This is an exciting fall month for educational events.
Other than shepherding families to appropriate, compatible Mexican assisted living and ”nursing” care for their loved ones, pastoral care visits to sweet older adults at Lake Chapala (always a pleasure), and coordinating the production of health books (one a translation to Spanish), there are seminars to attend and blog about, plus informational talks I have prepared for ex-pats.
Here’s a partial calendar….
October 3 Future of Medical Cannabis conference on-line. Medical cannabis is not yet legal in Mexico, lots of challenges related to its release, but all is possible. Am keeping informed of movements in the U.S. and Canada. Some U.S. doctors are titrating down opioid prescriptions and other pain meds for their patients- slowly, by introducing medical cannabis at the same time.
Oct 16 Beautiful Dying in Mexico Power Point presentation at Lake Chapala Society. In honor of Mexico’s Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, an overview of dying in Mexico – family and religious traditions, rituals, their origins and meaning, and why many Mexicans seem so comfortable with death. Told through stories I’ve been witness to volunteering at a palliative care hospital/hospice and/or as a friend on a village street in Ajijic, Mexico.
Oct 19 Medical Cannabis in Mexico Conference all day in Guadalajara
Oct 22 Preparing for Medical Emergencies at Lake Chapala Power Point presentation at Presbyterian Church
Oct 24-26 4th International Palliative Care Congress at UTEG in Guadalajara produced by www.JuntosContraelDolor.com, the palliative care hospital and service I volunteer with
Oct 30 Focus on Mexico Power Point presentation about Senior Care in Mexico, members only
One of the biggest pleasures for those of us dedicated to healthcare (for me senior care and palliative care from a social, spiritual, and administrative perspective) is to attend a conference where one can network and learn from thought leaders focused on a similar mission – best practices for quality care.
The 2nd PACE Pan American Forum for Emergency Care and Global Health held at Hotel Real de Minas in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico last month, was a gift for all attendees. (Below is a photo of Hotel Posada de las Monjas in SMA, a former monastery, where the PACEforum.org offices are located).
PaceForum.org headquarters in San Miguel de Allende at Hotel Posada de las Monjas, a former monastery
The three-day conferencefocused on innovative ways to offer medical training to communities in lower-resource, culturally challenging settings through technology (tele-mentoring, digital health monitoring), and one-on-one communication and care skills.
PaceForum.org 2019 Hotel de Real Minas lobby mascots
Public health leaders in Emergency Medicine shared years of accumulated knowledge from state, national, and international levels. Tracks included general emergency medicine, disaster management, obstetrics, pediatrics, the ECHO tele-mentoring program, rural and wilderness medicine, palliative care, and many more. Attendees received CME credits.
Each track was of the utmost importance.
The most meaningful tracks forme were physicians teaching palliative care to emergency resident physicians, a demonstration of a clinically proven mental health protocol for first responders and physicians to keep themselves and others calm through Breath-Body-Mind (trade-marked), and the presentation by internationally renowned social entrepreneur, university professor, and conference founder Dr. Haywood Hall who focused on the formidable impact the PACE program has had in Mexico, plus a current international concern, health and mental health issues at the US-Mexico border.
Thanks to the international work of Dr. Angel Braña-Lopez, and New York integrative psychiatrists Drs. Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg of www.Breath-Body-Mind.com who teach innovative programs to help people recover from trauma and mass disasters, I was able to travel to San Miguel de Allende. Many thanks also to Dr. Haywood Hall!! It was a privilege to attend.
Other attendees were medical school professors from Latin America (mostly Mexico) and the U.S., specialists, generalists, nurses, mid-wives, paramedics, community health workers and others.
Cruz Roja (Red Cross) paradmedics at PaceForum.org 2019
More about PACE Global Health
PACE Global Health (aka Groupo PACE) is an off-shoot of the award-winning social impact program PACE MD, founded over 20 years ago “to improve emergency and general medical care in Latin America through community-based training in skills, knowledge and ability as well as to improve medical care in the US and Latino populations through MedSpanish’s language and cultural literacy training (offering CME and GME credits).”
PACE MD founder Haywood Hall is an Emergency Medicine Specialist, Telemedicine Physician, and Professor at the University of New Mexico and the University of North Carolina. He is an American fluent in Spanish language and culture, and is an Ashoka Change Maker Fellow who works with Duke University’s Innovations in Healthcare. His PACE program has trained and certified over 41,000 healthcare providers and 6,000 lay people in systems-based emergency care.
For his achievements in positively affecting the chain of survival through emergency care skills Dr. Hall has won the International Federation of Emergency Medicine Humanitarian Award as well as the College of Emergency Physician’s Hero of Emergency Medicine Award, LATAM’s Top 10 Social Impact Enterprise in Latin American and the Caribbean Award, the American Heart Association’s Silver Award, as well as 2nd place for Social Innovation from Mohammad Yunus Creative Labs.
PaceForum.org breakfast meeting with Ms. Karen, Dr. Angel Brana-Lopez, Elena Lopez of Hola Hospice, Wendy Jane Carrel of Wellness Shepherd and Book Ambassador,, and Dr. Haywood Hall, founder of PACEMD, Pace Forum, and MedSpanish
“The future of emergency medicine is here and it’s up to us to pave the way,” states Dr. Hall. “As front line healthcare providers we are in a unique position to be agents of change. We know the exact problems that plague our societies.”
If you are interested in learning more about Latin culture and how you can use healthcare technology to reach low resource areas you may wish to attend the next Pan-American Forum for Emergency Care and Global Health (date not yet set), or contact PACE via the information below:
Another take away: What many people may not realize is the enormous effort and energy required to create innovative, sustainable public health programs, especially related to emergency medicine, which is often a 24/7 profession. Most participants, and PACE founder Dr. Hall, usually depend on their teaching income to fund their outreach passions and programs.
Note: PACE International is not to be confused with another PACE, a US federal Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly. The objectives are similar, however – to treat all with dignity, compassion, and quality care.
Wellness Shepherd 