September 9th, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Grads In Action|

This award recognizes individuals who have made an important impact on vision-casting and training of the next generation of international healthcare volunteers. Through their instruction and their role modeling, award recipients express the value of every person – especially those who are the most humble members of our communities.

The 2023 International Healthcare Preceptor Award recipient is Mark Wardle. Dr. Wardle is an osteopathic family physician and Director of both Global Medicine and Medical Spanish at Rocky Vista University’s Utah campus. He completed the INMED Master’s Degree in International Health (MIH) and today guides his students through service-learning experiences in Latin America and East Africa.

Dr. Wardle says, “I have always enjoyed teaching and loved having students and residents rotate with me in clinic, but after a medical mission trip to Honduras where I supervised and taught medical students, I decided that was something I wanted to do full-time.” Remarkably, Dr. Wardle has also been contributing to the scholarly literature in this field with his recent research study, Impact of Global Health Outreach Experiences on Medical Student Empathy and Burnout.

August 25th, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in Health Professions Education|

“You plan to work in Africa?” questioned the health education professional at my interview. His tone was decidedly skeptical. “Then why first do medical residency training? Why don’t you just go now?” This attitude is not isolated. Throughout our health professions is the pervasive image that healthcare for people of lesser means should not require the same standard of training or care expected for those who are more wealthy or more familiar to us.

On the balance, health resources available to those who are minorities, low-income, chronically ill, and victims of war or disaster are often less, much less. But should we agree that it’s acceptable for healthcare professionals advocating for such people to themselves be less prepared or qualified? I believe not.

Formal healthcare education and credentials are important. They validate skill to potential partners and employers. They confirm expertise to governments and authorities. Psychologically, they affirm the commitment and the mission of the professional. Socially, credentials help to foster communities among those who share similar experiences, communities that often prove profoundly encouraging.

We at INMED are committed to filling the gaps in traditional education so that healthcare professionals are prepared for unique needs of people who are forgotten, undereducated, disabled, elderly, veterans, refugees, and migrants. Each INMED Credential – including next month’s Hands-On Skills Professional Qualification Courses – earns graduate credit and/or continuing medical education hours.

A few years later I was applying for a medical license in the nation of Ghana – a nation where malaria is the leading cause of death. The government agent asked to see my medical residency training credential. “Oh, excellent,” he replied, examining the document. “We wouldn’t permit anyone less qualified to serve our citizens of Ghana.”

August 11th, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Grads In Action|

The INMED Cross-Cultural Healthcare Service Award recognizes one who demonstrates care and concern for culturally diverse communities and who gives selflessly of time and resources for their benefit.

 
The 2023 INMED Cross-Cultural Healthcare Service Award recipient is Julie Rosé. Dr. Rosé and her husband raised four children and practiced family medicine for 24 years in Hiawatha, Kansas – including a very busy obstetrics and newborn care service in that rural community. Three years ago, they began a new career path to do what they had always dreamed: international medical care. Dr. Rosá earned the INMED Master’s Degree in International Health, and then joined the medical education team at Kanad Hospital in the Middle Eastern nation of United Arab Emirates.
 
Always with an eye towards expanding the skills of others, Dr. Rosé is point-person for the development of a new family medicine residency program to train primary care physicians in the UAE – physicians with an outlook for comprehensive and continuous care of the entire person in the context of their family.

July 28th, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Action Steps For You|

What should be our expectations for healthcare concerning those who are low-income, minorities, disabled, or elderly? What about medical needs of people who are refugees, migrants, chronically ill, or victims of disaster or military conflict? Wouldn’t we aim to respond with  compassion and excellence?

To this end, could YOU qualify to earn an INMED Graduate Diploma? This credential would affirms that in addition to your good heart, you have also equipped yourself with quality skills and supervised experience applying those skills to aid vulnerable people. Three international health tracks are available: International Medicine, International Nursing, and International Public Health.

The INMED Graduate Diploma has two parts, the first of which is the Graduate Certificate. This eight-week, synchronous online course is offered five times each year and addresses important but unfamiliar diseases, maternal-newborn health, community development, cross-cultural skills, and health leadership. It fills significant gaps that are missing in mainstream healthcare education.

The second part is Service-Learning (rotation) at an INMED Service-Learning Site in one of 25 nations. This experience is supervised by faculty who live on location and will guide you through formative opportunities to grow your expertise while serving local people in ways that are culturally appropriate and most effective. View these Service-Learning Sites and ask yourself, Where would I like to go?

643 graduates since 2004 have earned an INMED Graduate Diploma. One of these is Dr. Kevin: “My experience with INMED in SE Asia was outstanding. It was definitely a time that I will always cherish. I saw many patients and felt like I was able to contribute. The INMED Graduate Diploma in International Medicine & Public Health Program had an overwhelming impact on my personal life and my academic endeavors. The INMED resource materials are well organized and useful. The infectious disease component was a good overview of the more common tropical diseases. My experience solidified my desire to do full-time overseas work in the future.” Dr. Kevin and his family returned to SE Asia where they have now been serving full-time for over a decade.

