The Future of Ukrainian Medicine

For several years we have been praying for God to help us develop relationships with medical students and recent graduates of medical institutes.  We realized the future of medicine in Ukraine will one day be in the hands of the next generation.  Strategically working with this group through evangelization, discipleship and encouragement seems a natural way to transform the lives of these young professionals with the Gospel.  Then they will transform their medical system.

Therefore, when Rostyslav, a young Ukrainian physician we have been praying for and working with for several years, called about two months ago and asked for my assistance in preparing for a medical conference for students and recent graduates in the field of health care, I readily accepted.

One of the many positive things about this conference was the organization was done solely by the Ukrainians themselves from beginning to end.  They did need substantial financial support and still need about $500 to break even.  This is a significant step forward.  Last year our ministry partnered with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship in Ukraine to sponsor and organize what we think was the first such conference of young Christian medical workers.

The theme of this conference was Golden Standards and Christian Values in Modern Medicine.  There were two foreign speakers with the remainder from Ukraine.  There were lectures on evidence-based medicine, how to discern truth from error using the Bible, and what is good medicine.  While the Bible is not a textbook of medicine it does provide unchanging guidelines regarding how to use the knowledge God has allowed us to discover about his creation, us.

Equally important during our time together were the many conversations during the breaks or while walking down the street in the beautiful city of Odessa.  “I learned that the Word of God is unchanging.”  “I didn’t know there were so many other Christian students.”  “I feel stronger knowing we are together.”  “How do I share my faith with my patients?”  “I want to begin a Christian medical fellowship at my school.  How do I do it?”  “We should put God and his Word first because they play a significant and functional role in our daily lives.”  “I learned over the years that  science and technology have changed due to discovery and research but, the Bible still remains the same.”  “We can discover the difference between truth and error by studying the Scripture.”

Indeed, we are seeing God at work through medicine.  Last year we had 35 attendees.  This year we expected 150 and 170 came.  Many are returning to their schools or hospitals with a desire to reach their colleagues and patients and  begin meeting together regularly for encouragement and to learn how to apply the Scripture to the practice of medicine, bringing true hope and healing to those they live with, work with and serve.

So You Want to Go Swimming!

As physicians, we generally encourage our patients to participate in regular physical activity.  But, when does such activity become unhealthy for both body and soul?

We often take for granted the transparency of life in America.  While this is true, we do have corruption, but just better at hiding it.  Adapting to life in a foreign country provides many interesting situations to learn about the true nature and thought process of the nationals with whom we live and work.

One such situation arose when my assistant decided to find a place to exercise and swim.  During the Soviet times many sports halls were constructed with swimming pools.  Like many other things during that era admittance to these halls was free.  Now, with independence, there is a fee, nothing is free.

In the past, as well as now, in order to use the pool a person needed to provide a “Spravka” or certificate of health.  Obtaining this certificate, required a visit to the local polyclinic where you are registered to live.  You were examined by a dermatologist, gynecologist and an internist.  You stood in line for an hour typically for each of the doctors.  When you were finally seen, you were not examined, just asked to pay a small amount and the doctor would sign and stamp your spravka. 

This was very frustrating because you wasted a day of work or more for a piece of paper that really does not mean anything.

To make matters worse, if you are registered to live in another city, you must obtain a medical record book before obtaining the spravka.  This involves much the same process, but you must see 10 or 11 subspecialists.  Then and only then you return to the gynecologist and dermatologist you just saw to obtain permission to go swimming.  You now take your spravka and visit the internist who can then conclude whether you are healthy or not to go swimming.

Now you could avoid this process by paying an “expediting fee.”  You can easily see how quickly corruption can take a foothold.

Imagine how you would feel if you decide to go through the process legally, then go to the pool and realize the majority of people where not examined and just paid for the spravka to be signed.  Maybe it is healthier not to go swimming!

Global Warming???

