“I’m coughing blood again.” Moses gasped for breath, his chest muscles visibly contracting with each respiration. The starved figure of this man of twenty-six bespoke of profound malnutrition, infirmity, or both. His chest examination revealed distant, wet sounds divulging deep infection and his chest X-ray… Lacking an adequate view box, I’m here holding the […]
“I’m in labor, and the umbilical cord just fell out.” Utterly frightened, the mother Gilhermina approached the home of Donna Foster on a ranch here in rural Angola. Within moments, Donna and teenage daughter Meghan, loaded Gilhermina in their truck and began the 110 mile drive to us at the Evangelical Medical Center of
“My chest hurts severely and the pounding of my heart is relentless,” exclaimed a woman of forty whom I met in the emergency department. She proceeded to describe how she also felt fever and burning throughout her body, along with weakness of her legs and sensations of her head spinning. On exam, I indeed
Shock. Arriving in Angola inevitably distresses my soul. Though I lived here for two year and have return annually for fourteen more, reentry into this place of paucity continues to unmask any temptation towards complacency over the world’s affairs. Were I a normal Angolan, one of my own children would have died before reaching
Remember being a student on the first day of class? We usually received a course syllabus, and a generation ago that syllabus began with a list of subjects studied; lists like: Epidemiology of childhood illness Physiology of fever Metabolism of acetaminophen Astute educators soon realized that the objective of education is not
Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning “the state of being apart,”, or rather “apart-hood.” It was a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced through legislation by the dominant governing party from 1948 to 1994. But apartheid in various forms continues to exist throughout the world, most often based upon language, culture, race,
Health status in Turkey today is similar to that of many emerging nations – ones like China, India and Argentina where recent economic gains are accompanied by increases in physical well being. Contrasted with the world’s poorest nations, in Turkey today death and suffering from infectious diseases and mother-newborn complications are now largely controlled.
At the 2015 Exploring Medical Missions Conference I enjoyed the pleasure of recognizing Hilarie Cranmer, a physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Director of their Global Disaster Response unit. She has served in post-conflict Kosovo, tsunami-affected Indonesia and Sri Lanka, hurricane-impacted Louisiana, earthquake-devastated Haiti and Arab-spring affected Tunisia.
April’s earthquake in Nepal drew refreshing attention to the culture and needs of Himalayan people. Located just across Nepal’s boarder is India’s Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) – an INMED Training Site. A high proportion of India’s wonderful people continue to suffer from preventable infections, tuberculosis, malaria, dysentary, malnutrition, and pregnancy-childbirth related complications. Most Indian
Steve Collins began his career as a pastor in Newfoundland, Canada. As one of the few educated individuals, town’s people began bringing all their sick to him for treatment advice. So off he went to medical school. In 1991, about the time I myself moved to Angola, Dr Collins was also drawn to that