volume 46 no. 4 winter 2015
TODAY’S
CHRISTIAN DOCTOR The Journal of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations
IN THIS ISSUE
MIGHTY MEDIA and OUR YOUTH Discussing transgenderism from a Christian perspective
Navigating the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage
Reconnect with your family through a CMDA family conference
CENTER FOR MEDICAL MISSIONS
MEMBERSHIP
VOICE IN PUBLIC POLICY
MEDICAL EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL
LIFE & EXECUTIVE COACHING
GLOBAL HEALTH RELIEF GLOBAL HEALTH OUTREACH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY MINISTRIES
DENTAL MINISTRIES
MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT
45+ MINISTRIES. 1 MISSION. Changing Hearts in Healthcare. We are a Christ-centered organization dedicated to motivating, educating and equipping you to be the hands of Jesus in your practice, your community and your world. We offer you discipleship, fellowship, mentoring, resources and missions opportunities to share the gospel and serve others. Become a member today and join the thousands of Christian healthcare professionals who are changing hearts in healthcare. Visit www.cmda.org for a full list of our ministries and services.
P.O. Box 7500 Bristol, TN 37621 888-230-2637 www.cmda.org
Don’t Mind the Mess David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics)
I’m not the cook. I’m the clean-up guy. I specialize in rounding up dripping spatulas, dusty measuring cups, sticky mixing bowls and crusty baking pans still hot from the oven. I corral them near the sink before giving them a good wash. Soon they are ready for Jody to use again to make her next scrumptious dish. I don’t mind the mess because I know what is coming. On the other hand, it is easy for me, if I’m not careful, to get worried about other messes. The world is in a mess, the country is in a mess and healthcare is in a mess. I don’t have to convince you of that. You hear and see it every day. Like me, you could make a long list of things that can keep you awake at night—ISIS, same-sex marriage, attacks on religious freedom, our economic doldrums, healthcare reimbursement, the breakdown of the family, a malpractice suit, the national debt, legalized physician-assisted suicide, ineffective government…and the list would go on and on. God is not panicking. He specializes in cleaning up messes. When things get really bad, people turn to Him and allow Him to start cleaning up the mess, beginning with them. He works from the inside out. For many, that means asking Him to be their Savior, but for those of us who already know Him, God begins to help us reorder our thinking and our lives. We are driven to our knees by our
impotency and, as He does His work, we give the messes around us into His hands. Then, as more and more people turn to Him, God works through them to clean up the messes in our world. So don’t be in a panic about what is happening, but remember God’s promise in Deuteronomy 31:8, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (NIV 2011). And don’t forget what you need to know as Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, “…that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (NIV 2011). That verse reminds me to remind you what a veteran missionary said about tough times. He said, “When the going gets tough, the tough revisit their call.” Don’t forget that God created you and called you into healthcare for “such a time as this,” so don’t get in a boat like Jonah to flee what God has given you to do. Don’t give up. Don’t disengage. Revisit your call and remember His grace is sufficient for you, because His power is made perfect in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). It is in times like this that we can make the greatest difference in the lives of worried and searching people.
editorial
When my wife Jody cooks, the kitchen is often a mess. That is ok, because she is a superb culinary creator. Come for a visit and you may have blackberry French toast or German apple pancakes for breakfast. Her banana bread, loaded with black walnuts, is renowned for making people insatiable until the last crumb disappears. And then there are her homemade sweet rolls that melt in your mouth…. (I’m salivating just writing that!)
In this edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, you will be reading about some messes we are all dealing with today. They are insightful and helpful, plus we will share some useful strategies for addressing them. But don’t let these messes discourage you. God does His best work in you and through you in the midst of the mess. Remind yourself, as I do when I’m up to my elbows in a crusty pot in the kitchen sink, “I don’t mind the mess. I know what’s coming!”
CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
3
contents Today’s Christian Doctor
I VOLUME 46, NO. 4 I Winter 2015
The Christian Medical & Dental Associations ®— Changing Hearts in Healthcare . . . since 1931.
5 12
Transformations COVER STORY Mighty Media and Our Youth
26
by Col Kim Hawthorne, USAF (Ret.), (with COL Arnie Ahnfeldt, MD, USA [Ret.])
by Joe McIlhaney, MD
18
A close look at the dangers facing our youth from media use
Gender: M or F or Other Transgender Insights by Karl Benzio, MD
22
Focusing on the theological and psychological aspects of transgenderism
Religious Freedom in Healthcare: Navigating the New Era by Jonathan Imbody How the U.S. Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision affects healthcare professionals
Reconnect with Family at Spring Canyon
30
Introducing a new CMDA family conference
No Longer Silent: Sharing My Story by Rhonda Wright, NP
34
One healthcare professional’s experience in sharing the gospel
Classifieds
INTER ACTIVE Visit www.cmda.org/ classifieds to find more online classifieds.
REGIONAL MINISTRIES
Connecting you with other Christ-followers to help better motivate, equip, disciple and serve within your community
Western Region Michael J. McLaughlin, MDiv P.O. Box 2169 Clackamas, OR 97015-2169 Office: 503-522-1950 west@cmda.org
Midwest Region Allan J. Harmer, ThM 951 East 86th Street, Suite 200A Indianapolis, IN 46240 Office: 317-257-5885 cmdamw@cmda.org
Northeast Region Scott Boyles, MDiv P.O. Box 7500 Bristol, TN 37621 Office: 423-844-1092 scott.boyles@cmda.org
Southern Region William D. Gunnels, MDiv 106 Fern Dr. Covington, LA 70433 Office: 985-502-7490 south@cmda.org
Interested in getting involved? Contact your regional director today!
transformations
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR®
EDITOR Mandi Mooney EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Gregg Albers, MD John Crouch, MD Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD Curtis E. Harris, MD, JD Van Haywood, DMD Rebecca Klint-Townsend, MD Robert D. Orr, MD Debby Read, RN VP FOR COMMUNICATIONS Margie Shealy AD SALES Margie Shealy 423-844-1000 DESIGN Ahaa! Design + Production PRINTING Pulp CMDA is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR®, registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. ISSN 0009-546X, Winter 2015, Volume XLVI, No. 4. Printed in the United States of America. Published four times each year by the Christian Medical & Dental Associations® at 2604 Highway 421, Bristol, TN 37620. Copyright© 2015, Christian Medical & Dental Associations®. All Rights Reserved. Distributed free to CMDA members. Non-doctors (US) are welcome to subscribe at a rate of $35 per year ($40 per year, international). Standard presort postage paid at Bristol, Tenn. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Christian Medical & Dental Associations, P.O. Box 7500, Bristol, TN 37621-7500. Undesignated Scripture references are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture references marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version. Scripture references marked (MSG) are taken from The Message. Copyright© 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture references marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright© 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture references marked (NIV 2011) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture references marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright© 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Other versions are noted in the text. For membership information, contact the Christian Medical & Dental Associations at: P.O. Box 7500, Bristol, TN 37621-7500; Telephone: 423-844-1000, or toll-free, 888-230-2637; Fax: 423-844-1005; Email: memberservices@cmda.org; Website: http://www.joincmda.org. If you are interested in submitting articles to be considered for publication, visit www.cmda.org/publications for submission guidelines and details. Articles and letters published represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. Acceptance of paid advertising from any source does not necessarily imply the endorsement of a particular program, product or service by CMDA. Any technical information, advice or instruction provided in this publication is for the benefit of our readers, without any guarantee with respect to results they may experience with regard to the same. Implementation of the same is the decision of the reader and at his or her own risk. CMDA cannot be responsible for any untoward results experienced as a result of following or attempting to follow said information, advice or instruction.
Small Beginnings by Sharon Chatwell Sometimes big things start out small. In fact, most things start out small. Take Side By Side, for instance. It first started with a group of women meeting in Robin Morgenthaler’s living room for a Bible study in Rochester, Minnesota. Of course, back then it wasn’t called Side By Side. It was just called “Friday Mornings” at Robin’s house. And I know this, because I was there. I remember my introduction to it like it was yesterday. I was standing over a sink full of dishes with Robin. The kids were upstairs asleep and our husbands were in the living room talking. I was drying dishes and Robin started talking about a dream she had to start a Bible study. She believed God placed the idea in her heart to have a Bible study where different people from different places might attend. Since the Mayo Clinic attracted doctors from around the world, it seemed God had put her in the right place to accomplish this. Her dream also included the idea that when folks were finished at Mayo, they would move on to different places, taking the experience with them and possibly even starting their own Bible studies when they returned home. But, for now, she thought it would be enough to just start a Bible study in Rochester. Only one problem; she had never led one before. The question she put to me was simple. Did I think she could do it? Would she be a good Bible study leader? I put down my drying rag, looked her in the eye and said, “Yes, you should do it.” That was my total input into the matter. A few months later, Robin started her first Bible study in her living room with me, herself and four other ladies in attendance. We studied and drank coffee in the living room, while our kids entertained the babysitter. Fast forward more than 25 years. Side By Side has grown and is now a ministry of CMDA with more than 50 local chapters in the U.S. and one international chapter in Japan. Thousands of women have participated in one way or another, and many continue to be part of the exciting Christian fellowship in their own chapters. Big things often start off small. In Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches” (NIV 2011). God can make BIG use of small things. God took what was offered, which seemed small at the beginning, blessed it and has used it to reach so many different people. Never be tricked into thinking that the little things you do aren’t going to matter to Him. They do matter to God. In fact, God seems to enjoy taking little things and making them BIG. It’s ok to start small. Remember, God cherishes small beginnings.
INTER ACTIVE Visit www.cmda.org/sidebyside to get involved with the ministry of Side By Side.
CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
5
transformations
Being Challenged in Nicaragua by Susan Davies Prior to leaving for Nicaragua, my roommate asked me if I was nervous to go even though I had been on a few other healthcare mission trips before. I told her that it wasn’t the medical portion of the trip I was nervous about, but, in fact, the spiritual portion. As a practicing Catholic, I have found that I grow closest to Christ when I am serving Him with my actions and not by preaching His word. I knew that this trip was going to push me out of my spiritual comfort zone and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it. The trip not only pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it opened up a new thirst in my heart to learn more about Christ. I am very open in saying that during undergrad I coasted on my faith and did not spend enough time nurturing it. So when I was challenged on some of my beliefs in Nicaragua, I was unable to respond with the same confidence I used to have. I took this to be the wakeup call I needed to start developing my faith again. The morning and afternoon worships helped center my thoughts and make me realize what I was missing in my life. Christ has always been with me, but I am now ready to take the next step and further my faith. While in Nicaragua, I became more comfortable praying aloud and using the love and healing powers of Christ to help heal the bodies and souls of the patients we encountered. There were many times that we had patients whose ailments were beyond our medical capacity. Before this trip, these were the patients I dreaded because there was nothing I could do. But now I see the
power and ability of prayer to be used in the clinic. By simply taking time to pray with the patient, we were able to show them that we cared about them and wanted to help them. It was through our actions that we were able to open the door for Christ to enter their lives. Over the course of the week, we helped many people medically, but, more importantly, we brought Christ into the lives of everyone we met. My faith and the course of my life have been forever altered now that I have seen how Christ can work through my hands to heal the hearts and body of the patients I care for. In America, religion in a professional setting is a touchy subject, but I now see that it is a wonderful tool to use as part of my medical plan. Christ is the Ultimate Healer and it is through Him that I will be able to change the lives of the people I serve both medically and spiritually. Susan is a student in the physician assistant program at Mercer University in Georgia. She participated in a Global Health Outreach mission trip to Nicaragua in August 2015. INTER ACTIVE Visit www.cmda.org/gho to learn more about upcoming trips with Global Health Outreach.
6 TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
transformations
Foundations for Christian Coaching INTER ACTIVE Visit www.cmda.org/coaching to learn more about how coaching can impact your work in healthcare.
In October, CMDA’s Life & Executive Coaching ministry held its first Foundations for Christian Coaching conference at CMDA’s headquarters. This introductory course to coaching Christian healthcare professionals focused on defining and distinguishing coaching from other approaches, such as counseling, mentoring and consulting. Participants learned and practiced how to introduce coaching skills into the practice of healthcare from a distinctively Christian perspective. One of the participants was a former “coachee” who decided that, because the coaching they received previously through CMDA had been so beneficial, they would attend the training to learn coaching basics for themselves.
CMDA
A ministry of Christian Medical & Dental Associations
COACHING
“Coaching with CMDA saved my practice. I was ready to leave medicine and walk away from my career as a doctor. But through coaching, I was able to see change and movement in my particular situation as a Christian doctor. I will ever be grateful for what the Lord, through CMDA’s coaching program, did for me.” “Thanks so much for taking your time to help and teach us coaching skills. I absolutely loved it and have already implemented many of these principles. I look forward to being able to work together with CMDA to perhaps help in some way to further this need for Christian physician coaching.”
Caring for the medically underserved is a passion of mine. I was thrilled when I learned that In His Image shared this vision.
Paid Advertisement
Residency encouraged my passion to serve as I treated patients at the Good Samaritan Health Services (GSHS) mobile medical clinics. IHI partners with GSHS and local churches to deliver free, Christ-centered healthcare to the underserved and urban poor. Also, through the curriculum at IHI, I rotated at the county jail where I now serve as Medical Director. I am thankful for the mentorship and guidance I received at IHI that has equipped me for this work with those hurting physically and spiritually.
CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
7
transformations
Ode to Joy by Gerald Van Wieren, MD Ingred transferred to my internal medicine practice because her previous doctor diagnosed Alzheimer’s dementia and told her not to drive. She derived joy from doing free nail care for nursing home residents and could not bear the thought of not driving there. It was only a few years later that she became a nursing home resident herself. The nursing home where she lived was 25 miles from my office, but I applied for admitting privileges. It didn’t seem like the right time for her to get to know a new doctor. Monthly rounds to see one resident sometimes felt like a burden, but there were also rewards. Because I knew her before her decline, I had social history that a new doctor would not be able to obtain. Her family had problems of their own, and a guardian was appointed. She was born in Sweden, and I knew some of her friends in the Swedish community. She had been a church musician and a seamstress. One day I brought a hymn book to the dementia unit. She no longer knew who I was, but we sang a couple of hymns together. I picked two that were originally composed in
Proverbs 27:23
Time for a Financial Checkup?
Swedish (“Children of the Heavenly Father” and “How Great Thou Art”). Ingred provided a lovely descant in Swedish. The joy on her face lit up the room. I went to the charting area, and her voice continued to grace the unit. Other residents ceased their usual moans and joined the singing. As I departed the parking lot, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony happened to be playing on my CD unit. The selection was “Ode to Joy.” I drove away with a broad smile, realizing that God’s grace had returned to me the same gift I had provided. Dr. Gerald Van Wieren is a board certified internist in Grant, Michigan.
c Memoriam and Honorarium Gifts d Gifts received July through September 2015 David Hill and Janet Lynn Chestnut in honor of John and Margaret Tarpley Dr. Ralph Buoncristiani in honor of Dr. Charles C. Wood Dr. John Ramey in honor of Dr. David Stevens and Dr. Gene Rudd Linda Worman in honor of Dr. David Stevens Joseph and Josephine Mowad in honor of Dr. and Mrs. James Jewell
Paid Advertisement
Let us help you achieve your financial goals and peace of mind.
Thomas Forsberg in honor of Dr. Delores Kotschwar Katherine Fox in honor of Dr. Ken Rutledge
• • • • •
Are your finances organized? Do you have a plan for your family? Is your investment portfolio diversified? Are you maximizing your charitable giving? Do you have financial peace of mind?
Covenant Wealth Advisors is an independent, fee-only firm serving clients throughout the U.S.
Jerry Huff in memory of Dr. Alva Bowen Weir, Jr. Patrick & Glenda Thomas in memory of Dr. Alva Bowen Weir, Jr. Carl & Lottye Huff in memory of Dr. Alva Bowen Weir, Jr. C.K. Robbins and J.R. Robbins in memory of Christy Fischer Kevin & Mary Earnest in memory of Christy Fischer David & Paula Schriemer in memory of Dr. Benjamin Lewis Barnett, Jr. William & Betty Wadland in memory of Dr. Benjamin Lewis Barnett, Jr.
COVENANT WEALTH ADVISORS covenantwealthadvisors.com (888) 320-7400
8 TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
Larry Sabato in memory of Dr. Benjamin Lewis Barnett, Jr. Richard Raborn in memory of his father Robert and brother Doug For more information about honorarium and memoriam gifts, please contact stewardship@cmda.org.
transformations
Event Calendar
For more information, visit www.cmda.org/events. Northeast Winter Conference January 15-17, 2016 North East, Maryland www.cmda.org/wc2016
International CMDE Conference April 4-14, 2016 Evia Island, Greece www.cmda.org/cmde
West Coast Winter Conference January 29-31, 2016 Cannon Beach, Oregon www.cmda.org/events
Marriage Enrichment Weekends April 15-17, 2016 – Georgetown, Colorado April 18-20, 2016 – Asheville, North Carolina www.cmda.org/marriage
National Winter Conference February 14-21, 2016 Caribbean www.cmda.org/cruise
Emerging Leaders in Dentistry Symposium June 10-12, 2016 Bristol, Tennessee www.cmda.org/dentalsymposium
u c r u o g n i m r o f s n a Tr N I O J S U AT
e r ltu ALS
N SSIO
OFE
R RE P A C TH EAL
016 2 , -24 LINA 1 NH A 2 I T L IS PRI CARO TION CHR A R O F TH NVEN R ION T O N E , N NALCO T ONV S C R RE NATIO C MIE E E / R G P RID DA.ORG THE M W.C W W
Paid Advertisement
CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
9
transformations
SEEN & HEARD THE CMDA VOICE
The CMDA Voice in Ministry “The greatest thing about CMDA…is the community created. It is a group where people can be 100 percent open with both the good and the bad. This is a great reminder of our goals as Christians while being in the stressful time of medical school.” —CMDA student leader “I felt like the Lord met me at this conference and really encouraged me and spoke truth that lifted my spirit to stand firm in what He has called me to do: serve and love those that walk through my clinic doors.” —CMDA member who attended the CMDA National Convention “I think our chapter does a lot of great things with great goals, but the webinar was a humbling reminder for me of why God has led me to be involved in CMDA. The most helpful thing about the seminar was just the emphasis on praying for our chapters, the people in them and our goals. I realized we can have all the events, Bible studies, talks, etc. that we want, but if we’re not attentive to God’s spirit or asking what He wants, then we’re really only serving ourselves. So this webinar was a great reminder of that.” —CMDA student leader "CMDA is like a family or safe haven for the believers within our medical school community." —CMDA student member
Website Directory Members
Resources
Automatic Dues – cmda.org/autodues Join CMDA – joincmda.org Membership Renewal – cmda.org/membershiprenewal
Chapel & Prayer Ministries – cmda.org/chapel CMDA Bookstore – shopcmda.org Commission on Human Trafficking – cmda.org/humantrafficking Continuing Education – cmda.org/ce Ethics Hotline – cmda.org/hotline Events – cmda.org/events Life & Executive Coaching – cmda.org/coaching Marriage Enrichment – cmda.org/marriage Medical Malpractice – cmda.org/mmm Placement Services – cmda.org/placement Publications – cmda.org/publications Scholarships – cmda.org/scholarships Speaker’s Bureau – cmda.org/speakers Stewardship and Development – cmda.org/giving
Ministries Outreaches Campus & Community Ministries – cmda.org/ccm Dental Ministries – cmda.org/dentist Side By Side – cmda.org/sidebyside Specialty Sections – cmda.org/specialtysections Women Physicians in Christ – cmda.org/wpc
Missions Center for Medical Missions – cmda.org/cmm Commission for Advancing Medical Missions – cmda.org/camm Continuing Education for Missionaries – cmda.org/cmde Global Health Outreach – cmda.org/gho Global Health Relief – cmda.org/ghr Healthcare for the Poor – cmda.org/domestic Medical Education International – cmda.org/mei Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons – cmda.org/paacs 10
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
Issues American Academy of Medical Ethics – ethicalhealthcare.org Ethics Statements – cmda.org/ethics Freedom2Care – freedom2care.org Washington Office – cmda.org/washington
“I have shared about the CMDA (dental) residency with one of my students (in my home clinic). She wept at the description of the AEGD residency and its purpose and preparation (over three years total). She shared with her parents too, who are very supportive. So we shall see what the Lord does there.” —CMDA dental member “This past year we started running the outreach Bible study and averaged about 10 people per week in attendance. This includes at least one person who claims to be agnostic but has been curious about religion and is seeking answers. Because of the Bible study, I was able to have several good conversations with him about spiritual things, and he continues to come closer to faith in Jesus.” —CMDA student leader
The CMDA Voice in Missions “One of the staff surgeons called me. I wondered what he might be calling me for, but it turned out that he had just done a new procedure with one of our surgeons and was calling me (with great enthusiasm) to thank me for this project and for bringing these doctors there.” —Participant on a MEI trip to the Balkans “I’ve always thought that it’s really important as a healthcare professional to give back to my community. This trip reinforced that belief and showed me that it’s not just about giving back, it’s about living a Christ-centered life and serving others. It showed me to not be afraid to incorporate my faith in my own practice, because healing the spirit is much more important than healing the flesh in the long run.” —Physician assistant student on a GHO trip to Nicaragua “From the first day of travel, (we) strongly felt God’s guidance and protection. We encountered a difficulty at an airport on the way to Kenya and saw God dramatically provide for us. Each day of our trip in Kenya, we watched as events unfolded even better than we planned or expected, and people responded with even more participation and excitement than we expected. I was encouraged to see how God had already been at work among the Kenyan team that had been preparing for our arrival, and how He is using women and men there to continue the work we began with the trainings.” —Participant on a MEI trip to Kenya “In the U.S., we sometimes become dependent on our therapy tools, gadgets and materials, and I learned that utilizing your basic clinical skills is critical to what I do as a speech language pathologist. It was a stretch for me to use toilets that were dirty, dark and smelly and to have my shoes and clothes covered in mud. When I focused my attention on the needs of the people, these external things soon faded. God helped me to see that medicine is just the door to get the gospel to the lost. Our focus was on the eternal destiny of the people, not just on passing out pills to relieve temporary ailments.” —Speech language pathologist on a GHO trip to Nicaragua
??? HAVE YOU BEEN
TRANSFORMED? ARE YOU
TRANSFORMING OTHERS?
