Medicalmissions.com Podcast

Often, development partners are working toward building the organization, while the targeted communities are not given priority for their success. Ensuring the technical and financial capacity of the organization does not guarantee successful community development programs. On the contrary, an organization can have relatively small budget with average technical capacity, but outstanding achievement in community development. This begs the question: how is it possible to make a meaningful difference amidst such vast and complex development issues we all face. Let us share some practical insight Life In Abundance International has learned while working in 10 Africa and Caribbean countries during the last 15 years. In particular, what made the program unique to its success in Ethiopia, where LIA’s work began? It was not the size of the budget and the wide coverage of the targeted community. Rather it is the vision, value, mission and strategy of focusing on empowering local churches that made the remarkable diff

It is the general idea that the short-term missions is one sided. Often creating dependency- teams from USA go to the underdeveloped country to help and bring short term relief and address felt needs in the comminutes of the countries they visit. While that may be true, ‘passing on of skills’ showcases how the trend can be reversed and these very missions can impact providing long term and sustainable projects and help move from ‘relief’ to ‘development’ and self sustaining mode. Caleb Rayapati, will show case how the “Pass on the skills” is making an impact on the ground, a firsthand account of the partnering mission using the Dental Outreach skills in self sustaining method, involved in community development in India impacting through practice of Biblical wholisim.

In today's world, major urban centers, with highly renowned medical centers and universities, are also places with high infant and maternal mortality/morbidity. According to UNFPA's Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin (2012), "The number of maternal deaths is often inversely proportional to girls' and women's status in the family and society, and evidence shows that the poorer the household, the greater the risk of maternal death." In this session, we will examine factors influencing women's health, both in urban and global settings, and discuss strategies for health promotion and disease prevention with women and their communities

Traditional ways of serving in medical missions have included working in mission hospitals, clinics and aspects of community development and public health. Less well-known—but significant—medical mission ministries from the beginning include medical education and cooperating with local and national governments in planning or providing healthcare, including national healthcare. As entry into many areas of the world has been restricted for traditional medical missions over the past generation, these other less well-known thrusts have increased in strategic significance.Three distinguished panelists—Dr. James Smith, Dr. Daniel Tolan and Dr. Matthew Koh— bring extensive experience from nearly all continents to this session. They have served in both Christian and secular contexts and short and long term programs that have greatly enhanced the scope and effectiveness of medical missions worldwide. Join us to expand your horizons of opportunities to serve in these medical ministries.

If you’ve been on a short-term trip you’ve experienced it;
it’s the last day and the line of patients is as long as the day of arrival. Desperation is in the air. There is a nagging sense in your gut that this is not right. This session
will present techniques that empower believers to meet the healthcare needs in their own community

An introduction to Women's Cycle of Life, part of a comprehensive, wholistic curriculum and program that equips women to thrive in the face of a multitude of challenges in the developing world. In order to help women thrive, it is important to understand not only the challenges they face, but also the roots of those challenges. Women's Cycle of Life training is part of a larger wholistic community development approach that equips communities, leaders, and women to see every aspect of themselves through God's eyes. Lessons include a wide-range of physical, spiritual, and social topics focused on helping women live life abundantly.

Using examples from the DRC of major burns, head injuries and fracturesthe speaker will point to some generally available resources, practicalinnovations and possible priorities in the provision of surgical care inthe developing world.

The Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy has been proven to prevent disease, disability, and death and improve care for ill children in outpatient settings in low income countries. Learn the algorithms that can help you and your colleagues provide high quality integrated care for sick children in resource-limited settings at a fraction of the cost of usual care, improve case management skills of your health care staff, as well as improve your local health system and the health practices of families and communities where you serve.

How should I manage medical and surgical diseases in a resource limited setting? How do I decide whether to test or just treat? Should I treat the poor, rural farmer in Africa for mild HTN as I would a farmer in Minnesota? Learn an evidence-based probabilistic approach to rational, ethical, shared decision making with patients in resource limited settings that leads to cost effective care. Learn how to leave expensive, guideline centered, inefficient, futile care and embrace high value, patient-centric, cost effective, sensible care for the poor and medically underserved

Medicine is one means of meeting the needs of people throughout the world. Working with the disabled opens closed doors and is an outreach to those I consider "unreached". Three to ten percent of the world is considered to have some type of disability. Only a very few in the developing world can find care to improve their plight in life. Surgical rehabilitation, and its associated care, has opened doors throughout East Africa and has opened doors into closed countries. Kenya was the beginning. In 2006 a team entered a country where we were told, "There are no Christians, national or expats!" The third day there a medical student commented, "I have never met a Christian." A recent publication suggested that only 1 in 15 in that country had every met a Christian. Now, seven years later we have touched the physical lives of probably thousands, and we have planted a lot of seeds. Children with hydrocephalus, spina bifida, burn contractures, club feet, cleft lips/palates, an

Effective Ministry Partnership Development is the key to raising resources for life and ministry. We’ll address how correct thinking, biblical principles and practical principles are the key. This session will explain “why people give,” “how to effectively gain their support and involvement,” “ways to grow your list of prospects” and “what the basis is for successful long-term financial partnership.” Anyone wanting to increase the involvement of others in the ministry and increase their financial partnership should attend this session.

