volume 45 no. 4 winter 2014
TODAY’S
CHRISTIAN DOCTOR The Journal of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations
EBOLA
AND THE NORMAL
CHRISTIAN LIFE One of the first survivors of Ebola shares his personal story
Finding hope and redemption in the psychiatric unit
A medical student reflects on lessons he learned while serving in Cameroon
GIFT MEMBERSHIP
to Christian Medical & Dental Associations
GIVE THE GIFT THAT WILL CHANGE HEARTS IN HEALTHCARE Give a CMDA gift membership to a colleague, family member or friend. It’s a great way to honor the recipient while supporting CMDA and helping to grow the kingdom for the glory of the Lord. You will receive a 50% discount off the recipient’s first year of membership. Plus, we make it easy for you. Simply provide us the recipient’s information and we’ll handle the rest. Visit www.cmda.org/gift to give a gift membership today. Credit card payments are required, but fees will not be charged until the recipient affirms the CMDA Statement of Faith and submits a membership application. CMDA’s Member Services P.O. Box 7500 • Bristol, TN 37621 888-230-2637 • www.joincmda.org
Membership Opportunities We know that our members have unique needs based on both their professional and personal lives. That’s why we offer various levels of membership opportunities to help meet those needs. • • • • • • • • •
Graduates Residents and Fellows Students Undergraduate Students Physician Assistants Missionaries Associate Health Professionals Retired Professionals Spouses
For more information about our membership opportunities, visit www.joincmda.org.
Put It to Work! David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics) I’ve got more money than I need.
It’s because, really, I don’t need very much. In fact, I need less than I even think I need. I could live in a much smaller house and have my mortgage already paid off. As a bonus, we would pay less in real estate taxes. We could get by with one car instead of two. It would be inconvenient, but we would get by. We could eat out less, buy fewer clothes, eat less “high on the hog” and spend less in many other ways.
I still remember the commitment Dr. Al Weir, then president of CMDA, shared at a National Convention. He and his wife Becky decided that for every dollar they spent on things they didn’t really need, they would put the same amount of money “to work” in God’s kingdom.
He then described how God had given them much more back in the blessings that money God laid that on my mind today as I was read- can’t buy! Wow! ing Matthew 25. It is the parable Jesus told about the bags of gold. You remember it, don’t you? A Jody and I regularly give to our church man was going on a journey and left his three servants with different bags of gold. We can sur- throughout the year, but I support my mismise that he gave different amounts to each— sionaries and organizations mainly at the end five bags, two bags and one bag—because of of the year. I’m going to be a better steward their talents and experience. Two invested well this year. Figuratively, I’m going to go out to and one buried his gold in the ground. In verse the backyard and dig up some of my gold I’ve 16 it says, “The man who had received five bags been stashing and give more this year. I have of gold went at once and put his money to work long believed that I can’t out give God, so I’m and gained five bags more.” He was blessed for going to start acting like it more. I’m going to his stewardship. put more of the gold He has given me to work in His kingdom. You and I are “five baggers!” God has given us lots of brains, talent and ability, and He has The Bible says it better that I can in Matentrusted more “gold” to us than the vast mathew 6:19-21, “Don’t hoard treasure down jority of people. Despite all the problems and here where it gets eaten by moths and corchanges in healthcare, we still make more roded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. than we need. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe The problem isn’t that God has given me from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, five bags. That was His decision. The problem isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is is whether I put it to work for Him or bury it the place you will most want to be, and end up being” (MSG). in the ground.
editorial
It’s not because doctors are part of “the 1 percent.” It’s not because I’m in a high paying specialty. It’s not because CMDA pays me too much. It’s not because I inherited money from my family. It’s not because I stuffed too much money into my retirement account or because I am a whiz at investing.
No, don’t start digging in my back yard! There is no treasure hidden there, but I still bury it all the same by over investing in my retirement plan because I worry my future may not be “secure.” I buy things I don’t need and rarely use. I could bury my bags with a second home, boat, RVs, expensive vacations or even leaving too much to my children for their own good.
Scan this tag with your mobile device or visit www.cmda.org/giving to honor God and help grow His kingdom by giving a gift to CMDA. Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 3
contents Today’s Christian Doctor
I VOLUME 45, NO. 4 I Winter 2014
The Christian Medical & Dental Associations ®— Changing Hearts in Healthcare . . . since 1931.
5 Transformations
We Nothing Heeded” 22 “—While Hope on Ward 3
STORY 12 COVER Ebola and the Normal
by Warren Kinghorn, MD, ThD
Finding hope in the desolation of the psychiatric unit
by David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics)
27 Coaching for Healthcare
Christian Life
A close look at risking it all for Christ, even in the face of Ebola
18 Surviving Ebola
by Thomas Cairns, MD, FAAFP
A career missionary shares his experiences with Ebola Scan this code with your mobile device to find more online classifieds.
by Ken Jones and Steven J. Sartori, MD
Introducing CMDA’s new life and executive coaching initiative
Sanctuary in the Storm: 30 AFrom Cameroon to the U.S. by Brendon Esquibel, MD Candidate
Reflecting on lessons learned during a clinical rotation
34 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
Northeast Region Scott Boyles, MDiv Midwest Region P.O. Box 7500 Allan J. Harmer, ThM Bristol, TN 37621 9595 Whitley Dr. Suite 200 Office: 423-844-1092 Indianapolis, IN 46240-1308 scott.boyles@cmda.org Office: 317-566-9040 cmdamw@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 2014, Volume XLV, 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© 2014, 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.
Student members honored for their service In August, CMDA student members Kristine Anderson, Lydia Hartsell and Rachel Lundberg were initiated into the Gold Humanism Honor Society at the University of Minnesota. The Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) honors senior medical students who “demonstrate excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service.” The society was organized to elevate the values of humanism and professionalism within the field of Left to right: Rachel Lundberg, medicine and its constituent institutions. Kristine Anderson and Lydia Hartsell Students are nominated for the award by their peers and the final award recipient list is determined by the Gold Humanism Honor Society Committee based on a preset list of criteria including compassion, humanity, dignity, community service and respect toward patients and colleagues. All three students are involved in their local CMDA chapter in the Twin Cities.
Celebrating a Legacy of Liberty “Transparency in speakers’ presentations and testimonies have been challenging, revelational and refreshing. This transparency is something we do not get from any other medical conference.” —WIMD Conference Attendee In September, Women in Medicine and Dentistry (WIMD) returned to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the site of their first conference, to celebrate their 20th anniversary and a “Legacy of Liberty.” A record number of attendees—171 women healthcare professionals, residents, students and guests—spent four days at the conference reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.
ees raised more than $22,000 during the conference to help support these initiatives and further WIMD’s impact on healthcare. WIMD’s 2015 annual conference will be held September 17-20, 2015 at Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Springs, Colorado. For more information and to get involved with WIMD, please visit www.cmda.org/wimd.
Throughout the weekend, a total of five plenaries and 25 workshops, along with 13 hours of continuing education credits, were available on subjects including depression, anaphylaxis, caring for the caregiver, time management and prayer. WIMD is committed to helping fight human trafficking and serving others through healthcare missions, so attend-
Scan this code with your mobile device or visit www.cmda.org/wimd to get involved with WIMD and learn about upcoming events. Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 5
transformations
For Your Membership Needs Have you moved across the country as you start residency? Perhaps you changed specialties recently and need to update your credentials? Did you open a new practice? Or maybe you are relocating overseas to serve as a healthcare missionary? With all of the changes in our daily lives and healthcare in general, it’s easy to forget to keep your CMDA membership profile and other information updated.
When you are in the membership area of the site, it will tell you the amount of your membership dues and give you the option to pay them online via our secure payment system. While you are renewing your membership, you will also have the option to receive a 10 percent discount when you sign up for automatic dues payments.
We want to stay in touch with you at every point in your healthcare journey, and CMDA’s new website is now equipped to help you do that from wherever you are—from your office, your home computer, your smartphone or your tablet.
One of the most utilized services our website offers for the general public as well as our members is the Christian Doctor’s Search. Because it uses Google Maps, it is an easy way for colleagues and patients to get connected with you and other Christian healthcare professionals in your local community. And now you can easily sign up to be included in this list when you update your profile. To be included in the Christian Doctor’s Search, you must be a practicing doctor with an office address and at least one specialty included in your profile. To access the public search function, please visit www.cmda.org/ doctorsearch. To access the colleague search, log in, go to the Members page and then click on colleague search located in the right navigation bar.
As part of our continued efforts to improve our website’s ability to meet your needs, we are excited to announce the following new features now available on CMDA’s website at www.cmda.org/members:
Logging In
At the top of every page on the website, you have the ability to log into the site. To log in, you will need to use the email address you provided to CMDA, as well as a password. If you don’t know your password, you will be given the option to change it. If you need help logging in, please contact CMDA’s Member Services at memberservices@cmda.org or 888-230-2637. Logging into the site is also needed in order to access memberonly resources and publications, make donations, register for events, purchase items in the bookstore and more.
Christian Doctor’s Search
In the coming months, we will continue to add new features and services to the website as we strive to make it better and more user-friendly for our members. If you have any questions about your membership needs, please contact CMDA’s Member Services at memberservices@cmda.org or 888-230-2637.