We want to hear from you Send your transformation story, letter or photos to communications@cmda.org or to P.O. Box 7500, Bristol, TN 37621. Please include an email address for us to contact you.
We want to hear your story It can be a simple comment about a CMDA ministry; it can be an account of your experiences on a missions trip; it can be a profile of a member who has had a huge impact upon you; it can be photos from a campus meeting; it can be statistics showing how your trip served the needy; it can truly be anything— we want to see how your work is making a difference.
We want to hear your ideas Do you have a great idea for Today’s Christian Doctor? Send your ideas to communications@cmda.org.
TRANSFORMATIONS SHOWCASING THE IMPACT OF CMDA ONE STORY AT A TIME
CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
11
cover story
MIGHTY MEDIA and OUR YOUTH by Joe McIlhaney, MD INTER ACTIVE Visit www.cmda.org/bookstore to find more resources about this topic and others that focus on you and your family.
12
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
T
he summer of 2015 was the summer of the sharks. The 25th annual Shark Week—a TV marathon dedicated to these deadly creatures—boasted its highest ratings yet and dominated the pop culture landscape. At the same time, while families across the country were heading to the beach for vacation, the news started reporting about shark attacks in Florida, in North Carolina, in Hawaii, in South Carolina. A 14-year-old girl lost part of an arm. A 16-year-old boy lost one of his arms. A professional surfer fought back against a shark on the international stage, escaping without injury. It seemed as though a new attack occurred every week. But today, there’s a bigger, more dangerous shark lurking in the shadows that the news isn’t discussing and we don’t even seem to be worried about. What is it? It’s the threat of “mighty media” in the lives of our youth.
Why “mighty media?” The answer is easy: media pervades the lives of our youth. The statistics are literally unbelievable, certainly to those of us who are older than 50. According to the journal Pediatrics, “Youth spend an average of greater than 7 hours/day using media, and the vast majority of them have access to a bedroom television, computer, the Internet, a video-game console, and a cell phone.”1 This is the normal state of affairs for the majority of our youth—essentially all of them. This is probably the experience of your own children in your own home and the young people in your church. It is almost without question the way the young people in your practice are living. But young people have access to more than just the media mentioned in the quote above. They still listen to the radio, of which 22 percent of the time is reported to contain sexual content.2 They go to movies an average of two to three times a month and most have seen R-rated movies long before the required age of 17. Almost all teens have looked at and regularly read teen magazines which are permeated with sexual topics. As parents, as grandparents and even as Christian healthcare professionals, what can we do about the dangers facing our youth as a result of mighty media?
Unhealthy media use begins early
Most of us think of media use as a teenage phenomenon. However, media is used by young people almost from birth. For example, 38 percent of kids under the age of two have used a mobile device, while 80 percent of children ages two to four use mobile devices. Half of kids from birth to six years of age have used a computer, with about a quarter of this age spending an hour a day at the keyboard.3
The litany of unhealthy influences of media in the lives of our young people is not to imply that absolutely nothing positive results from the use of media devices. Nor is it to suggest that children should be denied any of these sources of information and interesting input. Some media avenues can be useful as teaching tools, sources of news, etc. But some of the impact of media can definitely be detrimental. For starters are some issues that might be considered relatively minor but can be bigger problems than often appreciated. For the very young, watching TV late at night can decrease sleep time and increase resistance to going to sleep. When the TV is on all the time, it decreases talk time between the young child and the parent. It also distracts both parent and child, as studies show that young children glance up at the TV screen every 20 seconds.4 Early sexual debut is more likely in adolescents with greater than two hours of unsupervised television viewing per day. Teens who listened to degrading music lyrics were more likely than those who did not to progress to more advanced sexual activity, have earlier sexual debut and have more negative attitudes toward women. Teens with higher sexual media exposure are twice as likely to initiate sexual debut.5 “More than 50 years of media research attests to the significant influence of media on child and adolescent health. Both ‘old’ media (television, movies, magazines) and ‘new’ media (the internet and social networking sites, video/computer games, cell phones) can have an impact on virtually every CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
13
health concern that practitioners and parents have about young people, including aggressive behavior, risky sexual behavior, substance use, and disordered eating. Although the media are not the leading cause of any of these problems, the research reviewed here suggests that they are significant.”6
More menacing than a shark
Overuse of media can lead to problems for our youth, but the most extreme form of media exposure is pornography. And pornography is far more menacing to most of our youth than a shark. Pornography versus sharks? Crazy! Well, not really. A shark can slip up on you while you are enjoying the water and pleasant surf, leaving you completely unaware. Suddenly, out of nowhere, comes an irresistible “force” that is a terrifyingly dangerous attack. The attack can have a life-altering aftermath. And what about pornography? A child, an adolescent or even an adult can be enjoying a pleasant “surf” on the internet, when out of nowhere comes an irresistible “force” that is a dangerous attack. It’s an attack that can have a lifealtering aftermath. In comparing the two attacks, though, the word “terrifyingly” is left out. When pornography shows up as a
person is “surfing” the web, it doesn’t seem terrifying at all. It can seem “electrifying,” a totally different emotion, even if the “attack” is just as dangerous. Without a doubt, the dangers of pornography are far more prevalent than shark attacks. Only 116 shark attacks occurred worldwide in 2013.7 In a national sample of 1,500 10- to 17-year-olds, nearly half of the internet users had been exposed to online pornography in the previous year.8 That’s a staggering statistic, but we continue to overlook the danger because the damage is so subtle. As we saw in the movie Soul Surfer, Bethany Hamilton lost an arm in a shark attack. The real life Bethany Hamilton, whose story was portrayed in the movie, could easily have been killed by the attack. As it was, she survived and, through immense bravery and hard work, continued to surf at the professional level. But the impact was immediate as well as long-term, leaving her with difficulties that were more subtle, but just as real, than the physical problems. Most people would say there is no immediate damage or even danger to a first-time encounter with pornography. It is true that almost everyone has been exposed to pornography, young or old. It is almost impossible to avoid it. Even some of the magazine covers in the drugstore are almost pornographic. However, though not everyone becomes a porn addict, viewing porn is playing with fire. Pornography seems to “burn” into a person’s brain in a way other images do not. Studies have compared it to the brain’s exposure to illegal drugs. This impression is supported by the finding that 70 percent of 18- to 24-year-old males view a pornographic website in a typical month.9 And it is not just a problem for men. Studies show that 28 percent of porn addicts are women.10 And it is also a problem for Christians. As a matter of fact, nearly half of Christian families report that porn is a problem.11 But wait—is porn really a problem? The majority of young people who view it don’t seem to think so. Overall studies show that 67 percent of young men and 49 percent of young women 18-26 years of age consider viewing pornography as acceptable behavior.12
Is porn a problem?
One study found that men who accessed pornography were more likely to be involved in a whole host of unhealthy behaviors including: • Casual sex • Anal intercourse • Group sex • Sexual experimentation • Male dominant view of sexuality • Difficulty separating sexual fantasy from reality13 14
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
cle helmet, particularly if a child is showing signs of school difficulty, aggressiveness, disordered eating, or poor sleep patterns.”15 Some pediatricians and other physicians may continue to refuse to include warnings about the influence of media in the lives of their patents, but it is possible that many don’t want to know more or include this issue in counseling their patients because they do not understand even the minimal information included in this short article. I would suggest the following for all physicians:
When Dr. Jill Manning, author of What’s The Big Deal about Pornography?, testified before a U. S. Senate subcommittee on the harms of pornography, she stated that some of the effects are: • Lasting negative or traumatic emotional responses • Earlier onset of first sexual involvement • Increased risk for developing sexual compulsion and addictive behavior • Increased risk of gaining an incorrect and out-ofcontext view of sex • The objectification of another human being for selfish sexual gratification14 I could go on, but most parents and physicians have an intuitive sense that pornography is not healthy, is progressively addictive and is dangerous to the emotional, physical and spiritual health of an individual.
What can we do?
As healthcare professionals, we have a responsibility to our patients. The authors of a 2010 article in Pediatrics recommend limiting screen time for children: “A 2004 survey of 365 pediatricians revealed that only half recommend limiting screen time according to the AAP recommendations, and half said they were not interested in learning more about media influences on their patients. Yet, just a few minutes of office counseling could result in nearly 1 million children adhering to the AAP guidelines of less than two hours of screen time per day, according to one study. Clinicians who see children need to understand that spending a minute discussing children’s media use may be as important as explaining the importance of a bicy-
• Become more informed. For a start, reread this article. Even the few statistics included support the massive intrusion of media in the lives of our patients and what can often be the pernicious impact on their health and wellbeing. • Allow this information to percolate in your thoughts and see how it might impact your concern for your patients and then how it might impact your practice habits. One suggestion would be to query a few patients to see if, in your patient group, this really might be an issue. • Consciously integrate some type of intervention into your practice to confront this problem. One intervention program we teach and encourage at The Medical Institute for Sexual Health is the 5 A’s Behavior Change Model.16 This intervention technique is effective in helping with a number of behavioral issues. • Utilize outside sources by informing your patients of their availability: • The Medical Institute for Sexual Health has one of the largest troves of information about sexual behavior, marriage, abstinence and risks of different types of sexual behavior available in the U.S. For more information, visit www.medinstitute.org. • Josh McDowell has committed a large portion of his attention and ministry to the issue of media, especially pornography, and he offers excellent resources. For more information, visit www.justoneclickaway.org. As parents, it’s important to remember that we have an impact on our children’s behavior choices. In all the surveys of young people reviewed, more kids, including college students, say their parents influence their behavior more than any other influence in their lives. The most important action parents can take is to monitor their own use of media. If parents have their TV on all the time and watch indiscriminately, they can expect the same from their kids—so model well. The American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines are a good place to start. No screen time for kids under the age of CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
15
they cannot use them between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. Restrict the use of social media sites like Facebook until they reach high school. Have a conversation with your kids about sexting and its dangers, and also warn them about imposters on social media networks. An additional step you can take is installing parental control software on your children’s devices. Most of these software programs restrict web content, while others offer the ability to limit usage time and oversee chat options. Microsoft and Apple desktop systems offer built-in parental controls, while other software programs like Windows Family Safety, Avira Parental Control for Social Media and others are available to download and install.
