MedicalMissions.com Podcast

Malaria affects an estimated 300-600 million people a year around the world with around 2000 cases of malaria brought back to the US each year. This session will focus on the current treatment and symptom control of malaria around the world and in the US. Current research on prevention and vaccine development will also be discussed.

In this session we will explore ways to identify educational needs based on clinical challenges and shortcomings, and discuss ways of creating educational curricular activities to meet these needs. The presenter will draw upon his experience creating emergency medicine curricula in Ethiopia to share how to conduct a needs assessment, develop a curriculum, engage stakeholders, and measure success. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own ideas to share and brainstorm together.

Although public awareness has increased in the last few years, there still exists common misconceptions that human trafficking only involves kidnapping or always leads to commercial sex exploitation. Today in every country there are men, women and children trapped in jobs into which they were coerced or deceived and cannot leave. It is estimated that there are over 25 million people worldwide subjected to sex work or forced labor. Since many of these victims will pass through medical facilities, it is imperative that health care personnel and missionaries learn the indicators and signs of human trafficking as well as stay up to date on the current trends. This presentation will present recent statisics and the critical next steps in raising awareness, advocating for stronger laws and empowering survivors. An interactive discussion with attendees will follow to explore individual and collective actions to combat human trafficking in today’s modern world.

Knowledge of good health practices often does not change health behaviors. This session will share proven ways to motivate people to change their health behaviors using non-financial incentives as demonstrated in a community health program that has changed the health of 1.2 million people. These techniques are applicable in both the USA and abroad.

Description of how an FQHC in Memphis, TN partnered with resettlement organizations to provide domestic medical screenings and a medical home for those recently arrived. The vision and our clinic operations will be described as well as time to network and think about how any place of medical care might welcome refugees.

In this session, attendees will be equipped to navigate the discernment process of identifying the best-fit sending agency for them.

This session focuses on caring for the short-term mission worker - pre-travel matters to be addressed, encountered challenges during travel and common scenarios of the returning worker.

Are you: - Interested in mission and wondering what it really means for you and your family, and if you have what it takes? - Curious to know how one may start and sustain a ministry in resource-limited settings in a foreign country from scratch with no money, no team, and no knowledge about far too many things? - Looking for practical tools and resources to prepare for mission? Through the years, God has overwhelmed the Samoutou family with His tremendous grace, provision, and protection. Joyce will be the first to tell you how many humble pies she has eaten and lessons she has learnt along the way - from practicing medicine in a way that her training had not prepared her for, being far away from family and the world she knew, running a charity, leading a team, handling tricky and scary situations, raising a family, and getting over herself. She has also picked up several practical tips and tools along the way that can be helpful to those considering or having already embarked on overseas missions. In this session, participants will, through the firsthand experience of a missionary-medic- homeschooling parent who co-founded an international ministry: - Learn what is involved in starting, fundraising, and running an international non-profit medical organization in resource-limited settings, the challenges as well as useful practical suggestions in overcoming them. - Be encouraged and empowered to embark and thrive on long-term missions as health professionals, spouses, and parents with ageing parents back home. - Have an opportunity to ask questions that they have always wanted to ask a missionary who is happy to share with humor, candor, and vulnerability.

This seesion will give a brief overview the current state of surgical needs and care on the Navajo reservation. It will also discuss spiritual needs and opportunities.

Medical missionaries are often called upon to provide care that is beyond the scope of their training and previous experience. This interactive case presentation looks at the realities of clinical decision-making in a critically ill snakebitten patient, and offers suggestions on how to navigate similar challenging situations.