Barefoot Doctors

Charts

2012-01-29T17:48:00.004-05:00

Dr. Bjorn Nilson worked on making these charts the better part of the weekend. They contain truly revealing and fascinating information. I think you will find them self explanatory.

Sunday!

2012-01-29T07:43:00.005-05:00

Well it is Sunday here and that means Church. It takes the better part of a day by the time you talk to everyone and eat. Usually the church serves a great Thai lunch after service. The Barefoot Drs. are all devoted Christians and often sing songs. Today they sang a beautiful song at church. They are quite good singers in addition to everything else they do. The theme at church today was “Growing in God’s Wisdom.” I found this very fitting for the Barefoot Drs. as they are here to learn medicine but also the Bible and its teachings. In this way they are equipped to heal people physically and spiritually. In a country like Myanmar there are just as many spiritual injuries as physical. In areas of war, drug running, forced labor, and sex trafficking many of the injuries are not of the physical nature. Their country sees far more of these horrors than we can possibly relate to. All the more reason that treating the whole person, both spiritual and physical, is so desperately important.

The main verses today were Isaiah 55:8-9 and James 3:13-18. In Isaiah 55: 8-9 it reads, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” Says the Lord. “ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” This is a good verse to remember for our students. It reminds us that we cannot possibly understand some of the things we see happen on this earth but that does not mean there is no God. It only means that we are not that God and should not expect to understand all things as He does. All right, enough of your sermon for the day.

I have also included some more pictures from last week that I thought were good. In them you see the Barefoot Dr students have laid out object that

symbolize some of the worst problems they have

seen in the villages over this last year. It is no surprise that at the top of the list is “Bad Water.” Second is bad roads and bridges particularly during the rainy season. If the transportation is cut off that can be very serious to a village, meaning no supplies can get in or out. Third is “ difficulty getting water”. Fourth was “Mosquitoes.” Of course there is a

much larger list but we picked out the top four to discuss last week.

We should have stats up for you all soon so keep checking in.

Peace be with you all today.

Rick Astone

2012-01-28T02:23:00.006-05:00

The First week of the Barefoot Doctors final year of training has been completed. We thank CHE and the excellent training the students received. A special thank you to David Crist and Chhuanna who “facilitated” the training. In a survey we took on Friday afternoon almost all the class said they would change some things in their community projects from last year now that they have had the beginning CHE training. That tells us it was a worthwhile experience for all of them. They learned some important techniques on how to prepare for entering a new relationship with a village and how to prepare for community projects.

For example, one technique is to write a calendar for that village. This would include what the weather is like month to month in that area, what is happening with the rice crop and agriculture each month, any festivals, patterns in illness like malaria, or anything else related to times of the year. Dr. Nilson and I also learned from this exercise and it helped us better understand the circumstances the students face. For instance, when written on a calendar it is clear to see you do not want to travel during the rainy season because the roads get bad or even impassable, the mosquitoes get worse and the instance of malaria goes way up! In some of those areas if a road gets washed out they may not be able to get supplies in or out for weeks or months! That means if you are in the village you have to stay in that area and they may not be able to get food or medicine in. There is no assistance from their government so they just have to deal with it.

We also collected all their patient logbooks and are in the process of sifting through the data. It is extremely interesting and we hope to share some of our findings next week. More than half of them saw more than a 100 patients in the last year alone! And this is before they are graduates of the program. Imagine how much more effective they will be in years to come. Most of them also worked on community development or education projects, as well, to make a real and lasting positive change in the villages. Not bad for all volunteer health care workers! I know many of you are like me and love to see statistics so we will post them when we get the data cleaned up a bit.

Today is Saturday here and Dr. Nilson and I are busy catching up on computer work, organizational issues, and going through the recently collected log book data from the students. The log book information will help us fine-tune the program to their real life needs based on their actual experiences over the last year. Through this we know how many patients they saw, what age ranges, sex, and what diagnosis they gave them. We also know what medication and how often they used it. This will help us teach and prepare them for their specific needs and help us be better prepared for future classes.

Sawadee Krap (Thai salutation)

Rick Astone

Barefoot Doctors Training 2012 has started!

2012-01-24T17:52:00.006-05:00

The Barefoot Dr training school has began! This is the third and final year for this group of Barefoot Dr. Students. Amazingly, all 26 of them have been able to return this year. Last year two could not make it down to Thailand. One because she was pregnant and the other because there was too much snow over the rough mountain trails she needed to cross on foot to get to the nearest town with an airport.

Dr. Bjorn Nilson and myself arrived safely in Chiang Mai on Sat and are well on our way to being adjusted to our jet lag. However, I am writing this Blog at 5:00 am and I have been wide-awake since 4:00 am. We will remain here to run the program for the entire 6 weeks of the medical portion of this training. We have been busy getting organized the last two days while a two man team of “CHE” trainers is doing most of the teaching. Despite all the planning ahead of time, some things cannot be anticipated or dealt with until we are here on the ground and face to face with people. “FLC” has been helping us get everything up and running. As we debrief the Barefoot Dr students we will finalize the teaching curriculum for this final year of training. That way we can tailor the teaching to their real life needs and wants of training based on what they have actually seen in their areas. This may be quite different for different students because they are scattered across Myanmar in a variety of settings. Some are in high mountains, others are in the lowlands, and a few are in poor towns with little or no health care.

What is “CHE?”

This first week of training is mostly CHE (Community Health Education). This is a well-respected approach to helping communities in need in a responsible way. CHE has been around many years and has helped many charitable organization be more effective and responsible in how they help. CHE focuses on the entire person. It addresses the physical and spiritual and is focused on prevention. It trains people how to help a community help itself rather than just doing it for them. The result of this approach is a much more lasting and empowering effect. So this week is really about leadership training and how to be effective at their Barefoot Drs work. CHE has time-tested, creative teaching techniques for developing communities where many of the people may be illiterate. For example, they use a lot of visual and interactive techniques, role-playing and skits, breaking into small groups and students taking turns writing answers on the large paper board in front of the room. CHE also encourages the students come up with the answers themselves, and the facilitator just guides the line of questions. It is amazingly effective and makes sense, but it is very different than how we do things in the west. You can see in these pictures some of this teaching in the first two days of class. It is Wednesday morning here now and we are off to another day of CHE.

Thank you all for your support.

That is all for now, Sincerely Rick Astone.

New Partnership with mPower Dentists!

2011-12-14T15:41:00.010-05:00

We are very excited to announce that we are entering a new partnership with a dental ministry based in Louisville, Kentucky. It's called mPower and their teams travel the world doing short-term training programs of indigenous Christian workers in both dental and medical services.

Burmese Evangelist Timothy and Jon Ulm attended the Global Health Missions Conference at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville back in November of this year. At the conference, God led us to Dr. Charlie Vittatow and Linda Webster and others of the mPower mission. We began telling them about our need to have dentists come to help with our training. We told them how critical this training is to the ministry of our Barefoot Doctors, but that we were becoming anxious about being able to find someone to train our students in basic dental skills before they graduate in March. Their response gives us no doubt but that God is putting our two ministries together!

Since November we have been in close contact with Linda Webster of mPower to better understand their training methods and to work out the details for them to fit into our schedule. It is obvious God wants this partnership to happen, and we can already see that the three mPower dentists who have committed to coming to Chiang Mai are going to be a God-send to our program. In addition, we have another dentist coming from Denver that same week, Dr. Robert Gardiner, who will help with the training also.

The picture at the top of this post shows mPower dentists doing this kind of training elsewhere. If you want to know more about mPower, please visit their website at: http://www.mpowerapproach.org/

You can also watch the following video online: http://youtu.be/0x73Sje-eow?hd=1

We are busy raising funds for the training modules that will be used by mPower while they are with us. These include the dental tools and supplies our students will take with them when they return home to Myanmar. We want to supply each of our 26 students with the tools and supplies they need, but that will cost $25,000 or more! Since we are already scrambling to have the funds necessary to bring these students to Thailand and keep them there for 8 or 9 weeks, this is a very big challenge!

Please consider making a donation to Frontier Labourers for Christ, earmarking your gift for the Barefoot Doctors program. The address for our treasurer is in the sidebar of this blog. Thank you for your gifts and for your prayers!

Year Three is Just Around the Corner!

2011-10-31T14:29:00.002-04:00

Every winter, FLC holds a medical training school for village leaders from the most remote parts of Myanmar where there are no medical facilities. In each of three consecutive years, students receive six weeks of medical and dental training before graduating.

The third year of training for the 26 students you see pictured above will begin at the end of January. Then graduation will be on March 3, 2012.

At the Barefoot Doctors School, physicians, dentists and other health care professionals from America and Europe train village leaders how to perform diagnosis and treatment of tropical diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, and to provide dental care. Trained leaders are then sent back to their villages with medicines and supplies provided through FLC. Over 180 trained Barefoot Doctors have been credited with saving thousands of lives and opening doors for evangelism in otherwise closed regions.

Our Barefoot Doctor students are from nine different ethnic peoples in Myanmar (Naga, Ngochang, Rawang, Lahu, Akha, Mru, Kachin, Lisu, and Chin) and from five different states. They are already employed in many different occupations (Bible translators, pastors, youth ministers, evangelists, Sunday School teachers, music composers, government officials, educators, office workers, and farmers), but their new medical skills will open new doors for sharing Christ with their people.

Pray for their medical and spiritual ministries this year to the desperately sick and disheartened people of Myanmar!

Look at those teeth!

2011-03-20T12:23:00.012-04:00

Meet the kids of Huai Biong School. They have great looking teeth, don’t they?

This was not the case just one year ago. Last year our medical team took a weekend trip to visit this small village school. We wanted to get a better idea of what life in a remote village was really like. Huai Biong village does now have a paved road and it got electricity a few years ago, but life here is still much the way it was before these additions. They still cook over an open fire inside their houses. They still sit and sleep on the floor. They did put in an outhouse with a toilet seat just for western guests but that was about as modern as they got. On our trip a year ago we also took a look at the health of the village and gave health related advice. We asked to see the top 6 worst

medical complaints of the children first. I am not sure what we expected but it was not what we actually got. All 6 worst complaints of the children were dental! On that trip we had an ENT resident, a pediatrician and global health expert, and a physical therapist but no dentist. As we tried to understand the problem better we realized the problem was much more basic than ever crossed our minds. As it turns out most if not all the children had dental complaints. So we asked, “How often do they brush their teeth?” We got a blank look coming back at us. Our first thought was poor translating but we then realized they had no clue about brushing their

teeth! We asked, “How many have tooth brushes?” and only a handful of 50 kids even owned a toothbrush! We immediately assembled all the children and the teachers and gave a talk on the importance of brushing your teeth and what food should be avoided and so on. When we returned home I printed out copies in Thai on dental hygiene in a village setting and sent it back to the village with 50 toothbrushes. The teachers were given instructions and were to teach all the children.

On this years trip I did not have time to go to this village myself but I had one of the locals, Pastor Suradet, who goes to the village regularly, take pictures and deliver some donated school supplies to them as seen in this picture.

He assured me the children brush their teeth every day and have virtually no dental complaints this year! Praise God for this unexpected but very necessary interaction and that we were able to be a part of it!

The problem we stumbled onto can be a common one in the developing world. You see, when a people eat all home grown foods there is little need for tooth brushing. Usually a village people will use some sort of fibrous branch to clean their teeth from time to time and there are substances they can use in place of toothpaste like ashes for one. The Main problem for these kids was modern processed food and the dreaded Soda Pop! Now they have a road so people have easier access to processed crackers and cookies and other foods that are much harder on teeth than home grown food. Soda is absolutely the worst! But no one educated them on these things and of course the soda does not come with a warning label (although I personally think it should). Take a look at these awful teeth from last years trip.

Also of note were the bags of school supplies the teachers were holding in some of the pictures. I was assigned to deliver as many of these supplies to needy children as I could take to Thailand. A wonderful family in California felt prompted to send these supplies with me after seeing pictures from last year. The supplies consisted of pencils, colored pencils, home made note pads with pictures on them, pencil sharpeners, scissors, crayons, some hair ties and a jump rope. These were a huge blessing and help to this poor village school. As you may notice in some of the pictures they do not have much and every bit helps. Perhaps this small gift of supplies will have as meaningful of an impact on these children as the toothbrushes. I hope to check in with them again next year.

Final days and closing Celebration

2011-03-15T19:35:00.008-04:00

Well Bjorn and I made it back to California but we are not quite recovered from our trip yet. It takes awhile to get back into the swing of things after being in a different culture so long. Not to mention the time difference. Thailand was 15 hours ahead of California time. All that aside, the last week was so busy in Chiang Mai that I did not get a chance to update all of you on all the activities. I plan on catching up on my Blog posts and doing some summary reports over the next few days. There were some notable events and thoughts that should be shared.

In the last week I had a chance to teach the Barefoot Drs. about low Back pain. This is a big problem all around the world and a very popular subject for the students. In a class this size there is usually someone with actual back pain so once again we used a real life patient to do the training. Fortunately, the patient responded well to treatment and was the perfect example for this condensed P.T. course. Thanks to Bob Bowling for getting a picture of me teaching.

Of course, there is always a celebration when the Medical portion is completed. This involves, food, singing, lectures, and sometimes theatrics. Between Pastor David Tucker from England

and Dr. Bjorn Nilson there was no shortage of drama in the speeches this year. In this slide you can see Dr. Nilson demonstrating how last year the students had commented that the Barefoot Drs training had “Opened the door” for them. Dr. Nilson went on to say this year the second door had been opened.

The Barefoot Dr. students themselves sang some great songs and had some very powerful speeches and testimonies. I will point out that the Barefoot Drs students singing in this picture were barefoot.

One of the students named Peram gave his testimony. I asked him to write it down so I can share it accurately with all of you. He tells an amazing history of how the Barefoot Dr. program transformed the health of his remote village back in the 1990’s and how important this program is today. In just his village the Barefoot Drs cut the death rate from around 35 people to around 10 people per year. This progression happened over about 7 to 10 years but has maintained this improvement since the 90’s. He did make a point to say that they need to have medicine to do their jobs. I believe this was intended for the western medical and mission leaders present because the funds were short last year and they received very little medicine from the mission. This year things are looking much better but the Barefoot Drs in the field need to be resupplied due to the shortfall of last year. I know we have enough funds to get them all some medicine but we are still underfunded to meet our goal and cover all the costs of the training program itself. If you intended to donate and have not done it yet, it is not too late and any amount goes a long way in this program. You can send donations to:

Frontier Labourers for Christ

Barefoot Drs program

P.O. Box 630382Highlands Ranch, CO 80163

There are still a few more Blog entries to come. I am waiting to get back our student survey forms to get some good statistics for you all. So stay tuned and May God Bless you all.

Thank you again for all of your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. It takes all parts of this body working together to have it function properly.

Rick Astone, PT

Final exam and Leprosy.

2011-03-03T08:54:00.008-05:00

Today we had the final exam for this year! Just look at the concentration on the student’s faces. We also handed out course evaluations for the students to grade and give input on how we did. We will find out the results tomorrow.

In the afternoon we had our final guest teacher, Dr. Trevor Smith. He is an Australian born doctor who has lived in Chiang Mai about 35 yrs. He is one of the leading experts on Leprosy. 10 yrs ago he was seeing 200 new cases of leprosy in Thailand every year. This last year he saw 15 new cases in all of Thailand.

Now Burma is a different story. Burma is considered one of the active leprosy areas although no one can get accurate figures out of that country. We

polled our students using the Audience Response System (this is kind of like voting on American idol) and found out instantly that about half of the students have someone with leprosy in their area. Two of the students said they know of new leprosy patients in this last year! These numbers are disconcerting because leprosy is a contagious disease, but it is also totally curable if you catch it early. This is one of those diseases that should not still be a problem anywhere in the world today. Fortunately Leprosy does not effect everyone but the people most at risk are those who are unhealthy or malnourished to begin with. So in countries where health conditions are poor it can be a bigger problem. Now that the Barefoot Doctor students know how to identify and treat it if necessary, there is new hope for those who are otherwise unreachable.

