Brackenhurst! (lots of links)

This past week I went to the Christian Medical and Dental Association's biannual CME conference held at Brackenhurst conference center in Limuru, Kenya.

At first, I didn't think I'd be able to go, because this conference is mainly for long-term medical missionaries in Africa, so all of the other long-term staff at Tenwek were planning on going. I assumed I'd have to stay and help the hospital run in their absence. But a large team came over from Southwest Medical Clinic in Michigan to help with coverage so the long-termers could go to Brackenhurst. That meant that I could go, too!

The director of my fellowship, Dr. Todd Stephens, as well as his colleague in Wichita, Dr. Leu, and Dr. Leu's son-in-law travelled together with me from Tenwek to the conference. It was great to spend more time with Dr. Todd than just the one day he was here at Tenwek. Dr. Todd and Dr. Leu both gave a few of the lectures at the conference. Dr. Todd talked about chronic diseases in the third world, as well as community management of malaria (both huge topics as you can imagine). And Dr. Leu talked about critically evaluating evidence-based medical literature, and also gave an update to the missionaries on recertification for the ABFM

The conference was amazing! I met so many inspiring medical missionaries serving all over Africa. There were probably around 250 people at the conference, some big names in medical missions, who have dedicated their entire life to serving on the mission field, some for 40+ years.

Dr. Todd was definitely in his element. He remarked about how meaningful this conference was for him, because he was able to reconnect with many of the missionaries he had served with in Rwanda and in Kenya. He ran into his old mentor, Tim Teusink, who helped him when he first arrived on the mission field at Kibogora hospital in Rwanda, when he was still a resident. Dr. Teusink is now teaching theology at a seminary in Ethiopia, here's a bio I found on the internet. He gave a great lecture at the conference on lessons learned in 20 years of overseas medical experience: the good, the bad, and the ugly. It was great to hear some of these lessons that took a career to learn, while I'm still on the front-side of the missions experience.

There were some great lectures and workshops. Some of my favorite included workshops on management of ascites, echocardiography, mandibular fracture workshop, and a dermatology workshop by the author of the only dermatology book written exclusively for Africa, Dr. Barbara Leppard.



You can get this book for about $250 online, but I was able to buy a copy at the conference for 2500/= (/= is the symbol for Kenyan shillings), which is about $35 US.

I ran into several people that I met last summer at the tropical medicine course offered at WVU (I just looked at this site, and there are some pics of the IFMF fellows at the course last summer). Dr. Juckett came over and gave a great lecture on snake bites in Africa.
Aaron Santmire is an Assembly of God missionary serving in Madagascar. He was a lot of fun getting to know in West Virginia, and it was good to run into him again back on the mission field. They spent some time in Springfield as part of their A/G training, and he remarked about how much they enjoyed going to James River Assembly.

I could go on and on telling you about the amazing people I met, and maybe I'll include some more specific stories later.

Overall, the conference was a wonderful experience. I think I learned a lot from the lectures, but even more than that, it was such a blessing to meet so many experienced medical missionaries, network with them, and learn from them about following hard after God to discover His will for my life.