The Requirements/Responsibilites of an International Health Care Worker

Tomorrow is our "IHM" (International health and medicine--or something along those lines) day. That means that we have clinical rotations (this week in the Peds ER) and then lectures about international health issues. This week we are discussing war, catastrophes, displaced persons, refugees, terrorism, and disaster management. This is the stuff I've been waiting for, the kind of work that I really want to be involved in.

Reading one of the first paragraphs in our text though is rather daunting. Here's what it says...

"Whether or not the aims of the work are narrowly or broadly defined, practitioners need excellent technical skills in evidence-based medicine and public health to avoid doing more harm than good. They must become rapidly familiar with the particular health problems threatening the population in question, and the available resources (structural, human, and organizational) and strategies that exist to cope with them. The most effective aid workers elicit and prioritized the health concerns of those being served; respect, support, learn from, and , when appropriate, guide colleagues; coordinate efforts; maintain flexibility; and strive for equity and efficiency while ensuring that assistance also reaches the most vulnerable populations. These aid workers also dedicate themselves to serving others while taking care to maintain personal health and equanimity in the midst of unfamiliar and stressful situations.

"Experienced aid workers realize that their work may put them in danger, and they contribute to individual and group security by respecting sound security protocols, maintaining positive interpersonal relationships (with officials, community members, and colleagues), and collecting and sharing relevant information. In sum, the consummate humanitarian health worker combines compassion, commitment, and integrity with technical proficiency in promoting the delivery of the most appropriate, evidence-based, and up-to-date preventative and curative health services--a tall order in what are often very challenging environments."

WOW, that's a tall order in deed. I keep telling myself that it'll get easier in some sense in a little while, once I'm out on the field doing what I want to be doing. But, really, I'm not so sure. The logistics that I hate are always going to be there, and perhaps even more so in "humanitarian aid" work.

My only hope in being able to be that kind of doctor, with all of those responsibilities and stresses on a daily basis, is the Lord. It's an interesting thing to have these seemingly insurmountable dreams. Looking at it from my own understanding, it's impossible to achieve any of them. What makes it even harder is that when I share my passions for this kind of stuff with other people (even believers), I'm only reminded that they're impossible. Why? I mean, I don't expect people who have a human understanding of "possible" and "impossible" to look at all of the requirements for a "good" international health care worker and think that, yeah, ain baiahya, zeh efshar (no problem, it's possible). But, what about believers? Why don't be believe God's words, His promises that "anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things that these because I go to my Father" (John 14:12) or "commit your way to the Lord and your plans will succeed" or "with God all things are possible" or any of the hundreds or thousand promises that we read and quote and feel good about but seldom act on or live by?

When will we give up operating by the world's understanding and actually live out what we say we believe? What evidence is there that we actually believe God and trust in His promises when we never step outside of what we think is possible, face the giants in the land and fight "impossible" battles? Yalla, bo'ee le'amim (Come on, let's believe--I think that's how it would be translated at least). Col efshar im Adonai Yeshua (all is possible with the Lord Jesus).