Tomorrow is our last day of teaching! Pray that it goes well and we get every thing completed that needs to be done.

2011-03-02T22:02:00.005-05:00

The Weather is getting hot over here. It is in the 90’s and there is no Air conditioning where we teach. We tried moving to the new dorm building but it was not much better. The new dorm has smaller classroom, lower ceiling, and less ventilation so within minutes it was stuffy. Add people closer together and 90 + degrees heat and it is pretty uncomfortable. The heat is one reason we came a few weeks earlier this year and the weather has not been bad until the last couple of weeks. Once air-conditioning is installed it will be much better.

Despite the heat, things are going very well. This week I have had a chance to teach them some basic physical rehabilitation techniques. In these pictures you can see how we used bamboo to challenge their balance and then show how just a little assistance can help. The main point for rehab for the majority of disabled children and stroke victims is to help them help themselves.

The patients should be encouraged to do as much as they can on their own before they get assistance. We also when over ROM, Back Pain, and function. It turns out 16 of the 24 students have disable children in their villages so how to help rehab a CP child for example can make a lifelong improvement to the child and their family.

We also found out at least half of the students ride a motorcycle on a fairly regular basis either

as a driver or a passenger. Motorcycles are the most widely used mode of mechanical transportation. Often there is no road but you can get around by motorcycle. Even here in Thailand there are more motorcycles than cars. However, most people here do not wear helmets! One of our translators, Abraham, has had three motorcycle crashes when he hit is head but fortunately he was wearing his helmet. So to dramatically demonstrate our point we got two small watermelons from the cooking staff and put little faces on them. Then we put one of the melon heads in a motorcycle helmet and dropped it from about chest height.

The watermelon was unharmed. Then we took the melon head and dropped it from the same height without the helmet. The results were tragic for melon head as you can see from this picture. The moral of the story was you should always wear your helmet to save your life or prevent serious brain injury.

Injections and Flannel Boards

2011-02-27T07:35:00.008-05:00

It was a busy week here with only Dr. Nilson and I running the program without any additional help this week. To top it off we both got violently ill on Wednesday evening and all day Thursday. We made it back to the training center Friday but we were nowhere near 100%. In fact on Wednesday night and most of Thursday I was so sick I could not even sit up for more than a few seconds at a time. We are both much better now and back to our busy schedule.

The Barefoot doctor’s training this week started off with more quizzes and student presentations. You can see here a few of the students presenting on arthritis and hypertension.

On Tuesday we had the students learn about and practice injections

on oranges. Once they had the technique down for intramuscular injections we had them practice on each other! We

had ordered 15 Tetanus vaccines for about 11 of our students as a booster after receiving their 1^st shot last year. That is right. About half the class had never had a tetanus shot before last year. Three of the extra shots went to students who had one tetanus shot in their life but never a booster and one was a simple booster shot for a student. They all did very well with this skill and now can

give vaccine shots back in their homeland when needed. Some of the students live near clinics that will give children vaccines if the parent brings the child into the clinic. This may involve walking for miles or even days. Other villages do not have a clinic or sometimes the “clinic” does not have vaccines or even electricity. If you do not have electricity you can not properly store the vaccine so it is not much help in this area. Our hope is that now that the students are trained in giving vaccine injections, they can work with whatever government or non-government personnel may be in the area to help get the children and adults vaccinated. Even if vaccines only come through an area once or twice a year, you can get a lot more people immunized with more people power. Additionally, the Barefoot Doctors will have the trust of the people so hopefully the villagers will take their advice on getting their children vaccinated. We have heard many stories of villagers who refused to get their child vaccinated because of fear and mistrust of the government officials giving the shots. We have heard more examples of simply not having any vaccines available in their areas.

On Wednesday I started them on a flannel board project. This involved a flannel cloth board used to stick other flannel-backed pieces to it with pictures on them. I had them break into 4 small groups to prepare the projects.

The presentations got off to a rough start and I was worried maybe this was a bad idea and going to be a total waste of time. By Friday the presentations were amazingly good! I could follow the story without the verbal translation! The groups who did the best presentation then had to give the 5-person kitchen staff their presentation on how germs are spread and how to minimize this. You can see in these pictures that in the early presentations the drawings are small and unclear, and they put all the pictures up at once and then pulled them off and pointed to them as they talked (very distracting), even though they were clearly presented. By Friday they had great

drawings and cut outs that were large, easy to see, and simple ones, and only one idea at a time was on the board so anyone can follow along. In this way, the story is clearly presented even through language barriers.

The idea of the flannel board is you can use pictures to tell a story in addition to the words you are saying. This is particularly helpful in areas with little or no education or when teaching across language barriers. So this lesson is not only to teach them but also to teach the students how to teach others. By drawing and

preparing presentations the students learn the subject even better. If they feel this technique is useful, it is lightweight, compact, cheap, and easy to take anywhere in your back pack.

I am very proud of all the Barefoot Dr students. They are doing a great job and are passionate about their work.

Until next time Sawadee Krup,

Rick Astone

Border Run

2011-02-22T09:13:00.008-05:00

Over the weekend we made a trip to the Golden Triangle so we could cross the border and get a 2-week extension on our visas. An added bonus was getting to go to Timothy’s house on the Burma side for lunch. We had a big crew of Dr. Dave, Cyril, Bjorn, me, and Lydia one of the English teachers for the FLC Mission. Of course Timothy was guiding us around and BeePal our driver provided his van for the long drive up to the border. Moses, one of the Barefoot Dr students also came to see his 3 yr old son in the hospital. His son is fine now and back home but would appreciate your prayers. As for the rest of us we had a great adventure. We got in late and stayed the night in Mae Sai, the border town on the Thailand side.

The next morning we had to cross the border and then go to breakfast in Burma with Timothy. It was actually pretty good but the atmosphere is quite different than on the Thailand side of the border. There was a lot of yelling and running in the busy street side restaurant. This has a tendency to make one a bit on edge but we never felt threatened. Then it was off to visit a pharmacy to see what was available and the prices of meds we will be recommending for the Barefoot Dr. Students. Very interesting for all you medical types. They have a mix of Chinese, Indian, and western medicine with strange rules of what you can buy over the counter and what you have to get from a hospital. For example, you can buy antibiotics over the counter but one of the best malaria drugs available you can only get through the hospital. HIV meds are only available through the hospital but adrenalin injections you can get at the pharmacy. Of course you have to be on the look out for counterfeit medications in Burma as well, but usually the pharmacist can tell what is ok and what is not so good. The poor pharmacist got very nervous with all the questions we were asking. I thought he was going to kick us out of the store when Cyril whipped out his video camera. After we explained who we were and what we were doing the pharmacist was extremely helpful. It was a good example of the underlying tension and fear that exists in that country, and yet there are many good people living there.

Timothy’s house for lunch was a real treat. Fabulous food prepared by his wife and a good time looking at old cross bows hand made from wood and bone Timothy used for hunting in his younger days.

The Doctors got a chance to examine a few patients as well. Timothy had treated the neighbor’s boy for TB last year and he is now totally recovered, but his mother was concerned and wanted Dr. Nilson to take a look at her boy. She also was worried maybe her other boy had TB as well. Both boys are totally healthy and the family’s worries were put to rest after having a pediatric expert like Dr. Nilson examine them. One other fascinating patient at Timothy’s home presented herself with

“Moth – eaten” alopecia! The verdict is still out on that one but a very rare condition to be sure and one that needs more medical work up by a hospital.

On our way home we stopped and saw a few sites in the Golden Triangle including a small opium museum. It was very educational to us and has important implications to our work, not only medically but socially as well.

It was back to work this week. It is just Dr. Nilson and myself from here on out with a one-day exception of help from a local Dr. So pray for us to have endurance.

Thank you all and May God bless you.

Rick

Week 4 completed

2011-02-20T19:08:00.006-05:00

We finished up week 4 on Friday and said goodbye to Dr. David Brumwell and Cyril Thomas, PA. They did a great job and were a huge help to us and this program. The students enjoyed all the hands on activities. They really seem to learn best by doing things rather than book learning. We finished up Friday teaching them how to place foley catheters on male and female manikins. This is a relatively simple technique that will allow a bladder to empty if a patient is unable to urinate on their own. Then we said our good byes and of course a lot of picture taking at the end.

As usual, the instructors both had a profound experience through teaching in this program. They were touched by the students' passion and dedication to help others. We all hope and pray they will be able to return next year to contribute again.

After that we headed straight for Burma! More on that trip later.

Help From the ER Guys!

2011-02-17T09:13:00.005-05:00

Well it has been an exciting few days with the ER guys here. Yesterday was suture lab using pigs feet. This is always a favorite for the students. It is truly amazing how quickly they pick up hands on skills. Some would even say these students are better at learning skills then American students. Above you can see Dr. Dave demonstrating lancing an abscess after Dr. Cyril showed us how to project live images onto the big screen using the camera in his computer. This is a huge advantage in showing them all a small scale technique. Especially when you are dealing with a language barrier.

Dr. Dave and Cyril have been teaching a lot of exciting and useful subjects including what to do for a patient after a motor vehicle accident, as seen in this picture.

Yesterday after class we made a trip into town to see a local dentist for our two patients with severe teeth issues. Since we have been unable to find any dentists willing to help us teach these students we had to take them into town to get treatment. There is a very nice Christian Dentist in town that was extremely nice in helping us out with this, but he was unable to treat one of the students because of his high blood pressure. We treated this student as a class last year and had his BP well controlled. Like many patients in the USA he stopped taking his BP medicine after a few months because he was not feeling sick from his high BP and felt the medicine was making him a little weak. So we use this as a perfect example to the class of what not to do and why it is important. After spending about 4 hours belaboring this subject from every possible angle I don’t think he will stop his medicine again.

We fond some old pulled teeth in the training center from years past so we put them out for the students to see. Simply horrible teeth! I don’t think you would ever see anything like them in the USA. Just take a look.

That is all for now. We head to Burma this weekend to get our Visa’s extended for our last two weeks in Thailand.

Half way through!

2011-02-13T04:29:00.008-05:00

Not only are the Barefoot Dr students halfway through the second year but they are also half way through the entire program! Of course that means Mid Terms! On Friday we gave them their mid term exam and we will grade them Monday. This is good to see how the students are doing but also how we are doing as teachers. If there are any class-wide trends of missed questions, then likely it is do to our teaching and not the students. We will use this information to further tailor the program to the students needs. All the teaching staff ends up learning and growing from this experience as much as the students.

We also had Dr. David Brumwell return and Cyril Thomas MS PA-C join us on Friday. They were not scheduled to teach until Monday the 14th but they were so eager to get going they started Friday. Dr. Nilson and I could surely use the extra help.

Dr. David and Dr. Cyril, as they are known by the students, are both from San Diego. They work at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center ER. Their skills will be very valuable to the students.

Dr. David’s daughter Alexis also joined us for the day on Friday just to see the program. She quickly was recruited as a practice patient as

David and Cyril taught on choking and CPR. In these pictures you can see Cyril 1^st demonstrating and then having the students go through the procedure for an unconscious choking victim, using David as patient. Also, there is a picture of David demonstrating on Alexis the jaw thrust while showing the “look, listen, and feel” of CPR. Alexis was actually a big help in allowing the patients to practice on a real person.

Cyril started out by giving them all a small gift of a T-shirt. They loved the gift as you can see by the picture.

For dinner that night Dr. David requested we return to his favorite worm serving restaurant so his daughter could enjoy the fried bamboo worms for herself. Perhaps this was intended as her reward for helping us in class. I am sure Alexis appreciated the gesture. Doesn't she look happy as she is about to eat the worms in this picture?

The Buie's last day

2011-02-12T06:10:00.005-05:00

Thursday was the Buie’s last day teaching with us this year. It was a real blessing having them here with us and we pray they will be able to return next year. The students gathered around and prayed for the Buie’s at the end of the day as seen in this picture.

We also all learned something new today. One of the students asked us about a bean none of us had ever heard of before. The student had heard that it is poisonous, but it is popular to eat in Burma. Thanks to the newly installed internet at the training facility (thanks to Bob Bowling!) we looked it up instantly. The Djenkol Bean is poisonous and causes kidney disease when eaten Raw. However, if properly prepared by boiling it and changing the water a time or two, or by soaking it in saltwater for a few days, it takes the poison away and it is quit nutritious. Then we looked up how to treat Djenkol poisoning so the students are prepared for this very possible emergency in Burma. Here is a picture of the Djenkol Bean. More information can be found by searching it on Google. The students did add that it smells awful. I occasionally eat some strange things but I think I will just stay away from the Djenkol bean for now.

2011-02-09T19:42:00.006-05:00

We started off yesterday with more small group presentations per Dr. Buie’s assignment the night before. They covered all sorts of abdominal pain including appendicitis, ulcers, gallstones, urinary tract infections, and ectopic pregnancy. Dr. Buie also taught on one of the more

important subject of T.B. We were surprised at the high numbers of TB the students are reporting. Of the 24 students 5 of them reported TB in their family and 22 had TB in their village.

Gayle Buie used very creative and fun ways to teach about nutrition. She used yarn to show how long the intestines were and made peanut butter and banana sandwiches to talk about food groups. This was a tasty idea and for most of the students their first peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Gayle also used a sock with a tennis ball in it to

show how food moves through the intestines. The students really enjoy and get a lot out of the hands on activities.

Sawadee Krap from Thailand,

Rick

A Good Day of Worms and Black Eggs!

2011-02-08T08:52:00.012-05:00

I finally got a few pictures of the Audience Response System I talked about in the last blog. I think the pictures help explain what it is and how we use this technology in the teaching. You can see the question and then the bar graph of the students' answers instantly on the screen behind Dr. Nilson.

The students gave a couple more presentations today. Here is Ken Saw in one picture and a small group presenting in another.

We used poor Bob Bowling as an example to the class about how to address health and safety issues in villages. Bob is wrapping up the big dormitory construction project on the Kalnin Leadership Center property where we do the teaching. Awhile back we had the students walk around the property and find health and safety issues. As each issue was identified we also had them set up an action plan on how to correct it. They did well with issues they can address themselves like putting fish in empty bodies of water so no mosquitoes will grow. However, they have difficulty forming committees or addressing authorities. Because there are still no handrails on the steep outside steps to the newly constructed dorm, Bob was the perfect scapegoat and example. Here is a dramatic photo of the confrontation of Bob by Dr. Nilson in front of the class! It was all in good fun, of course. Bob made a call to the construction company and the rails should be up by the end of the week. We can only begin to understand what it is like in their country, but obviously they are not encouraged to address authorities with any requests like this.

This week Dr. Jim Buie and his wife Gayle are teaching the Barefoot Dr students. They have both taught Barefoot Drs in the past but not for a couple of years, so all these students are new to them. It has been great to have their experience and encouragement this week. Today we learned about WORMS! They are totally disgusting little parasites that can be a huge problem in the developing world. The Buies made good use of some gummy worm props to illustrate their points. Also quite tasty! Gayle told the students something to the effect of “The worms havealready eaten you, so you might as well eat them now!”

They also brought some useful gifts for the students including good old- fashioned thermometers. The students actually all received digital thermometers last year, but many of the batteries had already died and they have been unable to replace them. Even we could not find batteries for the student’s thermometers in our short search. It was cheaper and a better long-term solution just to get them the low-tech version.

The Buies have also been teaching and having the students practice taking vital signs. Jim has been showing them how to exam a patient and teaching on common diseases. Jim finished up with the abdominal exam on one of the students.

All the talk of worms and abdominal issues made Bjorn and I awfully hungry. So, when we got back to our hotel, we walked down the street and decided we would eat in one of the local dives on the side of the road. To our delight they had a special treat “100 yr old eggs!” Just the look of these black rotten eggs is enough to give you abdominal pain. Of course, we both had to try it (see the pictures below). Nether of us had ever had one before and actually they were not bad . . . . Not good but not bad. To top the experience off, it all took place across the street from the Thai “Office of Disease Prevention and Control.”