Facing the attacks head on two, and only one to two hours of screen time for kids two or older. Ideally, parents should watch media with their children and use it as a launching pad for discussions of topics that are brought up. As much as possible, eliminate R-rated media including graphic sex, gratuitous violence and even excessive drinking and smoking. Keep all televisions, laptops, computers and gaming devices in common areas in the home. But that’s the easy part. The hard part is monitoring the media intake of our children—their smartphone, laptop or other portable device. If only it were as simple as the above guidelines suggest. Most likely, all parents are a little insecure about the best way to handle these devices. We don’t want to be too legalistic, because that could cause young people to lie about what they are doing or simply access the restricted media at a friend’s house. Plus, we don’t want our children to always think of us as censors. But the tension is that, on the other hand, we don’t want them to think we condone immoral, inappropriate and dangerous media. Let’s face it. There are no perfect answers to guarantee that our children will stay away from materials we know are bad for them. There is no approach to this that will guarantee kids will not see or hear sexually suggestive material. As a matter of fact, well-known speaker and writer Josh McDowell says ALL kids will be or have been exposed to not just sexual images but to pornography. There is no perfect answer for even knowing, therefore, for sure what our kids have actually seen. Some general attitude suggestions might be helpful such as making clear decisions about how to handle cell phones. For example, at what age should you let your child have one? Consider not letting your child in middle school have a cell phone. Put parental controls on the phone while children are young so 16
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
This is hard. Yet, it is the world we and our children live in. It is the world our patients and their children live in. We cannot ignore it, otherwise we would be derelict in our responsibility to those closest to us and to those we are responsible for through our practices. If lists would take care of the problem, that would make it easy, but this problem is too multifaceted to have such an easy solution. So perhaps the best we can do is to issue a warning and an encouragement. The mighty media “sharks” are out there, waiting to silently devour our children. We can do something to protect them, but it takes our attention, vigilance, energy and engagement. This entire article could have been about the danger media and pornography can be to the spiritual health and life of our own selves, as well as our children and patients. As healthcare professionals, we have the responsibility to ensure the physical health of our patients, both young and old. But as Christians, we bear the responsibility to ensure the spiritual health of not just our patients and our families but also ourselves. As Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23, NIV 2011). These words seem prophetic. We ignore them at great risk to ourselves, our families and our patients. Bibliography 1 Strasburger VC1, Jordan AB, Donnerstein E. “Health effects of media on children and adolescents.” Pediatrics. 2010 Apr;125(4):756-67. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-2563. 2 Gentile DA. “Teen-oriented radio and CD sexual content analysis.” 1999. http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/tdugas/ids3332/acrobat/teenmusic. pdf. 3 Rideout VJ, Vandewater EA, Wartella EA. “Zero to Six: electronic media in the lives of infants, toddlers and preschoolers.” Kaiser Family Foundation Publication 3378. 2003. https://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files. wordpress.com/2013/01/zero-to-six-electronic-media-in-the-lives-ofinfants-toddlers-and-preschoolers-pdf.pdf.
About The Author JOE S. MCILHANEY, JR., MD, is a board certified obstetrician/gynecologist who resides in Plano, Texas, with his wife Marion. In 1995, he left his private practice of 28 years to devote his full-time attention to working with The Medical Institute for Sexual Health, a non-profit scientific and educational research organi organization he established in 1992. During his tenure as a private practitioner, he was active on the medical staff of St. David’s Community Hospital, including serving as president of the medical staff and member of the hospital’s Board of Trustees. As an innovator in the field of reproductive medicine, he introduced laparoscopy, gynecologic microsurgery and laser surgery to the Central Texas area. Along with three other physicians, Dr. McIlhaney was instrumental in bringing in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer to Austin. Dr. McIlhaney is the author of six books including 1,001 Health-Care Questions Women Ask; Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Affects Our Children; and Girls Uncovered: New Research on What America’s Sexual Culture Does to Young Women. In 2001, Dr. McIlhaney was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. He also served on the Advisory Committee to the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Paid Advertisement
4 Rochman, Bonnie. “Education ‘TV’ for Babies? It Doesn’t Exist,” TIME. October 18, 2011. http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/18/whyeducational-tv-for-babies-doesnt-exist/ 5 Brown JD, L’Engle KL, Pardun C, Guo G, et al, “Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents’ Sexual Behavior,” Pediatrics 2006;117;1018-1027 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2005-1406. 6 Strasburger VC1, Jordan AB, Donnerstein E. “Health effects of media on children and adolescents.” Pediatrics. 2010 Apr;125(4):756-67. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-2563. 7 Global Shark Attack File 2013. www.sharkattackfile.net. 8 Strasburger VC1, Jordan AB, Donnerstein E. “Health effects of media on children and adolescents.” Pediatrics. 2010 Apr;125(4):756-67. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-2563. 9 Paul, Pamela. Pornified. Time Books, Henry Hold and Company/New York, 2005. 10 Pornography Stats. Archdiocese of Omaha’s Anti-Pornography Task Force. http://www.archomaha.org/files/8913/6871/0686/PornStats.pdf. 11 Bergin, Mark. “Porn again.” World Magazine. April 23, 2005. http:// www.worldmag.com/2005/04/porn_again. 12 Pornography Stats. Archdiocese of Omaha’s Anti-Pornography Task Force. http://www.archomaha.org/files/8913/6871/0686/PornStats.pdf. 13 Jensen, R. Pornographic lives. Violence Against Women. 1995. 14 Jill Manning. Testimony: U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 10 Nov 2005, “Why the Government Should Care about Pornography.” Web 9 Nov 2005 http://www.heritage.org/Research/Testimony/ Pornographys-Impact-on-Marriage-amp-The-Family. 15 Strasburger VC1, Jordan AB, Donnerstein E. “Health effects of media on children and adolescents.” Pediatrics. 2010 Apr;125(4):756-67. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-2563. 16 5 A’s Behavior Change Model. U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org.
CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
17
GENDER: M or F or Other Transgender Insights by Karl Benzio, MD
Editor’s Note: Transgenderism is a hot topic in today’s culture. We feel it is important to respond appropriately in a Christian manner when faced with this topic of discussion, as well as when dealing with it in the healthcare profession. This is the first article on this subject, focusing specifically on the theological and psychological discussion points from a Christian perspective. A second article will be published in a future edition of Today’s Christian Doctor that deals with the practical side of the matter that will help you as you encounter transgender patients in your practice.
I
t used to be a straightforward prompt on any questionnaire or application: “Gender: Male or Female.” But that once simple question is now confused by the explosion of transgenderism within our culture. Who can use what bathroom? Do we need a third option in public changing rooms? Can you assume the person you’re meeting on a date is really the gender you are attracted to? What if my patient wants to change sex? Should I hire a transgender employee? And that’s just the beginning. Let me help sort out some transgender issues we face as Christians in healthcare
18
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
so we can be better prepared to be witnesses for Christ in a dark world.
The Basics
To help clarify the numerous terms existing around this issue, let’s start with some basic concepts and definitions. • Sex or Birth Sex – A person’s physical reproductive anatomy and resultant secondary sex characteristics. Predominantly, but not always, dictated by genetics guiding uncorrupted fetal development. • Intersex – People who have anatomy that is not considered typically male or female or have anatomy not matching their genetic sex of XX or XY. Most come to medical attention because healthcare professionals or parents notice something unusual about their bodies or puberty or fertility isn't normal, but some are not known until death/autopsy. • Ambiguous genitalia – External genitalia not clearly and totally male or female. • Gender – Social roles and characteristics based on
the sex of the individual. (Until more recently, gender and birth sex were understood and used interchangeably.) • Sexual Orientation – Refers to an individual’s enduring physical/sexual, romantic and/or emotional attraction to others. • Heterosexual (straight) is opposite-sex attraction (OSA). • Homosexual (gay, lesbian) is same-sex attraction (SSA). • Bisexual is attracted to both sexes. • Gender Identity – Defined as one’s internal sense of being a male or female, man or woman. Now the options include none, both or something totally different. Instead of believing gender is a binary system with only two options, either male or female, some believe gender falls on a more fluid spectrum. Some of those “newer” options include having no gender, having both genders or being even a third gender unique to that individual. Gender expression lies on a spectrum that includes the following: • Birth Sex Gender Conformity – People who are comfortable with their birth sex, identify themselves as that gender and present themselves fairly consistently as that gender. • Gender Nonconformity – People who identify with their birth sex but frequently behave in a manner usually associated with the opposite sex, such as males who are effeminate and females who are masculine. During pre-pubescent years, gender nonconformity is normal and common, more so in females than males. But when puberty starts and sexual hormones start to circulate, gender conformity or congruence, that is, behavior and psychological identify, begin to align and are congruent with birth sex. • Transgender (formerly Gender Identity Disorder) – An umbrella term for an ever-changing and evolving population and subculture of people who feel the gender they were assigned at birth (or in rare circumstances, shortly after birth) is a false or incomplete description of who they are psychologically. • Gender Ambiguity (GQ; alternatively non-binary) – A catch-all category for gender identities not exclusively masculine or feminine. Crossdressing (transvestite) is a common subgroup. • Opposite Birth Sex Gender Conformity (transsexualism) – A person who thinks, feels and acts (if safe to do so) like a member of the opposite birth sex, especially psychosexually. If available and affordable, this group will often pursue hormonal and/or surgical sexual reassignment surgeries (formerly “sex change operations”).
