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| COULD YOU DELIVER THIS BABY? |
You are in Mozambique volunteering at a birthing center. The midwives are entirely African nationals who will have no backup once you depart. One evening reflecting on this fact you determine to vigilantly transfer your skills to permanent staff. At that moment a voice comes from the door, "The baby will not come down and the heartbeat is falling!"
You trot to the birthing center to find two midwives surrounding a young lady. Her uterus is term in size and the fetal heart rate is 90. This is her second vaginal delivery, her cervix is fully dilated, and she has been pushing for four hours - far longer than to be expected. Shoulder dystocia can be one of the most frightening delivery room emergencies. Yet basic maneuvers usually lead to successful delivery. Attaining such skills is well within the capability of primary care providers, and transferring these skills is one of the most effective roles for international healthcare volunteers. Please join us at the Exploring Medical Missions Conference for an introduction to managing such common delivery room emergencies, and other skills essential in serving forgotten people. |
| COULD YOU RESUSCITATE THIS NEWBORN? |
You are in Burma teaching Helping Babies Breathe - a newborn resuscitation curriculum for resource-limited settings. Your venue is a Burmese national hospital with an assembly of excited nurses and midwives. But your presentation is suddenly interrupted by an urgent call from the post partum floor: "What have a baby who is not breathing."
You scurry to the ward to find a full-term newborn just minutes since birth. He appears listless, cyanotic, and with grunting respirations. With each gasp his chest caves in. Your anxious learners watch as you palpate the umbilical cord and announce the pulse rate is over 120 beats per minute. Neonatal respiratory distress is one of the most devastating and preventable causes of death in the world's poorest communities. In response, the American Academy of Pediatrics launched the Helping Babies Breathe educational program. Join us on June 1-2 at the Exploring Medical Missions Conference for Helping Babies Breathe instruction. You too could become a Helping Babies Breathe teacher, and transfer these life-saving skills to healthcare providers around the globe. |
| MY CHILDREN CRY "WE WILL DIE" |
"Theirs is unbearable pain: mothers and fathers recounting their helplessness to alleviate the hunger of their children - hunger often compounded by the rigors of malaria, breathlessness of pneumonia, and lethargy of prolonged malnutrition. I scramble to offer assistance, but there is no end to their need. The difficulty is knowing how to help most effectively."
Charlotte White, a nurse practitioner from Wichita, lives in Tanzania. She took seriously the challenge of African healthcare by participating in the INMED International Medicine & Public Health Intensive Course. "I realized I have so much to learn about the people I want to serve. It is very tempting for us as western-schooled healthcare providers to think our way of doing things is the only way - or at least the best way. This approach really doesn't work." "I was trained to rely upon modern technology, for example, for diagnosis. But here the only tools are history and a good physical assessment. And just because I'm a healthcare professional, does not mean I am automatically trusted. Here among the Maasai people we begin by building relationships with leaders of villages, tribes and districts. This requires ample time, patience, language learning, and communicating the humanness of caring. The women in this culture have very difficult lives, but only now am I able to visit women and offer education about nutrition, hygiene, and small micro-enterprise projects." "And what about relieving the hunger that causes parents to fear their children's death? This compels us to focus on community development - a subject we barely touched in graduate school. Our health intervention in Tanzania includes vegetable gardening, accessing safe drinking water, and encouraging Tanzania pastors who teach their people biblical virtues that also improve their health. Our approach is holistic." "We must always be humble students of the culture if we aim to relieve and prevent suffering. The INMED staff did a great job of integrating these truths into the INMED International Medicine & Public Health Intensive Course. As a result of those weeks of study and skill stations I feel more prepared to take on the challenges I face everyday in Tanzania. I am hopeful that you who are passionate about international health and medical missions will take advantage of this course so that one day no one must hear their children cry 'We will die.'" Charlotte White and her husband Thane are located in the city of Arusha, Tanzania - directly south of Nairobi in East Africa. Thane is engaged in micro-enterprise and water development, while Charlotte leads health and family innovations in this region racked by HIV/AIDS. They both are actively learning Swahili. Please follow their progress at http://web.me.com/oursafari and discover how you can undergird their exemplary service. |
| FROM INSPIRATION TO MOBILIZATION |
Rapid-fire rifle shots grew closer, echoing from each direction. The cadence of explosions increased, accompanied by shouting just outside in the streets. Inside Dr. Steve Foster, keynote speaker at the 2012 INMED Exploring Medical Missions Conference, and his colleague Darrel Hockersmith barred the metal door and grappled in the darkness for protection from flying shrapnel. Sheltered in a corner they breathed a joint sigh of relief. But this was short lived.
