Experience has shown me that asking the wrong questions can lead to unnecessary failure on the mission field but what are the right questions? This set of questions deals with matching with a health facility or program as a medical missionary.
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Medical Missions 101
Choosing Where to Serve as a Medical Missionary: Finding the Right Fit
I have seen countless medical missionaries fail from different organizations because they landed a place that’s not a good fit. They land at a mission station where all attempts to thrive individually and/or as a family fail. They then revert to survival mode where it becomes difficult to sustain the joy in life or the joy in serving. It may take only a few months or sometimes a full three year term, but serving in a place that is not a good fit will inevitably wear people down and bring them home.
Asking the Right Questions: 12 Questions Medical Missionary Candidates Need to Ask Before Deciding on a Sending Organization
One thing that was always clear to me, was that sending a doctor, nurse or other healthcare professional to serve in a mission hospital, or even a community health program, looks very different than sending a pastor.
Childhood Malnutrition: Community-Based Care and Support – Part 2
Growing the Moringa Plant for Nutrition and Health There are a number of health initiatives that can help communities make permanent changes toward ending malnutrition. One such project centers on the moringa plant. Specifically, it provides seeds and training for people to cultivate moringa in communities with high levels of
Childhood Malnutrition: Community-Based Care and Support – Part 1
There is no greater challenge to child survival in the developing world than malnutrition. Managing malnutrition is outside the realm of normal practice for healthcare professionals trained in western countries. As such, it needs to be something health professionals planning to work in the developing world context need to review regularly.
INSTRUCT, EDUCATE, PREPARE
Learning to be a doctor and clinican in Kenya is a bit different than in the USA, but the fundamentals of human character are not.
Using the Surgical Safety Checklist to Save Lives
The Alliance for Patient Safety estimates there are 7 million disabling surgical complications and 1 million surgical-related deaths worldwide each year. They identify three primary problems with surgical safety: 1) It is unrecognized as a public health issue.
There is a lack of data on surgery and outcomes (especially in developing countries). There is a failure to use existing safety know-how.
Facilitating Empowerment of Local Healthcare Systems
One point I have tried to make over the years is that global health programs will build confidence in the local health workers, or they will diminish it. The amount of direction and ownership that the local health system has over the global health project determines the resulting outcome.
The Church and Global Access to Health Care
Christian Mission hospitals and health programs account for about 50% of all healthcare delivered in Sub-Saharan Africa (Olivier, et al., 2015). That figure is probably closer to 70% of the truly functional healthcare services delivered. Sadly however, many of these facilities have closed, those that remain are fighting for survival.
Creating Empowering Cross-cultural Partnerships
Creating empowering partnerships cross-culturally that are based on mutual design sounds easy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Mutual design based on community participation is one of the most difficult and complex aspects of designing and implementing global health initiatives. Avoiding Manipulation in Community Development If done well,
Medical Missions 101 Archive
Childhood Malnutrition: Community-Based Care and Support – Part 2
October 31, 2018
INSTRUCT, EDUCATE, PREPARE
September 21, 2018
Using the Surgical Safety Checklist to Save Lives
September 11, 2018
Facilitating Empowerment of Local Healthcare Systems
September 3, 2018
The Church and Global Access to Health Care
August 31, 2018
Creating Empowering Cross-cultural Partnerships
August 27, 2018