Could YOU, too, earn an INMED Graduate Diploma in International Medicine, Nursing, or Public Health? I would be pleased to further explore this possibility with you. Please message me: [email protected]

July 14th, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Grads In Action|

 
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 2023 INMED National Healthcare Service Award recipient is Dale Agner. A United States Air Force physician with 25 years of service in Turkey, the Middle East, and Africa, Dr. Agner was Commander of the 1st Special Operations Medical Group. In 2017 Dr. Agner brought his leadership skills to the Open Door Mission Health Clinic – an urban, underserved, gospel–focused ministry in Omaha, Nebraska. Not only does the clinic provide exceptional patient care, but also clinical experience and mentoring for medical students and resident physicians to learn the nuances of care for vulnerable people. Dr. Agner earlier earned the INMED Professional Qualification in Ultrasound for Primary Care and applies the skills to serve both his patients and his learners.
 
Says Dr. Agner, “My time in the Air Force Medical Service provided extensive opportunities to develop the academic, clinical, and administrative expertise needed for excellent and cost-effective healthcare.” What an exceptional blessing for Open Door Mission Health Clinic to develop with Dr. Agner in the lead!
 

June 30th, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in INMED Action Steps For You|

“I really want to serve vulnerable people, but I am sooo in debt from student loans!” It’s the most frequent barrier I hear from well-intended healthcare professionals. Today’s graduating medical student typically owes $200,000. Bachelor’s of nursing graduates owe $40-$60,000. Nurse practitioners graduate with an average of $154,000 in debt. Pharmacy grads $170, 000, physical therapy $116,000, dentistry $304,000. A frequent reaction is to retort that these high-income earners can quickly repay those loans. A more realistic perspective is to understand that these individuals are also nurturing new families. Young physicians need 13 to 20 years on average to pay off that debt. Bachelors and master trained nurses need 8 to 19 years. Physical therapists, 16 years.

Providing life-sustaining care for vulnerable people does not generate much personal income. If your vision to especially serve those who are homeless, disabled, or minorities, then discharging your school debt while also caring for your legitimate financial needs will prove to be formidable.

Our mission at INMED is to equip healthcare professionals and students to serve the forgotten. We work diligently to offer excellent education simultaneously at substantially reduced tuition so that our graduates can quickly proceed with such careers. Excellent education begins with INMED Faculty’s decades of expertise transferred to learners via Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, and Master’s Degree learning opportunities. INMED’s substantially low Tuition is currently just $9,440 total for the INMED Master’s Degree in International Health, compared with $25-60,000 in tuition for comparable US master’s degrees in public health or health administration.

Student indebtedness is epidemic. What is INMED solution? Excellent education and affordable tuition. In fact, 100% of INMED learners graduate with no debt owed to INMED.  This means INMED grads are fast-tracked into careers doing what they dream: serving our world’s most vulnerable people.

June 16th, 2023 by INMED
Posted in International Health News & Inspiration|

This award recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to health in developing nations. Award recipients have demonstrated uncommon dedication and endurance in pursuit of this cause.

The 2023 INMED International Medicine Award recipient is David Vanderpool. A general surgeon originally from Dallas, Dr. Vanderpool’s early career was punctuated by service during Hurricane Katrina following which he established the Mobile Medical Disaster Relief organization to provide medical clinics, clean water projects, and micro-finance projects to areas hit by disasters. In 2010, an earthquake devastated Haiti. Dr. Vanderpool was a first responder, caring for horrific injuries and witnessing firsthand the desperate needs in Haiti.

He and his wife Laurie sold their Tennessee home and moved to Haiti, where for these last 10 years they have led LiveBeyond, as he says, “an organization that chooses to LiveBeyond – live beyond ourselves, our culture, our borders and this life so that others can LiveBeyond – live beyond disease, hunger, poverty and despair.” Today LiveBeyond in Haiti includes a surgical hospital, maternal and child health program, a farm, a church and a school maintained by Haitians for Haitians.

June 2nd, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in International Public Health|

“My child, he’s coughing, has fever, and stop eating!” This young mother in Angola, Africa held in her arms a four-year-old. His fast breathing, dry mouth, and somnolent countenance alarmed me. The year was 2020. Was her boy suffering from pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis? Could it be Covid-19? At the beginning of the pandemic, many pressing questions were unclear: testing for the infection, effective prevention, reliable treatment. But one fact was certain: those people most vulnerable – low income, minorities, chronically ill – were also most likely to die.

At the Institute for International Medicine, we make use of the Human Development Index as an objective measure of human well-being. It takes into account just three measurable parameters: education, income, and life expectancy. The pandemic resulted in at least one, often two, lost years in primary and secondary education throughout the world. Most nations saw a drop in their income of 5 to 10%. A sample of 29 nations registered loss in life expectancy as well.

With the COVID-19 pandemic now largely under control, thanks to vaccination and growing natural immunity, what is a strategy towards Post-Covid Global Health? The Human Development Index is not only a useful measure, but also an effective strategy. This is because increases in education, income, and physical health all complement one another.

In the context of Angola, adult education is particularly important to health. Today’s adults that grew up during the Angola Civil War often could not attend school, and are only now learning to read and write thanks to hospital-led initiatives. With growing literacy, adults now have better jobs, better income, and are better able to afford healthy food and medical care.