God’s Plan
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, ESV). God created man in His image. Then, from man, God created woman, also in His image. God created man and woman with many similarities, but also with key, yet complementary, differences. These differences weren’t just anatomical, but also physiological, especially regarding our body development, reproductive hormones and particularly brain development and functioning. These physiological hormone and brain differences generate psychological differences, such as personality types and relating styles, allowing us to better execute the roles God designed for man and woman in certain non-individualistic systems such as marriage, family, parenting, government and church. In bearing God’s image, although with different design, each sex carries a different yet complementary image of God, but when brought together in heterosexual marriage, man united with woman forms the fullest human representation of God’s image in this world. Ideally, when egg meets sperm, God’s unique and individual physical design for that person is encoded in their wondrous genetic blueprint. This would include sex, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation. This would be XY = male sex and gender, confidently identifying as a male and psycho-sexually attracted to females. Or XX = female sex and gender, confidently identifying as a female and psycho-sexually attracted to males. God infuses a spirit to complete this spirit-mindbody being. The next ideal steps would be a pristine gestational period in utero, with no contaminants, traumas or issues, followed by approximately 25 years of living in physically, psychologically and spiritually healthy environments allowing development and maturation of all three spheres. You see, the genetic design is only the start of the process, or the first domino in a sequence of millions. The further execution of God’s design needs the participation of the individual and is based ultimately on the worldview (a God-centered perspective or a world-centered perspective) and emotion management skills of the individual, as these are the main determiners of the decisions the individual makes. Gender identity, sexual orientation and a variety of other life activities are later dominoes determined by the preceding dominoes. These preceding foundaCHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
19
understanding of healthy relationship concepts, but he also wants to thwart our decision-making process as it pertains to self-identity, our needs and how to engage in healthy relationships. Satan’s spiritual warfare strategically exposes us to wounds, trauma and loss via relationships so we’ll feel incompetent in and afraid of relationships with the intent that we’ll reject the opportunity for the ultimate relationship with God. So Satan attacks early and often. Even before we are born, Satan attacks our mothers with “normal” fears, doubts and worries about parenting tasks like being a good mother, living in the right neighborhood, teaching the right principles, getting to the pediatrician on time, etc. This worry causes the secretion of chemicals that cross the placental barrier and affect body, brain and receptor development, leading to pathological physiologic changes. This is accentuated when the unborn child is exposed to toxins such as alcohol, nicotine, heroin, lead, benzodiazepines, thalidomide and numerous others, as well as when trauma (domestic violence, accidents) or disease (diabetes, lack of nutrition) occur.
tional dominoes following God’s initial creatingour-unique-life domino, are made up from our experiences, especially the processing and response to these experiences. To put it quite simply, our life decisions start with our first breath.
Satan Attacks
“…Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9, ESV). “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10, ESV). Unfortunately, as we see throughout the Bible, when God has a plan, Satan is immediately on the prowl with disruptive intent, hoping for the exact opposite of what God intends. Satan, the Great Deceiver, attacks. Satan’s primary tactic is deceit, deception or lies. Satan’s goal is to keep us out of relationship with God, so he attacks all those elements pertaining to relationship. Not only does he want to disrupt our 20
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
By far, Satan’s most significant attacks occur during our childhood years, as these years blend the highest degree of brain neuroplasticity with high gullibility and our poor ability to precisely interpret and process the situations around us. These attacks wound, hurt and traumatize all of us, leading us to commit a significant number of mistakes and sins. In response, we all develop defenses which become a set of beliefs about ourselves and the world, which then allows us to understand, manage and then self-heal the wounds to protect ourselves from further harm. Ideally, these defense mechanisms or life management strategies are developed from biblical truths and principles. But Satan knows how to prick our fleshly desires and our sin nature to influence a corrupted repertoire of life management paradigms and decisions. Unfortunately, we all have some distorted information and interpretations producing misguided defense mechanisms. For some, same-sex attraction or gender identity disorder is the paradigm they develop to manage and make sense of the hurts, wounds, traumas, distresses and inaccurate data they have accumulated in their lives with the intent of minimizing any further harm to themselves. Most of these strategies are not intentionally or pragmatically determined but develop organically and unconsciously over several years or more, so the individual believes no overt or definitive conscious decision was ever made. Rather it feels like a reflex or even created design or wiring from as early as they can recall.
Transgender occurs when a person with a psychospiritual issue is looking for a physical solution. It’s the boy who is abandoned by his father, so he yearns for a father’s love and seeks the love of a man. It’s the boy whose father is absent, so he is raised predominantly by his mother. He is very connected to and deeply identifies with his mother, has a sensitive disposition and doesn’t want to be lumped in the male category, so he develops a transgender paradigm. It’s the young girl molested by a male who believes her womanhood was the culprit, so she denies her femininity in an effort not to attract males, and then she seeks sexual connection with safer females instead of males. All these are examples of people faced with overwhelming circumstances and hurt who don’t have caretakers to help them process, and they had to come up with some paradigm on their own to adapt to these confusing life experiences in the spiritual war that is our world. Situations like these, as well as variables we do not know, can shape how we view our gender.
Is transgender sinful?
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5, ESV). Homosexuality is a sin, but transgender isn’t as clear cut, although Deuteronomy 22:5 and 1 Corinthians 11:14 discuss gender expression with some prohibitions. God has selected and given to each person, even before conception, a unique identity and design. A significant component is our gender. To deny this gift and be someone different would be denying God’s will, and that would be a sin. God designed male and female differently, and these unique and intentional distinctions should be maintained while guarding against the blurring or fusion of gender roles. With this said, we should recognize the attacks of sin on mankind (genetic mutations), as well as Satan’s attacks during gestation on the unborn child’s development. Although rare, genetic sex and physical development can be mismatched or unclear, and we want to make sure we are not judging a person’s situation with wrong assumptions or incomplete data. If their transgender pursuits are not from these biological/physiological in-utero attacks and actually come from post birth attacks, we need to recognize that the transgender individual is, like all of us, a wounded person needing to find their true identity in Christ.
Conclusion
Transgenderism is a complex issue. Those struggling with it are wounded and in pain, and they are look-
ing for soothing and healing. In our efforts to soothe them, falling into the trap of acquiescing to their needs and wishes seems the loving course and the path of least resistance. But to really understand transgenderism, offer hope and provide a cure, we need to unpack all three spheres of spirit, mind and body, as all three are involved in the evolution of this struggle. The biological is where we have significant training, but we need to understand and use accurate biblical principles to address the psychological struggles and implement the psychospiritual remedy. Above all else, as Christian healthcare professionals, we must be the relationally-prioritizing and compassionate ambassadors for God as He divinely appoints and inserts us into the life journey of someone needing an encounter with God through us. INTER ACTIVE Visit www.cmda.org/sexuality to find more information about transgenderism from a Christian healthcare perspective.
About The Author KARL BENZIO, MD, is a husband of 24 years, father of three girls, Christian psychiatrist, writer, frequent media guest expert and speaker at secular and Christian conferences covering many behavioral health and social policy issues. Dr. Benzio has testified for U.S. Congress, state legislatures and the President’s Bioethics Committee, in addition to teaching in Iraq, Kenya and Uganda. Using his experiences as a physician (body), psychiatrist (mind), devoted follower of Christ (spirit), biomedical engineer from Duke and recovering addict arrested for six counts of aggravated assault and transformed by grace, Karl developed a cutting-edge BioPsychoSpiritual model focusing on the spiritual discipline of decision-making addressing the etiology and treatment of all behavioral health struggles, thus making theology practical. He is the founder and director of Lighthouse Network, an international ministry equipping the global church by developing faith-based behavioral health resources including a unique helpline (844-Life-Change) assisting access to Christian treatment. Sign up for Stepping Stones, his daily devotional, at www.LighthouseNetwork.org. To contact Dr. Benzio, email KBenzio@LighthouseNetwork.org CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
21
Religious Freedom in
Healthcare: Navigating the New Era by Jonathan Imbody
Crowds gather at the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26, 2015 as the court releases its decision to legalize same-sex marriage. Photo by Ted Eytan www.flickr.com/people/taedc
22
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
he U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to negate the votes of millions of citizens and unilaterally mandate same-sex marriage nationwide threatens to undermine centuries of First Amendment protections, including conscience freedoms for faithbased healthcare professionals.
T
Limiting conscience freedoms: Same song, second verse
The basis for the 5-4 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015 erodes the nation’s democratic, moral and legal foundations in ways that make every citizen vulnerable to ideological coercion and governmental suppression. Notwithstanding a few tepid assurances in the majority opinion regarding minimal accommodations for mere religious speech (not religious exercise), dissenting justices and religious freedom experts also agree that the ruling foreshadows a new era of hostility in law and society toward man-woman marriage believers.
In 2007, for example, the Ethics Committee of the radically pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued an aggressive new policy statement, “The Limits of Conscience Refusal in Reproductive Medicine.”1 Regarding abortion, ACOG declared, “Physicians and other health care professionals have the duty to refer patients in a timely manner to other providers if they do not feel that they can in conscience provide the standard reproductive service that patients request.”
The decision portends grave legal, professional and personal dangers for individuals who hold to the marriage truth taught in the Scriptures from Genesis to Jesus; namely, that “from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh” (Mark 10:6-8, NASB).
The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology2 followed up by referencing in its official Bulletin ACOG’s conscience-limiting policy. The reference by implication threatened the ABOG certification and careers of many pro-life OB/Gyns.
How the ruling impacts healthcare professionals I asked several religious freedom attorneys with whom I work to outline some of the potential conflicts that healthcare professionals who hold to biblical marriage face as a result of the ruling. The response was: • “Fertility specialists will be subject to lawsuits or nondiscrimination enforcement actions if they do not assist lesbian couples to conceive.” • “OB/Gyns will be subject to lawsuits/nondiscrimination enforcement if they do not provide services to same-sex couples.” • “Medical professionals will be subject to nondiscrimination laws if they persist in referring to patients by—and perhaps even treating patients—according to their true gender instead of their self-identification. This could include OB/Gyns who decline a transgender or transitioning patient.” • “Faith-based hospitals and medical professionals will be required to accept same-sex marriages as valid for purposes of visitation, next-of-kin, etc.” • “In any of these situations, medical professionals may also be subject to loss of licensure or ethics complaints. Doctors should be on the watch for revisions to accreditation, licensing, ethics codes and [similar qualifications] that would stifle their ability to live according to their beliefs about marriage and human sexuality.”
Pressuring healthcare professionals to compromise their convictions about marriage would parallel abortion-related assaults on healthcare conscience freedoms.
