life-Saving Skills for When You Are the Only Help.
Alongside my colleagues, I developed practical methods for antisepsis, anesthesia, and creating antibiotic alternatives. We made homemade casts, eye and skin remedies from household items, and fungus-fighting mixtures. These techniques, born from necessity, were quickly adopted throughout the country as other hospitals faced the same shortages. Most of them do not require medical assistance and can be self-applied, making them invaluable when the medical system can’t be depended on.
A Doctor’s Hope for a Prepared Future.
You can find every one of these methods inside The Home Doctor: Practical Medicine for Every Household. It is my ultimate hope that people outside of Venezuela will be able to take advantage of everything we discovered during our darkest hour. It would be a shame if this vital knowledge, for which we paid a very steep price, did not reach the people who need it most in the next crisis.
Meet Dr. Rodrigo Alterio - In His Own Words
From a Collapsing City to the Heart of the Jungle
I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, in a time when the signs of economic collapse were already starting to show. I practiced medicine at the three main hospitals in the capital, but in 2017, I went to live and practice deep inside the Amazon jungle. There, in an area only accessible by plane, I became the primary care physician for almost 2000 “Pemons” in the Kamarata community, hundreds of miles from the nearest pharmacy.
Medicine Beyond the Hospital Walls
Away from civilization, I had to make do with what I had on hand to perform a wide range of procedures for accidents, diseases, and even delivering babies. When supplies were scarce, I made use of traditional methods, like cleaning wounds with honey as a bacteriostatic. I can truly say there is a BIG difference between the kind of medicine a doctor has to practice there and what is being done in modern hospitals. To be a doctor in a remote area, you need a different type of knowledge—the kind you need when medical assistance is unpredictable and supplies run low.
Life-Saving Improvisation in a Crisis
What few people realize is that when a crisis happens, many common conditions become life-threatening. An asthma attack, easily manageable at home, turned extremely dangerous after supplies ran out in the Amazon; we barely saved a 4-year-old boy. Back in Caracas, I was part of the Green Cross, a group of paramedics helping injured protesters. We treated pepper gas intoxication with a mix of an antacid and water. During my surgery rotations, when we lacked proper drainage systems for chest wounds, we built them ourselves using 5-liter water bottles, saving most of these patients’ lives.
Pioneering the Future, Remembering the Past
I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate for the department of Surgical Oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, training residents on their robotic surgery skills. The breakthroughs we are pioneering here will make a big difference for patients. But I know that in the next crisis, when the grid goes down and supply chains break, it is the old, practical methods that we will need most by our side.
Meet Claude Davis - In His Own Words
Rethinking What it Means to Be Prepared
I’m NOT what some people would call a Doomsday prepper. I don’t think the world is going to end, but I do believe that all of us will face hardships. I don’t like to place my family’s lives in the hands of others; I prepare because our grandparents were in charge of their own destiny. They stockpiled food, created their own remedies, and knew how to live without electricity, modern medicine, or supermarkets. The crisis we are all prepping for is what folks 150 years ago called daily life.
Losing the Wisdom of Our Forefathers
While most people are obsessed with “new” technology, I’ve always been fascinated by a wiser, healthier America—a country of more independent people. Progress has brought us good things, but we are smarter, not wiser; we own more, but not what we need; we live longer, but we’re not healthier. The truth is we are sitting on the edge of oblivion, no longer knowing the skills of our forefathers. We are the last generation that can truly do something about it.
A Mission to Reclaim Lost Knowledge
This is why I put together my first books, The Lost Ways and The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies—to save the skills and powerful remedies we’ve lost to history. With The Home Doctor: Practical Medicine for Every Household, I’ve tried to connect the old ways of healing with modern techniques developed when doctors and medicines became scarce.
