Twenty years ago, David Bedell went from living in a large house on a lake near Seattle to living in a civil war-ravaged Third World country — and he did so by choice.

In 1986, after a few months of working in a practice to help pay off student loans, Bedell made a dramatic switch and moved to El Salvador in Central America as a volunteer with Concern America, an international refugee aid organization.

He went from house-sitting for a fellow doctor to “staying in a mud hut with a corrugated steel roof,” said Bedell, 53.

Planning to stay a couple of years, Bedell remained in the country until 1994, two years after the civil war ended. He provided relief to refugee camps, developed community health projects and helped train health promoters who were natives of the country and served as physicians assistants.

Bedell developed an interest in Spanish-speaking populations after witnessing communication problems while in medical school at the University of Washington. He did part of his residency in an area in eastern Washington with a large Hispanic population, but he wanted to do more.

Bedell met his wife, Ruth, in El Salvador, and it is where his three children were born.

“I think that’s a good payoff,” he said.

Last November, Bedell received the Michael Doheny Humanitarian Award from Concern America. He said it came as a surprise, but he is proud of his work.

That work, in a way, continues today. Bedell directs the Lone Tree Family Practice Center. When he started in 1995, 2 percent of his patients were Hispanic, he said. Now, about 50 percent are.

His past work has increased his cultural sensitivity and allows him to better understand issues facing his patients, he said.

“In some ways, I can get some of the appreciativeness,” he said.

— Gregg Hennigan

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