One very early morning I heard a quite thump at the door. Opening it, I gazed out on to the little courtyard of my home in Huambo, Angola. Edwardo, a young pastor, stood clutching his four-year old son. The child was gasping and drooling, his little black body darker from cyanosis – insufficient oxygen. […]
Since returning from Angola, I’ve been caring for patients at Research Medical Center, here in Kansas City. Very often, they present with fever. Here, the causes I first think of are influenza, bronchitis, and the common cold. But in Angola, I’d first be concerned about malaria, typhoid and pneumonia. Knowing what’s common in a given community
This Christmas Day I am thinking of INMED’s faculty living and serving in some of the world’s most marginal communities: Tim Myrick (Middle East), Earl Hewett (Ghana), Steve Foster (Angola), Dennis Palmer (Cameroon), Paul Gray (Ethiopia), Jean Young (Ghana), Charlie Besley (Kenya), Victor Fredlund (South Africa), Bob Matthews (Tanzania), Rory Wilson (Uganda), John Spurrier (Zambia),
This morning I’m listening to NPR describe the work of CURE Hospitals. They are primarily providing orthopedic care to physically disabled children in the poorest nations. I was just about moved to tears as I reflected on the fact that INMED students are studying at one of the CURE hospitals. About the same moment, was
When I first moved to the city of Huambo in central Angola I myself developed a severe case of dysentery, as did my family. Solution? I had a well dug in my front yard – pictured here with the concert cap over the opening. None of us every became similarly ill again. Several readers have written
Last night, October 29, 2009, I was honored on behalf of INMED to receive the World Citizen of the Year award from Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser and the International Relationship Council. This is a remarkable acknowledgement of the devotion of hundreds of INMED partners serving people on the very margins of society in Papua New
I am touched over Kaylene Chlopek’s INMED experience with Dr. Ken Johnson at Choma Hospital in Zambia, an INMED Training Site: “I was struck with severity of the injuries suffered by the children. Many had fallen out of trees and broken bones. My first week at Choma Hospital, we set and plastered many broken bones, and
I am feeling warmhearted as I read Kirk Bodach’s account from Mseleni Hospital in South Africa: “On my last day working in the outpatient clinic the patient I was seeing said that he had been watching me. He said that I had done something VERY GOOD. Apparently he had seen me eating lunch at that hospital with
I so enjoyed talking this week with Pamela Smith, a physician from Chicago who completed the clinical experience for the INMED International Medicine Certificate at Lubango Evangelical Medical Center in Angola, southern Africa. “This was so very different than any medical mission I’ve ever experienced. Before, I was the leader, though really knew almost nothing about the nation where I
Yes, I realize “intensivity” is a misspelled word. But there is just on other than best describes these remarkable days! June 1-12 INMED hosted our first International Medicine Intensive Course. Thirty two “students,” including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, medical officers, and medical students not only learned the nuisances of serving the ultra poor, but also “encouraged