Member Profile
Once you are logged in, you now have the ability to change your member profile with your updated contact information, current specialties and certifications and more personal information. If you’ve changed office locations, you can update the information in your profile. If you recently retired, you can change your status with just the click of a button. Or if you need to change your certifications, you can do that as well.
Paying Dues
When you log in, the website will automatically notify you if your membership is up for renewal or has expired.
Scan this code with your mobile device or visit www.cmda.org/members to update your member profile.
6 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
transformations
Changing Hearts in Mali by Drs. Steven and Heather Holsenback We have a wonderful story to share with you about a Garibout boy we have been caring for. Boubacar is a 19-year-old Garibout boy who was in line to become a Marabout and then an Imam, since his father is an Imam in Cote d’Ivoire. He came to our house in March for medical care for a draining wound infection in his neck that was quite severe. Our friend Bex took him to the hospital where the dental care group extracted an infected tooth, thoroughly cleaned his neck wounds and started him on antibiotics. However, he still needed frequent dressing changes for his wounds, so he came to our house on a daily basis for several weeks, and we were able to share with him a bit of why we are here in Africa as well as our faith in Christ. He saw the Jesus film and wanted to know more, so we asked our friends Lydie and Diallo to talk with him as he speaks very little French and our Bambara was inadequate. Soon after that, we had the joy of seeing him become a Christian!
Jacob did when his brothers kidnapped and sold him, like it says in Genesis, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people” (Genesis 50:20, NLT). So, they returned him to Koutiala, where he is still sharing his new faith with the Garibout boys and others he knows have not heard the Good News. We are praising God for how clearly He worked in Boubacar’s heart, and we are so thankful for the joy he has in his salvation, that he is not afraid of what man can do, because he knows God is in control! Drs. Steven and Heather Holsenback are missionary physicians serving at the Koutiala Hospital for Women and Children in Koutiala, Mali. Scan this tag with your mobile device or visit www.shopcmda.org to find resources about serving cross-culturally in missions.
c Memoriam and Honorarium Gifts d Gifts received July through September 2014 Richard and Elizabeth Zimmerman in memory of Willis W. Zimmerman, MD
However, his conversion was quite a problem for his Muslim family. Boubacar had been living in Koutiala with his Marabout, who is also his biologic brother, and he was in charge of teaching the Qur’an to the younger Garibout boys. His brother burned all of his belongings, including his clothes and all of his documentation, such as his birth certificate and his passport. He also held a knife to Boubacar’s throat and threatened to kill him if he continued in his Christian beliefs. Boubacar still refused to leave Koutiala, even for his safety, because he felt so convicted that he must right the wrong teachings of the Qur’an to the younger Garibout boys. Even as a new believer he had a clear understanding of how misleading those teachings are. In April, his brother and some family from Cote d’Ivoire kidnapped him and put him in the trunk of the car to take him back to his father, which would have meant almost certain death. However, the family realized that if they were stopped at the border, they had none of his paperwork, because his brother had burned it! Boubacar was then able to experience some of what
James and Stephanie Murray in memory of Dr. Leroy Strong Sarah Hilton in memory of Dr. Leroy Strong Taylor Stroud in memory of Dr. Leroy Strong Kathy Austin in memory of Carl Froderman Jan LaRocca in memory of Arland K. Faust Karen Francis in memory of Arland K. Faust Linda E. Whitmer, RN in memory of Arland K. Faust G.M. Bowser in memory of Arland K. Faust K.L. Walker in memory of Arland K. Faust William E. Haag in memory of Arland K. Faust Thomas E. Dipko in memory of Arland K. Faust Clovis A. Ring-Hagood in memory of Arland K. Faust Beverly Dagit in memory of Arland K. Faust Kenneth D. Riley, DO in memory of Arland K. Faust Neal Hendee in honor of Roy K. Hendee and Dr. Adedapo Odetoyinbo Mr. and Mrs. William G. Whitaker III in honor of Dr. Kent Brantly
For more information about honorarium and memoriam gifts, please contact stewardship@cmda.org.
Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 7
transformations
Record Attendance at Healthcare Missions Conferences
Despite the growing fear surrounding the dangers of working overseas due to the Ebola virus and other risks, the number of healthcare professionals seeking to serve on the mission field continues to drastically increase. The best proof of evidence is the growth of attendance at CMDA’s annual pre-field training conferences, Orientation to Medical Missions. What started with only six attendees at the first conference less than 10 years ago has grown to a record number of attendees over two separate conferences. A total of 60 healthcare missionaries were trained this summer, with a third conference scheduled for March 19-22, 2015 to meet the increasing demand as more and more sending agencies turn to CMDA’s Center for Medical Missions for training. CMDA’s CEO David Stevens, MD, said, “As this conference has grown and evolved, it has become an invaluable resource for career healthcare missionaries as they prepare to serve in far-reaching locations around the world.” During the conferences, experienced healthcare missionaries share lessons they learned on the field during their first terms. Other topics include addressing fears, world religions and their impact on healthcare, medical evangelism and nonclinical roles healthcare missionaries have on the field. Plus, participants have the opportunity to ask anything they want during evening Q&A sessions. And it doesn’t stop there. The Medical Mission Summit for executives of mission agencies involved in healthcare missions also had a record number of attendees this year, with 53 organizations represented among 88 attendees. Hosted this year at SIM and co-sponsored by CMDA and MedSend, this annual summit was formed several years ago because the Center for Medical Missions saw a need for networking and sharing best practices among sending organizations. “Strategizing, brainstorming and studying issues together helps everyone,” stated Director for the Center for Medical Missions Susan Carter, BSN. “This year the focus was on how to improve pre-field training, on the field mentoring and retention.
8 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
This increased interest in healthcare missionary service is due to the focus on missions in CMDA’s 279 campus chapters, the Global Missions Health Conference which attracts 2,500 participants (half of them students and residents) and CMDA’s many opportunities for short-term missions experience. Once they respond to God’s call, the Center for Medical Missions serves them throughout their missionary career. “Our goal is to help new healthcare missionaries experience the greatest possible success, effectiveness and contentment in responding to God’s call in healthcare missions. It’s exciting to walk with them on this journey,” stated Carter. And that journey starts way before the healthcare professional reaches the mission field. So the Center for Medical Missions provides continuing education and inspiration for healthcare missionaries in the form of two e-newsletters: the Your Call e-newsletter keeps the missions fire burning during the long years of preparation during school, residency and beyond, while the e-Pistle e-newsletter includes training, news and updates for those already serving. Through both e-newsletters, the Center for Medical Missions is reaching more than 3,000 people who are at some step on their journey to serve as healthcare missionaries. The growth of these conferences and the steady increase of interest in healthcare missions is proof positive that Christian healthcare professionals all across the world are stepping out in faith and following in Christ’s footsteps to serve the least, the last and the lost. Are you ready to join them? Visit www. cmda.org/cmm or contact cmm@cmda.org to get started on your journey to healthcare missions.
Scan this code with your mobile device or visit www.cmda.org/cmm to learn more about starting your journey to healthcare missions.
