FROM JUDY PERRY -- OUR MISSIONARY IN CHINA
May 22, 2010
Dear Friends
A co-worker and I walked into the local corner store (a type of 7-11) and exclaimed aloud, causing everyone in the store to look at us! The cause of our excitement? Coke Zero is now sold in town. The first diet soda available in town!
Besides continuing to support the local managers of our maternal child health project, I have some exciting new responsibilities. Last summer the Chronic Disease Management Team started doing community-based stroke rehab following a summer project by a physical therapy intern. After seeing good results from the very basic rehab they have been doing, they have started training others. This summer the American physical therapist and recreational therapist will both finish full time language school and I have been asked to be their mentor as they start professional work. I am going to arrange internships at several rehabilitation departments so they can become familiar with the local rehabilitation methods and start learning the Chinese terms they will need for their work. As with the Chronic Disease Management, we are the first to do Rehab as part of the Community Health System and our work may help set the standard for the new system.
I am preparing several new lessons for the Visitation Team. They have asked for more information on how to help people with depression and anxiety, and serious mental illness. I am now preparing very simple lessons on the causes and symptoms, and self-help advice, but I also want to have a section on what to do if the problems are serious. I am trying to find out exactly who can we refer to as counseling is not common in China. Providentially, the Community Health System just published a guide for the community health stations on what to do when they need to refer for psychiatric care. It is not detailed enough, and I need to consult with a doctor who attends the Medical Fellowship to find out exactly how to refer people who need care.
Perhaps you have noticed that China has been very active in Africa recently. Last month the Ministry of Health asked if someone in Evergreen give a talk in mid-June to 30 public health and hospital leaders visiting Shanxi from 14 African countries. Evergreen has 15 years of experience with rural health care and village doctor training. Dr. Alice Chen will to do the session since she was the first doctor involved. Then she learned that the topic has expanded to include the Community Health System and since I have been involved in that since before it started in Yuci, Alice has asked me to help her. We have not gotten very clear details about what they want us to cover, except the three-hour session should be interactive and practical, drawing on the lessons we have learned over the years in rural work. We are thankful the talk is to be in English.
Please pray for us as we take advantage of these exciting opportunities, that the rehabilitation and other trainings will serve people and honor God. Thank you for your continued support of the work in China.
Blessings,
Judy Perry