As U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt noted in a March 14, 2008 letter to ACOG, “It appears that the interaction of the ABOG Bulletin with the ACOG ethics report would force physicians to violate their conscience by referring patients for abortions or taking other objectionable actions, or risk losing their board certification.” In response to this threat to CMDA members and to medical professionalism, CMDA worked with top HHS officials and others to uphold, clarify and illustrate the importance of existing federal laws protecting healthcare professionals’ conscience freedoms. President George W. Bush’s administration in 2008 promulgated a strong regulation clarifying and enforcing three longstanding federal conscience-protecting laws. In 2011, President Barack Obama’s administration gutted the regulation.3
Ruling will be “used to vilify” The Supreme Court’s opinion in Obergefell, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, offered weak reassurance to the obviously endangered faith community: “The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths…[emphasis added].” The First Amendment does not merely protect the narrow realm of religious teaching, but the grandly more CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
23
expansive “free exercise” of religion—a concept that encompasses daily living out the convictions of one’s faith and conscience. People of faith express their convictions not merely in teaching but also in moral actions in the workplace, schools and the public square. Kennedy’s expression of the First Amendment’s free exercise clause as a mere right to believe or teach reinforces the Obama administration’s governmentwide diminishing of the free exercise of religion. • The Affordable Care Act’s HHS contraceptives and sterilization coverage mandate, contested in the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case and others, requires employers to provide even potential abortifacients in health insurance plans. • The administration has been systematically injecting requirements regarding same-sex marriage into federal grants programs,4 threatening to marginalize faith-based healthcare and social services providers. • The administration attempted to limit religious hiring rights in a Supreme Court case, HosannaTabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The administration’s position proved so radical and offensive to First Amendment principles that it lost the case by a 9-0 margin. Dissenting Justice Samuel Alito highlighted the personal impact of the Court’s ruling, warning that it “will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy. I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers, and schools.”
Marginalizing the faith community In an excoriating dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts warned of serious harms to faith-based institutions: “Today’s decision…creates serious questions about religious liberty. Hard questions arise when people of faith exercise religion in ways that may be seen to conflict with the new right to same-sex marriage—when, for example, a religious college provides married student housing only to opposite-sex married couples, or a religious adoption agency declines to place children with same-sex married couples. “Indeed, the Solicitor General [the Obama administration’s attorney who argued the case] candidly acknowledged that the tax exemptions of some religious institutions would be in question if they opposed samesex marriage. There is little doubt that these and similar questions will soon be before this Court. Unfortunately, people of faith can take no comfort in the treatment they receive from the majority today.” The ink of the Court’s decision had barely dried when new attacks on faith-based institutions erupted. A TIME magazine commentary by New York Times columnist Mark Oppenheimer asserted that “the logic of gay-marriage rights could lead to a reexamination of conservative churches’ tax exemptions.” Oppenheimer urged that now “we need to take a more radical step. It’s time to abolish, or greatly diminish, their tax-exempt statuses.”5
Threatening physicians and students Threats specific to healthcare professionals, meanwhile, are not merely existential; pressure to conform to the new marriage ideology is already eroding First Amendment freedoms of faith and speech. Besides the threats outlined above by religious freedom attorneys, the following examples illustrate the potential for widening discrimination against faith-based healthcare professionals and students: • The California Supreme Court denied religious exemptions in a 2008 case (Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group) against two Christian physicians who had declined to artificially inseminate a lesbian couple. • Oregon, California, New Jersey and Washington, D.C have outlawed so-called “gay conversion therapy,” effectively barring free speech and professional discretion.6
24
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
• Some medical school admissions committees already reportedly routinely weed out students who oppose abortion; the Obergefell ruling will embolden committees to add same-sex marriage to ideological litmus tests. • CMDA campus ministries recently have been targeted by university officials for requiring leaders to believe in God or hold to biblical sexual standards; the marriage ruling adds another arrow to the quivers of faith-hostile administrators.
Where do we go from here? Legislation: To legislatively address new threats, CMDA meets regularly with members of Congress and supports passage of the First Amendment Defense Act.7 The bill (H.R. 2802, S. 1598) provides that “the Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.” Advocacy: The Obama administration’s 2009 threat to conscience freedoms related to abortion triggered the launching of Freedom2Care (www.Freedom2Care. org), organized and led by CMDA’s Washington Office. Today, Freedom2Care and its 30,000 followers continue the fight to protect First Amendment freedoms of faith, conscience and speech. Already this year, Freedom2Care supporters have generated more than 5,000 advocacy messages to legislators. Litigation: CMDA continues to work with legal organizations including the Christian Legal Society, Alliance Defending Freedom, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and others that specialize in religious freedom and provide pro-bono legal services to individuals in legal disputes. Members contemplating legal action should contact the Washington office at washington@cmda. org.
Advocating as ambassadors American followers of Christ do well to remember the “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12) of counter-culture Christians who lived out their faith courageously and gloriously in the midst of intense persecution. We must continue to lovingly live out and winsomely speak out about the truth about marriage, and we must also advocate for public policies to regain and retain the religious freedoms on which our nation was founded.
We can, as I conclude in my book Faith Steps, “adopt a biblical worldview that encompasses public policy and determine to courageously encounter our culture with kingdom principles. We seek to serve as ambassadors of Jesus Christ in love, winsomely and encouragingly engaging our friends and neighbors. “Recognizing that we must portray the character of Christ while advancing godly values, we lead with good deeds, which helps others accept our words. We realize that in taking on this ministry as Christ did, we have no guarantee of earthly success, only of persecution and challenges that test our faith and our will to persevere.” Bibliography 1 “The Limits of Conscience Refusal in Reproductive Medicine,” American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Ethics Committee Opinion Number 385, November 7, 2007. 2 American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology’s (ABOG) Bulletin for 2008 Maintenance of Certification (Bulletin). 3 For details and analysis, see http://www.freedom2care.org/ docLib/20110222_NotesonObamaconscienceregulation.pdf. 4 See http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/DOMA-Ruling-Award-Term. docx 5 Oppenheimer, Mark, “Now’s the Time To End Tax Exemptions for Religious Institutions,” TIME, June 28, 2015. 6 See “Oregon outlaws gay conversion therapy, joining two other states,” CNN, May 20, 2015. 7 Visit our Freedom2Care legislative action website at http:// cqrcengage.com/f2c/.
INTER ACTIVE Visit www.cmda.org/roc for the latest information about CMDA’s efforts to protect right of conscience and religious freedom.
About The Author JONATHAN IMBODY is CMDA’s Vice President for Government Relations and author of Faith Steps, a book that encourages and equips Christians to engage on public policy issues. To order the book for personal or group use with accompanying study guide, visit www.cmda.org/bookstore. Jonathan and his wife Amy, an educator, love their four grown children and three grandchildren. They live in Northern Virginia and attend The Falls Church Anglican. Jonathan graduated from Penn State with an undergraduate degree in communications and a master’s degree in counseling, and he later studied Bible and theology at the Alliance Theological Seminary. CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
25
Reconnect with Family at Spring Canyon by Col Kim Hawthorne, USAF (Ret.), (with COL Arnie Ahnfeldt, MD, USA [Ret.])
INTER ACTIVE Visit www.cmda.org/events for more information about this and other conferences CMDA offers throughout the year.
26
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
#
Dad, when can we come back?” My young son and daughter cheerfully sang out in unison as we departed the arched gates of Spring Canyon Retreat and Conference Center. Our family had just experienced a week-long Summer Celebration retreat in the heart of the Rocky Mountains near Buena Vista, Colorado. As I had recently returned from a 90-day combat tour in Southwest Asia, my family was able to reconnect with each other and God during our stay. I was also refreshed, equipped and inspired to continue to serve in the military as a fighter pilot and military leader. Since then, Spring Canyon has become a “home away from home” for me, my wife Kari Ann and our children. For us, it became a refuge in what was sometimes a turbulent journey during almost 28 years of service in the United States Air Force. Kari Ann first experienced the thrills and adventure of Spring Canyon with her family as a child in 1969, and I first attended Spring Canyon as a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy in 1982. Our lives changed when, through God’s perfect timing, we met and were married at Spring Canyon. Over the years, we’ve been able to pass this same legacy on to our children, who are third-generation attenders. “It is with great anticipation that I look forward to the exciting prospect of my CMDA colleagues having access to the wonderful facilities at Spring Canyon. After a multimillion dollar upgrade in facilities, we now have state of the art outdoor programs and beautiful new lodging to facilitate a spiritual experience that I have seen transform the lives of countless medical and military families. The opportunity to enjoy these conference centers at such reasonable rates is amazing! Spring Canyon has had such a powerful impact on my family and other military physicians and their families that we wanted to make the experience available to all CMDA members and their families.” —COL ARNIE AHNFELDT, MD, USA (RET.)
I believe Spring Canyon can become this same refuge for your family, too. I invite you to join CMDA at the first CMDA Spring Canyon Family Conference on June 25 – July 2, 2016. Whether you enjoy rock climbing and rappelling, archery, canoes, hikes, sitting around a fire talking with friends and family, whitewater rafting, reading a book or listening to a guest speaker, you can experience a “vacation with a purpose” that’s relevant to all seasons of life. This unique conference will enable you and your family to leave behind the weight of long hours and being on call.
About Spring Canyon
For more than five decades, people have participated in exceptional retreat and vacation experiences through CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
27
this ministry of Officers’ Christian Fellowship. Nestled in the beautiful Collegiate Peaks on the edge of the famous Arkansas River Valley, Spring Canyon is one of the highest operating camps in the award-winning town of Buena Vista, Colorado, with an elevation of 9,026 feet. At Spring Canyon, people experience God’s presence. It’s an opportunity to reconnect in the Rockies: reconnect with old friends, with family and, most importantly, with God. It’s a place for adventure, a place to rekindle memories and make new ones, and a place to make new friends and be refreshed and made ready to continue your life of service as a healthcare professional. Hundreds of guests leave each summer equipped, refreshed and inspired to live out their calling. “We HIGHLY recommend this venue to other fellowships! [Spring Canyon] makes a truly great place for such a gathering.” —SPRING CANYON GUEST
Many of our guests find spiritual renewal, growth and healing. One guest, with joy in her heart, conveyed to me, “My time at Spring Canyon was a life-changing experience. I got a deepening awareness of His profound presence and love for me as He teaches me to fully TRUST and OBEY.” One physician recounted that he had “a life-giving experience…as always—refreshment, fellowship, encouragement, affirmation, renewal and good challenges for godly living!”