transformations
Event Calendar
For more information, visit www.cmda.org/events. Northeast Winter Conference January 16-18, 2015 North East, Maryland www.cmda.org/events
Singles Winter Conference February 8-12, 2015 Whitefish, Montana www.cmda.org/singles
West Coast Winter Conference January 30 – February 1, 2015 Cannon Beach, Oregon www.cmda.org/events
International CMDE Conference February 23 – March 5, 2015 Chiang Mai, Thailand www.cmda.org/cmde
National Winter Conference February 8-15, 2015 Western Caribbean www.cmda.org/cruise
Orientation to Medical Missions March 19-22, 2015 Abingdon, Virginia www.cmda.org/orientation
Change Your World AT
APRIL 30 - MAY 3, 2015 | RIDGECREST, NORTH CAROLINA WWW.CMDA.ORG/NATIONALCONVENTION | 888-230-2637 THE PREMIER convention for Christian healthcare professionals
FELLOWSHIP AND LEARN as you also renew and restore your faith
REGISTER TODAY early bird registration rates are now available
transformations
SEEN & HEARD THE CMDA VOICE
The CMDA Voice in Ministry “I didn’t come to Bible study during my M1 year last year because I didn’t think I had time. My life was too focused on studying and I really got burnt out. I am so glad I have come to the first two Bible studies this year…it has refreshed me spiritually and I am better able to study. I plan to attend regularly this year. The study on Margin was so freeing for me. My classmates are involved in many activities to pad their CV, leaving me feeling inadequate. Now I am relieved to be reminded to focus on the balance God wants me to have in my life including relationship with Him and with other people.” — A second year medical student “Due to the stresses of moving away from my family, starting medical school and trying to find my place in a new environment, I have called on God much more often this last year than I had before. I think it has made my relationship with Him much stronger, and finding other people in medical school to share that with has been wonderful.” — A CMDA student member “I wanted to let you know that I was able to contact my three local representatives and voice my concerns on the physician-assisted suicide bill. I have never done anything like this before. But, as a physician and listening to Dr. Stevens talk the other night, I was convicted to take action. The process was easy! It took me less than five minutes.” — A CMDA member “The more I learn about what the Lord is doing here in Memphis and with this residency, the more humbled and grateful I am that He brought me here to be a part of it.” — A CMDA Dental Residency [+] resident
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 Continuing Education – cmda.org/ce Development and Stewardship – cmda.org/giving Ethics Hotline – cmda.org/hotline Conferences and Events – cmda.org/meetings 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
Ministries Outreaches Campus & Community Ministries – cmda.org/ccm Dental Ministries – cmda.org/dentist Side By Side – cmda.org/sidebyside Singles Ministry – cmda.org/singles Specialty Sections – cmda.org/specialtysections Women in Medicine & Dentistry – cmda.org/wimd
Missions Center for Medical Missions – cmda.org/cmm 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 Continuing Education for Missionaries – cmda.org/cmde 10 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
Issues American Academy of Medical Ethics – ethicalhealthcare.org Ethics Statements – cmda.org/ethics Freedom2Care – freedom2care.org Washington Office – cmda.org/washington
“I think the purpose of CMA is to provide a safe place for medical students to share their faith with other people in their career field. Although everybody needs a church, CMA lets us talk to other people who have experienced the difficulties of maintaining a faith while in medical school, and I hope that it will continue this way.” — A second year medical student
The CMDA Voice in Missions “This trip reminded me why I am in medicine in the first place. As a newer provider, I was nervous but everyone was so helpful and God brought me through it wonderfully. It really taught me that I need to evangelize in my daily life, which is not natural for me. I feel called to go on more mission trips in the future, and this trip further cemented that belief.” — A physician assistant on a GHO trip to Indonesia “This project is the most successful thing the Ministry of Health has ever run and they want it to continue indefinitely. Doctors of all departments embrace the project and are eager to see it continue - unlike any other previous gov’t project. The Prime Minister has referenced it in talks to the nation. We have opened up the Muslim university to our doctors—where missionaries have never gained a foothold. We have seen a medical student come to faith and many more actively involved with us in great relationships. We have developed extremely close and deep relationships with hospital directors, department directors and doctors throughout the country.” — A participant on a MEI trip to a former Communist country “This is my second year going to Ghana, and I believe the trip has helped me to prevent professional burnout at home. Last year I was really struggling with burnout from my practice at home and I came back from Ghana a much better doctor. I believe that I have witnessed more miracles during my two trips than any other time in my life!” — A physician on a GHO trip to Ghana “This was my first mission trip so I did not feel confident that I could share the gospel with every patient. Thankfully, God was gracious enough to give me boldness to talk about His love to every patient and to pray with them. One of the many great blessings that I received from this trip was to witness the great example of the brethren of the local church and their fervent desire to serve God and to help make the clinic as successful as it was. I was blessed to get to know new friends and coworkers in Christ.” — A logistics team member on a GHO trip to El Salvador “Hearing about the child brothels gave me chest pain. Now that I know about Trafficking In Persons (TIP), I am obligated to do something about it. The week following the trip I took the TIP CME course on the CMDA website, and the following week I gave a presentation on TIP to a small group at church. I am now working with others at church to brainstorm on what we can do to help the victims of TIP.” — A physician 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
EBOLA
AND THE NORMAL
CHRISTIAN LIFE by David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics)
Scan this code with your mobile device or visit www.cmda.org/missions to get involved with CMDA’s mission outreaches.
12 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse © 2014 Samaritan’s Purse
H
e knew the symptoms and signs all too well, and his were progressing. He was going to die.
Could he trust God enough for this? “I just felt ‘off’ that Wednesday morning,” Kent said, “so I stayed home to isolate myself.” He sent word to his missionary colleagues, and they entered his room in full protective gear, just in case he had the deadly virus. Three days later, his Ebola test came back from the government lab. It was positive. By then his symptoms had progressed and he had muscle aches, fever, a sore throat, headache, diarrhea and nausea. He was worsening and now he was getting short of breath, an ominous sign that had preceded death in the patients he had cared for, one of whom had passed on their deadly pathogen to him. He called his wife Amber, who thankfully had already left Liberia with their two children to travel to the U.S. for a family wedding before his symptoms started. He was so weak he could barely talk and thought, “This is probably going to be the last time I talk to her.” Nancy Writebol, his nurse colleague who had also contracted Ebola, wasn’t doing well either, and only one dose of the experimental drug ZMapp was available. He had decided earlier that she should have it. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13, KJV). With his condition spiraling downward, missionary colleagues prayed for guidance and urged him take the dose of the drug. There were no other medical options left. How had it come to this? ******************************** Dr. Kent Brantly felt a call toward missions at an early age and pursued it. He participated in multiple mission trips to Africa and Central America. He attended the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, Kentucky and prepared for a future in missions by reading beneficial books and other resources. When he was accepted to Indiana University’s School of Medicine, Kent immediately got involved in the CMDA group on campus. His classmates quickly identified him as a leader and he became part of the team guiding the ministry. As other CMDA student leaders disappeared into the wards at the beginning of clinical rotations, Kent made time to be a mentor to the younger students. After graduation, he joined a family practice residency at John Peter
Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse © 2014 Samaritan’s Purse
Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth, Texas. CMDA field staff so respected Kent’s leadership that they asked him to submit his name to be the resident representative at CMDA’s House of Representatives, but as he was now married to Amber, who he had met on a mission trip, with two children, he felt he needed to prioritize his limited time outside the hospital with them. I got to know Kent and Amber during the summer of 2013 when they came to CMDA’s headquarters in Bristol, Tennessee to attend Orientation to Medical Missions, a training weekend for new healthcare missionaries. They had been selected to receive a post-resident fellowship from Samaritan’s Purse and had been placed at ELWA Hospital in Liberia. The hospital was almost completely destroyed in the Liberian Civil War, but it was being rebuilt with help from Samaritan’s Purse. Little did Kent know what God had in store. Like all new missionaries, Kent and Amber were concerned about personal burnout for Kent and the safety of their children, but their deep faith in God’s providence was evident even before they traveled to Liberia. When they first arrived in Liberia, it was hot and humid, but the family quickly adapted to the weather, as well as the culture and Kent’s workload. They were finally realizing their long-held dream of serving in career missions. ******************************** Word reached the hospital in spring 2014 that an Ebola epidemic had broken out, but it was many miles away. ELWA Hospital is located just outside Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, so the staff began preparing, knowing the likelihood of the epidemic spreading was Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 13
high as people regularly crossed the international borders. They needed to prepare for the worst. They sought advice, obtained manuals, purchased protective gear, stockpiled supplies and created an isolation ward for Ebola patients. The first makeshift isolation ward was in the hospital chapel, and a physician and a nurse were designated as the Ebola team’s clinical leaders. Mandatory training was given to all their staff members, including the cleaning staff, those doing registrations and the clinical professionals. Since Liberia has only one doctor for every 100,000 people, they communicated regularly with the Ministry of Health to coordinate their efforts with the country’s health leaders. They established triage protocols and areas in front of the emergency room and outpatient clinics with 20 feet of space between them and the normal waiting area. Suspected cases would not be allowed to enter any common treatment areas. Non-touch infrared ther-
mometers, large quantities of chlorine powder and reusable rubber boots were among the many items that needed to be purchased. Chlorine hand wash buckets with spigots were placed in the ER, wards, registration areas, visitor areas and the isolation unit. A number of 40-gallon trash cans were filled with chlorine solution to soak aprons, scrubs and boots after use. The list of things to do went on and on. Drill after drill followed until everyone was prepared, but a couple of months passed before the first Ebola victim arrived. It began with a trickle, but became a steady stream by July 2014. While ELWA was ready to face Ebola, other hospitals inside the city limits of Monrovia didn’t have the resources to prepare for the epidemic. Because these hospitals didn’t have protective gear, medical personnel were soon infected and half of them died. Some hospitals closed their doors because staff members refused to report for work out of fear of catching the virus. As the situation began to deteriorate, Liberia’s Ministry of Health turned to ELWA and asked the hospital to serve as the city’s Ebola treatment center. Kent was asked to head the Ebola unit, now a full-time job as patients poured into the hospital. A cup of coffee in the morning, skipping lunch, followed by rice and meat for supper while sweating profusely in protective gear for hours a day resulted in him losing 30 pounds in a few months. ****************************
Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on “Ebola in West Africa: A Global Challenge and Public Health Threat” September 16, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Brantly contracted Ebola while working as the medical director for Samaritan’s Purse Ebola Care Center in Monrovia, Liberia. He was also the first person to be treated with the experimental drug ZMapp nine days after falling ill. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) 14 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
As he lay in what could be his death-bed, the question pestering his mind was, “How did I get it?” Their barrier and decontamination techniques were excellent. They checked and doublechecked each other like scuba diving buddies. He just couldn’t believe he had gotten the virus on the isolation ward. But there was that one patient he saw in the ER while he wasn’t wearing normal protective gear. She had waited quite a long time, and it
were almost overwhelmed in responding to the epidemic and treating their dear friend was adding significantly to that workload. Secondly, Kent could get better supportive care in the U.S., while at the same time allowing infectious disease specialists to learn from him how to help others. At ELWA, they couldn’t even give him electrolytes for fear of contaminating the entire lab.
Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse © 2014 Samaritan’s Purse
was late in the day when they decided to triage her to an area away from other patients while awaiting her Ebola test results. It later came back positive. Many tropical and non-tropical illnesses present with fever, body aches, nausea or other symptoms that can be confused with Ebola. The real danger to healthcare personnel is before Ebola is suspected and confirmed. He strongly suspected that his infection came from that ER patient. As his condition continued to deteriorate, his missionary colleagues made the decision to give Kent the ZMapp, and they infused it into his vein. It is an experimental drug comprising of three monoclonal antibodies, but it was untested on humans for safety or effectiveness. Kent almost immediately began shaking with chills, but within an hour or two his breathing improved and he was able to get up and go to the bathroom with some assistance. The next morning he was able to take a shower. Was it the ZMapp or the fervent prayers being lifted up around the world by tens of thousands of people on his behalf that made the difference? Kent credits the prayers and only God knows whether the ZMapp had a part, but his improvement nonetheless was miraculous. While all this was happening in Liberia, Kent had no idea that his story was making headline news all over the world. Amber told him in an earlier phone call that he had been mentioned in a newscast, but he had no idea the lengths his story was traveling. However, he did know one thing; God had given him incredible peace throughout his ordeal. Kent knew he was in God’s hands and wanted Him to be glorified through it all. Behind the scenes, Samaritan’s Purse and SIM were working hard to get Kent (and Nancy, of course) evacuated to the U.S. for two reasons. First, his colleagues
He had an inauspicious transport to the plane when it arrived in Liberia. They put mattresses in the back of a pickup truck, built a frame over its bed and covered it with tarps. He was helped into the makeshift containment unit and transported to an airstrip, while his quarantined house was sealed from further entry. No European country would let the plane fly over, so they flew to the Canary Islands, landed at a U.S. military base to refuel and then took off on the long leg to Maine before continuing on to Atlanta. The world held its breath and then cheered as he walked from the ambulance to the doors of Emory University Hospital swathed in a protective suit. Kent had no idea we were even watching. ******************************** With the attention of the world on Kent and his recovery, news anchors called him a hero. In one sense, he and Amber are all that and more. All of us should admire and emulate their lives. They denied themselves, took up their crosses and followed Him (Matthew 16:24). And as a physician, Kent lived out his covenant to put the needs of those suffering above his own and willingly took a great personal risk on their behalf. But Kent and Amber don’t consider themselves heroes. As far as they are concerned, they are just living the normal Christian life as Christians have for thousands of years. At the height of an epidemic of smallpox that killed five million people around 260 AD, Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria wrote of “our brother Christians unbounded love…” and said: Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 15
nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead… He went on to say: The heathen [pagans] behaved in the very opposite way. At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.
Amber also don’t consider themselves heroes because tens of thousands of un-heralded missionaries sacrificed as much or more than they did. These missionaries left their homelands knowing that there was little chance they would return. They packed their belongings in their caskets knowing they would likely use them, and many did even before they arrived at their destination.
The student volunteer movement that inspired more than 20,000 missionaries to travel to China and around the world during the first 30 years of the last century was significantly stimulated by the cry, “Who will replace Borden?” Young William Borden was the heir to the Borden dairy fortune who renounced his fame and fortune and set off as a missionary to western China. On the way, he stopped in Egypt to learn Arabic, came down with meningitis and died. The words written in his Bible inspired thousands to follow in his footsteps—“No Reserves, No Retreat, No Regrets.” He wrote the last phrase just hours before his death. Do you wonder why there are estimated to be 100 million Christians in China? It started with Borden living the “Normal Christian Life” abnormally, and God turned his death into a clarion call ringing in the hearts of a generation that transformed the world. Kent and Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse © 2014 Samaritan’s Purse
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that same site and is powered by that same waterfall. The question you and I need to be asking ourselves is, are we living a normal Christian life? Is our main focus on our career goals, our security and our “happiness?” It’s not that we don’t love the Lord. We read our Bibles, go to church and give generously. We work hard to be good Christians, but the bottom line is this: are we willing to risk it all for Christ’s sake? “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25, ESV). Willis Hotchkiss arrived in Mombas in 1895 and headed by foot into the interior of Kenya with porters carrying his luggage. He later wrote: Swimming the streams, wading the swamps, blistered by the tropical sun…, drenched by the rain…, in danger from savage men, and attacked by wild beasts, winding along the narrow, tortuous native paths, single file, until feet are like lead, heads drooping, tongues swollen, eyes painful-here the romance of missionary life loses its fine outline in the dead level of actual life. He and his companions all fell ill with malaria, five died and two others, so sick with Black Water Fever they couldn’t walk, were carried back to the coast. Willis Hotchkiss traveled on alone. He faced starvation, repeated illnesses and shunning by local chiefs, but he ultimately won minds and hearts. His “industrial mission” introduced corn and inspired the first water power grist mill with millstones he imported from India. Through his faithful witness, many Kipsigis came to Christ. In the early 1930s, Robert Smith, World Gospel Mission’s first missionary, arrived in Kenya and asked for help in finding a good location with a waterfall that someday might produce electricity for a mission station and dispensary. Willis Hotchkiss found a spot for them and a few years later turned the results of his many years of service over to the same young mission. Today, the 300-bed Tenwek Hospital stands on
The more we try to “secure” our lives, the more insecure they become. It is when we put our security in Christ and follow Him that we find real joy. That type of living sacrifice is the best platform to share Christ to an individual, a tribe and a race. And, as Kent and Amber Brantly have found, to the entire world. And if we are going to reach every people group, that is what it is going to take!
About The Author
DAVID STEVENS, MD, MA (Ethics), serves as the Chief Executive Officer for CMDA. From 1981 to 1991, he served as a missionary doctor in Kenya helping to transform Tenwek Hospital into one of the premier mission healthcare facilities in the world. Subsequently, he served as the Director of World Medical Mission, the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse. As a leading spokesman for Christian healthcare professionals, Dr. Stevens has conducted hundreds of television, radio and print media interviews. He holds degrees from Asbury University, is an AOA graduate University of Louisville School of Medicine and is board certified in family practice. Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 17
G N I V I V R SU EBOLA , FAAFP
by Thomas Cairns, MD
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M
onganga, yaka noki! Mobali oyo ayea abelemi kufa! These chilling words told me to come quickly because a man had just arrived at our remote bush hospital and was nearly dead. By the time I pedaled my bike to our little emergency room, he was indeed already gone. His wife told me he had experienced a very high fever and strange bleeding, but that was about all we knew. His death was quite concerning because he was a Bible school student from Badja, one of the more remote corners of our Ubangi Province. It wasn’t long before the local authorities, concerned that foul play due to tribalism might have been involved, asked me to do an autopsy to determine the cause of death. I had been in Zaïre (now called the Democratic Republic of Congo) just two years at that point in 1972, and I had come to dread the occasional autopsy request. A tiny room outside the hospital with one small window served as our morgue. And with no electricity, we had no air conditioning and often no lights except for a flashlight. But with my surgical nurse Bama, we went ahead in the heat. I nicked my finger with the scalpel blade during the autopsy but was able to finish the procedure so we could send the specimens to the lab in the U.S. Twelve days later, while riding in the heat in the back of a pick-up truck over 100 miles (about an eight-hour trip from our mission’s Lake Kwada vacation spot), I began feeling feverish with chills, nausea and vomiting. By the time we arrived home, I was unbelievably weak and went right to bed. For the next two weeks, I got progressively weaker with severe myalgia, headache, pharyngitis and cough, much like a severe viral infection. I actually remember very little of it, but for the meticulous notes my nurse-wife Annette took while caring for me along with some of the other missionary nurses and my colleague, Dr. Bill Colby. Much prayer went up for me there in Africa as word got out on the shortwave radio network. The national pastors and leaders came to pray for me. Mail to the U.S. took three weeks to be delivered, so our families and churches didn’t even hear about it until I was beginning to recover. About all the hospital staff could do for me was: basic supportive care, including IVs we made; some aspirin, now recognized as less than ideal; ampicillin, given presumptively even though my white cell count was very low; and malaria drugs, again without proof of infection.