It was a good day!

Week two completed!

2011-02-05T06:13:00.006-05:00

This week’s highlights.

Dr. Nilson also made a point with a tee shirt that read, “ Where you live should not decide if you live or Die!” He was emphasizing how important and doable preventative health care can be, particularly with children. The Barefoot Drs can save many more lives preventing disease than simply by treating sick patients.

It has been another busy but great week. There are a few highlights I did not get a chance to tell you all about on the Blog.

One is that we have a new toy. Bjorn ordered an Audience Response System for us to use with the students. There has been a bit of a learning curve for the students and for us but it promises to be a huge help. It is basically a radio frequency receiver that hooks to your computer with a program for collecting data. Each student gets a small hand held clicker. We project a question on the screen with multiple choice or true / false questions and the students can answer with their remote clickers. This way we know what the individual students know, not just the class collectively. We get the data instantly and can immediately show it in graphs or charts on the screen for all to see.

This brought up an interesting problem for us. The students were very confused when we would ask them a negative question like “What is not the right answer?” Evidently, most of them have not been exposed to these types of questions before. This is something we did not realize until now, and it is very important because as Westerners we talk like this often. So many times in the past when they were confused it may not have been the subject matter but the way the question was presented that was the problem.

Another highlight was on Friday when we decided they needed more practice on paperwork and how to actually take care of a patient from start to finish. They had significant difficulty with this. We had them break into small groups then take a history and exam on an actual patient (one of the students with severe abdominal pain). We then projected one of their field patient log forms on a white board and had them fill in the blanks so then we could all see and ask questions. This was great practical practice on how to see a patient and use the form. They had quite a bit of difficulty with this. It took at least two hours to go through what we thought would be a fairly simple exercise. Again, we as Westerners take too much for granted. One of the translators told me that often in Burma they are not taught critical thinking. In many classrooms you do not ask questions and you only give the right answer. You definitely do not question the teacher. We are asking them to do all of these things, but we have realized we must first teach them how to do them.

Here is Abraham (one of our translators) helping to fill out the projected log form.

In this picture Thin Bey is summing up the conclusion on the patient and what drugs to use. The patient has a 5 yr history of stomach pain and the problem is likely an ulcer. We expect him to start feeling better by Mon.

The students have been continuing with their presentations. Here is Zimi Ram presenting on the eye.

Splinting practice

2011-02-04T02:36:00.005-05:00

Yesterday Dr. Susan McDowell showed the students how to use some splinting techniques using a “SAM” splint and Ace wrap for fractures in arms and legs. Dr. McDowell gave them all their own ace wraps among other supplies she donated to the program. The “SAM” splints are courtesy of Cyril Thomas who will be joining us in a couple of weeks.

One of the students saw an interesting orthopedic case in one of the villages. A hunter shot a wild bore but it charged him. Before the bore died he rammed into the hunter's arm, breaking his humerus (upper arm bone). Using techniques from last year the Barefoot Dr splinted the arm with bamboo and cloth for 6 weeks. When the Barefoot Dr last saw him, the hunter is recovering but he is still very stiff in his arm. These “SAM” splints will be lighter and flexible and easy to use. This new splints and Ace Wraps will make it much easier and faster to splint injuries.

2011-02-02T06:48:00.004-05:00

This week started with Dr. Susan McDowell joining us for a second year in a row. Dr. McDowell is an Orthopedic resident from Indiana University and has already started sharing her valuable skills with the Barefoot Dr. Students. She had the day off on Tues. so she could go see one of the “model villages” here in Thailand. The visit to this primitive village gave her a better understanding of what it is like where the students come from. The village she saw, however, has many advantages because it is in Thailand and not too far from modern towns.

The students are continuing their presentations on various subjects. Here you see Ester Mai Mai giving an excellent presentation on Rheumatic Fever. She even used visual aids and she made use of the anatomy dummy.

I have been continuing to teach them about germs and how disease is spread. I will make them all germophobic yet.

I have also been teaching them about how to use their books. It dawned on us that they may not have ever been taught how to use things like an index, charts, and vocabulary lists in books. Sure enough, this turned out to be a difficult and valuable subject for them. Something we have been taught from a very young age and take for granted is a new concept to many of them. Of course a few of them have had more formal education and had an easy time with this subject. From the teacher's standpoint, this was an important revelation for us. We had been struggling with why they were not looking things up as we asked them to and why they were having such difficulty finding subjects in the book. Their difficulty following us in the book information turned out to be our error because we did not start with how to use the book. It simply never dawned on us until the end of last week.

Until next time.

Rick

Where are the dentists?!

2011-02-01T08:06:00.002-05:00

Where are the dentists?! This picture is of one of our students with a severe tooth infection. Last week the side of his face was swollen and red. He was literally wincing with pain as he sat in class. I don’t know how he managed to sit through our lectures at all with that type of pain. We started him on Amoxicillin and after a week he has very little pain or swelling. However, this is only a short-term solution to the infection. As you can see from the picture those teeth are in bad shape and at least one needs to come out. We can teach them a lot about teeth but they should really have a professional dentist to help us deal with these types of issues and teach the students what to do in the field.

We completed week one!

2011-01-30T06:22:00.006-05:00

We spent most of the week hearing from the students on their experiences over the past year. We needed to know what they have seen and treated. We also wanted to know what they had questions about, now that they have been using their skills for a year. We reviewed some of their cases briefly in class and will go more in depth on the needed subjects now that they have been identified. They also turned in the pt log books and are in the process of sorting out the data. This is a very brief “chart note” on each patient they treated. This also tells us what they thought the diagnosis was and what medicine they used to treat it.

Although they still have a lot to learn they did well and did not over step their training. They often referred patients to health clinics or more experienced Barefoot Drs. if they did not have the skills themselves to deal with it. This is much better than being over confident. As I mentioned a few days ago, two of the students saved patients by sending them to the health center even though it was not easy for the patients to get there. I initially forgot to ask them how far the patients had to travel but I have since gotten that information. It turns out the appendicitis patient I mentioned a few days ago only had to go 2 miles on the back of a motorcycle over rough terrain. That is not only very uncomfortable but also dangerous. They could have hit a big bump and burst his appendices. This situation would be unthinkable in the U.S., but where they are from it is actually extremely fortunate there was any clinic at all close by. The other patient I had mentioned was a young girl with tetanus. This is a horrible disease that usually leads to death even if you get to a hospital. This young girl was already to the point where the muscle spasms were arching her backwards. This poor family had to hand carry this girl 12 miles! They used a bamboo stretcher to get her to the hospital and, amazingly, the girl lived!

We started teaching some review lessons of last year and new lessons on community health issues. We have also assigned each student to do a short presentation of a subject we assign. So far we have heard about Goiter from Thin Bey, and Gout from Moses. I have a picture above of Moses giving his very professional presentation. Although, I could have sworn it was a sermon had I not known better. I guess that is his evangelical roots coming out.

One of our struggles has been getting them to understand how disease is spread. Germs are a relatively new concept to them. They are much better this year than last but we have to repeatedly go over what are simple concepts to you and I. Just imagine if you did not already know about germs and no one ever told you about them. It would be a difficult concept to grasp. These things we can not see spread and cause disease?

We had one great but disgusting example. As many of you know I am a “germaphobe” myself so this is near to my heart. The students are staying in a bit overcrowded dorm with only two communal bathrooms. So there are about 13 people using each bathroom. The problem was that when we went in the bathroom there was only one towel! Now that was bad

enough but to make it worse there was no soap! Dr. Nilson made a theatrical example in front of the class by throwing the towel in the trash. It is better to just air dry then spread the germs around. Yes, they now have soap in both bathrooms and we are addressing the other “community health” issues as well.

We start back up tomorrow so please keep up the prayers.

Thanks,

Rick

2011-01-27T08:44:00.007-05:00

We had another good few days since the last update. We have been very busy getting organized, adjusted, and started with the course. We also have difficulty with our internet connection at times, which limits how much I can keep everyone updated.

Dr. David Brumwell joined us for a couple of days before his scheduled teaching time in a couple of weeks. He wanted to learn more about the students before he was scheduled to teach. He ended up helping us teach the last few days! It was a huge blessing to us to have someone else help do some of the teaching. Up until that point Dr. Nilson had done most of the teaching and I was doing more administrative tasks.

Dr. Dave did a great job and had some real life patients for demonstration as two of the students had tooth infections. It was a great teaching example for the class and they have been started on antibiotics. We may have a Barefoot Dr that completed training years ago come to extract the teeth if needed. Dr. David also taught about other things that cause a swollen neckand used me as an example. It is disappointing that no dentists are coming to teach this year but there is actually a lot we have been able to teach them and still more we can teach.

Another highlight is that we issued all the students a new book. The “Burmese Border Guidelines” will be the secondary text for the remainder of the course. It is much more technical than the original text we use but has some really good medical information.

Oh yes, Dr. Dave also thought it would be a good idea to run his own little medical experiment on how much an American stomach can handle of authentic Thai food. He ordered “young bamboo worms” for us all to eat at dinner! As you can see from the picture they are not the most appealing dish but actually quite good!

That is all for now.

Rick

The First day of Medical training is underway!

2011-01-24T09:04:00.006-05:00

The much anticipated 2011 Barefoot Drs medical training started today. These second year students started off by sharing a little about their experiences over the last year. This gives us a good idea of what we need to focus on and how much they retained from last year. It also provides a great real life learning opportunity for all the students to learn from each others experiences. We are only about ½ through the interviews but we already have some great stories.

Keep in mind this year is the second year of a three year program. The experiences they are sharing from this last year is after only their 1^st year of training and already they are saving lives!

One student came across an acute appendicitis and correctly told the patient they needed to go to the hospital. Thankfully this situation was near a hospital and the Doctor there told our Barefoot Dr student that had he waited one more hour the patient would probably have died.

Another life saving diagnosis by a Barefoot Dr student was when he was called in to look at a young girl who cut her thigh on a rusty nail. Her symptoms started with severe pain in the thigh but then spread to the entire body. Within a few days she was having severe spasms pulling her body into extension. Fortunately the Barefoot Dr recognized that there was nothing he could do and that the patient needed to go to the health clinic no matter how difficult that may be. The Doctor at the clinic successfully treated the Tetanus and saved the girl's life. The doctor told the Barefoot Dr that the girl would have died if he had waited to bring her in any longer.

The last story for the night is not of life and death but definitely unusual and relates to rehab, a subject close to my heart as a P.T. This Barefoot Dr student had a patient who’s leg was permanently damaged years before from a Tiger bite! Because of his leg injury this man walked with a crutch. Unfortunately this patient’s crutch had broken so our Barefoot Dr student made him a new one with the knowledge he learned in class last year.

It's very exciting and encouraging for us to hear that this first year class is already making a difference.

There was also a prize given out for the student who filled out the most patient contact forms. It is basically a brief record of patients they have seen over the year. Just like students around the world, getting them all to fill out the proper paper work can me a challenge. Well, the winner by a long shot was Ester Mai Mai with 101 logs’s completed. The next best was 55. So she won a very nice digital camera! This can also be used in her work and to send pictures of her work back to us.

I hope to have more interesting stories for you over the next few days.

Thank you all for your support.

Rick Astone

Year Two Begins January 24th!

2011-01-21T10:22:00.003-05:00

Rick and Bjorn have just arrived in Thailand for the beginning of the Barefoot Doctors School on Monday, January 24th. We are very excited about launching this second year of the school!
24 of our 26 students are already here and anxious to continue their medical training. Two of our students have not been able to come so far (one due to heavy snows and the other due to family problems), but we hope they will yet join us.
We are grateful for the teachers from America and England who will be joining us for medical and Bible teaching throughout the weeks of study, January 24th to March 5th.
Several things have been improved since last year, including the fact that the new dormitory at the Kalnin Learning Center now has space for our students and our instructors! This will make it possible for our teachers and students to have more time this year to communicate with each other on a personal level. This will greatly enhance the learning experience, and we are grateful to FLC for working hard to complete this dormitory.
We have added another medical book to our teaching curriculum this year, the Burmese Border Guidelines book. If you are interested in seeing what this book is like, you can read it online at the Hesperian Foundation or even download a pdf version of it for free. We will also be reviewing last year's text, Where There is No Doctor (which is also available at the Hesperian website). Both of these books are available in Burmese and English.
Please be in prayer for us as God brings everyone back together on Monday, the 24th, as we begin six weeks of intensive training.

Thank you all!

2010-03-22T13:01:00.008-04:00

Barefoot Doctors Class 2010
Well we made it home safe and sound. Although, i am still recovering from Jet lag.

To the left is the Barefoot Doctors at church, notice the feet. To the right is me (Rick) with the homemade crutches.

This may be the last entry for awhile. I wanted to get a few more pictures on and also thank all of you for your support. There are few other opportunities in the world where you can make such a profound difference with so little of an investment. The Barefoot Doctors program already has the volunteers to go do the really hard work. The Barefoot Doctors have accepted the challenge to be the Hands and Feet of God. They go where outsiders are not allowed. They can save a life with the knowledge and training we give them and a few pennies worth of medication! All of us that support this program in one way or another are directly responsible for helping to save lives! And in areas very few can go. I feel personally blessed and honored to be able to be a part of this miraculous project.

I also want to point out that this would not be possible without many others all around the world helping in various ways. This was not accomplished by one person but by a team. It was the whole “body” that enabled the Barefoot Doctors to do their part as the hands and feet. They are the feet in walking where others cannot and they are the hands in the medical care they give. They offer spiritual healing and guidance as well as physical. Many of you have contributed prayer, money, medical equipment, your valuable time, and your expertise. It was a team that completed this mission under the direction of God's plan. There were far too many “coincidences” that happened all throughout this program that turned out to be critical for its success. There is no doubt in my mind that this was God's hand at work guiding this project along. All He asked from us was to be available to answer his call. For some of us this was more intimidating than for others because of the level of involvement asked. The amazing part is that every one who gives to this gets so much more back in return. The rewards are in things much more valuable than material objects. The benefit of the patients the Barefoot doctors will see may be their very life!

Until next year.
Thank you and may God Bless you all!
Rick

Medication Donations Needed, Please!

2010-03-15T14:11:00.003-04:00

The teaching for this year's Barefoot Doctors School is over, and now our students are headed home to help the people in their villages. We are still quite short on our funding for medications, but we hope those of you who have been following this blog can help us.
I thought it would be helpful if everyone could see the prices on some of the drugs we are going to be using. This is based on the last two years of pricing data and should be accurate. It does not take much money to help save a life. The drugs are relatively cheap, the Barefoot Drs are eager to deliver treatments, and the need for treatment is extremely great. For most of their patients there is nowhere else to get medical help.
Please search your heart and pray about this. If you are prompted to give, it will be a great help to our Barefoot Drs. Even a small amount can be used to save a life. Here are a few examples.

COST PER TREATMENT/CURE: MALARIA $0.62
COST PER TREATMENT/CURE: MENINIGITIS $2.50
COST PER TREATMENT/CURE: PNEUMONIA $0.25
Yes, that is right. It only cost $0.62 to cure a case of malaria! And just $0.25 to cure pneumonia! That is not just one dose. That is the entire treatment!

There are more details below for those interested in helping meet this need.