Focus on Families
What I have repeatedly experienced at Spring Canyon is that time together as a family is critical—it restores marriages and builds relationships between fathers and children, which can help buffet the turbulent teen years. And these conferences minister not just to the parents, but to the entire family. “Thank you for an exceptional experience!” wrote a first-time guest. “You provided us with wonderful time to spend together as a family. This was life-changing.” One father emailed, “My teenage kids are still talking about it, now four days after we got back. These are teenagers that didn’t want to do anything but sit in their room when we first arrived...They changed their minds within two hours, thanks to you and your staff. You all were a huge blessing to all of us to get re-grounded, connected with new friends, relaxed, and refreshed physically, mentally and spiritually. The Lord has blessed Spring Canyon, you and your staff. Thank you for sharing it with us!” 28
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
Another medical family who attends a summer week each year exclaimed, “Our children LOVE Spring Canyon. It’s always the highlight of our year. They say it’s better than Disneyland.” Truly, this is much better than a Disneyland experience! You can experience this same excitement when you attend the CMDA Spring Canyon Family Conference. Spring Canyon intentionally creates an environment where families can experience God’s presence, community and connectedness to each other. Every family retreat is designed to provide guests a refreshing balance of scheduled activities and plenty of free time. During your stay, you can expect delicious home-cooked meals served family-style three times a day in our historic Hartley Holmes Lodge. We offer lodge and cabin accommodations with wood-burning fireplaces and gorgeous mountain views for seven nights. We know just how valuable it is to spend time together, especially for the healthcare professional’s family, and we want to make sure that you get the most out of your Colorado vacation during your stay. Extended free time is built into every day, enabling you to partake in all that the Rocky Mountains have to offer. Many activities can be enjoyed on our 107-acre property or within a short drive. Our children’s program for ages 0-12 features wilderness-based educational activities rooted in biblical truth taught by incredible young teachers from across the country. All teachers are CPR and First Aid certified. Children are grouped by ages and activities include arts and crafts, exploring God’s creation, archery, horseback riding, fishing and indoor rock climbing.
Dr. Arnie Ahnfeldt (back row, second from right) and his wife Lois with their three children and grandchildren at Medical Week at Spring Canyon Conference Center. Their family has been visiting Spring Canyon for 40 years.
ACTIVITIES AT SPRING CANYON Explore the Colorado Trail Hike to Cottonwood Lake Indoor rock climbing Guided outdoor climbing and rappelling Mountain biking High ropes course Kayaking and canoeing Fly fishing in Cottonwood Creek And much, much more The teen program at Spring Canyon is intended for ages 13-18 and features biblical discussions and spiritual life lessons, exciting group activities, team challenges and outdoor adventures. The teen program leaders are selected from members of our outdoor programs guide staff and are CPR and Wilderness First Aid certified. Teen activities include team building, wilderness fort creation, a high ropes course, overnight camping and more.
A Refuge on the Journey
For many, Spring Canyon is a Christ-centered sanctuary and training ground, where the presence of God transforms lives. As it was for my family while we moved around the world for 28 years, this can be your “home away from home,” a refuge and a constant in what can be a turbulent journey. Time at Spring Canyon can change your life, your family’s life and your relationships with each other and God. I encourage you to attend this conference and become part of the Spring Canyon family and this life-changing experience as you experience God and are refreshed along the way. You will depart emboldened, equipped, encouraged and ready to continue your service where God has called you. And maybe, when you drive away you might hear: “Dad, when can we come back?”
FROM THE CEO CMDA is delighted to add a new family camp experience at Spring Canyon to our schedule. Since 1949, we have also offered a wonderful family week at Deer Valley, a Christian “dude ranch” close to Buena Vista, Colorado as well. I took my kids there soon after I joined CMDA and they still talk about it! I encourage you to check out both of these opportunities online today at www.cmda.org/events and make your summer plans. William Cheshire, MD, will be the speaker for the Deer Valley week of June 18-25, 2016, and Dr. Walt and Mrs. Barb Larimore will be featured at Spring Canyon on June 25 – July 2, 2016. Don’t wait! Space is limited, so register today. —DAVID STEVENS, MD, MA (ETHICS)
About The Authors COL. KIM HAWTHORNE, USAF (RET.), became the Director of Spring Canyon Conference Center in 2013. A 1986 graduate of The United States Air Force Academy, he retired with almost 28 years of service as a command pilot who flew the T-37, EF111, F-15E and T-53. He commanded at the squadron and group levels and first attended Spring Canyon as a cadet in 1982. He and his wife Kari Ann met and were married at Spring Canyon, and they have three children. Kim previously served 15 years on the Officer’s Christian Fellowship (OCF) Council. For more information about Spring Canyon, visit www.springcanyon.org.
ARNOLD AHNFELDT, MD, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion at Duke University, and then he received his medical degree from the University of Colorado in 1969. He completed a residency in orthopedic surgery at Brook Army Medical Center in 1974. After 23 years in the U.S. Army, he retired as a colonel in 1989 specializing in arthroscopy and total joints. He entered private practice in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1989, and he retired in 2004 due to his diagnosis of leukemia. He has continued to serve as the president of the local Colorado Springs Chapter of CMDA for 30 years. He also serves as the president of the Spring Canyon Advisory Board. CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
29
No Longer Silent: Sharing My Story
by Rhonda Wright, NP
“Lord, give me a clear mind, steady hands and a big heart.”
I
have prayed this short prayer thousands of times throughout my career. As a former paramedic, an emergency, flight and critical care nurse and currently practicing as an acute care nurse practitioner, I have spent my career in highly stressful, often remote and intense situations. I had no idea why God gave me such a restless heart and pushed me to press on to advance my career into various avenues, never being content where I was. On March 25, 2015, after 42 years, He showed me why. ********************************
30
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
I was serving on my second Global Health Outreach mission trip with Team Griff (led by Team Leader Greg “Griff” Griffin, DMD) in El Guinea, Nicaragua. It was a typical afternoon of serving remote people in our medical clinic. I use the term “typical” loosely as there is nothing “typical” about medical and dental mission work in remote locations. At that time, we had five healthcare professionals, including myself, seeing patients. One of our physicians, Dr. Chance Williams, was away for his time in the prayer room. Suddenly, a young girl named Mireyda was carried
in with an abdominal evisceration. Mireyda and her brother had been carrying a machete while riding their horse when the horse bucked, and Mireyda fell into the broad side of the machete, leaving her with a complete evisceration in her stomach and what appeared to be bowel damage. She was placed on a simple schoolroom table that Dr. Crystal Radnitzer had been using as her work station. We all immediately went to work assessing the situation and grabbing for supplies. Mireyda was alert but sluggish and breathing well with strong distal pulses. Somehow we had decent trauma dressings and Christine Ryals, our surgical nurse, covered the wound and controlled the bleeding. We found large bore IVs and I was able to rapidly place two IVs and start fluids, while a blood pressure cuff acted as a rapid infuser for the fluid. Knowing our formulary, I was aware that we did not have the best antibiotics for such a wound, but I did find one bottle of cefazolin in a box of supplies and got this going in addition to the formulary ceftriaxone. At one point in time, I felt as if I was barking orders to those around me and I noticed my hands shaking. I was nervous. So I prayed, and my hands calmed. That is when I realized that every time I turned around and needed or asked for something, it was there. The five of us—myself, Dr. Crystal and Jamie Cucit, NP, plus Dr. Francisco Soza and Dr. Dinka Reyes, our Nicaraguan partners—were all hands on. Despite our language barriers, we communicated. There was too much to be done to focus on translation and we all knew our roles. One thing, however, was becoming keenly unclear: where do we go from here? An ambulance was coming from an hour away to transport Mireyda to a pediatric surgeon located in the little town of Siuna, where our team had been staying. Having been in this type of situation many times before, I knew we needed to meet the ambulance on the road to save precious time. I asked Jarib Castillo, my interpreter and the son of GHO Nicaragua Director Rolando Castillo, if he could get his dad’s truck. Rolando had been away that day searching for other area communities to serve, so I was not sure if he was back. Fortunately, he was. Our assistant team leader told me, “You’re going with her.” I immediately grabbed any anticipated tools, but we had no pediatric masks and no airways. I am very comfortable with managing an airway so I decided I could adequately do mouth to mouth if I needed to breathe for her. With the help of Roy Villegas, Rolando’s assistant, Mireyda was carried to the quad cab truck and placed in the back seat. Roy and I were able to fit ourselves
in the floor board and attend to her. Her mother and grandmother climbed into the truck bed and we were off. I needed to hang up the IVs and looked in my bag for anything to make that happen, wishing for one of the caribiners I used to carry with me. Jarib was riding in the front, so I asked if he had anything we could use to hang the IVs. Somehow there was rope in the truck, and we used that rope to hang the IVs from the overhead handle. As I turned to look at Mireyda, I realized she had turned very gray. I gave her a couple of breaths and she immediately perked up and was quite alert. During the drive, Jarib asked me if she was going to make it. When I told him that I just didn’t know, he said, “Ms. Rhonda, you better pray with her in case she doesn’t make it!” I prayed a prayer myself because I did not know what to say. But through Roy, I started telling her about Jesus. I began holding her hand. I let go for a moment to do something, and she told Roy, “I want to hold her hand! Give me back her hand!” At that moment, I knew that she heard the voice of God through Roy and me, and I experienced a flood of peace. Our driver drove fast but carefully, and I never knew we were on a dirt road. We met the ambulance which was simply a small utility truck with a bench seat and a nurse with no supplies. We had to park on the side of the road and were lined up alongside a ditch. This was the side we had to pull her out of and I was at her head. Jarib immediately got behind me to support me as were lifting her out and said, “Don’t worry, Ms. Rhonda, I won’t let you fall.” We carried her to the ambulance. Once Mireyda’s mother and grandmother climbed into the back of the truck, I lifted Mireyda and placed her in her mother’s arms. I gave a report to the nurse and they were off. I have no idea how often a pediatric surgeon serves in this tiny community. I would love to know if they just happened to be there or if they are there regularly. The next day, Rolando was able to visit the hospital CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
31
fought for every life, yet still watched people die. I have also participated in saving lives. I always viewed this as “just doing what I was trained to do.” And that training means you jump in, bring calm to the chaos, remove the drama and just make it happen. So I refrained from sharing most of my stories because I never wanted them to come across as being about me. The Lord has been at my side and has been my hands, head and heart so many times in all of these tragic situations. But I have been silent. Matthew 10:29-42 tells us, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows…And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward” (NIV 2011). and speak with Mireyda and her mother. Mireyda’s surgery went well and within a couple of days she was up, walking around and taking clear liquids. By the grace and provision of God, she is now home and healed. ******************************** Griff happens to be married to my cousin Julie, so I have known him for many years. He knows about my training and career changes. Later in the evening after our experience, he said, “Now you know what all those years of training and changes and experiences were for!” Halfway joking, I said, “I’m so glad I finally know!” Then it hit me: God’s perfect plan and timing. There would have been no clinic in that remote village had we not been obedient. There would have been no lifesaving intervention for Mireyda. There would have been no sharing of Jesus. The clarity of my life’s testimony and purpose was never more real—OBEDIENCE to the call! I was born to meet people where they are. I was born to “…go and make disciples…” (Matthew 28:19, NIV 2011). My medical skills and training are tools I was given to meet people in the worst of situations, whether in tragedies, extreme temperatures, prison, without clean water or among the threat of diseases or corrupt governments. I have been called to the mission field in a mighty way, and I praise God for the skills and training that give me an avenue to bring His love and healing to the remote corners of a hurting world. Over the years, I have struggled with sharing my stories. I have experienced numerous tragic situations, both in my career and in my personal life. I have participated in very real, very dramatic situations. I have 32
TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
Brothers and sisters, I can be silent no longer! I must be obedient to the Great Commission and go make disciples. Not one of us will fall without His knowledge, and look at what He did to save one single life, Mireyda’s life. I must tell this and many other stories of God’s great love for His people and how He doesn’t want to see anyone fall. God wants us to be obedient to His call, and He wants to reward us for that obedience. The Lord placed each and every single member of our team in El Guineo, Nicaragua on that date in March 2015 specifically for Mireyda and the countless others we served. He moved mountains to get us all there. Our entire team participated in the efforts to save Mireyda, and our entire team is an extraordinary example of obedience to His call. And most importantly, our entire team was instrumental in sharing the gospel with our young patient and her family.
