June Med Amb – Paul Carlson Partnership

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My First Trip to Congo

by Craig Anderson, Director of Medical and Health Programs

At the end of March, I took my first trip to Congo with a group of Medical Ambassadors. Having been to Africa many times before, I found the Congo to be like much of the rest of the continent. The cities are full and busy with all sorts of vehicles (two wheeled, three wheeled, and multi-wheeled) and pedestrians all claiming the same places on the roads. The rural areas are remote and isolated, but filled with people who enjoy their lives, homes made of mud and thatch, and their small communities. Most of the young girls are carrying water on their heads at all hours of the day and young men seem to be in abundance either doing very little or working very hard at manual labor tasks with few in between.

Infrastructure issues withstanding, it was the people of the Congo that were most impressive. I saw the result of doctors who had amputated a ten year old’s lower arm from a machete fight. Their only operating room was lit up only by solar lighting and windows were only covered with deteriorating screens. I saw a young woman’s leg that had been badly fractured in multiple locations pinned neatly together without a trace of infection. I also saw over 30 malaria stricken toddlers with their parents two to a bed. Each bed was covered by a bed net to prevent mosquito bites but there was no moving air in about 85 to 95 degree heat. Everything I saw helped me realize that my new work was going to encounter many challenges, but people made in God's image were already making a difference. How best to come alongside them would be my challenge and privilege.

March 2016: Dr. Brian Duvall (right) meets with the local Congolese optometrist.

For the next two weeks, I will be in Congo again. Although I had originally planned on taking a group with me, we were unable to do so due to receiving visas on time. However, my solo trip will be beneficial as I engage with our partners one-on-one, diving deeper into relationship, building trust, and continuing PCP's partnership with the medical community. While I am in Congo, would you pray for me and our partners in the following ways?

We will sense God's leading together
That I will have a listening heart
To be a source of encouragement to our partners
To build trust and unity between us

Thank you for joining with me in prayer and with your support of our partners in Congo!

PCP Medical Ambassadors are compassionate, dedicated medical professionals investing their skills in US-based service to Congo. We have developed an innovative structure to allow medical and healthcare professionals to work alongside their counterparts in DR-Congo. Our “training of the trainers” approach equips local personnel throughout the healthcare system of hospitals and clinics. The Medical Ambassadors are a critical link to transformed and saved lives.

Volunteer to be a Medical Ambassador

PCP Focus Group Chairs

Dentistry: Dan Connors, Bill Scott
Eye Care: Brian Duvall, Gary Archer
Hospital Administration: Flory Buki
Internal/Adult Medicine: Jeni Whittaker
Maternal Health: Jim Walker
Nursing: Ann Hagensen, Julie Maylon, Desire Kindarawa
Pediatrics: Eric Gunnoe
Pharmaceuticals: Ann Dooko, John Whittington
Surgery and Anesthesiology: Bob Demaster

Anne Marie Magolo Zuku

Visiting Anne Marie

by Dr. Jim Walker, PCP Medical Ambassador

Last year, we learned about Anne Marie Magolo Zuku, a nurse at the IPOK Clinic near Gemena. She had attended a Medical Ambassador course calledBleeding After Birth which trains doctors and nurses how to manage bleeding complications after delivery. A PCP video told this story.

Helping Mothers Survive

On Sunday, April 19, 2016, a Medical Ambassadors team visited Anne Marie at IPOK again. As we toured her medical center, we met a young mother and her two day old boy. The woman's husband is a nurse at a NGO clinic that provides care for albinos. Anne Marie told us how she had to manage each of the three main complications that can cause bleeding after birth (the uterine muscle not contracting adequately, the placenta needing to be manually removed, and lacerations that need to be repaired) during this woman’s delivery. Anne Marie had involved the patient's husband for help. As a team they gave the woman medications and administered intravenous fluid. Anne Marie manually removed the placenta and repaired lacerations. The husband was so impressed that he asked for a photocopy of her instruction book so he could learn the techniques Anne Marie had used to save his wife's life.

The mother and child saved by Anne Marie.

Anne Marie is an excellent nurse who loves God and applied the Medical Ambassador training she received to save lives. She loves to teach the training to others, and we hope sharing this technique with the patient’s husband will lead to more lives saved. I am honored to call her my friend and to have taught the Helping Mothers Survive course she attended two years ago. It is great that our family is able to support a clinic like Anne Marie's through the Congo Clinic Initiative.

Donate to our medical programs today!

PCP Medical Steering Team

Eric Gunnoe

Mary Stockmeyer

Marta Klein

Ann Hagensen

Flory Buki

John Whittington

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