To donate any of these medicines, please note clearly on your donation that it is for the Barefoot Doctors program.
You can donate online at the FLC website: http://www.frontierlabourersforchrist.org/
Or you can send your donation to one of these two addresses.
In The USA:
Frontier Labourers for Christ
Barefoot Drs. Program
Kevin Eldredge, Treasurer
P.O. Box 630382
Highlands Ranch, CO 80163

In Canada:
Frontier Labourers for Christ
Barefoot Drs. Program
David Kindy, Treasurer
P.O. Box 194
Selkirk, ON NOA 1PO

Here's the complete list of medicines we need. Sorry the formatting will probably be hard to follow on this blog.
2009 Medicine Unit prices as of 12/12/2008

NO. DESCRIPTION PACKING QTY UNIT/PRICE AMOUNT UNIT/TX COST/TX COST/TX
(BAHT) (BAHT) (BAHT) (BAHT) $ US
A. Medicines

A1. Pills
1 Aluminum Hydroxide 500 mg tablet 2000 0.17 340 40 6.8 $0.21
2 Amoxicillin 250 mg capsules 3000 1 3,000 80 80 $2.50
3 Aspirin 300 mg tablet 2000 0.18 360 10 1.8 $0.06
4 Artesunate tabs 480 12 5,520 1 12 $0.38
5 Buthylscopolamine (Buscopan)10 mg tablet 200 0.99 198 10 9.9 $0.31
6 Chloroquine base 150 mg tablet 1000 0.5 500 0 $-
7 Chlorpheniramine 4 mg tablet 1000 0.03 30 20 0.6 $0.02
8 Ranitidine 150mg tablet 500 1 500 30 30 $0.94
9 Ciprofloxacine 250 mg capsules 1000 1.24 1,240 20 24.8 $0.78
10 Cloxacillin 250 mg capsules 1000 1 1,000 49 49 $1.53
11 Co-trimoxazole 80/400mg tablet 3000 0.4 1,200 20 8 $0.25
12 Diazepam 5 mg tablet 200 0.7 140 0 $-
13 Doxycycline 100 mg tablet 1000 0.65 650 12 7.8 $0.24
14 F.B.C caps 1000 0.32 320 0 $-
15 Ferrous Sulphate 200 mg ANB tablet 1000 0.1 100 60 6 $0.19
16 Folic Acid 5 mg (CP) tablet 2000 0.2 400 100 20 $0.63
17 Hydrochlorthiazide 50 mg (NOT LASIX) tablet 500 0.14 70 50 7 $0.22
18 Ibuprofen 200 mg tablet 1000 0.25 250 20 5 $0.16
19 Mebendazole 100 mg tablet 1000 0.4 400 3 1.2 $0.04
20 Metronidazole 250 mg tablet 1000 0.26 260 80 20.8 $0.65
21 Multivitamin tablet 1000 0.19 190 100 19 $0.59
22 ORS packs 27,9g/750ml sacht 200 2 400 5 10 $0.31
23 Paracetamol 500 mg tablet 4000 0.18 720 10 1.8 $0.06
24 Prednislone 5 mg tablet 200 0.26 52 20 5.2 $0.16
25 Pyridoxine 10 mg tablet 500 0.2 100 0 $-
26 Quinine Sulphate 300 mg tablet 2000 2 4,000 0 $-
27 Vitamin B 1 100 mg tablet 1000 0.23 230 0 $-
28 Vitamin B Complex tablet 1000 0.1 100 0 $-
29 Albendazole 200mg tabs 250 2 500 0 $-
30 Cindimycin 150mg tabs 100 6 600 0 $-
31 Erythromycin tabs 250mg tabs 500 2 1,000 0 $-
32 Fluconazole 50mg tabs tabs 100 7 700 0 $-
33 Vit A 25,000IU tabs 1,000 0.38 380 4 1.52 $0.05
Total 25450

Thanks so much for any help you can send us!

Tetanus Vaccines

2010-03-14T11:04:00.004-04:00

First of all I want to remind everyone that Sunday March 14th is the Global Day of Prayer for Burma. Please pray for the people of Burma that are in desperate need.

Secondly, I wanted to share some more pictures from last week with you all. Thursday we practiced giving injections. 15 of our students had Never had a Tetanus vaccine! Since we never see or hear about actually getting tetanus in the USA I had to get some information on it. It is a particularly nasty disease. It is basically a neuro toxin that causes all your muscles to contract until people end up arched backward from the spasms. Sometimes the muscle contractions actually fracture the spine. Eventually you smother yourself because your contractions are so strong you can no longer breath. There is not a good treatment once you have the advanced stage of the disease. All the time the victim’s mental status is unaffected.
With proper vaccinations it is easily prevented and now our students have that protection. In addition, they got to practice giving injections to their classmates. The students that did not get to give an injection to a person had to settle for an orange.

WE FINISHED!

2010-03-12T23:45:00.009-05:00

The Barefoot Dr students. In the front row from left to right is Dr. Vegas Coleman, Dr. Lauren Hansen-Welches, Dr. Elise O’Connell, Dr. Bjorn Nilson, Rick Astone MPT, Timothy and Abraham our translators and Barefoot Drs themselves.

We finished! Somehow we got everything done by the end of the medical program. It was only possible by the grace of God. The program came to a very successful close Friday night and ended with a dinner and celebration after class. There were a few speeches, a lot of singing, gift-giving, and of course PICTURES. We concluded the celebration with everyone forming a circle and praying out loud in their native language for the guidance and safety of the Barefoot Dr students as well as the teaching Doctors. It was a powerful and special evening.
One of the Barefoot Dr students, Thin Bey, shared a testimony of an event in his village when some fully trained Barefoot Drs saved a man's life after the man was sent home from the local medical clinic to die. The villagers had already dug his grave and made the coffin for this guy! They had filled out the head stone and just left the end date blank to be completed at his actual death. This dying man was unconscious when a team of Barefoot Drs went to see him. Thin Bey does not know exactly what they did but he told us they drained a lot of fluid from his abdomen. In two days the man was on his feet and now he is back to work in the fields and doing just fine. Thin Bey had lunch with him a few months ago before he came down to the Barefoot Drs training. I should also mention there was a lot of praying going on for this sick man as well. Whole villages and churches were praying for him as well as the Barefoot Drs themselves. So who knows exactly how he was healed but he was healed. The credit goes to God either way but most believe that God healed this man through the Barefoot Drs medical treatment.

The last day of class was jammed full of last minute things we had to complete. Dr. Nilson went through scenarios, diseases, and drugs. We gave them a final exam that was compiled by the three visiting Doctors, Elise O’Connell, Lauren Hansen-Welches, Vegas Coleman.
We also had the students get familiar with their new field books they will use to document all their patient treatments. The book also has some medical coding and drug formularies in it for easy reference and documentation. Dr. Bjorn Nilson did an outstanding job compiling this field charting booklet for the students. We also need to thank our friends in the local medical community for their help and ideas for making this field booklet.
In addition to all that, we handed out their new waterproof medical bags and all the equipment we had. They are still short on many items and almost all the medicine they will need but this is a good start. They can get everything else fairly easily in Thailand or Burma once the money comes in. Of course there was more gift-giving and pictures even before we headed across the lawn to the celebration dinner. We gave them each a signed class photo collage Bjorn had put together on his computer and some dried fruit and nuts grown in California. Of course they gave each of us teachers gifts at the celebration as well. They had hand carried very special bamboo tea cups from their homes in northern Burma. These cups are handmade and cannot be bought in Thailand. It is humbling to be given gifts and prayed for by the students who have overcome greater obstacles to get here than we have. We Are Not Done With The Blog Yet! I will continue to post over the next few days to catch up on some other pictures and stories I did not have time to update you all on as they were happening. So stay tuned.

Sprint to the Finish

2010-03-11T10:38:00.003-05:00

It has been a crazy couple of days here. We are in a mad dash to the finish but somehow we are getting things done. Last night I got class pictures developed for everyone, and bulb syringes for the class. Today, I went to two different malls to find the waterproof bags we need for each of the barefoot doctors and I cleaned them both out of the size we needed. Rita picked up and delivered 15 tetanus vaccines for the Barefoot Drs who have never been vaccinated. The students practiced injections with the above and also on some defenseless oranges. Sarep Pung finished the field paperwork booklets for the students complete with coding tables and medication formulas for different age groups etc. The Teaching Drs. finished up on the curriculum. They also quizzed the students on diseases and drugs as well as organized our supplies to make up the medical kits the students will go home with.

In addition, we started off the day early with a hike up the hill behind the training center before class. Abraham and Thinbey guided Vegas, Lauren, Elise, and me through the woods to the top of the mountain overlooking the training center but Bjorn stayed back to get the students started off in the classroom. After class we all went out to a great “cultural dinner” with a show of traditional dancing and music. It was really quite amazing!

Tomorrow we will wrap up the program by issuing the students the final items and reviewing everything they have learned. After class, of course, there will be a closing celebration dinner at the training center. This will likely involve some speeches and some tribal dancing as well as gift giving. I will get some pictures up when I have more time. For now I have to get some sleep. Thanks for your prayers and support!
Rick

Three New Teaching Drs Arrive.

2010-03-09T09:08:00.009-05:00

It has been another busy week. We have three new doctors that arrived over the last few days. They are all from Indiana University (IU) and are doing an outstanding job. We are all enormously appreciative of their willingness to take time out of their extremely busy lives to help pass on desperately needed knowledge to the Barefoot Doctors. Ironically, we have not had one teaching doctor leave yet that did not tell us how impacted they were from this experience. Some felt like they had gotten even more out of it than the students themselves! There is no doubt it is a powerful experience.

Dr. Vegas Coleman got in Sunday afternoon and began teaching Monday on Psychological disorders, drug addiction, and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) among other things. Vegas is a Doctor of Psychology and doing a fellowship right now. He offers a badly needed specialty to these Barefoot Drs. The need is much greater than we had initially anticipated but almost all the students have seen a lot of addiction, PTSD, and other psychological disorders. The Barefoot Drs are a tough crowd when it comes to joke-telling, mostly due to translation issues, but somehow Vegas had them all laughing hysterically. He has a great, animated teaching style that needs no translation. It seems God has truly called him on this mission and I am sure great things will come from it.

Last night Deezi and I went to the airport at 12:30 AM to pick up Dr. Elise O’ Connell and our Otoscopes! It went smoothly except we had a new Customs agent and he had to call the contact info we had for the FDA agent after hours. Then the Customs agent raised the price of the tax! We worked it out and it is done now. Elise is an Internal Medicine Dr and began teaching bright and early Tuesday morning. Elise was teaching on how to examine a sick person. She had some great slides of graphic pictures to help the Barefoot Drs. see what diseases look like and how to diagnose and treat different problems.

Our third new arrival is Dr. Lauren Hansen-Welches, an ENT resident from IU. She arrived at 7:25 am and got a ride out to the training center at lunchtime to help teach the afternoon session and to teach the Barefoot Drs how to use their new OTOSCOPES! It was a fun afternoon but it is definitely getting hotter. It was about 100 degrees today. Our poor new Doctors held up well, but they must have been dying after coming from the cold weather in Indianapolis, in addition to the jetlag.

Otoscopes and Last Doctors Delivered Safely!

2010-03-08T22:15:00.005-05:00

This is just a quick note written by Jon. Rick is very busy, but he wanted everyone to know the otoscopes and the final teaching doctors all arrived safely and passed through Customs without a hitch (the otoscopes AND the doctors). He will be writing more later, but things are so busy right now he doesn't have the time.
Rick said they are not only finishing all of the teaching they need to accomplish, but they also have a lot of medicines and supplies to purchase and pack before the students head home to Burma next week.
Thanks for remembering in your prayers both the doctors and the students in this final week of medical training and Bible lessons.

More Fun at the Airport

2010-03-07T05:45:00.001-05:00

Today it was church in the morning (after sleeping in a bit) and then off to the airport to pick up our new Medical Resident who will be teaching tomorrow. Dr. Vegas Coleman arrived safely with a few medical supplies. The supplies themselves were more of a difficulty. Last week I had gone to the airport twice to get approval for the supplies. They only okayed about a fourth of them. Today they wanted to charge a higher tax than we should have to pay. All we had with this load was vitamins and some odds and ends after they denied so much of it. Then they were claiming it was worth like $400.00 USD. So they asked for 2,100.00 Baht. I nicely complained and soon the tax was 1,500.00 baht. I complained a little more but did not want to push my luck so I got out my wallet and all I had was 980Baht. They had to redo the “official” paperwork but that was okay. We ended the meeting with a few laughs so things will be fine for our next meeting on Tue for the Otoscopes. The Otoscpoes should go smoother based on their reactions and the scopes I have the actual receipt so they know the exact value to tax. We will chalk this year up to many valuable learning experiences. Next year we will buy everything here I think.

Trip to the Border

2010-03-07T04:22:00.006-05:00

Bjorn and Rick entering Myanmar (Burma).

Yesterday we went to Burma! Bjorn and I needed to get an extension on our visas to Thailand and one of the easiest ways is to just cross the border and come back. You get a 15-day extension by doing this. When Timothy, one of our translators and a Barefoot Dr. himself, found out he invited us to his home in Burma for lunch. Timothy lives relatively close to the border. One of the FLC staff members/ friend offered to drive us all up as long as we could do a little shopping. So the 4 of us headed off about 9:00 Am and did not get back to our hotel until 1:30 Am the next morning. It was actually a great day but very long. It is about 3.5 hrs each way. We did get to do some site seeing and shopping but the highlight was eating at Timothy’s home. It is modest but a nice home on a dirt road. They have a well outside for water but he treated us like royalty. We had a great meal with his wife and a visiting Burmese evangelist. Timothy often puts up visiting guests in his home.

After lunch he asked if I would take a look at his neighbor's teenage son who had an old foot injury they were concerned about. I was glad to be able to contribute and as it turned out the boy is doing very well. He had severed a toe tendon playing soccer but had received medical treatment and the tendon has healed. There is a big lumpy scar but no pain or loss of function. The mother was just concerned because they had no access to minor medical care in this city. Here is an exiting note about this boy, this is the same boy Timothy cured of T.B. two years ago! The family came to him when their son was week, skinny, and had a chronic cough. He was way under normal size and skinny for his age. The boy was sickly and not growing due to his illness. With his Barefoot Dr training, Timothy was able to recognize and treat the TB appropriately. Now the boy is obviously strong, healthy, and back to playing soccer!

Bjorn, Rick, Timothy's wife and son, Timothy, and Rita in front of Timothy's home

Leprosy Lecture with Dr. Trevor Smith

2010-03-05T09:18:00.008-05:00

This is a picture of a Beggar in Burma yesterday who may have had leprosy but hard to tell with out actually examining him more closely.

Friday Dr. Trevor Smith finished up on Dermatology issues. He is also a specialist in Leprosy! That is right, Leprosy. Dr. Smith is an Australian Dr. who has worked and lived in Chiang Mai for the past 32 yrs. He is in charge of a leprosy hospital just outside of town but they don't have many patients anymore. The treatment of leprosy is very good and very few people get the disease in the first place. So with a lot of good treatment available in Thailand Dr. Smith and his hospital are changing their focus to a rehab hospital. They are changing the old leper colony housing into assisted or independent living facilities. However, in Burma leprosy is still a problem. There are active leprosy colonies and almost no treatment available. The patients have a negative stigma attached to them and are usually rejected by their communities and even their families. Perhaps with the knowledge our Barefoot Dr students now possess there will be a few more patients that get the proper diagnosis and treatment. This may then prevent the horrible deformities that can happen.
Dr. Trevor Smith teaching with Abraham translating.

Otoscopes Approved!

