September 16th, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Grads In Action|

“It’s Judy Weimer from your 2021 Fall Professional Certificate Course in International Nursing and Public Health.  I wanted to let you know how helpful it has been to me!  I am managing the conversion of a Med-Surg course for Nurses International, which will allow open access to everyone!  I am going to develop a unit on diseases of poverty, similar to the INMED.  I also made a presentation of this subject for Global Response Management, the group I served with in Reynosa, Mexico, among the migrants seeking safety and refuge.”

The excitement in Judy Weimer’s words is palpable! Like most people in the field of healthcare for marginalized people, she is altruistic, energetics, and visionary. Following her experience caring for migrants on the border, Judy recognized a need to update her skills, leading to her course registration with INMED. Judy also equipped herself with INMED training in ultrasound, newborn resuscitation, and newborn baby care.

Like myself, Judy is passionate about multiplying skill capacity among other healthcare professionals. She continues, “I am honored to lead the efforts of getting our Medical-Surgical class online, and I’m especially pleased with the new lessons on diseases of poverty and maternal-newborn care. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the project, but I’m grateful for your input as we work diligently to share these essential nursing skills worldwide!”

September 2nd, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Action Steps For You|

“Equipping Healthcare Professional at Clinica Esperanza, Roatan, Honduras”

Join INMED faculty for an educational conference and service experience on the island of Roatan, off the northern coast of Honduras! Learn nuances of emergency care alongside Honduran medical personnel, earning 9 hours of Continuing Medical Education. Serve at the renowned Clinica Esperanza primary care facility, where Spanish is useful but not required. And enjoy the island’s sightseeing and snorkeling opportunities.

Despite its remarkable beaches and beautiful weather, many Roatan residents live in sustained poverty and suffer from common chronic diseases, as well as from malaria, dengue, intestinal parasites, malnutrition, and sexually transmitted illnesses. Roatan’s preexisting medical care system consists only of overburdened government facilities that lack the most basic resources. Clinica Esperanza’s vision is to provide the finest medical care possible to all Roatan residents, regardless of income status. The clinic was launched in 2001 and now performs over 2,500 consultations a month. The clinic is also progressively adding additional services, including laboratory, ultrasound, and minor procedures. Medical education is a high priority at Clinica Esperanza, with supervision provided by both American and Honduran physicians and nurses. View photos of Clinica Esperanza.

The 2022 Roatan Learn and Serve Conference will be hosted at Clinica Esperanza and The Meridian Hotel. Dates are Oct 27 – Nov 1, 2022. Registration is open to healthcare personnel from the full spectrum of professions. View all the Conference Details and please Apply Now. I’ll look forward to learning and serving along with you in Roatan Honduras on Oct 27!

August 12th, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Grads In Action|

The Institute for International Medicine is proud to announce the most recent graduate of INMED’s Master’s Degree in International Health (MIH). Dr. Susan Aycock has been practicing family medicine for 30 years in rural North Carolina, encouraging her patients to take a more active role in their own health as she oversees their well-being from birth through hospice care.

Dr. Aycock describes desire to practice international medicine as a lifetime goal, a joyful experience, and how her plan is to continue working with international underserved populations even beyond the MIH degree requirements.

This INMED Master’s Degree is a 32-hour credit program that combines advanced academic skills with real-world international field experience. The MIH program offers three specialty tracts; International Medicine, International Nursing, and International Public Health. Each tract is designed to equip the graduates with the tools necessary to lead health education and disease prevention in low-resource and cross-cultural communities. The Institute of International Medicines’ MIH degree is unique in the arena of advanced education, with low tuition, exemplary faculty, and most importantly, supervised hands-on experience at INMED’s Training Sites located in marginalized communities all over the world.

Dr. Aycock took her INMED International Service-Learning Experience at Clinica Esperanza, located on Roatan Island, Honduras. In that setting, she improved her physician skills while also empowering local people with the tools necessary to prevent, detect and treat cervical cancer. Now, attention to cervical cancer is a normal element of women’s health in North America, but seldom addressed in low-resource, international communities. Dr. Aycock’s  MIH capstone – the creation of appropriate cervical cancer screening and treatment – has become just the next step in her “joy of this experience” to encourage health throughout the human experience.