Provision of drinking water is also critical to income. Look closely at the image above. Is there something better these women could be doing than waiting for water? They could be running businesses and generating money. To address this economic barrier, our hospital arranged the digging of deep wells to provide drinking water throughout the community. As a result, women have become entrepreneurs, purchasing modern homes that protect their families from the ubiquitous mosquitoes and malaria.

Health professions education is pivotal to the physical health of a nation. Angola offers little advanced nursing or medical training. In response, INMED’s Training Site CEML Hospital launched a two-year internship to provide a structured learning environment in which new practitioners can safely advance their skills to help Angolans maintain and restore their health.

What could be your own role in advancing comprehensive health? This is not work to be done in isolation. Rather, inspiration and partnership are crucial. Where can you meet like-hearted people? I recommend the Humanitarian Health Conference, held June 9-10 in-person in Kansas City. Here you can share ideas with healthcare leaders serving vulnerable people and identify your role in Post-Covid Global Health.

May 19th, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in International Health News & Inspiration|

“I’m already giving you all I can,” was his reply to a man begging at the house. As a young doctor, I was with SIM in the world’s very poorest nation: Burkina Faso, West Africa. It was Ken Elliot speaking, an Australian physician living and serving in Burkina since 1972. In his austere, desert town of Djibo were many children, like the one I photographed below, so weak and malnourished they could not swallow and required a feeding tube for re-nutrition. Also common in Djibo were adults with kidney stones and renal failure, all connected with blazing temperatures, and short supply of drinking water.

In 2016, after four decades working in isolation, serving Jesus, and the little ones whom He loves, Ken Elliot and his wife Joyce were kidnaped by a group aligned with al-Qaida. Joyce was released just a few weeks later, but “The fact that he is a missionary, as I understand it, is not going to be good. [The kidnappers] will tend to see that as being not so much the good works he’s been doing since the 70s for the local people, but as being a missionary spreading the word of Christianity. So that will not be good for them,” wrote one counterterrorism expert.

Then miraculously, on May 18, after seven years without a word and presumed dead, 88-year-old Ken Elliott was suddenly released from captivity. Australian foreign affairs minister Penny Wong that Elliott was “safe and well.” The Elliott family wrote to thank the government and “all who have been involved over time to secure his release”. They continued, “We wish to express our thanks to God and all who have continued to pray for us,” and “We also continue to pray for those still held and wish them freedom and safe return to their loved ones.”

Become familiar with the Elliott’s vision and ministry in West Africa by partaking of this three-minute interview:

May 5th, 2023 by Nicholas Comninellis
Posted in International Health News & Inspiration|

Healthcare for forgotten people is punctuated by professionals who inspire their younger associates to consider similar careers. INMED is honored to recognize such quality professionals by announcing these recipients of the INMED Awards at the 2023 Humanitarian Health Conference, June 9-10 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Introducing David Vanderpool, 2023 International Medicine Award recipient. In 2010, an earthquake devastated Haiti. Dr. Vanderpool was a first responder, caring for horrific injuries and witnessing firsthand the desperate needs in Haiti. He and his wife Laurie sold their Tennessee home and moved to Haiti, where for 10 years they’ve facilitated LiveBeyond school, church, demonstration farm, and medical clinic.

Please meet Dale Agner, winner of the 2023 National Healthcare Service Award. A US Air Force physician with 25 year’s service in Turkey, the Middle East, and Africa, in 2017 Dr. Agner brought his leadership skills to the Open Door medical clinic – an urban, underserved, gospel–rescue ministry in Omaha, Nebraska.

Get to know Julie Rosá, recognized with the 2023 Cross-Cultural Healthcare Service Award. Julie and her husband practiced family medicine for 24 years before joining the medical education team at Kanad Hospital, equipping young healthcare professionals amid the sand dunes of Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates.

Don’t miss Mark Wardle, 2023 International Healthcare Preceptor Award recipient. Dr. Wardle is an osteopathic family physician and Director of both Global Medicine and Medical Spanish on the Rocky Vista University Utah campus. He completed the INMED Master’s Degree in International Health (MIH) and today guides his students through service-learning experiences in Latin America and East Africa.

Explore Blessings International, winner of the 2023 Humanitarian Crisis Response Award. In February, earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria, immediately killing 50,000 people. Emergency response teams – supplied with medications provided through Blessings International – arrived within days facilitated by the Emergency Disaster Relief fund established in advance by Blessings International.

Be inspired by Rick Donlon, recognized with the 2023 Comninellis Award for Compassionate Service to Humanity. A citizen of Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Donlon’s lifelong calling has been to serve the most vulnerable residents of that urban community. He’s also distinguished himself as an elder in the house church network and spokesperson for Christian physicians throughout North America.

Where can you meet so many inspiring individuals all at once? How could you arrange an opportunity to explore the organizations with whom they themselves are serving? Please register today for the Humanitarian Health Conference and make plans for June 9-10 in Kansas City, Missouri, to get to know the 2023 INMED Award winners!