Finally, my temperature started coming down and I gradually began recovering. I had total hearing loss in one ear for some weeks along with some skin peeling. All told I lost 30 pounds, where I had started at 150. After six weeks, I was able to go to the hospital and see a few patients, and over the next few months I gradually recovered my strength and stamina. The entire episode was a mystery illness. We were aware of Lassa fever in West Africa and Marburg in humans from a monkey population, but my blood results were negative for both. Then in 1976, a huge epidemic broke out about 200 miles east of us in North-Central Zaïre, with 90 percent of the patients not surviving. It was determined that a small dispensary had been reusing needles and syringes without sterilization and had unintentionally passed a new disease among their patients. Once the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization arrived and shut down the dispensary, the epidemic stopped, but not before many Zaïreans and several expatriate sisters died.1 The blood from these victims was sent to Antwerp and a new virus was identified, soon named the Ebola virus after the river that went through the area.2 After things settled down, serosurveys were done in both the local population and in 50 expatriates in the area. Out of all the foreigners who were tested, my blood was the only one that came up positive for the Ebola antibody, strongly positive. So four years later, we finally solved the mystery of my sickness. And it was then we knew God had healed me of a terrible disease.3 Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 19
******************************** In light of today’s Ebola outbreak that has spread like wildfire through West Africa and killed so many, my recovery from Ebola more than 40 years ago, before it was even identified, may seem miraculous, unbelievable or even improbable. But in reality, it was just another example in a long line of affirmations ever since childhood that show God has His hand on my life. From early on in life, I had always dreamed of being a physician. I took all the science courses I could and thrived in what I was learning. I was an orderly at a hospital in Chicago after high school, and later worked in a hospital near my home in Bemidji, Minnesota. But I was also hearing God speak clearly about missions and His call for me to serve Him overseas. At first I was torn between the two, medicine vs. missions, until I came to realize He was calling me to both. My high school sweetheart, Annette, also felt called to missions and her call was confirmed in other ways. After dating for more than seven years, we were married after my second year of medical school at the University of Minnesota. I was very active in our local CMDA chapter, serving as one of the student leaders. We began inviting missionary doctors from various organizations to come to our home and tell about their work, and we invited other CMDA medical students to join us in the learning experience. (Several of them wound up in healthcare missions along with us.) One true miracle was that we made it through medical school without any debt so we were free to plan for overseas work without that burden. But it wasn’t until our final few months of medical school as we prepared to head to Indianapolis
Doctors complete rounds on a full ward at Tandala Hospital in Zaïre.
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for internship that God confirmed He was sending us to Congo with the Evangelical Free Church of America, our sending agency. Once accepted, our support came in in its entirety in about three months, again confirming His call for us. So just a few weeks after internship (remember this was in 1969, back when family practice residencies were just getting started), we were on our way to Belgium for intensive training in French and then six months of tropical medicine study at Antwerp in the same institution where six years later the Ebola virus would be isolated! We arrived in Zaïre in April 1970, awestruck with what God was doing and also intimidated by the task. After a few weeks of orientation with a former missionary doctor in Zaïre, I was left alone as the only physician at Tandala Hospital with 145 beds and a half dozen dispensaries, and only a few other physicians many miles away. God worked some great miracles protecting us, giving wisdom where needed, guiding my hand in surgery and seeing many people helped and healed, with many also receiving the Lord. That fateful autopsy that led to my serious illness and healing was just another confirmation that God had placed us in Zaïre for a specific reason. We served as missionaries in Zaïre until 1988 when God called us to stay in the U.S. And after a decade in family practice, He led me into a leadership role in our mission for another chapter in our lives. God gave us three children, who are all living for the Lord in vari-
Dr. Thomas Cairns (left) with Bama, a surgical nurse, in the operating room at Tandala Hospital.
that short-term healthcare professionals working overseas will not be deterred from going by fear of disease, danger or personal safety. Certainly we have much more knowledge now than in our naïve early days, but we still must rely on His awesome guidance, power and provision as we send out workers into His harvest field. Bibliography
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 56 (2): 271-293 (1978) Piot, Peter. No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses; W. W. Norton & Company, 2013 3 Heymann, D.L. et. al. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 142, No 3 September 1980 1 2
Dr. Thomas Cairns performs cataract anethesia while serving at Tandala Hospital.
ous jobs and ministries, and 12 grandchildren. One of our children was born several years after the Ebola episode and has commented that she wouldn’t even be here if God hadn’t healed me. ******************************** So how can I account for my survival of a disease with a 90 percent mortality rate? How did my wife and caregivers avoid becoming infected? How did I receive the right treatment with such limited resources at our disposal? Oops, did I say “limited?” Of course that’s not right! I had the unlimited power of a mighty God who called me from childhood and provided for us every step of the way. I pray that God will continue to call new healthcare missionaries to serve Him in hard places. And I pray
A national nurse cares for a critically ill patient at Tandala Hospital.
About The Author
THOMAS CAIRNS, MD, FAAFP, is a semi-retired family practice physician who served for 19 years at the Tandala Hospital in the Republic of Zaïre. He later worked at the Golden Valley Clinic, just west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since 1999 he has had various mission leadership roles, including International Director of the Evangelical Free Church of America International Mission, now known as ReachGlobal. He currently works as an urgent care physician in Apple Valley, Minnesota, and he has been a member of CMDA since 1965.
(left to right) Annette, Brad, Thomas and Paula Cairns pose for a photograph while serving as missionaries in Zaïre in the 1970s.
Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 21
“While We Nothing Heeded” Hope on Ward 3 é by Warren Kinghorn, MD, ThD
Scan this code with your mobile device or visit www.cmda.org/faithandhealth to learn more about incorporating your faith into healthcare.
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W
ard 3, the locked psychiatric unit where I began my residency in psychiatry, was an utterly unattractive place, a tired fluorescent network of wall fabric and tile, fragrant with cleaning solution and stray bodily fluids. Its pajama-clad inmates, expelled from comfortable 21st century American culture by the demons of chronic mental illness and addiction, would stabilize, rest, detoxify, regroup and then—eventually—leave. It was a place of great pain, of small victories and sometimes, astonishingly, of irrepressible hope. I began work on Ward 3 confident in modern psychiatry and expecting good things to happen to my patients, and I was not disappointed. One of my first patients, Mr. Thomas, was a depressed and suicidal middle-aged man, tormented for many years by crippling recurrent depressions. Because he had responded poorly to a wide variety of antidepressant medications and had responded well to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the past, we arranged for him to receive a course of ECT treatments. Over the next three weeks, Mr. Thomas changed miraculously. His bleak demeanor gave way to a goofy, fun-loving personality. His appetite and sleep improved. His thoughts of suicide vanished, and he was hopeful and confident about the future on discharge. I worked hard for him and with him. But it was all worth the work, I reminded myself. We gave him his life back. Those were still my thoughts when, four mornings later, I received a page from the hospital operator informing me that Mr. Thomas was on the line and wished to speak to me. I answered with nonchalance and was stunned by the slow, slurred, agonized voice that returned my initial greeting. “Dr. Kinghorn . . . I’m hav-ing trou-ble remem-bering things . . . I can’t live like this . . . I’m seriously thinking about su-icide.” I suddenly felt nauseous. Uhoh, I thought, I didn’t expect this. I quickly tried to reorient myself into telephone-crisis-management mode and asked if he had a plan for how to kill himself. “Y-yes. . . I have every-thing I need right here . . . a hose-pipe I’m go-ing to hook to a car ex-haust pipe . . . I can’t take this any-more.” I realized with a start that I didn’t have his return phone number and therefore asked him for it. “NO! . . .” he roared, “YOU all did this to me!” And then . . . a click, and then silence. He had hung up the phone, and I did not know how to call him back. What had started as a pleasant day quickly turned into an anxious race to find Mr. Thomas be-
Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 23
fore he could make good on his suicidal threat. With a colleague, I determined that Mr. Thomas had gone to live with a fellow patient, a known drug user, after discharge. I dispatched police to that address and called that patient’s number. To my relief, Mr. Thomas answered, and I listened to his slurred and incoherent rambling for 40 minutes until the police arrived. When he arrived back at Ward 3, he was intoxicated, uncooperative with the hospital staff and particularly furious at me. He refused to even speak with me, glowering with hostility and shouting obscenities at me which echoed sharply through the tile-clad floors of the quiet ward. I finally arrived at home to my worried wife well after 9 p.m. I was exhausted, emotionally drained, hungry and frustrated at myself for not having somehow prevented the crisis. Most of all, though, I was overwhelmingly angry at Mr. Thomas. He ruined my day. After all I did for him before, he threw it away on alcohol. And to go to live with a known addict even when we gave him other opportunities—he was asking for it! And here I spent my whole day trying to keep him safe and I get nothing but cursed at in return. I am so tired, I thought, of saving people from themselves. If psychiatry was all going to be like this, perhaps I wasn’t cut out for it after all. When I pulled out of my driveway just after dawn the next morning, still tired and angry, I offered a