July 30th, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Grads In Action|

Will you focus your career on low-resource people? When asked this question at the beginning of their education, most healthcare professionals affirm the virtues of serving those who are forgotten. The energy of such vision helps propel them through the first obstacles of career development. But within a few years, this early altruism is often replaced by more self-focused priorities. The reasons are understandable: fatigue, litigation, financial debt, family needs.

But the warmth of that early nobility usually lingers. How can we regain that early excitement for the well-being of those who are poor, undereducated, minorities, disabled, elderly, veterans, refugees, migrants, chronically ill, and victims of war or disaster? How we answer this question may result not only in alleviation of their suffering but also in levity for our own hearts.

Begin with a simple “vision trip.” Visit a charity clinic in your hometown, interview a public health leader, or join in an international service team. In addition to the insights gained, you’re also likely to create valuable friendships with those who share your priorities. Next, make some achievable commitments. Schedule two days a month at that charity clinic or two weeks a year with that international service team. As you grow in experience, your goals may also expand.

As a resident physician in 2011, Datcha Dorvil was taking these first exploratory steps. Following her Professional Certificate Course in International Medicine and Public Health, Dr. Dorvil added a service-learning experience at Mseleni Hospital in South Africa. Her vision continued to grow, and for the last 10 years Dr. Dorvil has served native Americans with distinction through the United States Indian Health Service.

Will focusing your career on low-resource people be simple? Certainly not. Resources will be stretched. Staffing will be short. Hours will likely be long. Financial income may be a fraction of your peers. But the rewards – the occasional hearty thank you and that growing inner sense of altruism – will affirm your career focus on low-resource people.

July 15th, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Grads In Action|

This award recognizes one who demonstrates care and concern for culturally diverse communities and who gives selflessly of time and resources for their benefit.

The 2022 INMED Cross-Cultural Healthcare Service Award recipient is Allie Judkins. In 2007, she earned the INMED Professional Diploma in International Medicine and Public Health, serving at Kapuna Hospital in Papua New Guinea. Today, Dr. Judkins serves as Associate Director for Global Health Research in the Division of Neonatology at the University of Utah. There, she mentors health care professionals in health quality improvement projects overseas. Dr. Judkins works as content expert for neonatal resuscitation for the Global Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and advises training and implementation teams on several continents. She also works at the Center for Medical Innovation at the University of Utah: This organization works to take ideas from “Bench to Bedside” through its maternal-child health promotion programs in India, Nepal, and Kenya.

Dr. Judkins continues to be instrumental in overcoming challenges in such low-income countries that result in improving access and quality of life and health. Throughout her career in global health Dr. Judkins continues to engage in the frontline of global medicine in India and Nepal, directing multiple maternal neonatal programs in collaboration with the government.

July 1st, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Action Steps For You|

In June INMED hosted our 17^th annual Humanitarian Health Conference in Kansas City. Our perennial theme is Equip, Connect, Go! Equip yourself with essential skills to promote the health of marginalized people. Connect with individuals and organizations with whom you can serve. And Go, overcoming obstacles that may limit your personal action.

If you missed an important session or were unable to join us in-person, we are happy to announce that we just launched the Virtual Humanitarian Heath Conference with video presentations from the 2022 HHC! These presentations are organized into three tracts:

Patient Care

• “Cough in a Child,” Susan Aycock
• “Typhoid Fever,” Sam Fabiano
• “Undifferentiated fevers,” Cal Wilson
• ”Vaccines for Global Use,” Fernando Merino

Community Heath

• “Building a Sustainable In-Country MedSurg Project,” Ted Higgins
• “Challenges in Sustainable Global Health,” Cal Wilson
• “Development of Community Health Programs” Allie Judkins
• “Overcoming the Inevitable Obstacles,” Barry Bacon
• “Working with In-Country Medical Partners,” Ted Higgins

Career Development

• Plenary Session “Go,” Jeff Colyer
• “Career Development for Global Medical Professionals,” Barry Bacon
• “Finding Your Calling,” John Clements
• “The Power of Teams,” Jimmy Dodd
• Plenary Session “Connect,” Sean Mark

Physicians can earn 6 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ for CME and all participants can receive a certificate of completion that can be submitted for one’s respective profession continuing education. Registration for the 2022 Virtual Humanitarian Health Conference is $170. The virtual conference will close on July 31, 2022, so Register soon to view all the available presentations. Equip, Connect, Go!

June 24th, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Training Sites In Action|

This award was established by the INMED Board of Directors to recognize people who demonstrate care and concern for those in need, who give selflessly of their time and resources, and who inspire others to take similar action.

