Gifts from the Poor: What the World's Patients Taught One Doctor About Healing

by Dr. Glenn W. Geelhoed, Patricia Edmonds

Overview

For more than four decades, surgeon and educator Glenn Geelhoed has taken medical missions to the poorest parts of the globe to treat patients at no cost and train locals to dispense care. Drawn from indelible memories, personal papers, and Geelhoed's daily journals, Gifts from the Poor takes readers along on his journey. Whether he is stitching wounds, delivering babies, mentoring younger colleagues, or challenging destructive cultural practices, Geelhoed constantly discovers the power and dignity of each individual.

From solid, Midwestern beginnings, Geelhoed developed a profound drive to explore the world. What he found both thrilled and goaded him, and shaped a career in which he jousted with medical establishments, confronted corruption, and followed his own instincts. Geelhoed exposes the true mechanics of foreign medical aid and development and proposes game-changing alternatives to the status quo. Most of all, he advocates an upside-down approach to international medical service in which the educated healer gathers a wealth of wisdom from the poorest patients.

A self-described "hunter-gatherer" whose interests range far beyond his profession, Geelhoed takes readers outside the medical tent to experience adventures in some of the world's harshest environments. His exploits as a marathon runner, photographer, and hunter add an unexpected dimension to his portraits of life on the edge.

An inspiring tale of compassion, conviction and grit, Gifts from the Poor is Geelhoed's invitation to join him in healing a wounded world. His determination and energy will empower you in your own life's journey.

All proceeds to be donated to the Medical Mission Hall of Fame Foundation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608322954
Publisher:	Greenleaf Book Group, LLC
Publication date:	10/01/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	78 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction 1

Foreword 3

Chapter 1 This Little Light of Mine 7

Chapter 2 One Small Room in a Giant Mansion 13

Chapter 3 Imagination and Organization 25

Chapter 4 Beyond "Medical Center Civilization" 35

Chapter 5 "Just Keep Operating and Learning" 45

Chapter 6 Around Barriers and Over Bridges 57

Chapter 7 Riding More than One Horse 71

Chapter 8 The Year of Fulbrightness 81

Chapter 9 The Gift of Deprivation 97

Chapter 10 From Suffering, the Gift of Strength 109

Chapter 11 Cultures, Consonants and Vowels 123

Chapter 12 Bricking Up the Leper Door 139

Chapter 13 The Hunter-Gatherer and The Runner 155

Chapter 14 Humility in Health Care 179

Chapter 15 Hither by Thy Help 191

Chapter 16 Transformation 207

Chapter 17 Giving Back 227

Chapter 18 Derwood 249

Acknowledgments 259