Ann Messer, MD, joins me on Leading with Health to talk about providing medical education across cultures.

Ann founded One Good Turn in 2016 after over a decade of work in global health. She learned that, despite a lack of access to basic medical education and current health care information, health workers in remote communities are eager to learn and participate in educational opportunities. A humanitarian and a scientist, Ann established One Good Turn to educate, as well as to treat, our global neighbors in neglected communities. One Good Turn partners with local health workers to provide practical medical education and clinical care. Through education, they build sustainable pathways to better health for communities worldwide. 

Highlights include:

6:45 – AM: “And then I just realized if we could, instead of going in and treating everybody for these super basic things with medicines that I brought from America, why can’t I make sure that the clinicians who are already there know the right medicine to use, if indeed they have it near them.”

8:50 – AM: “The culturally sensitive care part is a mandate. That’s an integrity mandate for me. It must be those things or else it’s wrong.”

11:50 – AM: “We’re doing a library of basic medical topics that have basic treatment protocols that can be handled by somebody who’s not a physician, using the medication that’s available in the community.”

17:59 – AM: “And so I work very hard to make sure that the clinicians, that I’m working with them, that I treat them respectfully and that I acknowledge their abilities and their successes when they’re in front of any kind of patient population at all.”

23:40 – AM: “If I enter a situation where I either (A) disagree with what’s going on or (B) don’t clearly see the reason why, then I’m a student. I can’t be the boss in that circle.”

Leading with Health is hosted by Jennifer Michelle. Jennifer has a Master’s in Public Health and Epidemiology and is a former EMT. As President of Michelle Marketing Strategies, Jennifer specializes in healthcare marketing. She is on a mission to create a healthcare system that actually cares about the patients and the providers.