Hammering emanated from the front door, along by the demand "Abra a porta ou vamos matar todo l? dentro!" Foster edged toward entry just as the door burst open. Soldiers shoved inside, very young men carrying weapons as large as themselves. They forced Foster and Hockersmith to the floor. Hovering over their faces with his pistol, the muscular captain pronounced sentence, "You are a Russian spy. The penalty for spying is instant execution!" He pressed his gun closer. "Tell me, Dr. Foster, why are you really in Angola?" Steve Foster inched upward, made contact with every eye in the room, and addressed them all. "I am actually a surgery resident in Canada at the University of Toronto. But while enjoying every comfort of modern life, I can not but attune my ears to the bloodshed accompanying your civil war here in Africa." The stone-faced captain gazed at Dr. Foster in disbelief and demanded, "Tell me who is paying you?" "No one," replied Foster, "in fact, it's my friends and personal savings that finance the medical care I'm providing your people. Earlier today I repaired the landmine injury suffered by a young man," explained Foster inquisitively. "Perhaps he was your own cousin?" "This is unbelievable," replied the captain in a more consolatory tone. He lowered his gun slightly. "Many people have good intentions or contribute a little to a good cause. But what would motivate a person of your stature to take mortal risks to serve in a country of such chaos as Angola?" Dr. Foster looked on the captain sincerely, "I envision the day when I'll stand before God and account for my life. How can I say that I chose self-indulgence while other people, no matter how far removed, are struggling to survive?" Disarmed, the captain motioned to his cadets to exit the house. "I mobilize my men for combat. But you are mobilized for virtue. I shall not trouble you again." On June 1st Dr. Steve Foster will address "From Inspiration To Mobilization" at the INMED Exploring Medical Missions Conference. Who is inspiring your life? Which virtue is your theme? For what mission are you mobilizing? |
| YOU MUST HELP MY BABY NOW! |
JOPLIN, MO - The warning "Execute Condition Gray!" blared through the halls of St. John's Regional Medical Center. Personnel per protocol began rolling patients' beds into the hallways. However, this was no drill. Near the ER's glass doors Kevin Kikta, an emergency physician on duty, looked up to see a stunned security guard tearing down the corridor shouting, "Take cover! We're gonna get hit!" Seconds later, on May 23, 2011 the entire nine-story building was pummeled by the tornado. Glass shards exploded from every window, doors blew off hinges, and patients' IV-lines were ripped from their arms.
"You must help my baby now!" cried Amanda German. Moments after the strike she screeched to a stop at the stricken ER. Dr Kikta examined the child and found a deep chunk of his neck muscle torn away exposing bones in the boy's spine. "You're going to be OK, buddy," Kikta told the boy, applying pressure to his bleeding wound. Then the doctor looked around himself, doubtfully. Rain was pouring in, the lights were out, natural gas sickened the air. Kikta realized a spark could cause the hospital to blow. The next hours witnessed a massive response that alleviated Dr. Kikta's worst fears. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon: "The response from Kansas City (the closest metro area) to help the people of Joplin is tremendous. Along side public safety agencies, several faith-based organizations are putting their faith into action." The Joplin catastrophe caused more deaths than any tornado in United States history. With disasters due to fire, flood, hurricane, heat, blizzard, and explosion predictably common, public disaster managers increasingly recognize the critical role played by non-government bodies. Regarding Joplin, Richard Serino, the Deputy Administrator of FEMA, noted "84 different volunteer groups served 134,000 meals and gave 275,000 hours of service with 41,000 volunteers. Who organized them? "Not FEMA," Serino said. "Other volunteer organizations." Is your faith-based community or civic organization prepared for the next local disaster? Have you appointed leaders, organized teams, trained your personnel, and pre-arranged necessary equipment and supplies? What steps have you taken to become recognized and welcomed to participate in crisis response? Anticipatory action is essential. For this reason, INMED is offering a Crisis Response Training event on Friday, March 16 to address emergency sheltering, feeding, emotional services, volunteer safety, and more. This opportunity will help your team leap into action when calamity strikes and another mother cries "You have to help my baby now!" |