Content Resources

If you are ministering in a Muslim community, it is imperative to understand the cultural implications of Islam. This session will address those implications from a speaker that grew up in those communities.

Provides a brief overview of the most common surgical problems by region. Cases will be discussed that are unique to each region, with emphasis on presentation and treatment options in resource poor environments.

This brief educational breakout session will discuss issues in dysphagia (swallowing disorders) within the acute-care setting. Common and complex dysphagia presentations will be discussed through cases across Cameroon and Kenya. Learners will be exposed to a basic swallowing screening protocol, low-resource dysphagia management and techniques to reduce aspiration pneumonia, as well as basic swallow management for complex anatomy such as cleft-lip/palate.

CARING ACROSS CULTURESDR. M. KAMALINI KUMAR PhD. RN.Practices and beliefs that center around illness, suffering, death and bereavement in patients from various ethnic backgrounds and belief systems can create many challenges for health care professionals. These beliefs also influence the way patients perceive the quality of care they receive. Research has shown that caregivers who are sensitive to the cultural and belief systems of patients can help not only to reduce their stress, but increase the compliance and satisfaction with the care they receive. Besides this obvious understanding of culture, there is the culture of the times we now live in. Which culture should we address and engage in? The traditional values of Christianity and the church or the contemporary culture of social reform, less binding commitments and sexual freedom of all kinds? We must grapple with these issues with wisdom and insight. Knowing and remembering every person's cultural practices is a virtual impossibility, but understanding human relationships and connectedness is not. This seminar will explore the simple, but profound ways in which relationship-based care crosses cultural barriers in ways that transcend any strategy or program that ensures culturally competent care. It is based on the fact that God who created diversity has a culture that supersedes all other cultures. The practice of "God's culture" is what brings unity to our diversity and power to our caring. To quote Rachel Naomi Remen "Fixing and helping create a distance between people, but we cannot serve at a distance. We can only serve that to which we are profoundly connected."The goal of this seminar is to go beyond just knowledge of a person's culture in order to care for them, but to grasp the significance of care that is delivered not with professionalism alone but with the mystery of relational and incarnational living.

Abstract: Faith-based medical ministries have substantial opportunities to improve healthcare through biomedical research. Success typically requires collaboration between national, organizational, and expert stakeholders. In this session practical aspects of developing a collaborative research program will be discussed.

The topic of leadership and conflict management is not typically taught in professional schools but it is present in both group and work environments, including the mission field. In many situations, the medical professional because of their learned status becomes the leader but they do not have the skills to take on this role. This session will provide the participants with some of the skills and understanding needed to be successful leaders in their environments of practice.

Developing a network among like-minded international medical training programs is an important aspect of successfully utilizing medical education as a missions strategy.

Why do we serve? Where should we go? How do we make disciples? Why should we make disciples? What is the purpose of missions? What does it mean to be missional? How can I go from theoretical to practical? All of these questions, and more, will be discussed in this workshop, using THE source material – the Bible!

Shawnee Christian Healthcare Center went from a concept initiated around a conference table to a full FQHC in ten years. This session will review the many advantages of starting a center from scratch while at the same time looking retrospectively at the pitfalls that can be avoided in starting a center from this perspective.

Dr. Ralph Winter, founder of the US Center for World Mission and Perspectives… said that for every 100 people who made a mission commitment at some point in their lives, only one made it to the mission field. Why? For lack of mobilizers! The same can be said for lack of mentors. What is a mentor? What do mentors offer prospective long-term medical missionaries? Come to this session if you desire a mentor or if you desire to become a mentor. Before the session you may want to familiarize yourself with GMHC’s mentoring service at https://www.medicalmissions.com/community/mentoring . John McVay and I will walk you though this process. This session strives to translate your dreams of serving as a long-term medical missionary into reality.

More than half of the Middle East population, 54% are under the age of 25 including 90 million adolescents (10-19 years of age). The growth spurt challenges of the second decade of life is mounted with early sexual debut and early marriages. Consequent unintended pregnancies and child birth, the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS threaten the fragile adolescent still under physical and psychological development. Pervasive conflict and displacement in the region overwhelm prevailing adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) issues and unmet needs.National health systems and the private sector do not typically recognize nor address sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of young people, especially unmarried adolescents. Health care providers do not recognize nor address health risks and needs of adolescents. Evidence show that adolescent health services -if exist- are fragmented and poorly coordinated. Inherent social norms, attitudes, taboos around sexual health and discriminating gender differences hinder adolescents’ SRH health literacy and access to quality services. What should the health sector do to transform the current approach that ignores ASRH issues? How do we respond to the urgent unmet SRH needs of the 90 million adolescents living in the Middle East?

There are over 50 million disabled people in Africa. 18-20% would likely improve with some surgical care. Africa has insufficient surgical expertise to provide for this need, and will likely not have sufficient sub specialists for 50-100 years. An alternate form of limited training is needed both for the surgical and the support needs of the disabled. Care for the disabled opens spiritual doors for both the child and the parents. It may also open doors into traditionally "closed" countries.