2010-03-05T03:43:00.004-05:00

We had a mixed outcome at the airport today. The otoscopes were approved! Which, as Dr. Mark Royer our past ENT resident would say, they were the only important equipment coming in this week. We had planned on another suitcase full of miscellaneous medical supplies in addition to the otoscopes, but most of it has been denied. The Main guy for medical supplies approval was not there either time we went to the airport, and this younger customs agent would not approve any medicines, or needles, or any thing in large packages (like 300 exam gloves), or anything he did not really know what it was. That is okay because all that stuff we can get over here at relatively inexpensive prices. It is just a shame some of the donated medicine and supplies will not be able to be used for this year's Barefoot Drs class.
Thanks for your prayers!
Rick

Customs approval difficulty

2010-03-04T19:46:00.004-05:00

I am having trouble getting approval to bring our next suitcase of medical supplies. One customs official said no problem the other said no. We go back today to see what the final answer is. Please pray that God will soften their hearts and let us bring in the supplies without a hassle.
Thanks
Rick

Dr. Susan McDowell

2010-03-03T19:44:00.004-05:00

Some sad news today. One of our female Barefoot Dr students, Seng Thawng, has to return home today. Seng Thawng is the one in the picture above with the white shirt and pink/white dress next to the obvious American Dr. Susan McDowell in the middle of the photo. Seng Thawng's father is very ill. The “hospital” in her area sent him home to die saying there is nothing they can do for him. There is no information on what exactly is going on except that he has abdominal swelling and maybe hepatitis. We just dropped her off at the airport. She will fly to Yangon and then probably have to wait a day or two to get a flight farther north to Putao. Once she gets there, it is a three-day walk to her parents' village. She was very upset and worried about leaving the Barefoot Drs program early. I assured her that it is okay. We will make up what she missed next year. For now it is important she return home to be with her family. She is the only child making the stress and responsibility on her that much greater.
Please be praying for her and her family.

On a brighter note, Dr. Susan McDowell continued her teaching on Tuesday and Wednesday covering orthopedic injuries, wound care, and basic neurology. Today she has a day off to recover and hopefully do something fun. Although, it seems to be the general consensus of all the teaching doctors that none of the tourist stuff can compare to the experience of teaching and learning from the Barefoot Dr students. I did not realize until this week how important it is to have some of our female physicians teaching. The handful of female student really appreciate and need that female doctor rolle model. I happened to notice how much our female students really gravitated to Dr. McDowell and it got me thinking. In Burma and Thailand women are respected as people but not so much as leaders. There are a few female leaders but the majority of the society is male dominated and most women are more subservient. It is a bit like old-fashioned America where the men did business and the women took care of the house. So for all these Barefoot Dr students it is great to have some positive examples of women leaders but especially important for the women Barefoot Drs.

Susan surprised the students gave her a special thank you gift.

Answers to the Test questions

2010-03-03T09:52:00.003-05:00

Here are the answers to the test from a few days ago. I know you are all dying to know.
Barefoot Doctors Mid term Questions With Answers

1. A 47 yr old male just started TB treatment. He comes to you very worried that his urine is bloody and red. What is the most likely cause?
A: Rifampicin
2. 12 yr old girl had a sore throat and fever 2ws ago. She now has joint pain, fever, shortness of breath, and chest pain. What are you most worried that might be damaged?
A: Heart
3. Children should be vaccinated against measles at what age?
A: 12 months
4. You are seeing a child with a cold, fever, headache, and sore throat. There is a yellow-grey membrane in the back of his throat. What do you suspect?
A: Diphtheria
5. A Breast-feeding woman who develops a hot, swollen and painful lump on her breast. True or False: she should stop breast-feeding?
A: False
6. When would you not use an Artemisinin?
A: During the 1st three months of pregnancy.
7. If you suspect you have been bitten by a rabid dog you should kill the dog immediately? True or False?
A: False
8. If a baby has high fever, stiff neck, and convulsions and you suspect he has meningitis, What antibiotic would you use? How much? How often.?
A: Inject Ampicillin, 500mg. Every 4hrs. Or inject crystalline penicillin 1,000.000U. Every 4hrs. if possible, also give chloramphenicol
9. For treatment of snakebite you should…. Pick the correct answer below.
a. Wrap up the limp with a bandage?
b. Cut the skin around the bite to drain the venom?
c. Tie anything tight around the bite?
d. Try to suck the blood and venom out of the bite?
A: a.
10. Write down a normal pulse for
a. Adults . . . . 60-80
b. Children. . . . 80-100
c. Babies . . . 100-120

Extra Credit

11. How long after the bite of an infected mosquito does it take for dengue fever to begin?
A: 3-15 days. Usually 5-8 days.
12. An eight month old child weighs 6 kg. Is he on the “road to health?”
A: No

And Still I Was

2010-03-03T05:11:00.006-05:00

Monday I was not feeling 100% and by afternoon I was very ill. By the time I got back to the hotel I was incapacitated. I had some sort of stomach bug. I had severe cramps, all over body pain, chills, nausea, light-headedness, the works. I went straight to bed and it was even painful to roll over. It crossed my mind that maybe somehow I had malaria or something. We picked up something like Pepto-Bismol but it did not seem to touch it. I could have taken antibiotics but it may not have helped and could have complicated matters with side effects. I am highly allergic to some antibiotics. So I prayed and I was definitely still. Perhaps I was not still enough after Sunday’s sermon and I needed to be stopped cold. As bad as I felt, I consider it no small miracle that by the next morning I felt well enough to go back out to the training center for another full day. By the next night I was able to eat again and felt a good 90% better! That is why I am a little behind on the updates. Enough about me here is the good stuff.

Monday started off with a new teaching Doctor who is an Orthopedics resident from IU. Dr. Susan McDowell’s flight got in about 12:30 AM and she started teaching on bone and joint injuries at 9:00AM that same morning. The students really benefited from her specialized knowledge and her ability to answer difficult questions on orthopedic issues that Bjorn and I would not have been able to answer without looking things up and maybe not even then. Among many other useful things, she showed the students practical skills like how to set a broken bone or relocate a dislocated joint and how to splint a broken bone using an ace wrap with a Banana leaf stems/ Bamboo / or any solid straight stick type object. I got in on the fun as well with some gait training using home made crutches Me and Adong made on Friday afternoon using only what we had around the training center. Adong is one of the workers at the training center and can do amazing things with a Machete. He speaks fair English and is learning more with the help of our missionaries here teaching English.

Adong Making Crutches out of Bamboo and some other trees behind the training center. He mostly used the machete but we did use a saw for some parts.

Be Still and Know that I am God

2010-02-28T19:46:00.003-05:00

It was a great Sunday yesterday! For many of us Church is an all day event over here. We went in the morning to the FLC small church. It is great and translated to three languages. The Barefoot Drs sang a couple of songs and one of them even played the drums for the band! A talented group. Then the fellowship meal. It takes like three hours and all of it good.
Then in the afternoon I went to the english speaking church. When i say english I mean England english. It is large church and calls itself a "multi-denomination church" rather than a non-denomination church. It was a needed day of prayer and recharging my batteries. I had been feeling the stress of running out of time here and still having so much to do. I did not think I could get it all done. I have been trying to connect with many people and often having limited success: two doctors in particular I had wanted to meet with this week. I gave it up to God and one of the themes of church was "be still and know I am God." I need the reminder that I am only responsible for my part. I can not do it all on my own and should not worry about it. God will make it happen or not. If not, it may not have been his will but our will. So I walked into the english speaking church by myself and wouldn't you know one of the dr's is right there in the back of the church where i was going to sit? So I got a chance to connect and set up a dinner meeting later this week. Then on the way out of church I met the other Dr and got to connect with him! In addition, I met another member of that church very interested in the Barefoot drs program who works in a related field. She may be able to help us as well. In closing let me just say, sometimes we forget God and try and run ahead of his plan. If you are truly doing his will it will work out. We all need reminders to keep our faith and seek God so we stay on course.
Now back to school today. God Bless you all.
Rick

Mortality statistics for the students siblings

2010-02-27T21:15:00.005-05:00

There are only 2 weeks left in the medical training program. We are now in the process of making a list of exactly what we need as far as medications and additional equipment for the Barefoot Dr students. Since we had some donated supplies from USA and Canada it has been a little difficult to know what we have and what we do not have. For things we do not have we are getting prices so everyone knows what the specific needs are and how much individual items will cost. We are very short on funds for medications right now but many have already asked how they can help. Once the list is finalized people can donate for general fund and know exactly how much medicine or cures that will buy. For example, we figured out this morning that one course of penicillin, to cure say pneumonia, costs ~$1.37 USD.

This week we also collect some more date on death rates of children in the students' families. We found out some very interesting and sad facts. Of the students' brothers and sisters there were 29 deaths as children out of a total of 202 children (ya I know, big families). Adult deaths of their siblings was 34. Most of these deaths in both categories were preventable with simple medications that any of the Barefoot Doctors will have. 8 of the 9 deaths in the 1yr to 5yrs category were preventable if a Barefoot Doctor with their usual medications had been present. Here is a copy of the data with more details. Sorry for the messy presentation. The blog would not let me put in a spread sheet or chart. Hopefully you can still make sense of the information.

Student's Parent
2/10/10
Infant Mortality, Child Mortality, Overall Mortality,
99, 144, 312,

Student Number, Liveborn, Deaths 0-1 yr, Deaths 1-5 yrs, 5+, Cause of death
1- 9, 1, 0, 1, newborn, tetanus @ 15yrs old
2- 9, 2, 0, 2, unknown age, unknown cause
3- 6, 0, 0, 0,
4- 1, 0, 0, 0,
5- 10, 0, 1, 2, malaria & bomb & measles
6- 7, 0, 1, 0, unknown 15 yrs typhoid
7- 6, 0, 1, 0, fever
8- 9, 1, 0, 0, fever
9- 10, 0, 0, 5, unknown
10- 10, 0, 0, 2, malaria typhoid
11- 7, 0, 0, 2, gastric ulcer, stomach problem
12- 8, 2, 0, 0, unknown
13- 3, 0, 0, 0,
14- 15, 5, 0, 2, unknown
15- 4, 0, 0, 1, soldiers beat to death
16- 8, 0, 1, 3, 2 malaria, 1 alcoholic
17- 5, 1, 0, 0, post delivery
18- 10, 2, 0, 1, malaria and unknown infant
19- 6, 1, 0, 3, unknown, cancer, malnutrition, jaundice
20- 3, 0, 0, 2, HIV, cirrhosis alcoholic
21- 10, 0, 0, 5, unknown
22- 6, 1, 0, 0, premature
23- 4, 0, 1, 0, fell into well
24- 1, 0, 0, 0,
25- 8, 1, 2, 1, unknown, tetanus, unknown, typhoid
26- 8, 1, 1, 1, unknown, diarrhea with blood, drowned
Traslator 1- 8, 1, 1, 1, unknown, malaria, typhoid
Translator 2- 11, 1, 0, 0, high fever & convulsion
Total: 202, 20, 9, 34,

Mid Term Exam

2010-02-27T00:16:00.005-05:00

That’s right, we gave them a mid term exam. It was a difficult test but it was open book. The book we are basing the curriculum off of is "Where There is No Doctor." This book is the gold standard for medical professionals working in areas where there are no doctors.
There is no way most people could remember all this information but they do need to know how to find it in the book. The same is true for medical students in the USA. Most of the Barefoot Drs will not have access to email or cell phones. They are on their own until we see them next year. So they need to know how to fully utilize the book and make decisions on their own. I got some good pictures of the intensity during the test. They did very well with an average score of 75%. A few had scores below 70% and we will see why next week then take steps to address the issue. We suspect it may be a translation issue. The class is translated to Burmese but for many that is a secondary language. Even if they speak it, reading and comprehending may be another story.

Notice the guy in the middle totally looking at the other students book. We will be having a little talk on Monday. Actually it is probably not what it looks like. A few of the students don’t have their own books yet.

Take the test in English yourself and see how well you do.

Barefoot Doctors Mid term Questions

1. A 47 yr old male just started TB treatment. He comes to you very worried that his urine looks bloody and red. What is the most likely cause?
2. 12 yr old girl had a sore throat and fever 2ws ago. She now has joint pain, fever, shortness of breath, and chest pain. What are you most worried that might be damaged?
3. Children should be vaccinated against measles at what age?
4. You are seeing a child with a cold, fever, headache, and sore throat. There is a yellow-grey membrane in the back of his throat. What do you suspect?
5. A Breast-feeding woman who develops a hot, swollen and painful lump on her breast. True or False: she should stop breast-feeding?
6. When would you not use an Artemisinin?
7. If you suspect you have been bitten by a rabid dog you should kill the dog immediately? True or False?
8. If a baby has high fever, stiff neck, and convulsions and you suspect he has meningitis, What antibiotic would you use? How much? How often?
9. For treatment of snakebite you should…. Pick the correct answer below.
a. Wrap up the limb with a bandage?
b. Cut the skin around the bite to drain the venom?
c. Tie anything tight around the bite?
d. Try to suck the blood and venom out of the bite?
10. Write down a normal pulse for
a. Adults . . . .
b. Children. . . .
c. Babies . . .

Extra Credit questions:
11. How long after the bite of an infected mosquito does it take for dengue fever to begin?
12. An eight month old child weighs 6 kg. Is he on the “road to health?” as outlined in the book?

The Answers tomorrow,

After class the boys like to play Takraw. It is like volleyball except you cannot use your hands or arms. You can only hit the ball with your head, feet, knees, etc. It is pretty cool seeing someone spike a ball over a volleyball net with a overhead kick!

Dr. Bob Liu last day

2010-02-24T08:28:00.008-05:00

Today we say good-bye to Dr. Bob Liu. He has focused his time on training the Barefoot Drs how to use different teaching methods. The students had a lot of fun as he had them break up into small groups, make up songs about hygiene, do skits, and present short ideas in front of the class.
It was valuable teaching for us all not to just try and jam as much information into people as humanly possible. Rather, focus on relationships, respect, and different ideas on how to teach others new information. We pray he will have a safe journey home. We dropped him off at the train station after class for a 14 hr train ride to Bangkok then a flight to Phuket before he returns home to China.

A skit on healthy living.

The newly invented Burmese "Toothbrush Song"

Barefoot Dr students drawing healthy villages.

Dr. Bob Liu and Healthy Villages

2010-02-22T18:52:00.003-05:00

Bob Liu teaching the Barefoot Drs. about a healthy village. He had the students draw pictures in groups and then discuss potential problems.

Back to the class room

2010-02-22T08:22:00.004-05:00

Back to the Classroom today. Dr. Nilson started off the day with a talk on TB and finished the morning with instructions on how to use a infant growth chart. He used a visual aide to show how you can simply measure weight gain with a rudimentary scale. Dr. Nilson probably would have bought the scale he found at the night market even if he couldn't have used it as a teaching aide. He collects that kind of thing but teaching baby weight made a good excuse.
In the afternoon Dr. Bob Liu began teaching on village health. He has been involved with the Barefoot Drs. program since the mid 1990's. I will try and get some pictures of him tomorrow. I had some meetings this afternoon to try and get some connections with some local hospitals, doctors, and pharmacists. I could not have even begun to set up these meetings without the help of Rita. She has been a huge help and resource. Thank you, Rita!

Dr. Bjorn Nilson using his new "treasure" to demonstrate a simple way to measure infant weight gain. He found this antique scale at the Sunday market for about $30.00 usd.

2010-02-22T05:01:00.007-05:00

Sunday was a day of celebration more than usual. The church service was held at the training center and not the church building this week. This was to accommodate over 300 guests who came out to honor Chris and Rebecca’s wedding and to worship and fellowship as a church. It was spectacular! There was a lot of tribal dancing and singing. Many different tribes put their best foot forward in song and dance to honor the new union. About 10 different tribal peoples came together for this event; all of them Christian. The message was also very good from one of the church leaders who accompanied us up to his home village two weekends ago. Of course after church there was a lot of food and we all ate together. They actually slaughtered a pig and a cow the day before just for this occasion. We also had a prayer for Chris and Rebecca. All the church pastors and the parents of the new couple laid hands on them while the rest of us stood and prayed together, out loud, in all our native languages for this marriage.
Here is a picture of me with several of the Barefoot Doctors in their traditional costumes before church.

