Global Health & Liberation Theology

I wanted to share a link to a video of a dialogue between Paul Farmer, MD and Father Gustavo Gutierrez. 

Dr Farmer is one of the most inspiring men I have encountered (though never met) who continually challenges notions of how healthcare should be provided in impoverished settings. In his owns words and the words of the organization he helped found - Partners in Health, he seeks to offer a 'preferential option for the poor.' He is a Harvard-trained physician anthropologist who has spend the majority of his professional career working in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

Father Gutierrez is a Dominican priest who has lived in Peru the majority of his life. He is known as the father of 'Liberation Theology,' a perspective seeking to relate the story of Jesus to people living on the outskirts of society. In his words, the fundamental theological question of liberation theology is how to tell someone living in the midst of poverty, social injustice, and oppression that God loves them and favors them.

Both these men came together on the campus of Notre Dame University last year to discuss the commonalities of liberation theology and the pursuit of global health. Though it is a lengthy video, it is well worth the time and will give the person seeking to connect medicine and theology plenty to chew on.

"Re-Imagining Accompaniment: Global Health & Liberation Theology 
http://kellogg.nd.edu/ford/newsevents/DoD.shtml

A few quotes from the discussion to whet your appetite!

- " Understanding poverty as structured evil and understanding how it is perpetuated is not the same as fighting it." - Farmer
- "Theology is a reflection about life, not a religion. Theology must always be in dialogue with the contemporary context and historical conversations." - Fr Gutierrez
- "Poverty is a human issue, not an economic issue." - Fr Gutierrez
- " We live in one world, not three." - Dr Farmer
- " Poverty is not some accident of nature but the result of historically-given, and economically driven forces." - Dr Farmer 

Enjoy! Blessings... 

Fellowship: The Next Step

This journey has been wonderfully long, so wonderful we have decided to tack on an additional year of training :) For those not in the medical world, when we are done with this period of preparation we will have invested a full decade of our lives into its pursuit not including undergraduate or graduate school training! In other words, we have given up our 20's and half of our 30's to reach the point where we can go get a job! I am certain that my parents are exceptionally proud that  their oldest son will have his first job by the time he is 35!

Medical school is four years. Residency for orthopedic surgery is five additional years. I have one year of residency remaining and will graduate from residency on June 30, 2014. But that isn't enough. I have decided to pursue additional training in the form of a one year fellowship. A fellowship is an optional year of training for those interested in specializing in a certain area of orthopedics (i.e. Sports medicine, Hip & Knee Replacement, Spine, Hand, Oncology, Trauma, etc). It allows for focused training in a given area in order to further prepare the surgeon to better take care of patients with those issues.

I am headed to do a fellowship in Spine Surgery. Yesterday (Apr 9), I found out where - Regions Hospital in St Paul, MN.  We are both really excited about the opportunity to work with wonderful surgeons and wonderful people with similar ideals and dreams for the future. Regions Hospital is a very busy Level 1 trauma center in downtown St Paul, MN down the street from the state capitol building. I will get to work with both orthopedic spine surgeons and neurosurgeons. We are not particularly looking forward to the cold weather and large volumes of snow but as we've been told: "its only a year and you can do anything for a year." We'll find out! :)