The 2022 Comninellis Award for Compassionate Service to Humanity recipient is Tom Kettler. Dr. Kettler has been a career family physician with College Park Family Care Center in Stanley, Kansas.  Deeply concerned about health care in Kansas City’s urban core, Dr. Kettler led a coalition of community leaders to establish the Hope Family Care Center at 31^st St. and Prospect Avenue. This faith-based family medical practice provides quality primary healthcare in Kansas City, Missouri’s east side. All patients are welcome including both insured and uninsured.

Dr. Kettler attributes his tenacity in establishing and leading Hope Family Care Center to his faith in Christ and commitment to a lifelong journey of learning and service to others. Well done, Dr. Kettler!

June 17th, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in Disaster Management|

This award recognizes individuals and organizations who provide exemplary disaster response services for highly vulnerable communities. In doing so, they accentuate the value of life and provide an exemplary model for us all.

The 2022 Humanitarian Crisis Response Award recipient is Ted Higgins. Dr. Higgins is a surgeon who has devoted his career to his patients, and teaching surgery in third world countries, in particular Haiti. He was introduced to third world surgery as a fourth-year surgical resident at Yale when he and his wife spent 3 months in Haiti operating at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital. After Ted finished his vascular surgery fellowship at Baylor, his family moved to Kansas City, his wife’s hometown. Soon Ted was making yearly surgical mission trips with his church to the Dominican Republic helping train their surgeon in general, laparoscopic, and vascular surgical techniques. This lasted until 2010, when the catastrophic Haitian earthquake occurred, and Ted returned to Haiti.

He again started working with Haitian surgical residents from the General Hospital in Port Au Prince. The tiny delivery room, though, used for surgery was inadequate, particularly for teaching, so the Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope was constructed in 2016. This contained 2 major operating rooms for teaching and performing surgeries. He soon hired several talented Haitian surgeons he helped train to avoid their leaving Haiti. They established a surgical team and set up a 24/7 trauma and emergency facility that now performs general, vascular, urology, obstetrics, and gynecology procedures. A nearby medical clinic was soon incorporated in to the Surgicenter that included medical, pediatric, HIV, maternity, and dental patients. When Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti in 2016 and Hurricane Laura in 2020, the Surgicenter provided not only emergency medical care but also shelter, food, and water for hundreds of local residents. Even amid the Covid pandemic, in roughly 19,000 patients were cared for at the Surgicenter and clinics in 2021.

May 27th, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Action Steps For You|

This degree is distinctly focused on improving the health of marginalized people by equipping healthcare personnel with expertise in epidemiology, diseases of poverty, maternal newborn health, international public health, cross-cultural skills, disaster management, health leadership, healthcare education, and research into quality improvement. INMED MIH graduates today serving inner city people in New York City, Ghanaians in West Africa, refugees in the Middle East, and with United Nations peacekeeping forces throughout the world.

INMED has assembled excellent Faculty, created remarkable Courses, established exemplary International Service-Learning experiences, all with the mission of giving you, today and tomorrow’s health leaders vision and expertise to improve the lives of those who are poor, undereducated, minorities, disabled, elderly, veterans, refugees, migrants, chronically ill, and victims of war or disaster. Visit the MIH FAQs and begin earning your Master’s Degree in International Health this fall.

May 20th, 2022 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in International Health News & Inspiration|

Many health care professionals within their own nations are sacrificing personal comfort to care for their neglected neighbors. The award recipients are role models in providing health care for their own people.

The 2022 INMED National Healthcare Service Award recipient is Barry Bacon. After completing medical school and family medicine training, Dr. Bacon worked at a mission hospital in Malawi, southern Africa, and was medical director for 16 remote site clinics for 3 years. Upon returning to the US, he practiced and taught full-spectrum family medicine in rural northeast Washington. Dr. Bacon has continued to stay connected to global health, particularly through teaching physicians in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi. His work also includes creating a peace initiative between two warring tribes in northern Kenya and working with the lost boys of South Sudan to create a medical school to transform health outcomes in that region of the world.

In the United States, he especially loves working on health disparities in his local community in Washington state, especially on behalf of those afflicted by addiction, mental health, poverty, and homelessness. Most remarkable of these initiatives is Dr. Bacon’s work to establish Hope Street Project to alleviate homelessness in Colville, WA, and creating a business to employ homeless men to take uninhabited buildings and create beautiful living spaces.