It is the first of May.  The books will indicate this past winter was the warmest on record.  Some say the weather we are experiencing is a result of poor management of our environment.  Others say it is just the natural cycle of change in patterns that slowly shift over thousands of years.  One thing for sure is it snowed in Kyiv today.  Despite trying to be upbeat about it all, Kyivites were seen shivering in light jackets with their hands in their pockets as temperatures dipped to just below freezing.  Global warming anyone?

Despair turns to Hope

Weekly I meet with a group of Ukrainian physicians who are believers but need lots of encouragement when working in a very oppressive environment.  In most countries physicians are taught a very man centered view of medicine.  If only we could discover the cure for this disease, man could live for ever.  Christian physicians often behave only as doctors Monday through Saturday and Christians on Sunday.  Of course, this is not always the case, but the medical system does not allow them to express there Christian opinions freely without ridicule.

This is especially true in Ukraine where for the past ninty years science and evolution were promoted as the true basis for the philosophy of medicine.  Not only were Christian ideas ridiculed but there were economic consequences for holding such beliefs as well.  Christians were not promoted.  If you shared your faith with your patients you were removed from your position.  Despite being an independent country with one of the highest levels of religious freedom in the post-Soviet era compared to other countries in the former Soviet bloc, things have not changed much in the medical sphere.  Christian physicians are the overwhelming minority, making up only a small percentage, 1 or 2 %.

In our weekly meeting we have been examining how the Great Physician dealt with patients.  Previously these same physicians have been taught  how to share there faith with there patients in a course called The Saline Solution.   We studied how compassionate Jesus was in caring for His patients, as He proclaimed and revealed the truth of their condition to them.  You could visibly see the anguish on some faces and the joy on others as they wrestled with how they could share their faith with sensitivity, permission, and respect within the time constraints every doctor faces.

We ended our time with prayer for God to work in the hearts of their colleagues and for them to be the most Christ-like physicians towards their patients.  May they make the most of every opportunity to be Christians first, who happen to be doctors, seven days a week.  May God use health care providers to relieve the despair we all felt once, providing an everlasting hope to their patients. 

Then and Now

If you were a medical missionary 100 years ago, you would have been sent to a far off country.  It would have taken weeks if not months to communicate with you.  Your task would have been to have compassion for the sick and dying, to care for people.  There would have been little in the way of treatment but much in the way of comfort and eternal hope.  There would have been little chance that you would see the shores of your homeland again.

Now you are able to reach any populated portion of the world within 24 hours, definitely 36.  You have any number of options to communicate with any one, any where, any time instantly.  Your task might involve hands on care, but you more than likely be involved in teaching and providing technology.  Everyone wants the technology to cure disease, so obtaining humanitarian aid and teaching new methods of treatment would help you build relationships with your colleagues in a foreign land in order to share the Gospel and advance God’s kingdom.

 Today was a remarkable day.  During my time in Ukraine I have developed relationships through out both Ukraine and the United States.  A few weeks ago I was asked to assist in obtaining heart surgery for a little one year old boy with complex congenital heart disease.  This child’s problems were so difficult that it was reccommended that he could only be helped in America.  I contacted my friend Dr. Stephen Daniels, who is now the Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital-Denver.  We had trained together back in Cincinnati.  He connected me with Dr. Francois Lacour-Gayet, a cardiovascular surgeon and head of the Department of Surgery  at the same hospital.

We had previously arranged a calling time by e-mail.  It was 5 PM in Ukraine and 8 AM in Denver, CO.  We called using a laptop computer and a head set with microphone.  Despite thousands of miles our voices sounded as if next door.  The young 26 year old surgery resident assisted with some of the details with the computer.  Then he asked what is the purpose of this call and who will I be talking with.  There was instant recognition of the surgeon in the USA.  The resident was in awe saying, “I can’t believe I will shortly be chatting with one of the most famous pediatric heart surgeons in the world.”