The Barefoot Drs gave a great singing performance in all their traditional costumes. They represent 7 different tribes this year from the farthest reaches of Burma. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do. I will keep you updated as we go.
Sawadee Krup
Rick

East meets West Wedding

2010-02-21T09:31:00.003-05:00

It has been a fun filled weekend. We had a chance to catch up on email, paper work, and sleep Sat morning. Then at 3:00 we were picked up and taken to Chris and Rebecca Kalnin’s wedding. It was a true East meets West ceremony. We had a traditional wedding at Beverly Kalnin's home then we were transported to a resort for the reception. That is when things got interesting. The Barefoot Drs put on quite a show. They did a long dance in the traditional dress and custom of the majority of the class. I wish I had more pictures but my camera could not handle the poor lighting conditions. Then, just amazing food intermixed with some traditional American style speeches.
Chris was given leader status by this tribal people with the traditional costume, a sword, and gong. Then they had a ceremony that is traditional in Thailand where you make a blessing and hold a burning paper lamp. When the lamp paper fills with enough hot air you let it go and it floats up to the heavens. It was surreal watching what looked like Chinese lamps floating into the night sky with a crescent moon in the background. Also knowing that with each lamp a blessing had been sent. If that was not enough, then there were fireworks! You could never get away with any of this in California! You would burn the whole state down. Here it was no problem. Seriously the fireworks were so close directly overhead I thought someone was going to get burned. The best part was all the stories and to know that these are two great people that seem to truly belong together. There is no doubt in my mind they are blessed and will be a blessing to others in far greater ways then they were as individuals.

Second week of Medical done!

2010-02-19T22:38:00.007-05:00

We have completed week two of the medical portion of the barefoot drs program. Today (Saturday) is our 1^st day off since we got here. We are looking forward to the time to catch our breath and catch up on emails and some paperwork. This afternoon we have been invited to Chris Kalnin and Rebecca Gibbs wedding at the Kalnin residence. Chris’s parents, Daniel and Beverly Kalnin, started this mission 31 yrs ago. I should be able to post some pictures tomorrow.

I spent my day in a meeting with a local doctor, a trip to the pharmacy to see what is available and how much it will cost, making some copies, and getting Toothbrushes for the village children we visited last weekend. We will be sending 30 toothbrushes to the children with written instructions for the teachers on how to instruct the kids on brushing their teeth. We should be able to give this to one of the guests at the wedding today and the kids should have them by Monday of next week.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Dr. Naga Pannala. There were a lot of pictures and goodbyes. I think she was surprised at how much of an impact the students had on her and how much you can connect with people in such a short time. The students really learned a lot from her teaching and really benefited from her presentations. She actually downloaded and presented actual heart sounds, lung sounds, and animated images of how the heart and lung work. We can only imagine what is going though the students' heads seeing advanced modern technology at work when some of them come from where they don’t have electricity!

Catching up on the past week

2010-02-18T20:43:00.027-05:00

The Barefoot Drs. Training is going great! Yesterday we taught them CPR. Only one person in the class had ever even heard of it! They pick things up so fast and they have CPR down. Unfortunately we did not have a CPR Dummy so it is impossible to feel exactly what it is like. We are hoping next year maybe someone will be able to donate an old dummy from the USA. Another project for me today is to locate 30 toothbrushes for the village kids and training materials for the teachers to instruct the kids on how to use them properly.

It has been a very busy week and I have fallen behind on the Blog updates. So I am posting some info from last weekend at the village.

Church was great with a lot of children. We especially enjoyed seeing the kids singing in their traditional Karen outfits.

On Sunday they asked one of us to say a few words of encouragement to the villagers and I got “voluntold” as my military friends in the USA would say. Actually it was a privilege and honor to speak to them. I took examples from the Bible and tied them to health applications and being an example for your children and to the world around them. I explained to them that one of the reasons our medical team had come to the village was found in the Bible. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” We were attempting to do this but they should also follow this advice.

This is a picture of the house we stayed at, the stairs/ladder to get in, and our bedroom. The pic of the blankets on the floor is where three of the 5 of us Americans stayed. It got surprisingly cold at night in that little mountain village.

Oh ya, remember the lady a few days ago (picture below) with the black teeth? That is from years of chewing on beetle nut. It gives you a pretty strong “buzz” from what I understand.

So long for now, Rick

Equipment Given to Students!

2010-02-17T20:02:00.003-05:00

Woo Hoo! Got the stethoscopes!!! The Barefoot Dr students are so excited and appreciative for the new equipment! Thank God everything worked out.

Dr. Pannala teaching childbirth/pregnancy

2010-02-17T19:54:00.003-05:00

It has been an exciting week so far. Dr. Naga Pannala joined us this week. She got here in the middle of the night on sun night and started teaching Monday afternoon. She did not miss a step after her adventure with customs at the airport on arrival. She was bringing us all the stethoscopes, BP cuffs, and thermometers for the Barefoot Drs students. It took us two days and a lot of effort to get the equipment back. In the meantime, Dr. Pannala was doing a good job teaching all her scheduled classes without ever complaining. She has been a blessing to the students and I get the feeling that she feels the same way about them.

Yesterday she showed them a video clip of childbirth and an animated video on what happens internally during childbirth. The Students were amazed! It turns out only a few of them had ever seen childbirth. They were literally on the edge of their seats.

We Got It !!

2010-02-16T04:40:00.000-05:00

Praise God!

We got the medical supplies. It took 2 full days with Deezi and me along with some appearances from our new Dr. and Beverly. It also cost us 3400.00 Baht for tax and "shipping fees." That equals about $106.25 usd. Yesterday they were throwing around unofficial numbers around $300.00. It is a two day long story but one highlight was at the end when they finally brought a bill it totaled 4597 bt (~$143.00 usd). When I protested this they eventually told me they could discount the price a little but then they would not be able to give me a receipt. Hmmmm, but I took the deal. I think I hung them up when I did not just throw the money at them and run off with my bag. After two long hot stressful days I think they expected me to just pay anything. So all that seemingly wasted time haggling in Mexico was good for something.

The bright side is 1. We got the bag. 2. I learned a lot about how things work here in Thailand. It is very different than the american way. However, when we left the lady in charge of this customs station told me I should call her if I have any questions in the future, day or night. She also told me how to avoid this situation in the future. A major point I would point out is that every time before we went in to talk to anyone we would stop and pray. We also had many people from two countries praying for us as well. It was difficult at times for me to keep my cool and not loose my temper because I knew most of this was unnecessary. It is extremely aggravating to me when good people trying to do good works are harassed and squeezed for money. With the power of the God guiding my words and actions Deezi and I were able to make a favorable impression. No doubt this got us a sizable "discount" but also gave us good and favorable contacts inside Thai customs, FDA, and cargo shipping. Including names and phone numbers. After two days they know our faces and that we are nice people but also know we are not total pushovers. These contacts may be far more valuable in the future then the suitcase of medical equipment.

Bottom line: God is Great. His ways are above our ways as the heavens are above the earth. Often we do not see the reason for things at the time but if we are following God it will work out for the best but may not work out according to our ideas or plans. ( ok that was two lines but I am excited).

Thank all of you for your support and prayers! God Bless you all!

Rick

2010-02-15T18:41:00.002-05:00

We have an urgent prayer request.

One bag carrying all the stethoscopes, BP cuffs, and thermometers was confiscated by customs two nights ago. I spent all day with Deezi (our local translator and driver) trying to retrieve the bag. We got the royal run around and i am not sure what the actual issue is. We were sent from one department to another and at the end of the day they told us we needed to come back the next day with the Doctor who was carrying the bag. It is frustrating sitting a few feet from a bag of needed equipment that has all been donated and not being able to take it to the students. Please pray that we will get the bag back this morning and that God will soften the hearts of those who are opposing us.

Thank you.

Rick

Trip to Thai village

2010-02-15T09:50:00.012-05:00

It was an amazing trip to the Huai Biong village this past weekend. There is more than I can possibly tell on this short blog. This village is about 4 hours west of Chiang Mai. It does have power now but is still very primitive. Our first stop was to a mission supported school for the poor children that are too far from a public school to attend. The team included Dr. Bjorn Nilson, Dr. Mark Royer, Rick Astone, Brian Zeider, Bob Bowling(Media and photo), Sumsak his wife and brother as Liaison, Beepal as driver and interpreter. The kids are relatively in good health but we were surprised to see the most complaints about teeth. It turns out only half of them even have a toothbrush. We did a lot of educating and check ups. There were a few moments of excitement when Dr. Royer got to do a tooth extraction and drain an abscess in two of our adult patients. Rick Astone(Physical Therapist) did a lot of education on arthritis and why antibiotics do not help that kind of knee pain. Dr. Nilson took pleasure in not only helping the local children and adults but also educating our medical team on the various things we came across throughout the weekend.

This is one of the many children with severely bad teeth.

Most of the children in the school are just getting over the chicken pox. This is something you will no longer see in the USA.

After the school we went to the village where we stayed the night in Sumsak's family's home. They still cook over an open flame inside the home! This answered a few questions we had about some of our severe eye and sinus allergy patients we saw earlier.Oh ya, no chairs in the home! You sit and eat on the floor. The only toilet is outside in an outhouse. We ate wild bore one of the men of the house killed while hunting that day.

Mark, Brian, and Bjorn sitting around discussing the amazing day after dinner.

One of the women of the house doing a little weaving before bed.

And that was just Saturday! More tomorrow.

Trip to Thai village

2010-02-15T09:38:00.002-05:00

Medical Question of the day. What causes teeth like this? Stay tuned, the answer tomorrow.

Last Day of First Week of Medical Classes

2010-02-13T03:38:00.021-05:00

It is truly awesome to see what all our students have learned in just a week of medical training!
The last day of the first week of medical classes was just as full as the other four days this week. The students had several important lectures on diagnosing and treating various diseases they will see regularly, including colds and viruses. Dr. Cindy taught also about breast cancer and early detection and treatment. The students also got to try another hands-on experience that was very practical.
At the beginning of the day, while Dr. John Paul continued teaching about interviewing patients to make a proper diagnosis, Jon, Clark, Mark, and Brian took a quick hike to the top of the mountain overlooking the KLC. Jon was the only one that had been there before, so it was a real treat for the other three to see the panoramic view from up there.
When we got back, Dr. Mark Royer taught about colds and viruses and their treatment. Brian even got involved for a few minutes of teaching because, as a Ph. D. student in Chemistry, he is well-qualified to tell the students the difference between bacteria and viruses. One of them responds to antibiotics, and the other does not. Do you know which is which, and why only one of them responds to antibiotics?
While the teaching was going on, Clark was doing important things like taking this picture of the flip flops and sandals lined up outside the Jones Building. His question was: Can you tell which flip flops belong to Jon and Clark?
In the afternoon, the students learned about broken bones and what to do to help their patients heal from them. Dr. Mark taught them about the use of a special bandage to help someone with a broken jaw. Then the students each got to practice this bandaging technique.
At the end of the day, we all knew it was time for the students to say goodbye to Jon, Clark, Mark, and Brian. It was a very emotional time of goodbyes, first as Thinbey expressed for the class their appreciation for us and the teaching we did. The class also presented us with gifts of Burmese bamboo tea mugs, a scrolled map of Burma, and FLC Barefoot Doctors T-shirts. Then they had the four of us sit down on chairs while they surrounded us and prayed for God's blessing upon us. It was both a humbling and amazingly-encouraging experience for all four of us! Several of us were teary-eyed when the prayer was over.
We were glad we got several pictures of the whole class before we left. There were also many other pictures taken. Then we drove a few miles to see the agricultural land the mission has on our way to Beverley Kalnin's house for supper together. She and Rebekah, Chris Kalnin's fiance, prepared us and the other doctors a wonderful meal, probably the best meal we have had since coming to Thailand. The final shot of this section is of Jon, Deezi, and Clark at the side of Beverley's house. Deezi is one of our great friends in Thailand, and he was our driver all week.
On Saturday morning, Dr. Nilson, Dr. Royer, Rick Astone, and Brian Zeider joined men from FLC to drive to Hui Bong village about four hours west of Chiang Mai. There they planned to see the children of the preschool and other villagers who needed a checkup or some medical help. They are spending the night in the vilage and worshiping with the church Sunday morning, and then they will return to Chiang Mai just in time for Mark and Brian to fly home to America. Rick and Bjorn will continue to oversee the teaching for the next five weeks. They will also continue to post blogs to this blogspot, so STAY TUNED! There is much more to come after today!

We told you yesterday that we needed to get blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes for our 26 students. That need has been met, because a doctor and his wife in the US donated enough of these for everyone! They will arrive with another doctor on Monday when she comes to teach our students. We are very happy to have this donation! Now our limited funds can go to medicines and other medical tools for our students to take back with them. We are checking on prices in Thailand for these things, so in a couple of days we hope to tell you how you can help with these if you wish to. As He has done all the way through this school, God is supplying what we need each step along the way!

On Saturday, Jon and Clark got one last day of sightseeing around beautiful Chiang Mai. They walked into the Old City again and went to the oldest and largest wat in the city, Wat Chedi Luang. The main building is over 500 years old! Some of the top of it was destroyed in an earthquake many years ago, but it is still very impressive. Almost equally impressive is the more modern temple in front of it. Enjoy the pictures!

We, Jon and Clark, will begin our journey home on Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. We will arrive at Dulles Airport Sunday morning, very glad to see our families again! We will be carrying in our minds many wonderful memories of new friends and great experiences. Our hearts are full as we have seen God at work in unbelievable ways these past two weeks! Once again, we thank you for your support and for your prayers. We are anxious to tell you all about our trip and what God is doing in Thailand and Burma.

Two Powerful Books!

2010-02-11T10:11:00.004-05:00

One of the neatest things said so far in our Barefoot Doctors School was when our co-deans, Rick Astone and Dr. Bjorn Nilson, held up two books for the students on two different occasions. The first book was the Bible, the Word of God. The second book was Where There is No Doctor, the basic manual our Barefoot Doctor students are learning to use.
Both Rick and Bjorn told the students on separate occasions, "Here is one powerful book. Here is another powerful book. As a Barefoot Doctor, you will be living and serving according to these two books."
If you haven't noticed in any of our previous pictures, at the front of the classroom in the Jones Building is a sign that quotes Luke 9:6. Luke tells us that Jesus sent out His twelve disciples, and they went about Preaching the Gospel and Healing People everywhere.

This is a key verse and motto for our Barefoot Doctors in Burma!

Pigs Feet and More!!!

2010-02-11T08:06:00.011-05:00

Wow! What a day we had today! With Jon and Clark's time in Thailand winding down quickly now, it was nice to have such a productive, wonderful day today.

At KLC, the Barefoot Doctors students were thrilled to have a lesson on suturing wounds. Dr. Mark Royer was the main teacher, although he was assisted by all the other medical teachers here right now. After an hour or so of instruction, we brought in the pigs feet for the students to practice on. They were so excited to get their own suturing instruments, gloves, and suturing kits. They practiced the first part of the lesson until the lunch break, then wanted to go right back to practicing as soon as they had finished eating.
In the afternoon, Dr. Royer taught them a few other techniques he had mentioned in the first lecture, and they quickly picked up these new skills. In fact, Mark mentioned that these students picked up suturing faster than he and his fellow students did in college way back when.
One of the students was doing so well Mark couldn't believe he had never learned this before.

Though not quite as exciting as suturing pigs feet but....we did find time and resources to paint the exterior of the sewing room. Clark along with Chi Rote and Adong painted all of the trim and the walls. It really looks good now. We'll try to send pictures tomorrow. Clark explained to Chi Rote that he doesn't like painting and that he did a lot of painting at his own home before coming to Thailand and now it seems like he's been painting ever since he got here! Chi Rote's response was that God was just getting him ready for the trip to Thailand. I think God does have a sense of humor.

Hands-On Learning Begins!

