health as currency for peace

A Heart to Serve: Health as a Currency

for Peace

Dr. Albert Schweitzer

“One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found service."

This is You

You already have the tools

You already use themeveryday ..... ……………. to SERVE:

• Family• Community• Country

This is You

You already have the tools

Now Expand Your Box !

How I stumbled on … “Health as a

Currency for Peace”

Medicine as a “currency for peace”Use your tools to make the

world a better place

Healthier Population

Better educated

More productive

Stable Civil Society

Built on TRUST

Less fighting, more HOPE

“One-on-one becomes one-on-many”

A Story of Lui, Sudan

.

Sudan

Lui: 500 miles West of the Nile

On-lookers crowd the plane to see the mysterious “iron bird” from the sky

Tukels and the Land

“Mission History”: Until 30 years ago when civil war decimated the region …

Church has been bombed repeatedly by the Government of Sudan …

“Hospital”: the first year we operated in an abandoned school house …

Caves just behind the hospital to escape to when bombing occurs …

Patients literally carried to the operating room …

Scrub with rain water collected from the roof …

Operating Theatre: open air and no running water …

What started as American medical volunteers operating on a single patient in an abandoned school house … grew to a hospital that now sees over 40,000 patients each year, from hundreds of miles around, with 60 Sudanese workers.

Medicine as a “Currency for Peace”

And civil society has returned.And schools have reopened.And markets have prospered … all built on TRUST.

… And the fighting and bombing have stopped.

New Military Thinking: “Smart Power”

"What is clear to me is that there is a need for a

dramatic increase in spending on civilian

instruments of national security -- diplomacy,

strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic

action, and economic reconstruction and

development.”-Dr. Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defense

Fundamental Organizing Principle

While the world often sees America’s tougher side … when people see America's more compassionate, humanitarian side, the barriers come down, and peace becomes a viable possibility.

“People don’t go to war against someone who helped save the life of their child.”

Expand your box – and occasionally “get out of your box” Responding to urgent needs …

ExamplesTsunamiKatrinaHaiti

Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 07:58:53 AM

Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit

230,000+ fatalities Magnitude of 9.3:

second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph

Asian Tsunami – December 26, 2004

Service one-on-one …

Service through our government …

Service through private sector…Service through private sector …

Service through direct donations …

U.S. Gulf Coast landfall at 6:10 am CDT on Monday, August 29, 2005

Affected Bahamas, South Florida, Cuba, Louisiana (especially New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida Panhandle

1,836 lives lost $81.2 billion in damages Hurricane Katrina was the

largest and most costly natural disaster in the history of the United States

Hurricane Katrina – August 29, 2005

Tuesday, January 12, 2010, at 4:53:10 pm

Affected Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region

Over 230,000 fatalities, 300,000 injured, and over 1,000,000 homeless

Damages estimated at $14 billion

5th deadliest earthquake of all time

Haiti Earthquake

What about ME?

“How can I make a

difference?”

“How can I make a difference?”

1. Commit: “Conceive it. Believe it. Do it.”

2. Volunteer (or cover)3. Support: Local Foundation

• Hope Through Healing Hands• Mobile Giving

4. Advocacy: Write a letter

Volunteer (or “cover” for a volunteer)

Global Health OrganizationsMedical Missions

SAMARITAN’S PURSE: www.samaritanspurse.org

Boone, NC

PHYSICIANS FOR PEACE : www.physiciansforpeace.org

Norfolk, VA

PROJECT HOPE: www.projecthope.org Millwood, VA

PROJECT C.U.R.E.: www.projectcure.org Centennial, CO

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: www.doctorswithoutborders.org

New York, NY

OPERATION GIVING BACK: ACSwww.operationgivingback.facs.org/ Chicago, IL

CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS: http://www.cmda.org/wcm/

Bristol, TN

HOPE THROUGH HEALING HANDS: www.hopethroughhealinghands.org

Nashville, TN

MOBILE MEDICAL DISASTER RELIEF:www.mmdr.orgBrentwood, TN

MERCYSHIPS: www.mercyships.org Garden Valley, TX

Clinician-Led InitiativesPaul Farmer, MD-Haiti, Africahttp://www.pih.org/

Identify needs on the ground Examples from Haiti:

Orthopedic supplies IV fluids Fuel for helicopters Sterilizers

What can local foundations really accomplish?An example: HopeThroughHealingHands.org

Mobile Giving:Text H2O to 25383

to give $10 to dig a well

Now: Text “H20” to 25838 In 30 seconds: “Donation Confirmed” In 60 seconds: I get “pinged” In 10 minutes: $10 released to NGO on the

ground in Uganda A well is constructed to provide clean water to

a community in Uganda $9.99 out of your $10 has local, direct impact

Immediate, Efficient Impact

Change the world

You become part of something greater than yourselfAnd you just might

Conceive it. Believe it. Do itCommit Act

Let’s all “commit” … Begin now!“ The moment one definitely commits oneself then

Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can -- Begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Begin now.”

Wolfgang Goethe German poet, philosopher, scientist

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health as currency for peace

Health & Medicine

albert schweitzerone