26 July Chris in San Diego
Huddling around a laptop at a local cafe with a couple of people who are still queasy from their first doses of anti-malarials, all one week pre-trip for a least-developed country internationally to do health-care outreach... this week, it's Haiti... two weeks ago, they were going to Tanzania...
My lecturing at San Diego nursing schools and 'adjunct faculty' work has brought me into the circle of students and faculty who are going on health outreach during breaks. They have found out that I've worked internationally, and are coming to me with questions and needing training/prep for healthcare work abroad.
Just the last few months, my "Cafe Consults" have prepped people for Haiti, Tanzania, Thailand, Mexico and some urban health-care work in the 'rough part' of San Diego and San Francisco. In the last decade, I've done "Consult!" for people going to 28 moderate-to-low development countries.
They always come back and communicate how spot-on and useful the training was, and how it made for an effective health outreach or educational effort.
What ususally happens is that pre-trip, the people begin to prepare to 'go do' something, and as they research that prep, they find out that 'everything in their experience' cannot help them for where they are going to work. Then they contact me. I'll create profiles of health needs and healthcare realities for where they are specifically going, then (usually over a tall decaf Americano) spend a couple hours teaching/training. Laptops in cafe's work great. Many times, we'll also do some acutal planning on how the health education or intervention will happen during their outreach.
Just thought y'all should know about this 'Consult!' work, since it's a regular and substantial bit of what we do missionally.
Sorry, gotta go, somebody is running off to Thailand to work with village kids, and they want some healthcare info for that...
your bro, Chris
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