The First International Medical Volunteerism Conference

Hosted by Emory University School of Medicine

www.EmoryIMVC.org
www.IMVC.org

BREAK OUT SESSIONS SATURDAY & SUNDAY

ARRANGED BY TIME

SUMMARIES OF THE SESSIONS

SATURDAY APRIL 17TH

Sat. 8:30am – 12:30pm / SOM 120
Teaching and Developing Infrastructure for Programs in Developing Countries

A dedicated group of doctors share their experiences of reaching out around the world to
create programs to teach the locals how to save lives. The challenges are many, whether
setting up pediatric emergency care in Honduras and the Republic of Georgia or building
new hospitals in Africa. A doctor couple from India makes trips home to establish care
for rural tribes, while another doctor teaches radiology in the Andes of Peru. A
neurosurgeon takes on the challenge of teaching brain surgery in developing regions,
while a US medical school helps teach cardiology at an Ethiopian medical school. The
son of the President of Liberia becomes a doctor in the US and returns to Liberia with a
unique program to help rebuild the infrastructure by teaching local health care providers.
This is a global humanism summit focused on developing countries.

Sat. 8:30am – noon / SOM 130

Surgery Programs

There’s a gap in surgical skills within global health, with major differences between low
and high income countries. Academic programs and mission hospitals are trying to fill
this gap. There’s a wide variety of surgical interventions required, for example
introducing new technology to treat fistulas of African women, providing a new
psychological lease on life…from social outcast to cultural inclusion. The surgical
challenges include treating injuries from natural disasters like the Haiti earthquake or
performing battlefield surgery in Sudan, Pakistan, and Congo. This session would not be
complete without the personal insight of an experienced academic surgeon who makes
trips to Egypt to perform difficult cardiothoracic surgical procedures…improving
attitudes towards the U.S. in the Middle East.
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Sat. 8:30am – 12:30pm / SOM 110

Community Strength and Empowerment

Presenters offer a montage of experiences, from surgery to spiritual health, where

medical volunteerism helps to strengthen communities around the world, including
Mayan Indians in Guatemala and Nicaragua or exiled Tibetan monks in India, nomadic
communities in Kenya, the riverbank people of the Amazon basin, orphans and street
children in East Africa, and collaborating researchers in Israel and Palestine.

Sat. 8:30am – 11:30am / WH 208

Where to Begin: Tips on Getting Launched to Volunteer

This presentation acts as a springboard for future medical volunteers and social
entrepreneurs: The nuts and bolts of how to get involved, issues relating to malpractice,
and preparing for missions around the corner or around the world. Learn how to prepare
yourself and your mission team, whether you are young or old, a student or a retiree, an
out-in-the-fielder or an organizer, a lay person or a health professional.

Sat. 9:00am – 1:00pm / WH 205

Health Education and Wellness:

The best way to keep people healthy is to teach them the basics of medicine and the
importance of a healthy lifestyle. This is an opportunity to hear about a wide array of
innovative approaches to community outreach. These include music for kids, athletic
programs, community gardens, and costumed comedic presentations. Learn about the
unique missions of an alliance of nice guys/gals, a private practicing cardiologist, and a
health literacy program for the Hispanic community.

Sat. 8:30am – 11:00am / WH 207

Homeless Programs:

This will be an opportunity to learn about and to get involved in street medicine and
“house calls to the homeless” in American cities, rural areas, and throughout the world.
Also, there will be expert insights relating to treating mental illness in the homeless, and
teaching meditation and mindfulness to the homeless. Opportunities abound for anyone to
volunteer, whether you are trained medical personnel, a student, or a retiree.
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Sat. 10:00am – 11:30am / WH 206

Advocacy for the Health of Uninsured and Underinsured Patients

A reverend and a state senator share the challenges of their advocacy efforts for Grady
Hospital and Grady patients. A wide variety of other advocates share their experiences,
including an overview of a national effort to advocate for underserved patients and the
clinicians who attempt to serve them.

Sat. 11:30am – 3:00pm / WH 208

Community Clinics

Hear the stories, insights, and expertise of the health care warriors who tackle the
problems of access to care in their own communities. They have established and served
in clinics accessible to the underserved, not only providing services, but teaching future
healthcare professionals. Merging spiritual, academic, and community initiatives, they
share the ultimate challenge: providing access to quality care for all Americans.