This session will help participants to work through the nebulous idea of God's calling by exploring a Biblical framework for knowing and doing God's will, and helping participants identify and overcome common barriers that prevent people from fully surrendering their lives to leading of the Holy Spirit.

Short-term teams can be a huge blessing to long-term workers on the field! They bring with them fresh perspective and energy. Their curiosity is invigorating. They often bring much needed specialty skills. They take back firsthand accounts of your ministry. And, not to be underestimated, they may also turn into long-term workers! This is a great opportunity to renew partnerships and relationships with donor organizations/churches as well as accomplishing a specific project. As long-term workers, how can we best prepare them and prepare for them?! That seems to be a burning question these days. And, lets be honest, short-term teams can also be exhausting. How can you, a long-term field worker, provide the opportunity for the short-term missionary to have a meaningful experience and simultaneously be encouraged and assisted during their visit? This session will explore Long-Term missionaries hosting Short-Term teams.

Knowing medicine or dentistry is not enough to be a successful missionary. There are many things beyond medicine you need to master to be effective. You need to learn how to recruit, train and supervise people. You will likely be involved in fund raising, program design and development, evangelism, leadership, government relations, project proposals, public speaking and much more. This session will give you an overview of many of these areas and get you started down the path to be a life long learner. Dr. Stevens will share clear principles and practical experience seasoned with examples from his missionary experience. He will point you to good resources to learn what you need to know beyond medicine.

How did 145,000 Muslims find Jesus in a single decade? Shadanke faced a decision: He could woo foreign health-care professionals to Sierra Leone to meet dire medical needs among his people. Or he could partner with a few foreign health-care professionals to launch out-of-control movements of reproducing Jesus-Communities (churches) that would explode the Kingdom among hundreds of thousands of his people while training/equipping them to meet those physical needs in Jesus’ name. He chose the latter. And a decade later there are literally hundreds of thousands of baptized believers, half for them former Muslims, who continually ravage Satan’s kingdom, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and it’s power, healing all kinds of diseases.

What’s your ultimate long-term goal? Is your dream to vaccinate multiple thousands of Berber children against preventable child-hood diseases or … to launch movements of missional-communities (churches) among the Berber who will reach all the Berber for Christ … and vaccinate all their children too? Is your goal to treat five thousand TB patients among the Bedo of Jordan or … to establish reproducing Jesus-Communities in the desert that actually bring the Kingdom’s blessing to all Bedouins … and who themselves become the hands of Jesus serving TB patients among them? Is your ambition to establish and/or staff emergency clinics for the never-ending flow of refugees, or … is your life ambition to launch out-of-control movements of simple churches that sweep through a people group … and serve their sick as part of being the church. This breakout session will give you hope that the bigger vision is possible and help you form and prepare long-term teams that can embrace such a challenge.

Abstract:Poverty is an issue that should interest all Christians especially physicians working in mission settings in charity hospitals and also physicians working in public health doing development work. Poverty is often understood in monetary terms. The Millennium Development Goal team has defined it as less than 2$ a day. This presentation seeks to understand poverty in “wholistic” terms. Poverty cannot be eradicated merely by economic empowerment unless other factors are also looked at such as: • Social exclusion or stigmatization, • Lack of access to decision making, • Fatalism or paralysis of the “status quo”, • Gender discrimination and • Dependencies (caused by excessive funding) are other important factors that aggravate poverty.Scriptural support for a broader understanding of the poor will be presented from both the “Nazareth Manifesto” in Luke chapter 4 and also from all the engagements Jesus had with different kinds of “poor” individuals.Finally evidence will be presented about how broad based ap

In management, there is a saying, "you get what you inspect, not what you expect". However, how do we know exactly what to inspect in the transformational development process? for example, if we looked only at the instruments showing the vial signs of a patient in a coma but kept alive on life support systems, the instruments would show that vital signs are within the ideal range. However , the doctor treating this patient would be most concerned about when the patient's CNS would take over responsibility for all the vital organs to function normally. We understand this well in Medical science, but somehow forget all about it when it comes to community development. Empowerment takes a back seat, and other indicators take on prominence, despite the fact that we know that things like vaccination levels, disease incidence etcetera can be made to "look impressive" by directing inputs in a particular way. We are often content to become service providers for health care and management, and t

"Justice" has multiple meanings in the Bible. When the psalmist declared that "righteousness and justice are the foundation" of the Messiah's throne (Psalm 89:14), he was speaking of an equity and fairness that goes beyond punishment for bad people. God's zeal for justice is found throughout the Old and New Testaments. This breakout session will define biblical justice, describe present day healthcare injustices, and demonstrate that working for healthcare justice is a powerful means of glorifying God and expanding the Kingdom of Jesus.

Ministry that originates from a community, rather than from outside, has heightened power to transform individuals (including those delivering services) and neighborhoods. Using examples from inner-city Memphis, TN, we'll demonstrate that powerful things happen when disciples of Jesus live as the Church-- cross-culturally and in community.