Medications for Each Barefoot Doctor Going Home

Soon our Barefoot Doctor students will be going home again.  They only have 2 more days of classes this week and the medical training for 2019 will be finished.  It's hard to believe their time at the Kalnin Learning Center has gone so quickly.

One of the biggest things done in preparation for their journey home is to buy the medications they will need to have on hand once they are home again.  Jung Dangshing writes,

Each year we combine the knowledge gained from previous classes and our current student’s patterns of use to create our “formulary” of life saving and improving medications and vitamins. Each student is provided with a starter kit of these medications using funds from generous donors. For example, this year each student received enough Amoxicillin to cure 160 patients with common infections, ranitidine and metronidazole to treat 25 cases of GI ulcer and deworming medication for 200 treatments.  




The students will be heading home on Monday, March 4th.  Thank you for your prayers and support,

Jung Dangshing
Frontier Labourers for Christ

Dr. Bruce's Final Post for 2019


This is another of my Burmese friends.  Meet Issaiah Mayaanlam.   I have watched him over the last 5 weeks. He is the strong and quiet type and it is very apparent that he is a leader, by example.   He isn’t flashy, but he is strong, solid, and unwavering.  He is a pastor of a church in Northern Myanmar, near the Indian border.  

There are 370 families in his village and only 7 families are Christian.   He has 2 children and his wife is due with their 3rd child on May 6th.  There is no electricity in his village.  Nor are there any doctors or a hospital in his village.  The nearest hospital is in Dani, 12 miles away, where his wife will have their baby. 

Their community is in a valley and most people are rice farmers.  There is also a mine near-by.   He had been praying for the last 11 years to have the opportunity to attend the Barefoot Doctor school.  He was finally given the opportunity last year.  He is completing the second year of study with us.

There is much fighting in his region.   There are a lot of land mines and unfortunately, civilians are injured by the land mines all too often.   2 months ago, airplanes dropped bombs quite near his village.  The armies have taken many of the young men from his community and forced them to work in the mines without pay, carry ammunition for the army, and even fight on the front lines.  Many of the young men do not return.

I asked Issaiah how he would want us to pray for him.  He replied, “Pray for a stop to the fighting and pray for our church building project.”  The church has put the building project on hold, waiting for Issaiah to return from the Barefoot Doctor program.  Issaiah is anxious to return and give health care to his village and to continue his work as a pastor. 

Please join me in praying for peace and for revival in his village.  Pray also for the delivery of a strong and healthy baby.

This will be my last blog for this year.  Thank you for praying for our students.  The balance of eternity has been changed for those villagers that our Barefoot Doctors will be treating as patients in the years to come.  We will not know, until we get to heaven, just how large of an impact has been made through this program, but I am confident that our students will make the most of this opportunity to share their faith in a war torn, dark, and spiritually bankrupt country.  

Pray with me that the spirit of God will permeate Myanmar and draw souls into the kingdom.  Let's pray for revival in Myanmar.

Dr. Bruce Gross

Dr. Eddie Teaching Dental Skills


Dentistry Blog from Dr. Bruce...

This year we were so fortunate to have Dr. Thaw Ain Soe ("Eddie" for short) with us to teach dental care. He is from Myanmar and I knew I really liked him when he started each class with prayer.  


He taught basic dental care and oral hygiene, followed by Periodontal disease, and how to handle acute infections of the gums and teeth.  The students learned about descaling the teeth (removal of plaque buildup) with a special de-scaling machine.  


We were able to project images on the big screen TV as he worked on the patients. 


They also learned how to fill a superficial cavity that had not yet eroded through the enamel by hands-on practice using plastic teeth.  The students loved learning dental skills and information.

Thank you for being such a blessing to our students, Eddie.

Suture Lab with Pig's Feet

Dr. Susan McDowell explaining about the basic suture materials before we distributed pigs feet to begin the suturing lab.


Du Si Heh practicing injecting the local anesthetic into a cut on a pig's foot.


Dr. Susan showing the basic techniques of needle holding, needle driving, and knot placement to Nin Nwe, a Barefoot Doctor.


More Suture Lab Photos:







Nin Mang and Case Presentations



Nin Mang with her patient that she presented as her Case Presentation  
  
 Case Presentations are a big part of what the students have been learning.   Last year, prior to leaving, we asked them to see at least 10 patients, take photographs of the patient, and be prepared to present some of the cases to the class.  

All of the students surpassed their required 10 patients.  Some saw 30, many saw 75 – 100, and one saw over 500 patients since leaving the Barefoot Doctor class last February.   

The cases have proved to be educational, and at times a challenge for us to come up with the diagnosis.  We talk about the patient's presenting complaint, their history of the illness, the patient’s physical exam, the working diagnosis, and what treatment was rendered by the Barefoot Doctor.  

Sometimes they were right, other times they were wrong.  But it was a time of learning every time a case was presented.  The cases included Goiter, Hypertension, Geographic Tongue, Farmer’s Lip, Malaria, fractured Arm, Fungal infections, Yeast infections, Tuberculosis, and others.

It will be interesting (and educational) to see what cases the students have for us next year.  

Each student is also asked to present information for the rest of the class on the medications that are sent home with them for use as a Barefoot Doctor.  There are 23 different medications.  We talk about what the drug is used for, side effects, and the appropriate dosage to use. 

Dr. Bruce Gross

OB Training Continues - Dr. Susan and Dr. Bruce

Dr. Bruce explaining steps of labor using birth simulator donated by Dr. Susan McDowell during obstetrics class. The birth simulator allows the student to feel the position of the baby in the uterus during the early stages of labor and test scenarios such as breech presentation, partial delivery of the placenta and heavy postpartum bleeding.


Dr. Bruce demonstrating the steps to deliver the baby’s shoulders.


Dr. Bruce giving more instructions before the students practice delivering a baby during OB training with birth simulator and Dr. Susan volunteering as the mother.


Ning Sai, a barefoot doctor, practicing delivering baby with birth simulator. Ning Sai and her family live in a village near the Burma-China border. There is no government trained health care workers nor hospital in her village.




Thanks to Dr. Susan McDowell for donating 2 birth simulators for our students to learn on.  We also thank her for volunteering to personally deliver 20 babies in one day!

Please continue praying for our students and their instructors.

Jung Dangshing
Frontier Labourers for Christ