Sat. 11:00am – 2:30pm / WH 207

What Can Institutional Leadership do to Encourage Volunteerism?

Many academic institutions are dedicated to fostering a spirit of volunteerism in their

training of future doctors, physician assistants, nurses, or chiropractors. Whether the
programs they offer provide care for the underserved in Tanzania or for migrant farm
workers in the state of Georgia, the purpose and the challenge is to plant the seeds and
encourage students to appreciate the joy of making a difference by saving the lives or
preventing the suffering of people who otherwise would be without care.

Sat. 11:30am – 2:30pm / WH 206

Communications and Media Efforts

From the cutting edge technology of telemedicine to the cultural sensitivity issues in
verbal communication, learn how to communicate and make a difference. This session is
a communing of artists and techies. A wide spectrum of innovators share their efforts to
make an impact, from public health presentations in a foreign language to websites and
collaborative books on health issues… An author draws from his own experiences to
write books inspiring others to thrive despite physical challenges, a doctor produces CDs
to sensitize health care providers communicating with Latinos, and a photographer
captures the work of medical volunteers in Tibet.
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Sat. noon – 3:00pm / SOM 130

Expanding Volunteer Efforts

Presenters offer innovative approaches to expanding mission opportunities in faith-based

and secular situations, whether by ship, on land, or in cyberspace. Gain insights into
mobilizing faith groups, students, professionals, and even using the talents of the African
Diaspora as a strategy to give back, especially in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Add
the skill of social entrepreneurialism, and there’s always room to expand. This session is
moderated by the development associate of the nonprofit website
www.medicalmissions.org, which connects medical volunteers with volunteer
opportunities around the world.

Sat. 12:30pm – 3:00pm / SOM 110

Nursing & Pharmacy Programs

A unique perspective on volunteer nursing and pharmaceutical activities in developing

countries, from challenges with the pharmaceutical supply chains to nurses who empower
the poor, thus creating lasting change. Learn how to contribute in these challenging
situations and avoid “nurse burn out” while making a positive impact.

Sat. 12:30 – 3:00pm / SOM 120

Emergency, Trauma, & ER programs

Whether providing emergency care in Nigeria or India, teaching basic and advanced
resuscitation techniques on the streets of India, or setting up intensive care units in third
world countries, this team of presenters has one objective…to save lives and decrease
morbidity during an emergency.

Sat. 2:00pm – 3:00pm / SOM P190

Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities and their Issues

Members of the Commission on Disability Affairs in Fulton County address the

challenges and innovative accomplishments resulting from advocacy for those who are
disabled.
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SUNDAY, APRIL 18TH, 2010

Sun. 9:00am – noon / SOM 110

Sustaining Volunteer Efforts

Whether establishing surgical missions or delivering disaster relief, volunteering as a

student emergency tech in Nigeria or doing mission work in Haiti or Peru to help with
medical, social, and dental needs…the aim is to make this humanitarian work sustainable.
Here is an opportunity to gain insights into innovation that helps volunteers have a lasting
impact on the health of the community they serve.

Sun. 9:00am – 2:00pm / SOM 120

Pediatric Programs

This group of doctors, nurses, and dentists give insights into the challenges and triumphs
of volunteering pediatric services in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and
Mongolia. Their efforts include screening for prevention intervention, providing primary
care services, and treating children who require complicated surgical intervention (birth
defects, plastic and reconstructive surgery, neurologic defects, congenital heart defects, or
urologic surgery),

Sun. 11:00am – 2:30pm / Harland Cinema

The Haiti Challenge & Response

A global perspective on medical volunteering in Haiti, including helping the needy in

rural areas who were indirectly affected by the earthquake, dealing with the
psychological aftermath among Haitians, rebuilding hospitals, and working at the
forefront of disaster relief. These health professionals and organizers have learned lessons
which could help to develop new strategies for dealing with similar situations in the
future. Here’s a real opportunity to learn from the past and move forward.

Sun. 9:00am – noon / WH 208

An Overview: Volunteering in Your Own Community – Opportunities and Ideas for
Medical & Lay People

A smorgasbord of individual stories and opportunities, from doctors who provide free
heart surgery and lung transplants to a lay retiree who visits sick kids with bedside
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reading. A wide spectrum of opportunities are out there right in your backyard: offering
charity care in your own private practice, joining the ranks of lay people and healthcare
professionals in the Medical Reserve Corp, offering your skills at health fairs, or
exploiting your creativity like the doc who sings to help feed the hungry. The sky’s the
limit!