2010-02-10T09:57:00.010-05:00

The students were so excited today that they finally got a chance to get out of the textbook and do something with their hands! After learning about the systems of the human body the past two days, the last lesson of today was about taking someone's blood pressure. Then we got out stethoscopes and four blood pressure cuffs and broke up into small groups so each student could take another student's blood pressure. It was a lot of fun for them and fun for those of us who were observing them! Enjoy the pictures.
Just before the blood pressure cuff experience, Dr. John Paul taught an informative session on checking a patient when they come in for medical care. It was especially neat for those of us from Antioch Church in Manassas, VA to hear Dr. Paul because our church supports both Dr. Paul in India and FLC in Thailand. John and Elizabeth Paul have been friends with the Kalnins for many years, and it was in fact the Kalnins who first introduced our church to Dr. Paul's mission. He has taught at the Barefoot Doctors School many times.
Tomorrow is going to be even more fun as our students get to try their hand at suturing. They won't be practicing on each other, of course! Our KLC cook went to the market this afternoon to buy some pig's feet because Dr. Royer says pig's skin is the closest thing you can find to human skin for suture practice. I don't know if that is good or bad, but whatever! Dr. Royer was able to get a lot of suture kits donated by friends and medical personnel in Indy so our students have plenty of kits to practice with plus take some home with them.
We are a little short on blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes right now. We will eventually have enough of them for each student to have their own, but we are relying on donations for this. Some of these items are being brought by other teachers in the next week or so, but we are still confirming how many more we may need to buy here in Thailand. If you would like to make a donation, be watching the blog for more information about this, perhaps as early as tomorrow's blog. Thanks.

Clark was back over at Beulah Church today to work on the outside of the sewing room. He and Chairot were adding a rain gutter down one side, and tomorrow they will paint the outside of the building. Then on Friday Clark will be able to join us again at KLC for our final day with the Barefoot Doctors students. After that, Rick Astone and Dr. Nilson will have to supply the information for our future blogs.
If you've been enjoying these updates, don't worry. We are planning to continue this blog at least until the end of the 2010 edition of the Barefoot Doctors School around March 14th.
Meanwhile, let us tell you a quick story about one of our students. We can't give her full name, but Awal lives in a very remote village in Burma near the border of China. You can see from the map of Myanmar/Burma where the rest of our first-year students live. (In addition, there are 71 other Barefoot Doctors working in other places around Burma.) When Awal was selected to come to the Barefoot Doctors School, it took her three days to walk to the village pictured in the picture she is holding. Then it took her three more weeks to walk from there to Putao, where she got on a plane headed for Thailand. She and some of our other students have already been gone from home since December or early January so that they could participate in the Barefoot Doctors training program. That's dedication! That shows how much they want to do God's work and help the people of Burma! Their sacrifices make ours seem like nothing! Please continue to remember them in your prayers every day!

Day Two of Medical; Sewing Room Renovation, Too

2010-02-09T04:40:00.012-05:00

The second day of medical training was a lot more organized than the first. Rick Astone and Dr. Bjorn Nilson had had time last evening to restructure the teaching sessions so a good, solid foundation could be laid for the students to build upon. The day was spent introducing them to the Barefoot Doctors manual, Where There is No Doctor, and teaching them the systems of the human body.
Dr. Nilson started the day with the field manual our Barefoot Doctors use and laid down the basic principles for the Barefoot Doctors' approach to medicine.
Then Rick Astone followed with the first of several lessons on the various systems of the human body. Rick taught on the skeletal and muscle systems or bones and muscles, for short. As a licensed physical therapist, he is well-qualified for this.
This afternoon Dr. Mark Royer, a third-year resident from the IU Med Center, taught several more systems of the body. These included the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, and the urinary system. It was obvious the students were excited and intrigued with learning all of these in much greater detail than ever before. We are looking forward to having several more residents come from IU to teach their topics, as well. We regret that Dr. Jonathan McCrae who was scheduled to teach on Monday could not do so because he got a bad case of the flu. Still, Dr. Royer was able to use the excellent PowerPoint slides Dr. McCrae had created for his lectures.
At the end of the day, Dr. Nilson was so impressed with the eagerness of our students to learn that he told them, "I have taught and participated in classes like this all over the world, and never have I seen a class where absolutely no one was falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon!"
Dr. John Paul and Dr. Cindy Goldameir were also there again today and were valuable resources to the teachers as people very experienced in the practical aspects of the subjects being taught today. The students asked many questions of their teachers throughout the day, and this is a very good sign of their interest and the progress they are making.

On Clark's side of things, the inside of the sewing room is finished after four coats of paint today, a major clean-up, and the relocation of the sewing machines to their new home. Thanks to the support and help from Brian Zeider from Indiana (a friend traveling with one of the doctors), Chairot, Sin See, Pong and the ladies at the church who make us wonderful, authentic Thai lunches. Tomorrow, we'll begin work on the outside of the building but regardless, Chaing Bay can begin working in her new "digs" right away. This actually took the efforts of the mission teams of two different churches. The first team installed the roof, ceiling, lights and electric. Then we finished the job.

First Day of Medical at KLC, Monday February 8th

2010-02-08T08:57:00.012-05:00

Today was the first day of medical training at Kalnin Learning Center (KLC). Both the students and the doctors were excited to get going with this. We spent most of the morning getting to know each other. The doctors introduced themselves and told why they were glad to be teaching this year, then the students got up and told about their villages and the typical diseases and injuries they usually see. We also asked them: "What is the main thing you want to get from the Barefoot Doctor School this year?" It was heartbreaking to hear some of their stories about close family members who had died because they could not get the proper medical treatment. Now their heartache has inspired them to get the training they need.

Dr. Cindy Goldameir, Dr. John Paul's daughter, taught a session this afternoon and Dr. Paul taught one as well. That gave Rick Astone and Dr. Bjorn Nilson time to get things ready for the coming days, since they just arrived last evening. They spent a good bit of time looking through all the teaching resources at KLC, and they even took a box of resources back to their hotel tonight so they can fine tune the next few days of medical training. It was fun watching them explore the resources available.

Clark worked on the sewing room some more today. He and the other guys put on a couple of coats of paint but it will need more tomorrow. The seamstress is very thankful and anxious to get to work (sewing). After painting, we're going to get a big table repaired that they use for laying out the fabric and then put a gutter on the back of the building. Here are some before and after pics of the door and window that we installed and the painting so far...

Sunday in Thailand

2010-02-07T09:34:00.011-05:00

Hey, Everyone!
We've had a great Sunday here in Thailand! We got to enjoy a sweet time of worship and fellowship with the Beulah Church in Chiang Mai, and we were also glad to see our Barefoot Doctor students again. They were at the church service here in town also, and in fact sang two special numbers for everyone. Here's their picture while they were singing.

The worship service lasted for over two hours, partly because there were several groups and individuals who brought special music, including Jon. Jon also preached the morning message, but the translation had to be done both in Thai and Burmese. The message was a simple one, but the translations drew out the length of the message quite a bit. At the end of the service, we enjoyed a nice time of Communion with people from at least four countries present. It was nice to share a slow-paced time of remembering Jesus' love and sacrifice for us.

After church, the whole congregation had a fellowship meal together of traditional Thai foods, then we went back to our hotel to relax for the afternoon. Rick Astone and Dr. Bjorn Nilson arrived from California this afternoon, and we went out to dinner with them at a place along the Mae Ping River called The Good View. They were pretty tired from their 20-hour trip, but we needed to check signals for in the morning when we begin the medical portion of the Barefoot Doctors training schedule. Four other doctors will be helping this week with the teaching: Dr. John Paul, Dr. Cindy Goldameir, Dr. Jonathan McCrea, and Dr. Mark Royer. We are so grateful that each of them is willing to come and join our faculty for several days. The students will be blessed so much by their knowledge and their expertise.

We have a lot more pictures of our walk across the Old City of Chiang Mai yesterday, so we are sending a few more of them along tonight. We hope you enjoy them!

Saturday, February 6

2010-02-06T05:22:00.011-05:00

First of all, Jon and Clark would truly like to be home with their families during the very dangerous snow storm hitting the Washington D.C. metro area. We're very concerned and praying for our family's safety.

Today we spent in town and within walking distance of our hotel for a couple of reasons: 1) The people from the mission that shuttle us around and work with us, want to spend the weekend with their own families and 2) There was a parade outside our hotel today; The Parade of Flowers, making it impossible for anyone to pick us up. So......we went out our front door and watched the parade. It's much like our own parades, even the music played by the marching bands was western music. I think one played the theme from Oklahoma and the other played one of the themes from Rocky (1 through 7, I can't remember which one).

Afterward, we walked to Old Town, Chiang Mai which is comprised of several city blocks (about one mile by one mile) with in a perfect square and surrounded by a wall and moat that were built about 500 years ago. We stopped at several "Wats" along the way. Wats are Buddhist temples. We learned something more today about the customs of Thailand, at least Chiang Mai, and that is shorts are not worn by hardly anyone and are not allowed in the Wats (neither are shoes, which we could have taken off without any objection, unlike our shorts). And, if you see someone wearing shorts, you can be pretty sure that they're not from Thailand.

A couple of other observations: No one smokes, therefore there aren't any cigarette butts lying around. There are few people that are overweight, especially compared to the U.S. And finally, they have as many 7-Eleven's as Manassas, Virginia - one on every corner. Okay, we saw one over-weight man from Thailand and he was coming out of a 7-Eleven with a "Big Bite".

Tomorrow, we're headed to church where Jon will be preaching. Our prayers are with all of you.

End of Amazing First Week

2010-02-05T19:07:00.006-05:00

It's early Saturday morning here, and we've just finished the first week of the Barefoot Doctors School. The students keep amazing us with their talents, their enthusiasm for learning, and their joy in the Lord. The first picture is them singing up on the mountain Friday morning.
Clark went to the Beulah church to work on the Sewing Room project all day. He had a very tough day installing a new window and door, especially since the opening for the window had to be increased and it is concrete! He spent a lot of time cutting away the concrete and stirring up a bunch of dust. Yes, he had safety glasses on! Both the window and doorway turned out well, so as soon as the room gets painted the Sewing Classes can begin!
Jon went to the Kalnin Learning Center (KLC, for short) and started the day by hiking to the top of the mountain overlooking KLC with the students and Simon, Timothy, and Abraham. From the rock outcropping up there, you can see for kilometers and kilometers! We talked about the day that the leadership of the Israelites passed from Moses to Joshua. God took Moses up on Mt. Nebo to view the Promised Land one last time before he died, just as we were viewing many kilometers into the distance. Meanwhile, the new leader Joshua was facing the daunting task of leading his people into Canaan to dispossess the nations living there. 40 years before, the Israelites had turned back from that task in fear, but now God said in Joshua 1:1-9 that he must Be Strong and Courageous as they went into Canaan. Furthermore, God promised, I will be with you!
Our Barefoot Doctor students are very excited about beginning their medical training on Monday, but they are quite nervous about meeting the doctors and trying to learn things and gain skills in a field they know virtually nothing about. It is quite intimidating, I'm sure. We are encouraging and supporting them every way possible, and they are putting their trust in God to help them accomplish these things. They are each part of a smaller group of five students, and we spent some time Friday afternoon for each group to develop their plan for helping one another with the medical training.
We are hopeful that all of our students will be well by Monday. The first one to get sick is now well, but there are five others who are receiving medicines from Drs. John Paul and Cindy Goldameir. We have been told that this is not a new thing. Every year the students coming from Burma have illnesses we need to treat, since they have had such poor medical treatment until now. Thanks for praying for their speedy recovery so they do not miss any of the teaching. The first few days are very critical, as you can imagine.

Thursday's Update

2010-02-04T09:43:00.009-05:00

(This is a picture of Deezi and his two girls. Deezi is the official chauffeur from the airport and hotel(s) to the school.) Clark taught a Bible lesson on persecution this morning and attempted to get some feedback from the students. He was moderately successful. We found out that since Burma is run by a military regime, speaking back in a classroom (i.e. expressing your opinion) is not a very good idea. However, the ice was broken and Simon and Jon made more headway in getting some feedback from the students. (Simon is another minister here from Britain who is teaching some of the Bible lessons.)

Dr. John Paul and his daughter, Dr. Cindy, arrived today. They are missionaries from India who are supported by Antioch Church of Christ. Both are teaching on medical topics next week.

Jon continued to teach in the afternoon while Clark went with Sarep Pung to their church back in Chiang Mai to work on a sewing room. This "room", is actually an existing, free standing, one room building that was a storage building and will now be a room for their sewing program. We're not sure what they sew, but we do know that they sell their projects for a profit to help support the church. Chang Bay, Sarep Pung's wife and head seamstress, will be very glad to get back to sewing. Not to mention that all her equipment is now in the main worship hall of the church. Clark and Chairot (pronounced Chi - rote) bought the remaining material today; a door, a window, and paint, and hope to get it finished by Saturday with Jon's help.

Please pray for the students (and teachers) as there is some type of "bug" making them sick. Dr. John Paul examined a few of them today and sent Deezi to the pharmacy to get some medicine.

Wednesday's Update

2010-02-03T10:30:00.005-05:00

We had a great day today. We took a lot time to input all of the student's information into a sort-of data base. We included a picture of each student along with their other vital information. This helped us learn a lot more about each of them. One of the women walked for three weeks to get to an airport to bring her to Chiang Mai! One of the tribe's closest hospital is over 200 miles away. For you folks in Virginia, that's the distance from Manassas to Roanoke; without any interstates or public transportation. Here are some interesting facts:

1. We have two students that are 60 years old. One is a retired teacher.

2. We have two students that are 24 years old.

3. The most popular diseases in their villages are malaria, TB, diarrhea, polio, and small pox.

4. Most accidents are from motor bikes, knifes, and falls from roofs and trees.

5. Only one of the villages has city (treated) water. All others must boil their water.

6. All students speak at least two languages: The language of their own village and all of them speak Burmese, the national language.

7. There are 6 women and 18 men in the class.

8. The smallest village has a population of 80.

9. The largest village has a population of 7,000.

We spent about three hours listening to each student tell the entire class how they came to Christ, how they came to the school, what tribe they're from, what language they speak and their marital status. A few single men and women created a lot giggling when they announced that they were single. The most touching information that several of them shared was the fact that they had been praying for 5, 6 even 7 years to get a chance to come to the Barefoot Doctors School. Most of the villages don't have any medicines and when someone gets sick, their chance of survival is very small. Two students each reported that they had lost one of their children, we suspect there were more. It was a very moving day to say the least. The breaks were spent with one student playing a guitar while the entire rest of the class sang and danced. God is good! Goodnight.

Bible Classes Going Well!

2010-02-02T10:10:00.004-05:00

Two days of Bible Classes have already passed! We have a great group of eager students, and we are trying to get them firmly grounded in the Word of God this week so they will be prepared for the rest of their training. Simon Percy from London, England is shown here teaching from Philippians, with Abraham translating. We are also teaching on other Bible topics, including: church leadership, church unity, the leadership of the Apostle Paul, and handling persecution with strength and grace. Our 24 students come from all the major regions of Myanmar/Burma where they are already church leaders who make a difference for Christ. The training they will receive these next six weeks will help them to be used in even greater ways by God in the coming months and years.
On a personal note, we are starting to get clear of the jet lag now, and we are almost back to a normal sleep schedule. After we got back to our hotel this evening, we walked to The Duke's Restaurant and had some good ol' American food. Then we walked over to the world-famous Chiang Mai Night Market to see what was happening there. The place was packed with all kinds of vendors and hundreds of shopping tourists. We'll show you some pictures of the Night Market soon. Tomorrow is another day of Bible studies and orientation exercises. God is good!

