Content Resources

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.

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 personal stories. The goal of this session is to provide a minimal set of requirements needed for a successful residency training program and to provide information on resources available to assist new programs. The approach of training others to then go and train others models the example Jesus established in his ministry on earth.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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, andthere 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.

Steve Saint unpacks lessons in how to support the indiginous person and how to support the indigenous institution by equipping them with the resources to own the work of their hands.

An assortment of personal stories shared by Steve Saint from his time in Equator and other places around the world. Steve will share insights into how to engage indigenous people groups with resources for developing communities and how best to work with them to instill dignity and ownership.

An assortment of personal stories of missions in Ecuador. Steve Saint shares stories from his time in Ecuador and other places around the world. Steve will share insights into how to engage indigenous people groups with resources for developing communities and how best to work with them to instill dignity and ownership.