Sun. 9:00am – 12:30am / WH 206

Hospice Volunteer Programs:

This presentation provides insights into a variety of hospice volunteer opportunities for
lay people and healthcare professionals. Learn from the personal experiences of the prior
head of CNN Science News who mixed volunteering, family, and film-making to impact
volunteers via an end-of-life documentary. Get an inside perspective from volunteering
doctors and volunteer coordinators. Learn how to get involved with organizations like
Visiting Nurse / Hospice Atlanta and United Hospice Atlanta.

Sun. 9:00am – 11:00 am / WH 207

Mental Health in America’s Youth:

Hear the experiences of a Chicago city police officer who teamed up with Michael Jordan
to educate inner city kids and prevent serious mishaps. He’ll be joined by a colleague
Chicago police officer and a Dekalb County executive who runs a unique camp to inspire
youth to commit to healthy choices. In addition, you’ll learn from a Cleveland Clinic
phsysician who created an innovative program to teach medicine and boost the self-
esteem of inner city Cleveland kids.

Sun. 9:00pm – 2:00pm / WH 205

Dental Health Programs:

A collection of unique perspectives on how to get dental care to those in need locally or
internationally, through mission trips to remote villages on the Amazon River, in Alaska,
and in Vietnam, or serving inner city Atlanta communities where model clinics have been
established. There are even insights from a dentist’s mission trips to teach non-dentists to
perform certain dental treatments.

Sun. 10:00am – 1:00pm / SOM 130

Cultural Sensitivity & Ethical Responsibility in Volunteer Efforts
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Volunteering can do more harm than good if it is not culturally sensitive. It can do a
tremendous amount of good for both the recipient and the donor when it is culturally
enriching. The presenters will give insights into cross-cultural issues including social,
economic, ethnic, religious, educational, or language. Organizers, surgeons, obstetricians,
and ER doctors will present an array of perspectives.

Sun. 11:00am – 1:30pm / WH 206

Family Involvement: Getting the Family on Board

How to create a meaningful family experience through helping those in need:

Perspectives from a teen who started going on medical missions at age eight, insights
from families who have gone together on missions, and stories from those who have
adopted children as another positive spin off of their medical missions.

Sun. 11:00am – 2:00pm / WH 207

Mental Health Programs:

Learn about a wide array of volunteer opportunities, such as a unique program that
connect faith communities with mental health advocates, or a national program using
street-based and radio outreach to positively impact mental health issues. The spectrum
of disorders addressed will include substance abuse, dementia, and Tourrette Syndrome
(with special emphasis on a camp experience for kids). The approaches are often
innovative, such as a therapeutic garden in an Alzheimer’s day facility. Another highlight
is a psychiatrist’s perspective on how to sensitize the brain towards environmental
concerns.

Sun. noon – 2:00pm / SOM 110

Public Health Programs

Public health volunteers from Cambodia to South Africa, from Uganda to Nicaragua give
insights into making a difference in public health around the world. Their efforts result in
clean water, sanitation, screening for and educating about health problems like
hypertension & pulmonary ailments, and teaming to wipe out communicable diseases.

Sun. noon – 2pm / WH 208

Hospital Volunteer Programs:
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Hospital volunteers from Atlanta and beyond join together to celebrate the work they do.
Unique insights from teens, retired folks, and volunteer coordinators. These opportunities
are available for anybody interested in the medical field and anyone who wants to use
their experience and expertise to make a difference.

Sun. 12:30pm – 2pm / WH 206

Advocacy for Patients during a Crisis of Care

It’s difficult for patients to advocate for themselves when they are suffering and/or
without resources. The volunteer advocate can make all the difference in the world,
especially at a time of a crisis of care.

Sun. 1:00pm – 2:00pm / SOM 130

The Nuts & Bolts of Fundraising: An Introduction

This is a crash course on how to gain access to financial resources. You will have an
opportunity to learn the inside scoop on how to present your plan to potential funders,
how to plan fundraising events, and the do’s and don’ts of grant writing.