Denver Christian Docs

Worldwide labs is a great resource for missionaries overseas. DenverDoc has spoken with them and they know a lot about how to do lab testing on strict budgets with minimal equipment. Think about them next time you're going overseas or to Juarez or anywhere else.

The Denver Resident's group of CMDA met last Thursday to discuss three of The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. DenverDocWife got me the book on tape years ago, with John Cleese (the comedic British actor) reading the part of the senior devil. (It was nominated for a Grammy award in 1988.) DenverDocDaughters make fun of me for being such a Lewis Geek, but it was just what I needed in my spiritual walk.

We discussed prayer, the different conceptions of time, and the shading of meanings of "MY" from my boots to my wife to my GOD. We have one of the most active resident's groups in the country and they need your prayers. Keep them in mind. And, by the way, coming to one of their get-togethers is highly recommended; they are enthusiastic, smart, and throw a good party.

DenverDoc just donated his previous editions of pathology texts to Project CURE. When you get your new Harrison's internal medicine or your brand new Washington Manual, consider giving the old one away. They take texts up to ten years old. One of their people came to Porter to pick the books up at my office.

CURE has a positive history for us. They supply various needs for healthcare around the world. Keep them in mind when you have surplus anything.

For those of you looking for ID discussions (no, not Infectious Disease!) take a look at this entertaining discussion. Berlinski lances many of the more shall we say fundamentalist Darwinians and evangelical atheists. Good for a laugh.

And there is nothing wrong with Infectious Disease! DenverDoc got his PhD studying fungus (well, Cryptococcus neoformans to be compulsively accurate) back in '83. It was a few years later that DenverDocWife got her way and DenverDoc professed his faith at a Methodist Church in Utah. She infected my entire family...

If DenverDocDaughter2 wasn't graduating from Tulane on this exact day, I would seriously consider going to Vegas to Saline Solution. What a great program. Just the right amount of salt for our world. Several of us did this by viewing tapes and having discussions a few years back and even for a country pathologist like me who sees few patients (well, conscious ones) it was eye opening.

You can learn how to share spiritual truths in an ethical manner, communicate with the 75% of your patients who WANT to talk about something other than antibiotics, raise faith flags with patients and colleagues to see who is open to talking about faith, etc.

The host is Barbara Holck, DO, in Vegas. Her email is dholck at earthlink dot net. Cost is minimal, like $85 for MD/DO/DDS and less for others.

The Inner City Health Center of Denver needs specialty care to supplement the excellent primary (and spiritual) care they provide. Right now they are looking for some gastroenterology coverage but they can always use others. Their policies are protective of their volunteers, and you can limit how much work you do for them. Recently they told me they are also looking for primary care docs as well. Give them a holler.

The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up.
G. K. Chesterton

Chesterton, a British Catholic writer from the turn of the LAST century, had an amazing way with words. This came from This Day's Thought, a Christian Email ministry. I've read his book, Orthodoxy, which has some terrific moments. Short, pithy, to the point.

At Hope Fellowship church the other day, a woman from Alternatives Pregnancy Center spoke. They provide good services to pregnant women. The most stirring part of her talk was when she told a story about a young woman whose sister had asked her what she thought of abortion. She answered that it was killing a baby, was wrong, etc. Her sister was found, dead, in a garage a few days later with the deposit slip on the seat next to her (her boyfriend had given her the money for the abortion.) She killed herself over the abortion she had.

The lesson? When someone asks "what do you think of abortion", consider that it might actually be a call for help rather than a request for information. The presenter suggested answering with, "I think abortion hurts women." Then, shut up and listen carefully. It is so tempting to launch into a sermon. Use those active listening skills we were supposed to have learned in school.

INMED is hosting a conference May 12-13 in Kansas City on "Exploring Medical Missions."

And the Christian Community Health Fellowship is hosting their 2006 conference on "Health Care for the Underserved: A spiritual inheritance for the next generation." I received their announcement and it looks like a great conference. There are tracks for advocacy and social change, bibilical foundations, witness, community health care initiatives, free clinics, nursing, physicians, and others.

Innovative Approaches to Women’s Health and Wellness

A Health Seminar for Women and Couples
Saturday, March 11, 2006
8:30 am – 5 pm
Hosted by Regis University (3333 Regis Blvd)

A FREE luncheon for doctors will be held concurrently with the event.
See below for more information.

Conference talks include:
Out of the Dark: Discovering Authentic Health and Wellness
Health, Beauty and Strength of Nourishing Traditional Diets
Is In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Really Our Only Option?
“The Pill” as Medicine: An Effective Treatment?
Health and Happiness: What’s Love Got to Do with It?
What Women Want (For Men Only)
Navigating Menopause Nutritionally
Couples are encouraged to attend. Breakfast and lunch are included with conference cost.
Early Registration (Before March 3): $20 per individual, $30 per couple
Registration after March 3: $25 per individual, $40 per couple

Register by mail:
Registration form available at www.archden.org/marriage/whs or
call the Office of Marriage and Family Life at 303-715-3298


Calling All Doctors
Are you a medical doctor who wants to learn more about authentically Catholic approaches to infertility and women’s health issues?

Join Dr. Martha Garza, OB/GYN for a FREE luncheon
Saturday, March 11 from 11:30a – 1:30p
Regis University (3333 Regis Blvd)

Registration required. Please contact the Office of Marriage and Family Life at 303-715-3298 for more information or to register.

An article says that a company's employees must submit to implantable chips to get into certain security areas. I admit to having read Left Behind on long flights to while the time away and found them enjoyable, but I don't think it's particularly valuable theology. But news articles like this seem a bit shall we say prophetic?

ADDENDUM: Charles Colson addressed this recently as well and gives a lot of references.

I attended the Colorado Osteopathic Association conference yesterday and gave a talk on HPV disease. The talk following mine, by Jeffrey Barrows, DO, of the CMDA, was absolutely riveting. Dr. Barrows showed some anecdotes at the beginning, of women who were hoodwinked into becoming prostitutes against their will in other countries. Then he showed some amazing statistics:

600-800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked (enslaved) across international borders each year.
80% are women and girls.
50% are minors.
12 million people are currently enslaved, more than just before our civil war.
80% of these slaves are prostituted women, girls, and boys.
250,000 American children are prostituted (runaways, homeless, etc.)

The US passed the trafficking victims protection act in 2000, re-updated in 2005. It increases penalties, helps with legal status, and allows easier prosecution.

There is a huge demand for women and children as prostitutes worldwide. Services offer "sex tours" to, for example, southeast asia where the tourist gets to rape young girls. Amazing.

We in healthcare may be able to help. We need to watch for things very similar to spouse abuse:
patient accompanied by a controlling person;
does person accompanying insist on giving information;
signs of physical abuse;
submissive, fearful patient, language or cultural barriers;
does patient have any identification?

The US government has a website on human trafficking. It includes worksheets and data sheets on identifying victims and what your options are. Hotline: 1-888-3737-888.

Stay posted for more from CMDA.

CMDA is asking doctors to come up with ways to help with poverty and uninsured patients. Their press release suggests contributing 4% of your practice to the poor: two weeks a year in mission work, seeing more uninsured patients, etc.