Medicalmissions.com Podcast

Glenn Schwartz will speak about the issue of healthy sustainability in the Christian movement. He gives historical insights into how the dependency syndrome in cross-cultural missions develops and, more importantly, how it can be overcome. This presentation will also include several short case studies about mission-established hospitals and how they moved toward local sustainability. His primary emphasis is "two-fold: One is that unhealthy dependency can be avoided from the beginning in cross-cultural ministry. The second is that the dependency syndrome can be overcome where it has become established. He believes that churches and other institutions do not need to suffer long-term consequences from this illness, and there is plenty of evidence to confirm that. Obviously there are places in the world where outside assistance is justified, but in many places local resources are available for those who adjust strategies to identify and mobilize them.

This session will look at a Nursing Process approach to address global health problems at the community level. We will look specifically at nursing led cross-cultural health fairs as safe and effective model of short-term healthcare missions. An overview of the literature that supports this short-term mission model will also be reviewed.

This session will review case presentations that demonstrate the potential for harm associated with healthcare missions. We will look at methods by which such problems can be avoided. The potential for harm related to short-term medical missions does exist, and in a much more real way than most of us care to acknowledge. It is only through the careful examination of such problems can we develop health mission strategies that mitigate harm, and improve community health.

This session will overview WHO/UNICEF child health Standards as they apply to both short and long-term health missions. We will look at some of the relevant literature and review health indicators to be assessed in both long and short term health missions. We will also look at how to use the data collected from the use of relevant indicators to establish community disease and malnutrition prevalence and specific community health programming targets.

HIV/AIDS remains a tremendous challenge with medical, emotional, economic and social problems. Using case presentations and an interactive format, this workshop will explore HIV/AIDS care and treatment issues particularly from the speaker’s experience in Africa

Is it possible to do true academic style residency training at mission hospitals in developing countries? Does the lack of resources and scarcity of mentors result in inferior training and therefore inadequately trained graduates? What governmental or regulatory bodies are involved in non-university based training programs in the developing world? Do short term visiting faculty really make a difference? How can spiritual discipleship be woven into medical and surgical residency training? During this breakout session, Dr. Carol Spears (missionary surgeon and Assistant Program Director at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya) and Dr. Agneta Odera (Kenyan physician in her third year of General Surgery Residency Training at Tenwek) will share their experiences in starting and developing a General Surgery Training Program in partnership with the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons. They will share their own stories of challenges, mistakes, areas of ongoing deficiency, as well as helpful hints, blessings, and pers

This presentation will challenge participants to focus on where the Master is at work in their lives and inviting them to join Him in global health missions. The motives for global health missions in the context of the needs and expectations of those to be served will be examined. Participants will be encouraged to reflect upon the health and well being of their body, mind and spirit through a series of guided questions. A process for gathering and engaging a partnership team for accountability and spiritual support will be discussed.

The presentation will feature the personal experience of a physician assistant who has provided healthcare in the developing world most recently in Latin America, India and Africa. The advantages of the training and healthcare provision capabilities of the mid-level, the obstacles to healthcare provision in the developing world and the means by which those obstacles can be overcome will be discussed. The importance of national partners in the medical mission field for follow up and if possible for continuity of care will be examined. The speaker will present an overview of organizations that are recruiting mid-levels for short and full term medical missions.

This session with consist of a brief presentation followed by a panel discussion during an open question and answer period. Becoming a surgeon on the mission field, especially if one is interested in teaching, is a process which is more complex and takes more preparation than expected. The session is designed for medical students, surgical residents and those wishing to leave their practice to join the ranks of career missionaries.

Facing unlimited needs and limited resources of personnel, equipment and supplies, medical missionaries daily have to "play God." What Biblical and ethical guidelines and practices can guide you through these and other ethical minefields that almost no one talks about? What changes are mandatory to your American thinking if you are going to survive and flourish?

The enterprise of medical missions has brought health and opened the doors for the gospel in countless countries. This rich history continues today. In Africa, 40-70% of health services are still provided by church and mission facilities. How do we build on the achievements of yesteryears and achieve success in the years to come? How can you fit in?

With stories laced with humor learn the principles and practices of a great short term mission experience whether you are going for the first or your fortieth time. You, your patients and the building of God's kingdom will be better for it!

Is missions on your mind? Learn to get from where you are to where God wants you to be, well prepared spiritually, emotionally, relationally and professionally for what God has designed you to be.

Health care settings offer multiple opportunities for victims of human trafficking to be identified and/or rescued. In this session a brief overview of the phenomenon of human trafficking will be provided. Participants will receive training on victim identification and will be taught concrete steps on what to do if human trafficking is suspected.

Short-term health-related missions have been criticized for inadequate long-term impact on local health indicators, and on the actual team participants. Costs for short-term medical missions appear excessive to some, given the limited impact on spiritual and physical needs. This session will examine the criticism and present proposed measures of effectiveness that can be used by short-term and long-term trip planners and strategists so as to support improved planning and execution of short-term medical missions trips.

Buddhists in East Asia largely believe in one of the dominant Buddhist traditions, animism and ancestor worship. They believe in karma, the moral law of cause and effect which demands that every soul suffer for its past “sins;” so there is no value in alleviating suffering. While very few Buddhists have come to Christ through the direct preaching of the gospel, some have responded to the compassion shown by medical missionaries since the early 19th century. This session features the plight of one leprosy patient, an outcast in society who gradually found new life through the lives of Christians who dared to touch him, clean his wounds and tell him about Jesus. This session will bring attendees face to face with a culture that is very resistant to the gospel, the reasons for that resistance and what we can do about it.

Why don’t they see that what they are doing is wrong! Why don’t they understand my explanation? Why won’t they look at me when I talk to them? Why won’t they make a decision…after all, any decision is better than no decision at all! Why won’t the listen! Learn why these and other “misunderstandings” result in “mis-communications” in the world of cross-cultural ministry and how we can overcome them.

Join us as Global Project directors Connie Jarlsberg and Renee Lick along with student participants share lessons learned and the way God transformed them and their Ugandan ministry partners as they served and learned together.