First Day in Chiang Mai

2010-02-01T11:28:00.002-05:00

We arrived safely in Chiang Mai at 1:15 a.m. and went through Customs without a hitch. We found a taxi driver who agreed to take us to our hotel and then hoped he could actually find it at 2 a.m.! We got checked into our room easily enough and then quickly tried to regain some of our lost sleep. We had been traveling for a little over 30 hours with about 21 of them actually in the air. Wow! After we got up about 9:15, we took showers and then had breakfast on the roof. It was beautiful up there! Then we went to the bank and exchanged our currency and looked around the town a little bit. The picture is from a wat we visited. It's one of many Buddhist temples in Chiang Mai. We'll see many more. We ate lunch at a quaint Thai restaurant near our hotel and then got our ride with Deezi out to the Kalnin Training Center. It was so great to see him again, and several other people Jon knew from his 2008 trip to Thailand. One guy even told him he looked younger than the last time. Bless him!
The Bible teacher we are working with this week, Simon Percy, and Beverley Kalnin were talking to the students when we arrived. Beverley was giving a history of the school and how it began over 15 years ago after they had encountered several situations where people in the villages could not get the care they needed. The program has continued developing year after year. This year we are glad to welcome three more tribes to the Barefoot Doctors, first as the students going through the training and then as tribes that will receive their medical care and the Gospel of Jesus Christ! There are seven different tribes represented in the Class of 2012.
Tomorrow Jon goes back to the Training Center to do more orientation activities and a Bible class, and Clark goes to the Beulah Church building here in Chiang Mai where some construction help is needed on a new room where sewing classes are going to be taught.
Thanks for continuing to pray for us and the students.

Seoul Incheon International

2010-01-31T04:26:00.002-05:00

We've made the first leg of our journey safely! We are in Seoul Incheon airport, and it's 4:15 a.m. Manassas time and 6:15 p.m. Seoul time. What a long flight up across Canada and Alaska then across the International Dateline and down across Russia and China on our way to South Korea. Beautiful airport with a full shopping mall down through the middle of it. We are feeling pretty good, but anxious to get to Chiang Mai. We just met up with Clark's wife's uncle who happened to be in the Seoul airport the same few hours we were. Small world! Anyway, thanks for your prayers as we continue our journey. By 12:30 a.m. Monday morning, Chiang Mai time, we will be arriving at CNX and going through Customs. Tell you more later ...

We're at Dulles - Ready to Go!

2010-01-30T10:37:00.005-05:00

We made it through security and are waiting at the gate. Our plane just arrived and they're loading it up (hopefully with our suitcases too). It's snowing like crazy but it's about 90 degrees in Chiang Mai. Continue praying for us and we'll update you again soon.

A Great Church! http://antiochchurchofchrist.com/

2010-01-29T21:45:00.003-05:00

We haven't told you much about ourselves, and that's really okay, but we'd like to tell you about the GREAT church family we are part of. It's called Antioch Church of Christ, and the congregation meets in Manassas, Virginia. We're not perfect by any means, but we love God and we love each other! As we were reading through the book of Acts awhile back, we came across this wonderful church in Acts 13 in a city of Asia Minor called Antioch (Hmmm). It was from that church that the first missionaries were sent out into the world. Here's how Dr. Luke writes about it:
In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
We are feeling a little like Barnabas and Saul because our congregation has gotten behind us to the point that our trips are paid for AND we are taking extra funds to help with the Barefoot Doctors School! Even better, we are covered by the prayers of the members and friends of our congregation, from start to finish. What a wonderful feeling it is to have the support and love of our brothers and sisters in Christ! Our heartfelt thanks go to each of you who contributed anything toward this trip and the Barefoot Doctor School. While we're at it, we also thank you blog-readers, whom we may never meet, for stopping to pray for us every day or whenever you can. Please keep your prayers going at least through the end of March! Thank you, and God bless you!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

2010-01-29T14:33:00.003-05:00

In less than 24 hours, we'll be taking to the skies up over America and then the Pacific Ocean! Tomorrow! Tomorrow! We are getting so excited we can hardly stand it! We are both packing and packing, trying to figure out just how much we can fit in our suitcases and still stay under the 50 pounds limit per bag. We have mostly our own things to fit in there, but we are also carrying supplies for the school and suturing kits for our Barefoot Doctors. We have been sending messages back and forth like crazy with all the teachers coming over the next few weeks, because it will be two days before we can communicate with them again. Most of them will bring things for the school in their luggage, too. We've had a few medicines donated that we can take with us, but most of these will have to be purchased in Thailand. That is, when we get the funds to do so. World Medical Mission and Kingsway Charities have both agreed to provide us some medicines and medical supplies, but they'll have to be shipped and that takes almost two months to get to Chiang Mai. You've heard of the "slow boat to China," haven't you? I had a really neat conversation with Mark last night. He's a third-year resident at IU, and we were talking about how much God is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g all of us who have made a commitment to go. We don't really know what to expect, but we believe God is in the middle of this adventure. What better place to be than that? Keep praying! Thanks!

On a Wing and a Prayer

2010-01-28T09:08:00.003-05:00

I just received this email Thursday morning from Beverley Kalnin in Chiang Mai.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We have good news! The Barefoot doctor students all received their passports and Thai visas two days ago. This is not easy to do as both the Thai and Myanmar governments are suspicious of any travellers from Myanmar, esp. a large group and Christian leaders at that! Praise the Lord, through all of our prayers, God softened the hearts of the officials and opened the doors for the students to come here. Today, 20 of them arrived in Chiangmai safe and sound! The other 7 (that includes translators Abraham and Timothy too) will fly here on Sunday. Classes begin on Monday so they are arriving just in time. All of this is only through the power of God!

Now, we ask you to pray hard for God to bless the school. We are short of funds for the actual running of the school in Chiangmai. The entire Barefoot Doctor School is being done on faith this time. This is also the first time we are bringing in students from Arakhan State near the Bangladesh border as well as Shan State, Kachin State and Yangon. They are from six different major people groups in Myanmar. We are excited about that!

Whatever you can donate for the training of these dedicated Barefoot students will be well invested and bring a great return as they go out healing the desperately ill in Myanmar both physically and spiritually.

May God bless you abundantly! Beverley Kalnin

Thanks again for your prayers. The 2010 school launches in just four days!

To find out more about Frontier Labourers for Christ and even how to donate to this mission, please go to: www.frontierlabourersforchrist.org

What's Up Already?

2010-01-28T05:48:00.005-05:00

Got up early this morning. There's a lot on my mind, with just two days to go before we leave for Thailand. I told a friend on Facebook who asked about my To Do List, "I'm actually using five lists right now, and every time I check off an item I add two more at the bottom!" It's no wonder I'm not sleeping that well.
God reminded me this morning, however, that He is still in charge. He's in control. He was already up when my mind roused me from sleep this morning. I can worry and fret all I want and not change a thing, but He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine! (Eph. 3:20)
What's up already? God is. He never sleeps. I checked my email first thing this morning, since the folks in Thailand were working while I was sleeping. Beverley Kalnin forwarded me an email from America that said a church here was donating $7,000 to resupply the Barefoot Doctors already on the field in Burma with the medicines they need. Wow! They've also arranged for some portable dentistry chairs to be given to FLC. This is what I needed to hear. This is what I need to count on, that God is working on the hearts of His people even when I can't see it. He is gathering funds and equipment and medicines and medical supplies from sources I can't imagine. As Phil Johnson said in a song back in the 70's,
He didn't bring us this far to leave us
He didn't teach us to swim to let us drown
He didn't build His home in us to move away
He didn't lift us up to let us down!

I keep telling people how God is bringing everything together for this year's Barefoot Doctors School. It's true! Jon

BFD Students Taking to the Skies!

2010-01-27T15:37:00.002-05:00

We just got word this morning from FLC that the 25 new students in the Barefoot Doctors program are set to fly to Thailand! 20 of them will leave Burma on January 28th (tomorrow), and the other 5 will fly down to Chiang Mai on Sunday the 31st. All of them will arrive in time for the first day of classes. Considering the difficulty of travel in that part of the world (including getting their passports and visas), this is an amazing thing, a God-thing! We also got approved by Kingdom Charities in Bristol, Virginia today to receive some medicines for free. We don't know just how many medicines this will be, but the order is being placed this week based on availability of the drugs we need to get. Jon's brother, Jim, is also visiting the warehouse at FAME in Indianapolis today to see what medical equipment and supplies they can donate to our Barefoot Doctors. Jim's students at IU/PU who are coming to teach in Thailand will help transport some of these supplies when they come in February. When we leave this Saturday (YIKES!) we will also be loaded down with as many supplies as we can fit in our suitcases. Keep praying that gifts like these from FAME and Kingsway, as well as cash for buying medicines in Thailand, will keep coming in over the next few weeks. God bless you all for your help!

Medicines on Their Way?

2010-01-25T21:28:00.004-05:00

Each year Frontier Labourers for Christ, the mission sponsoring the Barefoot Doctors School, has to secure about $60,000 worth of medicines for the Barefoot Doctors to use. These medicines are not only for the 25 new students to use when they return to Burma, but we also resupply the other 71 Barefoot Doctors out in the field. We also outfit each of the new students with a typical medical bag of instruments and tools of the trade: a stethoscope, flashlight, blood pressure cuff, suturing kits, bandages, and a variety of other things. Each of them ends up with a large duffel bag to take home with them so they can be supplied for the next year. This year our donations for these things have been down, so we have been seeking new sources of medicine and medical equipment including other mission agencies who specialize in this. Several churches and organizations have already made small donations, but we are hopeful that two other organizations will furnish the bulk of medicines we need by the first week in March. When these medicines arrive at the training center, we spend a day or two dividing them out so that each Barefoot Doctor is adequately supplied. Please be praying for God to supply these resources soon, because this is a very big part of our medical mission work. Without the proper tools and supplies, we simply can't get the job done. Thanks for praying about this. (By the way, we thank Robert Bowling for several pictures on this blog.)

What Did You Expect?

2010-01-22T23:05:00.004-05:00

After the brutal winter we've had so far, you might expect to find most of us LONGING for scenes like this on a picturesque beach in southern Thailand. (The thought HAS crossed our minds.) You might even expect to find some of us LOUNGING on a beach like this in southern Thailand! While the thought has a certain appeal to it, we all have a much better idea in mind! Come February 1st, we would rather be in northern Thailand helping with the Barefoot Doctors School! We would rather be several hundred miles from the beaches so we can help our Burmese brothers and sisters in Christ prepare to serve Jesus in more effective and more dramatic ways than they ever have before. While hundreds are enjoying the vacation of a lifetime, we will be equipping men and women from Burma to go home at the end of March to bring hundreds of people to Christ during their lifetime. What could be better than that? All of us who are going to teach at the school are quite willing to do whatever it takes to get to Chiang Mai for the portion of the training we have been assigned. We are grateful to our families and our friends and our churches who have given their money and encouragement so we can make this trip. We are also grateful to God for a small opportunity to help Him have a large impact in a country like Myanmar. Forget the beach. Let's go to Chiang Mai (still a very beautiful place) to share both our skills and our hearts with brothers and sisters in Christ we haven't met yet! God has an amazing thing in store for all of us, teachers and students alike! Stay tuned ...

Barefoot Doctors Manual

2010-01-19T20:12:00.007-05:00

The curriculum of our Barefoot Doctors School is built around a book that has saved many lives. It's called Where There is No Doctor, and it was first written by David Werner back in the 1970s. Since then it has undergone several revisions, but it is essentially the same book Werner wrote over 30 years ago. It's a field manual for people out in remote areas so they can deal with illnesses and injuries even when no doctor is around. Where There is No Doctor is a fascinating book filled with pencil sketches depicting various illnesses so they can be accurately diagnosed and treated. It also shows how to set bones, stitch up lacerations, and take care of many other injuries. Our instructors will be teaching many of the same topics during our five weeks of medical training, and each of our students will be given their own copy of the book in Burmese (an edition that only recently came out.) If you are interested in seeing what this book is like, go to the Hesperian Foundation website where they make a pdf version available for free. You can go straight to the page where the book can be downloaded at: http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_wtnd.php. After they are properly trained, our Barefoot Doctors are able to give First Aid and so much more!

Instructors for 2010

2010-01-18T06:39:00.009-05:00

We are amazed at the team of Instructors and Teachers God is bringing together for this year's Barefoot Doctors School! When Jon and his brother, Jim, accepted the responsibility for planning the school this year, they didn't know where all the teachers would come from. Several that have helped in the past were not available this year, and so we started following every lead we could. Jim's work with the Indiana University/Purdue University medical center was one of the keys to getting our teachers this year, but we also have teachers coming from California, England, China, and India. Only six of them have taught in the Barefoot Doctors School before. They will come at their own expense, simply because they care about God's work and want to see people helped physically and spiritually. Please keep these Instructors in your prayers every day:
BIBLE TEACHERS
Jon M. Ulm – Manassas, Virginia
Simon Percy - England
Clark Melillo – Manassas, Virginia
David Tucker - England

MEDICAL INSTRUCTORS
Rick Astone, Physical Therapy - California
Dr. Bjorn Nilson, Pediatrics
Dr. Mark Royer, Otolaryngology - Indiana
Dr. Jonathan McCrea, Radiology - Indiana
Dr. John Paul, General Practice - India
Dr. Cindy Goldameir, General Practice - India
Dr. Naga Pannala, Internal Medicine - Indiana
Dr. Bob Liu, Preventative Medicine - China
Dr. Susan McDowell, Orthopedics - Indiana
Dr. Trevor Smith, Dermatology - Thailand
Dr. Elise O'Connell, Internal Medicine - Indiana
Dr. Vegas Coleman, Psychology - Indiana
Dr. Lauren Hansen-Welches, Otolaryngology - Indiana

Thank you, God, for these dedicated teachers!

25 Students On Their Way Soon!

2010-01-17T22:44:00.002-05:00

Just this weekend Jon was able to webcam with our missionary friend, Beverley, in Thailand. We talked about the upcoming Barefoot Doctors School and the 25 students coming from Myanmar/Burma to study Bible and learn how to take care of people's medical needs in their own country. Some of the students will be coming from northern Burma, and some of them will come from southern and western Burma. We are excited that 3 or 4 new tribes will be represented this time, which means the Lord's work will soon be expanding into new villages we could not have reached before! Since some of the students come from such remote areas, they are leaving their homes now in order to fly to Chiang Mai on January 28th. They have packed their things and said goodbye to their families. They will be gone from their homes for over two months! The doctors who will be teaching our classes this year are also getting ready to leave home. Most will stay for a week or two, but a couple of them will stay for five weeks. We are so grateful for their help. Clark and I leave on January 30th. Please pray for all of us, students and teachers and FLC staff, as we make final preparations for the 2010 classes.

Three Weeks in the Air!

2010-01-09T17:42:00.005-05:00

In just 21 days we will be up over the Pacific Ocean on our way to Seoul, Korea! After a 14-hour flight from Dulles to Seoul and a brief layover in Korea, we will then take a five-hour flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand and arrive just after midnight almost two days after we started (we cross the international dateline on the way). After a few hours rest, we will then go to the training center to get things ready for Orientation Week. We had a meeting this past Thursday to finalize who will be teaching what that first week of Bible instruction and orientation. We are getting very excited about meeting our students and making new friends. We are looking forward to their testimonies about what God is doing in their lives, and even better than that will be our times of prayer with them. A lot needs to be done before we leave, so please pray we can get everything ready. A note from FLC this week asked us to pray for the rest of the funds to come in for the Barefoot Doctors School. Some of the students have already left their villages to walk to Putao where they will catch a plane to Chiang Mai. It will take some of them two to three weeks to walk there! Imagine that! And we complain about rush hour adding an hour to our commute! Thanks for your prayers!

Our Trip to Thailand

2010-01-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

We will be leaving for Thailand in a little over three weeks! It's hard to believe the time is coming so rapidly! We are busy getting ready for the Bible classes we will teach and the Orientation Week we will enjoy with our new students. We are still amazed that so many doctors and teachers are willing to come at their own expense just to help people they have never met! Some of them are second and third-year residents at IU/PU, and the others are doctors and preachers with very busy schedules. We are grateful to them for coming, and we pray for God's blessings upon them. This school would not be possible without their sacrifices. We also appreciate Jon's brother, Jim, for working tirelessly to map out the medical curriculum and to secure the instructors needed. Most of all, we thank God for the opportunity to partner with His servants at FLC in Chiang Mai, and we look forward to meeting our new friends from Burma/Myanmar. We leave the USA on January 30th and will return on February 14th. Please pray for us as we finalize our preparations.