I have been asked numerous times, “What is the worst thing you have ever seen?” Without a doubt, I can tell you the worst thing I have witnessed is the death of a human being who did not know Jesus Christ. I cannot make a person accept Jesus, but by God, not one more will fall without me having shared the gospel with them! So my encouragement to you is this: do not keep silent any longer. Share your stories. Share your stories of God’s amazing love. Share your stories of His providence. Share your stories of His mercies. Share your stories of His forgiveness. Share your stories, because they are really HIS stories. Share HIS stories. Whether you are working in your office, sitting in class on campus, meeting with patients in the hospital or serving on the mission field, He will provide the outlets for you to share, because you are His hands, His feet, His voice to the nations. What story will you share today?
Paid Advertisement
“Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalm 96:3, ESV).
About The Author RHONDA WRIGHT, NP, lives in small town Troy, North Carolina with her husband Barry. She has served as a paramedic, registered nurse and nurse practitioner for more than 20 years in various avenues. From her first exposure to visiting missionaries at her church, though she had no idea how or when it would happen or what it would look like, Rhonda knew she belonged on the mission field. In college she participated in short-term domestic mission work but took the convoluted path to discovery of God’s plan for her life. While her desire for the health and wellbeing of those she serves is important, she discovered that spreading the message of the Great Physician and Healer is her purpose in life and healthcare is her God-given tool and talent in which to do it. She has served with Global Health Outreach in Nicaragua and is patiently awaiting the Lord’s next assignment.
MOBILIZING MEDICAL MISSIONS CONFERENCE 2016 FEBRUARY 19-20 \\ HOUSTON, TX Connect with others. Be inspired. Find your mission.
Register today at m3missions.com
CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS www.cmda.org
33
classifieds Miscellaneous Clinical Tropical Medicine & Traveler’s Health Course ASTMH accredited. May be taken in person or online. In person June 14 - July 22, 2016; online June 27, 2016 - March 1, 2017. Sponsored by West Virginia University School of Medicine Global Health Program and the Office of Continuing Education. For more information outlining the program curriculum, contact Nancy Sanders or Jacque Visyak at 304293-5916, email nsanders@hsc.wvu.edu or jvisyak@hsc.wvu.edu, or visit our website http://medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/tropmed.
To place a classified advertisement, contact communications@cmda.org.
Canterbury Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Southwest Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (located in Hays, Kansas and Garden City, Kansas). For more information, go to www. kansasoms.com or contact Amy Huxman at amyhuxman@hotmail.com or 785-621-2238.
and specialty care, we are seeking: family/internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, endocrinology, trauma/general surgery and other various specialties, all with high earnings potential. Contact Brandy Zanger at brandy.zanger@hshs.org.
Periodontal Practice for Sale — Profitable, respected and state-of-the-art periodontal/ implant practice for sale in beautiful Portland, Maine. 35-year CMDA member and board certified periodontist established this regional practice 20+ years ago. Associateship prior to purchase negotiable. Contact gumsrus@live.com.
Pediatrics — Eastlake Pediatrics in Roseville, Michigan is seeking a part-time pediatrician for our very established, well respected growing practice. Board eligible/ certified. Would prefer a physician interested in or open to alternative/holistic medicine. No hospital rounds. No weekend office hours. Please email questions and/or CV to billing@eastlakepeds.com or call Dr. Vesna Roi at 586-776-1010.
International
Medical
Kailakuri Health Care Project, Bangladesh — Need retired physician for one year service. Bangla not required. Project serves rural poor. One hundred staff are mixed tribal Christian, Muslim and Hindu. Contact: Jason Morgenson, MD, at jwmorgen@gmail.com or call 719-469-2825.
Family Medicine — Family Care Network is seeking board certified family physicians to join our clinic teams at Lynden Family Medicine in Lynden, Washington. We practice full-spectrum family medicine, including obstetrics, urgent and wellness care, sports medicine, minor procedures and geriatrics. In addition to our outpatient practice, we have an inpatient services program and medical testing center. Be part of a team of independent practitioners who put excellence in patient care first, while enjoying the healthy lifestyle available in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We are a locally owned, physician-led practice, where you can balance earning potential and quality of life. Please submit cover letter and CV to human resources at fcnhr@hinet.org. We will review your qualifications against our current needs and contact you if there is a potential match. We sincerely appreciate your interest in Family Care Network. www. familycarenetwork.com.
Dental Associate Dentist Position Available in Busy Family Practice — Northeast Oklahoma area, near Grand Lake. 40 percent paid on collections; part- to full-time; A-DEC cont. delivery Elec. HP; All Dig. Office. Associate must have exceptional customer service skills and have ability to provide care to Medicaid clientele. Please submit resume to dentistryresume@yahoo.com or call 918-915-0715 for more information.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon/Associateship — Leave the hustle of the city, come to a small town and find satisfaction in your family and professional life in a great facility with well-trained staff. High volume, high quality, full scope oral and maxillofacial surgery practice ready to welcome an energetic and personable surgeon into an associateship leading to partnership position. Compensation package includes: guaranteed salary, production bonus, medical and disability insurance, pension and profit sharing and paid vacation. We have two practices, 34 TODAY’S CHRISTIAN DOCTOR WINTER 15
Geriatric Care — Valir PACE Foundation, Oklahoma is seeking a full-time physician in an outpatient long-term care setting for their new Program of All Inclusive Care for the elderly (PACE). Valir PACE is a not-forprofit program designed to keep seniors independent in the community to preserve their dignity and autonomy. The need for this program is growing at a rapid rate, thus we are looking for exceptional team members that have a passion for this mission. If supporting seniors in a new, creative way that allows them to live life their way appeals to you, I encourage you to check out our posted positon at www.valir.com or call 405-609-3688 and ask for Deanna Ward Plain, MD, PACE Medical Director. This position offers a very competitive salary and benefit package for the right candidate. Valir PACE is an EOE. Multi-Specialty — As a physician-led group, HSHS Medical Group believes the voice of the physician is key to improving patient health. With a network of more than 400 clinical providers, and continued
Need medicine for your next mission trip?
Have you considered Blessings International? Blessings offers you: • Customized Ordering • Personalized Customer Service • Fast Shipping • Over 30 Years Experience • Products for overseas and US missions To order or more information web: www.blessing.org phone: 918-250-8101 write: info@blessing.org
Paid Advertisement
Dental Practice for Sale — Allegan County, Michigan — General practice ownership opportunity: approximately 45 minutes from Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Holland, Saugatuck/Douglas and a half hour from the Lake Michigan shoreline. 2,400 18-month active patient count. Attractive facility built for production. Loyal staff; loyal patient base. The owner would like to retire and pursue Christ-centered endeavors which involve providing dental care for the underserved overseas. Contact reggie.vanderveen@henryschein.com or call 616-485-9482.
Pediatrics — Seeking a Pediatrician for a Group Practice in Montgomery, Alabama — A busy general pediatrics group of four doctors is looking for a full-time pediatrician in Montgomery, Alabama. Very attractive call arrangement, solid patient base and easy drive to the beaches. This vibrant practice was established 35 years ago. All pediatricians are believers and are seeking a like-minded partner. Contact Stephanie at smcclelland@pedhealthcare.com or call 334-273-9700.
CMDA PLACEMENT SERVICES
BRINGING TOGETHER HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS TO FURTHER GOD’S KINGDOM We exist to glorify God by placing healthcare professionals and assisting them in finding God’s will for their careers. Our goal is to place healthcare professionals in an environment that will encourage ministry and also be pleasing to God. We make connections across the U.S. for physicians, dentists, other providers and practices. We have an established network consisting of hundreds of opportunities in various specialties. You will benefit from our experience and guidance. Every placement carries its own set of challenges. We want to get to know you on a personal basis to help find the perfect fit for you and your practice. P.O. Box 7500 •Bristol, TN 37621 888-690-9054 www.cmda.org/placement placement@cmda.org
EVERY STEP OF THE WAY “CMDA Placement Services was with me every step of the way—for prayer, communication, whatever the need may be. I am overwhelmingly impressed by CMDA and their commitment to the Lord, first, and their diligence in seeking the Lord’s will for each medical professional they meet. God led me to CMDA to ultimately direct me to the career that will develop me professionally, spiritually and use me to glorify His kingdom. For this, I am boundlessly grateful!” —Alyssa Allwardt, PA-C
Oxford Graduate School
Become a world
changer
Paid Advertisement
ADVANCED DEGREES
change the world apply today
tomorrow
Stress, conflicts, problems; they are present too frequently in our personal life, family life, and workplace. The doctoral program at Oxford Graduate School grounds the students in the fundamentals of conflict resolution and problem solving. The scholarly program inculcates a disciplined approach, enabling the student to use Christian beliefs to effect change locally and globally. The masters program uses Christian beliefs to train the student in Organizational Leadership or Family Life Education. Spending two weeks per year on campus allows the missionary, the dentist, or physician to prepare for a career change or continue current pursuits without interruption.
For more information visit
www.ogs.edu
Loren Humphrey, MD, PhD Member CMDA Chairman, Board of Regents Oxford Graduate School