We truly live in a global community.  Because of being born and trained as a physician in America, but now living in Ukraine God has given me an unique opportunity to serve both countries through the referrals I am asked to see.  Despite the technology and new treatments, I am still called upon to give true hope which is everlasting and can only be found in the Gospel.  Then and now are really not that much different, as it is writtenin Psalm 90, the days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.  So let us give thanks to the one who truly heals, both body and soul,  providing us with all wisdom and knowledge for our future is in His hands. 

What day is it?

Part of living in a culture other than the one you grew up in is learning how other people celebrate life.  In Ukraine every day is cause for a celebration whether it is someone’s birthday or a national holiday.  During the Soviet Union, groups of people, instead of individuals, were recognized on particular days for there contribution to their country.  I always thought Hallmark was the one that invented special days. 

So today, February 23rd is the day we celebrate Men!  During the Soviet Union, it was the Soviet Army Day.  All day the shops are filled with women buying small tokens of appreciation for the men in their lives whether they are their husbands, bosses or any significant male figure in their lives.

The International Faith Initiatives Ukraine office, home of Ukraine Medical Outreach and Ukraine Family Institute was no exception.  At lunch time we all gathered to share a common meal.  At the end of our meal the ladies came together behind Inna their spokeswomen and presented us guys with a scroll and a gift.  The scroll unrolled  and read by Artyom, our executive director said ,  we pray for the men we work with and for God to enable them to hit the bullseye in their lives as they lead their families and perform their work by following Christ.

Accompanying the scroll was a dartboard.  I taught Artyom how to play baseball with darts.  The ladies took turns too, tossing darts which had the American flag and the British Union Jack as fins.   We now have a great way to relieve stress and do a little team building.  Thank you ladies for helping us remember why and for whom we work and live.  

Quarantine!

As a kid growing up just when the polio vaccine was becoming available, the word, quarantine struck fear into the hearts of families. In the United States it is seldom used any more, except in regards to cattle and chickens.

In Ukraine it’s use is still quite common and is used regularly during this time of year. It is what we call the flu season. Vaccination for the flu is uncommon here and not recommended at all for children mainly because of availability which is different than in the USA. Usually as the number of cases of “grip” increase the schools, elementary through high school are closed for up to a month. Also access to hospitals by visitors is limited. However kindergartens or day care centers remain open as well as universities. To make up the time lost, kids attend school on Saturdays or have the school program modified for most of the rest of the school year.

So where do the kids go. Sometimes grandparents are put into service to allow the parents to go to work. The kids who are not sick of course may actually look forward to this time.

Our ministry with children with HIV/AIDS is affected because we are denied access to the hospital.

Quarantine is actually a principle often prescribed in the Bible to separate the clean from the unclean, the holy from unholy. God’s word is full of practical wisdom which needs to be rightly applied.

It is a Small World

How life changes and how small the world has become!  I never would have imagined when I was in medical school I would become an international physician.  Never would I have imagined I would feel like the whole United States would be my consultant base.  It really is just a variation of the “Good Ole Boy” system, only now we are linked by computer.   Today I have been in communication with Denver, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis and Kyiv regarding patients I am caring for in Ukraine.  In the not so distant past missionaries were sent to far away places with many never returning home for various reasons.  Communication by what we now call “snail mail” took months.  We receive airmail in 7 to 10 days providing it is not the Christmas season.

Speaking of when I was in medical school, the last thing I would have thought about was being a missionary.  My next to last thoughts would have been about God himself.  God does have a way of grabbing a hold of you, enabling you to do things you neither desired to do or thought were even possible.  I thank Him for the gifts and talents He has given me as well as the opportunities to serve others and share the love He has lavished upon me and tell  of His wondrous deeds with the people of Ukraine, the United States and the rest of the world because of this technology.  The health needs of ordinary people allow me tell of the Great Physician using both word and deed. 

My Musings for your Amusement

During the past year I have witnessed how family and friends have been using this form of communication to pass on their thoughts for the day both serious and amusing.  I have been encouraged by these same friends to share what is occurring in my life.  As a medical missionary in Kyiv, Ukraine I want to share what God is doing in me and through me.  Now I am beginning another journey I never thought I would start.