short prayer which, though it sounded like a confession, was actually a tired expression of self-pity. Have mercy on me, God. I am so tired. Please let me have a quiet day. I did not expect or listen for a word back from God and quickly reached for the radio dial. But my mind would not completely let go of the prayer. Have mercy on me, God, I had prayed. Mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy on me. Why had I prayed those words? As I began to think on the phrase, my mind shifted from the present selfindulgent context of those words to their original context from which I had subconsciously pulled them: the opening lines of the Psalm 51: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Have mercy on me . . . steadfast love . . . abundant mercy . . . blot out my transgressions. I cannot remember exactly how the chain of associations progressed in my tired mind. But somehow, from my half-witted contemplation of that verse sprung a mental vision, more stunning than any words: Jesus Himself, hanging on the cross, His wrists pierced and His bloody head bent in pain. Have mercy on me, O God, I thought again, and I almost began to cry. It was not just Mr. Thomas, I realized in that moment, who had disappointed someone who cared about him and who deeply longed for him to enjoy health and life and peace. I thought about my own failings. My mind looked again to the image of Jesus on the cross, looking at me. If I feel this way about Mr. Thomas, I wondered, how must God regard me when, time after time, I mess up? What kind of love must it be that keeps God from abandoning me? I almost began to cry because I glimpsed, as if for the first time, how painful it must have been for God to suffer for the broken creation, a creation which includes me as well as Mr. Thomas. I realized with shame that I had been placing myself in the wrong role in the redemptive story. In my self-righteousness I had cast myself as a Christ-figure, a humble servant suffering for the redemption of a broken man. But looking at Jesus on the cross, I realized the triviality of my “suffering” and the silliness and presumption of that feeling. In the creation-fall-redemption narrative of God, I am much less like Christ than like Mr. Thomas—a man standing only by grace, evermore
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in need of salvation from myself. I remembered the words from a mournful hymn I had last sung on Good Friday: Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered; the slave hath sinned and the Son hath suffered. For our atonement, while we nothing heeded, God interceded. For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation, thy mortal sorrow, and thy life’s oblation; thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion, for my salvation. Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee, I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee, think on thy pity and thy love unswerving, not my deserving. It costs a lot, I realized as never before, to redeem someone. But redemption is the promise of Christ’s death and resurrection. When I walked onto Ward 3 a few minutes later, Mr. Thomas was still refusing to speak to me and still glaring at me. I continued to wonder what I could do, if anything, to reestablish rapport with him. But it was difficult for me to be angry at him. While we nothing heeded, after all, God interceded. Late that afternoon, Mr. Thomas approached me and asked if, finally, I wanted to talk. We stepped out onto the unit’s sun-splashed porch, surrounded and covered by chain-link fencing to prevent escapes and suicides, and sat down at a patio table. His anger, so evident only hours before, had melted into dejection, and he told me that he felt that his life was worthless and that he had drunk a large bottle of Listerine the day before “so that I could get up the courage to kill myself.” He was dismayed that even then his “courage” had failed him. He said he was sure that we would not be able to help him and should just let him be free to die. We talked about his tortured childhood and I quoted him the first few lines of Psalm 13: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1, NIV 2011). He looked at me with frustrated pleading eyes and asked, “How many times are you going to go get me and bring me in here?” I paused and looked at his face, highlighted in the thick late afternoon July sun. I don’t know, I told him, but if I hadn’t thought that there was hope for him, I would never have done what I did the day before. He looked at me incredulously, “You mean you really think there is hope for me?” Yes, Mr. Thomas, I do believe that there is hope for you, though I no longer delude myself into thinking I
am your savior. I hope that modern psychiatry, limited as it is, may offer you some respite from your suffering, and especially that in the resource-strapped world of indigent mental healthcare you will receive counseling to battle the emotional and familial and sexual demons which overwhelm you and promise salvation in self-destruction. I will hope that perhaps you will reconnect to the faith of your youth and perhaps find an exceptional group of Christians (for it will take an exceptional group of Christians, with all of the Christian virtues of love, patience and forbearance) to support you and to give your life structure and meaning. I hope for your happiness, your life, your peace, your salvation. But Mr. Thomas, in a much more fundamental way, I am not able not to hope, for to do so would be to deny the promise of my own salvation as well. If you are beyond the possibility of redemption, then so am I. For redemption, after all, is the promise of Christ’s death and resurrection. And although the greatest of all the virtues may be love, it is often only hope which sustains us in those dark places where love seems not to reach.
About The Author
WARREN KINGHORN, MD, THD, received his MD from Harvard Medical School and his ThD from Duke University Divinity School. He is assistant professor of psychiatry and pastoral and moral theology at Duke University Medical Center and Duke Divinity School. He teaches and mentors divinity students, medical and other health professions students and psychiatry residents at Duke. His current scholarly interests include the moral and theological dimensions of combat trauma, the teaching of medical professionalism, the history and philosophy of psychiatric diagnosis, and the way that the work of St. Thomas Aquinas informs the way that Christians understand mental illness, mental health and human flourishing. He is a core faculty member of the Theology, Medicine and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School (https://divinity.duke.edu/initiatives-centers/theology-medicine-and-culture), which seeks to provide practicing clinicians and students with opportunities for theological education and formation. Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 25
Coaching for
Healthcare
by Ken Jones and Steven J. Sartori, MD
H
ave you had a long day? Perhaps, you’re like Joe (a real physician, but Joe’s not his real name.) He’s a family medicine physician who is finally finishing up his long day of patient appointments. He didn’t even stop for lunch. Now he’s doing charts. It’s almost 9 p.m., he still isn’t finished and he knows tomorrow will be the same. Joe’s office manager just isn’t working out, but he’s too busy to train her or even meet with her. Joe knows he’s cranky with his staff. He’s cranky with his family, too. His kids have soccer games he’d love to attend. But most nights, he’s still working on charts in the office while they’re playing. He’s exhausted on the weekends and often doesn’t even make it to church. Joe’s marriage is strained, and his wife has been asking when things are going to change. All Joe can say is, “I’m trying.” Or perhaps you’re like Sally (again, not a real name.) She’s a busy dermatologist. In fact, her practice has grown so rapidly in the last year she’s been praying about opening another office across town. But she wants to be cautious and not move too fast. Her new nurse is working out beautifully, but office management is beginning to be a challenge. Sally wonders how she will juggle her time between two venues if she adds another office. On the home front, her kids need help with their homework, laundry needs to be done if they’re going to have clothes to wear to school tomorrow and her husband ends up doing most of the cooking. There’s no question for Sally: balancing her professional life, home life and spiritual life is a major challenge. What’s the answer to these two, true-life stories? How can healthcare professionals who are committed
to their patients and their callings meet the incredible challenges of practicing healthcare in today’s world? How can they find balance in a culture that is so out-ofbalance? It’s not easy, but Joe and Sally, plus a growing number of CMDA healthcare professionals, have found incredible help in coaching.
What is coaching?
Recently, healthcare professionals, hospital administrators, educators and coaches gathered at the annual Coaching in Leadership and Healthcare Conference, sponsored by Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital. Experts in coaching and healthcare delivered workshops on topics ranging from developing physician leaders to understanding the dynamics of change within an individual’s life. But why would top institutions like Harvard and McLean sponsor such an event? Because the practice of executive and personal coaching is one of the fastest growing trends in healthcare today. For some people, the idea of “coaching” may be a new concept, especially in the field of healthcare. But what exactly is coaching? It’s a partnership that focuses on designing and developing specific, meaningful changes in the personal and/or professional life of the person being coached. In essence, coaching is a process that helps individuals get from where they are to where they would like to be. Since most coaching is done by telephone or Skype, the convenience for busy physicians and dentists is vastly appealing. Healthcare professionals are incredibly busy people, and the decision to work with a coach often stems from a desire to grow or see a change in life balance issues. But life balance is only one area where coaching can be benefiChristian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 27
cial. More and more, today’s healthcare professionals find themselves in positions of corporate or staff leadership. Coaching can greatly assist those with office staffs or large numbers of people reporting to them in the corporate setting.
How is coaching different?
Unlike traditional therapy or counseling, coaches don’t focus on childhood or past experiences that might be at the root of why people live or act the way they do. Rather, coaches help healthcare professionals focus on the future, changes they wish to make, goals they would like to accomplish and the specific and measurable ways they will achieve those results. Coaching is also very different from consulting, in that consultants are paid to diagnose needs and recommend solutions based on their own specialized expertise or knowledge in a particular field. Coaches, on the other hand, use powerful questions to promote discovery and generate solutions arrived at by the individual being coached. When many people hear the word “coach,” they immediately think of a football or tennis coach. In those “coach” settings, the coach corrects a faulty swing or pattern of activity, setting goals for the athlete to strive to reach. But in a professional coaching relationship, the focus is on the values, strengths, knowledge and experience of the one being coached, with the coach acting as a catalyst to aid in the exploration and deployment of those intrinsic attributes. When Sally began coaching, her coach didn’t analyze her office dynamics and tell her what needed to change; rather, he asked her a question: “What one change might you make in your office that would produce a positive outcome for your staff?” Sally said she wasn’t sure, but she wanted to ask her staff that question. The result was a rotating “free day” for her staff at specific intervals. Her coach didn’t tell her what to do; instead, he asked her a question that produced exploration and discovery.
And the coaching process itself is a highly developed skill. Medical schools such as Harvard and others around the country see the value of coaching as a discipline and are offering courses focused on developing coaching skills. The International Coach Federation, the largest certifying organization in the world for professional coaches, has a demanding set of educational standards that must be met in order for coaches to be ICF certified. In addition to the educational requirements, coaches must submit to oral examinations and document hundreds of hours of professional coaching before certification qualifications can be met. 28 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
“Coaching has been one of the best experiences I have had within the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. Coaching is much different from counseling in that the coach works with you on issues in your life or practice, rather than telling you what to do. My coach actively listens to what I say, and the confidentiality of this relationship allows me to process. A coach inspires, by reflecting what they hear, and direction becomes much clearer and centered in God’s will.” – CMDA Member
How can coaching help me?
