BY: BRUCE COMPTON
The members of CHA have the ability and, in my experience, the will to help improve health and well-being of people around the world. Our resources, coupled with our mission of continuing Christ's work in the world today, command the attention of national and international organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U. S. Global Health Initiative.
In my two years as senior director of international outreach at CHA, I've worked with our members to align resources so that our ministry can do more than simply "do good." Empowering beneficiaries in the developing world to be self-sustainable must be our ultimate goal as we initiate projects that provide the most basic essentials to advance human flourishing. Having the appropriate contacts and resources at national and international levels empowers us to join others in strengthening health systems and enabling our global sisters and brothers to realize their human dignity.
To bring together many of the natural partners in this work, CHA is hosting its 2012 Global Summit on June 5 in Philadelphia. This is the second such summit, and CHA members will find it an important opportunity to hear from Catholic Relief Services, WHO and Global Health Initiative representatives about what they are doing and, in turn, tell them what we are doing.
The following month, CHA is working closely with the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations who will host a conference for medical surplus recovery organizations and key stakeholders (donors and recipients), including hospitals and health systems. This meeting will take place July 16 -17 at the Carter Center in Atlanta.
The summit ties into the 2012 Catholic Health Assembly theme of "Leadership for Healing," and it will provide information about many of the initiatives housed under the title of international outreach.
For a national look, two global health leaders will give their insights into U.S. policies and efforts to break down the silos that challenge the overall efficiency and effectiveness of international outreach activities. The presenters will be Chris Dorval, Global Health Initiative's senior adviser for strategy and external relations, and Lois Quam, executive director of the State Department's U. S. Global Health Initiative.
Catholic Relief Services will share information about a new program to aid faith-based providers in developing countries. Shannon Senefeld, Ph.D., global director of Health and HIV for Catholic Relief Services, and Michele Broemmelsiek, global chief of party of Catholic Relief Services' AIDSRelief consortium, will highlight "Strengthening Faith-Based Health Systems," a 10-year, multimillion-dollar collaboration with CHA, the University of Notre Dame and others. Through the initiative, Catholic Relief Services will channel its own resources and those of its partners — including funds, technical expertise and staff — to faith-based health care facilities in 10 developing countries so that they can scale up and provide more effective services. Many of the facilities to be aided by the effort will be Catholic; others may include Protestant and Muslim facilities.
Too, we will look at our international work through the lens of Catholic social tradition and teaching. Sr. Doris Gottemoeller, RSM, Ph.D., senior vice president, mission and values integration at Catholic Health Partners, will provide insights into the call for Catholic health ministry to do this work and why, as ministry, it is essential to conduct activities with the highest quality. Her themes tie directly into additional presentations about medical surplus recovery and the need for our ministry to scrutinize the partners making donations on our behalf.
In a session titled "Quality in Medical Surplus Donations — Lessons from WHO and PQMD," Lori Warrens, executive director of the Partnership for Quality Medical Donation (PQMD), and Ismael Cordero, a clinical engineer, consultant and also a technical adviser for the World Health Organization, will provide a picture of current medical surplus donation challenges and opportunities for the Catholic health ministry. This is an important follow-up to the 2011 Global Summit, where the results of a CHA study showed that despite our best intentions, much of our donations were not made in a way to optimize their effectiveness.
In response to the study, CHA will present a new video and additional educational and assessment tools to help our members assess their partners in medical surplus recovery.
The summit also will offer two panel sessions where six CHA-member organizations will share their programs and insights, enabling others to learn from their experience and consider potential collaboration. One panel will highlight international projects supported by facility, system and sponsoring congregation. The second panel will provide insights into three different opportunities for international exposure: long-term volunteers, immersion experience and short-term medical team.
Overall, we are a community of caregivers compelled to match our resources with the needs of our neighbors. By bringing leaders from all of the stakeholder groups together, we are living out our call to solidarity and stewardship.
BRUCE COMPTON is senior director, international outreach, Catholic Health Association, St. Louis.