Content Resources

Post-partum hemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Common causes include uterine atony, retained tissue, and lacerations, and can be severe especially if the patient presents late. In the tropics, such cases may be complicated by coagulopathy and thrombocytopenia. Contributing factors may be recurrent malaria, chronic anemia due to nutritional factors or hemoglobinopathies, and reactive hypersplenism (tropical splenomegaly). Treatment is complicated by limited blood products, late presentation due to poor infrastructure and transportation, and cultural factors. Even if PPH occurs in a health facility, these factors make treatment challenging. Despite surviving the initial hemorrhage, complications such as renal failure can lead to mortality 7-8 days postpartum in settings where limited laboratory and no dialysis exists. Several cases of complicated PPH are presented, highlighting the key factors that can lead to successful management— a team approach involving prompt medical treatment, ultrasound evaluation, transfusion, curettage, and surgical management.

This session will cover practical factors to consider when moving abroad with a young family. Some topics that will be covered include closing down your home base as well as the initial time period of living overseas and ideas on how to help your family deal with these transitions. We will also cover some practical ideas on how to manage the time pressures of a difficult work environment with family life.

Christians are called to love yet often times, our communities are rife with conflict and unresolved hurt. Interpersonal conflict is cited as one of the major reasons why missionaries leave the mission field. Using concepts from Ken Sande’s Peacemakers and his personal experience working as a the Medical Director in an FQHC in Appalachia, Dr. Thomas will review … - The cost of conflict for the individuals, the organization, and for our witness- The difference between Peacemaking vs PeaceFaking- Strategies to develop a culture of peace in your organization- Healthy ways of addressing conflict and working towards reconciliation

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons(IDP’s) face significant challenges to their health and well-being that are unique, due to lack of necessary resources including food, water, sanitation, shelter, security and healthcare. Caring for people in these situations requires an understanding of their unique needs as well as having realistic goals regarding what can and cannot be done for them. Recent experiences in providing healthcare missions in disasters in Nepal, Kurdistan and Turkey – both natural and manmade – highlight the need to be well prepared when serving in these difficult situations. Focus areas for the presentation and discussion will include team selection and preparation; travel and logistics issues; identifying and addressing the needs of the people being served, including physical, psychological and spiritual needs; partnering with other relief organizations and local authorities; and returning home successfully. We are called to serve the “least of these”, and the victims of disasters and crises certainly qualify. Often these events, though causing much hardship and suffering, create the possibility for doors and hearts to be open to the message of Jesus that otherwise would be closed. We must be both willing and well prepared if we are to serve well when we are called to respond to those in need.

Stan Key was appointed President of The Francis Asbury Society on March 1, 2014. Stan and Katy Key come to FAS after 10 years of missionary service in Paris, France, and 18 years of pastoral leadership at Loudonville Community Church in Albany, New York. Joining the FAS team in January of 2013, Stan has contributed to the ministry of the Society through preaching, teaching, writing, and more recently, serving as Director of Operations. He also serves as Spiritual Dean with the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) and serves on the board of One Mission Society. He travels and speaks in churches, retreats, conferences, and camps both here and abroad. Katy also serves in many capacities at his side, and they serve at FAS as a team. Stan is the author of The Last Word (Warner Press, 2015), a study on the book of Revelation. Katy is the daughter of the founder of FAS, Dennis Kinlaw. Stan and Katy have three grown daughters and four grandchildren.

Andrew recently completed writing his first book, entitled Scatter. His desire is that it will inspire a new generation to “scatter” into the hardest, furthest and darkest parts of the world, where they may experience an incredible adventure with God.

Dr. Juli Slattery is a Christian psychologist and co-founder of the ministry Authentic Intimacy. She holds degrees in psychology from Wheaton College, Biola University, an MS and Florida Institute of Technology.

Whether you see yourself as a leader or not, you play a critical role in determining the success of your experiences and those around you. How you plan, recruit, and execute your Short Term Trip strategy will impact your entire church/organization and any trip participants... the ripples of which you may never fully know. Don't have a Short Term Trip strategy yet? We can help you think through that as well.Whether you are wanting to lead a trip for the first time or have done it so long that you can't remember everything you know, this session will help reduce your stress and, more importantly, increase your impact.

Girls and women in developing communities are often vulnerable and overlooked. Their potential roles as key players in promoting spiritual and physical health in their communities can easily remain unrecognized. Medical Ambassadors International's mission is equipping communities for Christ-centered health and development, and the Women's Cycle of Life is a curriculum and training that directly addresses issues facing women spiritually, physically, socially, and financially. Working in tandem with Medical Ambassadors International's community health evangelism ministry, the Women's Cycle of Life curriculum & training equips women to take ownership of, and become key players in the well-being of their families and their communities. Women not only learn the spiritual and physical lessons for themselves, but they also learn to multiply the knowledge among their friends and neighbors. Their impact is remarkable!This presentation will provide participants with an overview of how Women's Cycle of Life (and Community Health Evangelism) training promotes health and development of the whole person and community. Specific case studies will be highlighted, showing the long-term impact of women who have been equipped, by God's grace, through Medical Ambassadors International and missions partners around the world.

This survey was created by someone that God led on an amazing journey. In hindsight this person realizes they were on a quest. Their quest started with one goal, “To find a deeper, more intimate relationship with God—one in which they would be able to recognize God’s “still small voice.” Prior to The Quest, this person had been a fairly average Christian leader, with seasons of spiritual fervor and seasons that were spiritually dry. The questions in the survey fit in one of two categories. Some come from the issues this person began wrestling with that led them to embark upon The Quest. Others are inspired by all the things this person realized had changed or were changing as God led them in The Quest. Many have found taking this survey helps them to assess where they are spiritually in their relationship with God. It is a tool to help explore various facets of one’s relationship with God. The intent isn’t to compute an overall score, but to help people begin to identify where to focus attention for future growth. Its ultimate effectiveness is realized as people re-take the survey months and years later and compare themselves with where they were previously.

Faith-based organizations provide up to 70% or more of healthcare in some countries. They often work in remote locations among neglected people without any access to healthcare. Should faith-based hospitals and health programs partner with local governments and other actors in the public sector? Will collaboration compromise witness and mission? Or can collaboration expand resources, opportunity and deepen impact of Kingdom work? This session will help us examine relationships and discover from a Kingdom perspective about the common ground/common good of working with local governments, Ministry of Health and other national organizations.

As a young nurse, Aileen Coleman left her homeland of Australia in June 1955 for ministry in the Middle East. Sixty years later she remains in active ministry serving the Bedouin people in the Kingdom of Jordan. She will respond to questions reflecting on her years of service as a single women in the Muslim Middle East. She has a burden to see another generation of workers in this field.