Christian coaches are skilled at assisting clients in a variety of personal and professional issues, building upon the foundational truths of Scripture, coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 20:5 says, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.” CMDA is committed to the idea that our coaches and the healthcare professionals we serve share a common worldview and a common goal of experiencing the fullness of life that results when Christians live according to the high calling God places on their lives. For more than eight years, one of our field staff members has provided ICF certified Christian coaching to some of our members as a part of his efforts to minister to their personal and professional needs. We are excited to be greatly expanding our efforts, after seeing the great response from healthcare professionals who have received coaching and the increasing interest by those who want to learn the skill of coaching for their own lives and practices. This coaching program will be a tremendous benefit to our members, and it is focused on a three-pronged approach:
Embrace
Organizationally, we want to embrace a culture of coaching, realizing that the process of coaching can be beneficial to our leadership team, our field staff as they minister to healthcare students, our members, those involved in academics and even those on the mission field. CMDA’s National Director of Campus & Community Ministries J. Scott Ries, MD, said, “The benefits I’ve received from being personally coached are tremendous. I have benefited not only as a leader but as a husband and father.”
Empower
We also want to empower Christian healthcare professionals who are experiencing increasing pressures within the rapidly changing healthcare environment. With an estimated 30 to 40 percent of physicians ex-
periencing burnout on some level, there is a growing need in private practices and even in large healthcare systems for coaching. In fact, during Women in Medicine and Dentistry’s 2014 annual conference, more than 30 female healthcare professionals took advantage of coaching made available with physician coach Ann Tsen, MD. We recognize an incredible opportunity for our ministry to provide support and coaching within our expanding sphere of influence in healthcare.
Equip
We want to equip those interested in developing their skills in coaching others. Numerous healthcare professionals are discovering that they can employ coaching techniques in helping their patients make behavioral choices that promote health. Several of those who have already taken advantage of CMDA’s coaching program have indicated that they would like to be trained as coaches in order to be more effective as mentors for their colleagues. Some have actually already pursued training through other avenues and are now utilizing those coaching skills in their own practices and as they mentor others. We are committed to the development of an excellent, ICF-approved curriculum of training courses which will equip Christian healthcare professionals as coaches. We will utilize web-based courses in addition to offering courses at CMDA’s regional and national conferences. While other training courses are offered for healthcare professionals and others are offered specifically for Christian coaches, we hope to offer a unique “healthcare-specific” training in coaching from a Christian perspective.
What’s next?
Do you long for more clarity and joy in your life? Do you feel “stuck” and wonder how to move forward? Do you find yourself wrestling with challenges or conflicts in your life that don’t seem to be getting any better, or would you love to have a tool for mentoring your staff or the students or colleagues you work with?
“A year ago I became the director of a busy hospital’s pathology department, and all of a sudden my life became much more complex. I conversed (with my coach) over several weeks using Skype or telephone. He understands physicians and our challenges. He asks great, penetrating questions that cut right to the chase. Going through the process of coaching even helped me start coaching my own assistants, rather than solving all of their problems for them. Now, life is a lot less hectic.” – CMDA Member
Coaching might be just what you’re looking for! For more information about getting involved as this new initiative develops, please visit www.cmda.org/coaching or email coaching@cmda.org.
“My Christian professional coaching relationship has been a valuable place of knowledgeable and worldwise reflection on the issues and challenges in healthcare delivery. But more than this, I have appreciated it as a relationship built on a foundation of faith with a much higher goal than just helping me advance in this world’s systems, but rather helping me to pursue purpose and the strikingly different eternal goal of hearing our Savior one day say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” – CMDA Member
About The Authors STEVEN J. SARTORI, MD, is a board certified family physician with more than 30 years of experience in primary care. He now uses this experience as a life coach, helping other physicians thrive in their personal and professional lives. Dr. Sartori received his BS in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and his MD from The Medical College of Wisconsin. He completed his residency at the University of Illinois-Rockford. Dr. Sartori has served as a board member and treasurer of Christian Medical & Dental Associations, and he has participated in multiple short-term mission trips. He is married to Chris, and they have two daughters, Rebekah and Jessica. KEN JONES has been a member of CMDA’s field staff since 2004, serving as area director for the San Francisco Bay Area and Redding. He has been a pastor for 46 years and is a certified Physician Life Development Coach. He currently coaches healthcare professionals across the United States and Europe. He has written four books and numerous articles on topics ranging from parenting and spiritual life to leadership development and marriage issues. He and his wife Randee have been married for 46 years, have three sons and six of the most amazing grandchildren on the planet. He loves to read, write and watch…St. Louis Cardinals baseball. Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 29
A
s I write, rain is falling steadily on the tin roof above me, while thunder echoes in the distance—the first signs of a coming storm, an almost daily occurrence here in the rainy season. I am currently writing from Cameroon, where I am working with the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) at Mbingo Hospital in the northwest region of the country. Having originally begun as a leprosy settlement in 1952, Mbingo is now a 290-bed facility, and more than 6,000 major and 4,000 minor operations are performed here each year. I’m spending a total of six weeks in Cameroon for an away rotation/sub-internship as part of my fourth year of medical school. As a boy growing up in a small town in Maine, I would argue that I was raised just about as far as one can get from the realities of terror, oppression, abuse and injustice that exist in our world. I was the only child of a supportive and loving family, and I had little idea of anything else. So I came to understand God in ways that fit my experience. I knew little about the needs of the world or how God regarded such suffering. I knew even less about what those needs had to do with me or how I could make a difference. This all changed when I left home for the first time and was intimately exposed to the raw realities of a hurting world— people losing their houses and jobs to hurricanes; homeless men and women wandering the streets; children dying from malnourishment; and corruption and war devastating lives. My eyes have been opened by these experiences, and more than that, my heart has been burdened. The inside of my high school classrooms look much different than the bombed-out remnants of
an Afghan school building. The well-maintained and safe streets of the city I live in are in direct contrast to the trash-strewn and robbery-plagued dirt roads of a rural Kenyan village. The waiting rooms at local hospitals are like a different world compared to makeshift clinics and operating theaters in the developing world. This awareness has changed the way I see the world around me, and this change in perception will, I pray, transform the ways I choose to respond to it. While some of the surgical diseases I have witnessed during my time in Cameroon are familiar to me, the ways in which they present are obviously quite different. From the frustrations of operating when the power goes out, to the challenge of going from a 2-week-old baby with jejunal atresia in one bed to a 75-year-old man with prostate cancer in the next during multisubspecialty morning rounds, to the tragedies of practicing healthcare in a place afflicted by advanced disease, preventable deaths and limited resources, the context of this experience is different from those I know back home. The lack of resources and manpower at the hospital makes for extremely busy days and nights for most of the surgical staff. If humanly possible, we could work 24 hours a day, seven days a week and still not meet the needs of our patients. My point is not to echo what most people already know about global medicine, but to emphasize the inadequacy of a needs-based perspective toward healthcare missions. The beauty of the PAACS program lies in its sustainability and gospel-centered foundation. As a commission of CMDA, PAACS trains African physicians to
Scan this code with your mobile device or visit www.cmda.org/paacs to get involved with the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons.
30 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
become general surgeons who are willing to remain in Africa to meet the country’s overwhelming need for surgeons. Training is offered at several wellestablished evangelical mission hospitals in Africa, under the direction of experienced, board certified missionary surgeons. Thus, it is an appealing model for meeting the great surgical needs of a continent. However, this alone will never have the full impact of what PAACS desires, which is to empower their graduates, through the power of the Holy Spirit and a biblical worldview, to be disciples of Christ in a broken and hurting world. I truly admire this vision of PAACS, and I aspire to better incorporate these principles into my own training when I return home. But the truth is, I will be attempting to do so in an atmosphere that is different in more ways than just surgical need and a lack of resources. While I find God to be a welcomed and needed presence by the staff and patients at Mbingo, I know from my short-time as a medical student that we leave little (if any) room for God in our own healthcare system. The gifts of technological advancement, resource surplus and rapidlyexpanding knowledge have come at the price of humbly seeking Godly wisdom, divine healing and biblical perspectives. Who needs God when you have instant CT scans, curative treatments and ever-advancing research at your hands? It is as if being blessed with success and medical
advancement has caused us to lose sight of the One who gives all things. Though the people of Cameroon suffer physically and the surgical needs of Africa are undeniable, the spiritual suffering of our own hearts is just as real. So while I hope to continue with PAACS as they invest in the cause of global surgery, I also desire to be a vessel for God here in the United States, where another type of darkness has set in. God gave a warning to Israel about the danger of leaving Him during times of prosperity in Deuteronomy 6. We would do well to heed it again: So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage (Deuteronomy 6:10-12, NKJV). In the midst of my experiences overseas, I am struck by three simple but powerful facts. First, there are a vast number of suffering people in the
From Cameroon to the U.S. by Brendon Esquibel, MD Candidate
Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 31
world. Even though this should not come as a surprise to me, it has. Such suffering often feels far removed from my comfortable life at home, as if it was not just taking place in a different country, but another world all together. Despite whatever I tell myself, the reality is that this suffering is very real. Suffering and injustice are more than headlines on a newspaper or a 30-second clip on the nightly news. There is something in our hearts that is profoundly affected when we move past acknowledging suffering and injustices as true and come to a genuine understanding that they are real. Second, within these suffering communities are Christians who are faithfully serving and trying to help. The Christian faith has a long-standing history of calling followers to a loving and generous concern for the poor and the oppressed. Christians are stirred to reflect God’s character, and part of God’s character is that He is a very generous God who loves justice and hears the cries of the afflicted. But the weight and magnitude of suffering can often seem overwhelming, and these Christian missionaries seem outmatched and overpowered by the enormity of need. The more exposure I have to other cultures and places, the more I long for the hope that God has promised to bestow on the
world. There are some problems that cannot be managed with medical therapy; some degrees of brokenness that cannot be mended with our best-intentioned counseling; and some scars that go far deeper than a surgeon’s scalpel. But God has promised that a light has gone out into the world, and that the darkness has not, and will not, overcome it (John 1:5). And although that light may seem dim in some parts of the world, I must cling to the fact that it is there. I find the fulfillment of this truth and encouragement in the lives of these Christians who courageously confront evil and offer a voice of hope in a hurting world. They do not seek publicity, power or payment. Nor have they been paralyzed by the magnitude of despair or overcome by the weight of injustice. They simply trust that God is more than prepared to use His people as His instruments of truth and justice and that, with His help, we truly can “…seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17, NRSV). Lastly, there is a longing for love and hope in this world that no man-inspired peace movement or governmentsponsored poverty campaign is ever going to satisfy. I think we can all agree that the practice of healthcare is a powerful tool. It offers an immediate connection with people and enables its workers to enter situations and cultures where they might not otherwise be welcome. When we treat patients, we do so with the intent of curing, or at least alleviating, pain and suffering. And while this is noble, I would venture to say that if this is the only thing we accomplish, than we are not fulfilling our God-given purpose. The medications we prescribe will run out, the surgical patients we treat will get sick again and the diseases we address will recur. But what of the love and hope of God? Those things will never cease or fail. And in this way, Christian or non-Christian, we cannot take the credit. Only God can. The world is a beautiful and a tragic place—at times too wonderful to fathom; at others, too fallen to bear. There is a mystery that seems to lie at the heart of humanity—a people capable of such astounding works of charity and love, but at the same time, adept to commit terrible acts of deceit and disaster. Who can understand it? But in God, there is no falseness, disaster or despair. He is light, and in
32 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
like Africa and the United States will find true redemption and a wounded world will be healed.
Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). He sends His people out as a reflection of this light into darkened places, as heralds of good news to a world in desperate need of it. There is a love that surpasses understanding and the best-laid plans of men; a hope that goes far beyond social reformation or political agendas; a heartfelt need that is outside the scope of healthcare. It is only through this view of justice—rooted in love, anchored by hope, expressed through acts of mercy and administered by a people willing to lay aside their own desires and agendas to take up God’s—that places
The rain is falling more heavily now, and thunder claps echo at closer intervals than before. As the power of this storm increases, I cannot help but stand in awe of it. The same God who created this storm has placed His Spirit in those who believe, and He has promised to work through them for their good and His glory. Whether these individuals find themselves listening to rain falling on the tin-roofs of makeshift African clinics, the glass panes of multi-story American medical centers or the rural hospitals in between, they can take great confidence in the God who not only commands the wind and the waves, but who also orchestrates and uses all things and will one day bring redemption to all. But until then, may we confidently and earnestly seek to step into the good deeds He has prepared in advance for us to do and lay aside our own plans to allow Him to teach us His plans. Our God is faithful and He has a plan—one that preserves despite the disobedience and wanderings of His people. He continues to call courageous followers to be a part of this plan, to be His representatives on this earth. So take heart and press on boldly, my brothers and sisters. Trust in the One who has called you. He is able, and He never ever fails. Recommended Resources
Haugen, Gary A. The Good News about Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1999. Print. 2 Thompson, David. Christian Mercy: Compassion, Proclamation, and Power. Smashwords Edition, 2013. Print. 3 PovertyCure DVD Series. Prod. Michael M. Miller. Action Institute, 2012. DVD. 1
About The Author
BRENDON ESQUIBEL is a fourth year medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he is currently in the process of applying into general surgery residencies alongside his wife Angela, who is also a fourth year medical student applying into family medicine. Brendon grew up on a small farm in rural northern Maine before continuing his studies at the University of Maine, serving domestically with AmeriCorps and then starting medical school at Brown, where he met his wife. Brendon and Angela are exceedingly grateful for the loving support and encouragement they have received from family, friends and mentors along this journey of medical training, as well as for the unique opportunities God has provided them to serve domestically and abroad. More than anything, they are grateful for and committed to Jesus, through whom God has given to them the greatest gift ever known, to which nothing else compares. Christian Medical & Dental Associations www.cmda.org 33
classifieds International Calabar Specialist Hospital located in Calabar, Cross River State (tourism state - “nation’s paradise”), Nigeria, this specialty referral hospital plans to open early 2015. CMS seeks experienced physicians and clinicians to join team of locals, expatriates and Nigerian diaspora. Medical specialties include: orthopedic surgeon, general surgeon, radiologist, clinical pathologist, pediatrician, internal medicine and OB/Gyn. Clinicians needs include: MRI/CT-scan tech, lab tech, CIS analysts and ICU/NICU nurses. Email CV and queries to HR@cms-health.com.
Dental Experienced Illinois licensed part-time or full-time dentist with a heart for missions. Partnership or buy out option in Joliet, Illinois. Send CV including goals to denturebytom@sbcglobal.net. Newport News, Virginia – Associateship position, with ownership potential, available in Christ-centered multi-doctor practice. Facility is well-equipped and practice offers a wide range of services, including CEREC restorations, sedation, implant placement and orthodontics. Our multi-doctor team gets along well and enjoys what we do. Senior doctor, a member of the CDA Dental Advisory Council, would like more time for CDA activities, mission trips and other ministries. We are an hour from the beach and two hours from the mountains. For more info, go to www.citycenterdentalcare.com. Address replies to William Griffin, DDS, at dentalmissiontrips@gmail.org.
Family Practice – Family practice with OB and sections in scenic southern Indiana. This is a unique opportunity in a non-profit, faith-based, family medicine group. Enjoy the full range of family practice including outpatient, inpatient and OB, preferably with C-section training. Rural community with outdoor recreation available including skiing, hiking and boating. Easy driving access to medium and large urban areas. Please send CV to ValleyHealth@gmail.com for further information. Gastroenterology – Christian gastroenterology specialty group of two MDs and one 34 Today’s Christian Doctor Winter 14
ARNP seeking third gastroenterologist. Call 1:3 or 1:4. Ambulatory center and practice partnership in one year. BC/BE desirable. Space coast Florida location. Available now. Reply to jessiemccoskey@yahoo.com. Nephrologist – Northeast Georgia – Outstanding employment opportunity for a BC/BE nephrologist to join a well-respected and growing solo practice in a college town that provides a great atmosphere for a family. Our mission is to honor God by providing quality care with respect, love and dignity. Calls are shared evenly. Competitive salary/benefit package is offered. Spanish speaking is a plus but not indispensable. Email CV or questions to nephrologistgkc@gmail.com. Nurse Practitioner – Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. Methodist Healthcare Ministries (MHM) is a private, faith-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing medical, dental and health-related human services to low-income families and the uninsured in South Texas. The mission of the organization is “Serving Humanity to Honor God” by improving the physical, mental and spiritual health of those least served in the Southwest Texas Conference area of The United Methodist Church. MHM is one-half owner of the Methodist Healthcare System, the largest healthcare system in South Texas. We are looking for a nurse practitioner for our Wesley Health & Wellness Center located on San Antonio’s South side. Learn more at www.mhm.org/careers. Orthopedic – We are an established practice with a high regard for family. Located in the heart of the Midwest with a low cost of living, wonderful family environment, local university, onsite surgery center and two hospitals. We are searching for general orthopedists as well as sub-specialties in hand and sports medicine. Please contact Kearney Orthopedic & Sports Medicine in Kearney, Nebraska. Administrator: Shane Melenbacker, 308-865-2512 or shane@kearneyortho.com. Pain Clinician Wanted, Chicagoland, Private Practice – Join a 20-year-old internationally-known pain clinic in the beautiful suburb of Oak Park, Illinois just outside of Chicago. The clinic specializes in regenerative injection therapy (Prolotherapy). The clinic has an international referral base
and is looking for an innovative physician that desires long-term ownership of practice. Go to www.caringmedical.com for information. Send resumes to Rachel Vera at verar@caringmedical.com or call 708393-8282. Physician – Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. Methodist Healthcare Ministries (MHM) is a private, faith-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing medical, dental and health-related human services to low-income families and the uninsured in South Texas. The mission of the organization is “Serving Humanity to Honor God” by improving the physical, mental and spiritual health of those least served in the Southwest Texas Conference area of The United Methodist Church. MHM is one-half owner of the Methodist Healthcare System, the largest healthcare system in South Texas. We are looking for a physician for our Wesley Health & Wellness Center located on San Antonio’s South side. Learn more at www.mhm.org/careers.
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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
IT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE “It makes a big difference having a Christian organization searching for us. They understand and care about our needs and finding those with a shared mission and vision.” - Lydia Best, MD; Detroit, Michigan
AN ANSWER TO PRAYER “Placement Services helped me navigate a complicated process and advocated for me when I was too busy or naïve to do so by myself. I am excited to work at a clinic with providers who share my values.” - Marlana Li, MD
Caring for the medically underserved is a passion of mine. I was thrilled when I learned that In His Image shared this vision. 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.
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