Coronavirus Archives – Christian Medical & Dental Associations® (CMDA)

Street Medicine: Running a Free Clinic in the Era of COVID

When I contracted COVID-19 on March 18, 2020, it was so early in the outbreak of the pandemic that my illness sent shock waves of fear through Inland Vineyard Medical Mission and Free Clinic where I serve as director. Everyone on our team was worried, including our student workers. How would we keep our team safe? And how would we still treat our patients? For most of our patients, we are their main source for both food and medical care. Where would they go if we suddenly shut our doors?

Revisiting the Topic of COVID-19 Vaccines

Dr. Jeff Barrows joins Dr. Mike Chupp on today’s special edition of the CMDA Matters podcast to revisit the topic of COVID-19 and the safety, efficacy and ethics of the vaccines.

One Person at a Time

I have a soft spot for public health. True, I’ve been a family physician for 32 years, and have touched many people’s lives, but decisions made by public health practitioners have an outsized impact on health.

Facing the Virus Overseas

When COVID-19 began sweeping around the globe in early 2020, career healthcare missionaries were faced with the option of staying in their countries of service to weather the storm or evacuating back to the United States before the borders closed. Without sufficient quantities of protective equipment for staff members, would rural mission hospitals be able to survive the pandemic? In countries where the medical infrastructure is limited at best, would there be enough resources? What about food and other supplies to help to meet the day-to-day needs if the airports closed?

Lessons Learned in the COVID-19 Field Hospital

When 2020 started, I had a plan. A plan to follow God’s leading to serve on a mission trip in Southeast Cambodia. Like everyone else, those plans were completely changed when the pandemic hit.

But God.

Courage through the Crisis: Stories from the Frontlines

More than a year ago, we watched as New York City and the surrounding area became the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis when the pandemic initially broke out in the United States. At this year’s CMDA Virtual National Convention, we shared stories from several CMDA members from the area whose lives and work in healthcare were impacted by the virus.

As we consider how COVID-19 has changed our world and our profession in healthcare, these stories share how God has worked in and through our members during this crisis.

ETHICAL VACCINES: Ready for a shot in the arm?

With millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses already plunged into American arms and hundreds of million more doses on the way, can healthcare professionals confidently receive the vaccines themselves and also recommend them for patients?

While responses to this question often involve important emotional factors that need to be addressed, this article focuses on three rational considerations: safety, efficacy and ethics.

Vaccines and Conscience Protection

It has been over a year since the first diagnosis of COVID-19 in the United States. Due to this pandemic’s effects, our society has experienced limitations in personal freedoms to a level we have never known. Social interactions and work environments have been changed by social distancing, masks, hospital and nursing home visitation restrictions and working from home. Freedom of movement about our communities and the nation has been limited by “stay-at-home orders” and mass travel restrictions. The availability of vaccines provides a sliver of hope but also raises many questions. Issues our society must address include prioritizing equitable vaccine distribution and the potential for coercive mandates on vaccine use.

COVID-19 Fact or Fiction?

A growing proliferation of blog posts, podcasts and online videos presenting confusing information regarding COVID-19 has increased over recent months. Many of these controversies are propagated by physicians speaking to large church audiences. In this blog post, I will address the most common disputes.

Navigating Vaccine Ethics

CMDA Senior Vice President for Bioethics and Public Policy Dr. Jeff Barrows and I recently wrote a piece for The Public Discourse, “Is Receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Ethical?” that suggested principles to consider as we navigate ethical issues related to COVID-19 vaccines. I’ve included brief highlights below; more from the original article and also new observations will be published in an upcoming edition of CMDA Today (previously known as Today’s Christian Doctor).

Physician Support for Ethical Vaccines

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our society has had to adapt to unprecedented restrictions and limitations. During this trying time, it has been difficult to find points of optimism. The rapid development of vaccine candidates utilizing varied techniques remains encouraging.

Tara Sander Lee: COVID-19 Vaccine Update

Dr. Tara Sander Lee joins Dr. Mike Chupp and co-host Dr. Jeff Barrows on today’s CMDA Matters podcast to discuss how COVID-19 vaccinations are being developed and fetal cell line research.

At the Heart of the Crisis: Personal Reflections on COVID-19

It is no exaggeration for me to say CMDA has had an influential impact on my adult spiritual life. Since 1999, I have been active with CMDA in one way or another. In 2017, my work with the New York City chapter was significantly increasing, and I found myself more interested in ministry activities than even my own private practice in surgery. After a couple years of praying and planning, I officially began my full-time ministry as the NYC Area Director on March 1, 2020. There was no way humanly possible we could have foreseen what would occur in NYC that same month.

Redefining Essential in the Midst of a Pandemic

Am I essential? As general dental professionals, we do not imagine many of you have asked yourselves this question. By choosing dentistry as a profession, it is safe to assume a certain level of job security and financial stability. Though both of those factors may have been initial lures into the field, what inspires us daily to practice dentistry is the impact we have in the lives of our patients, each created in the image of God. As dentists, all that we work to achieve is essential to the health and well-being of our respective communities. And yet, in the midst of the Coronavirus global pandemic, it feels like oral healthcare was deemed non-essential. States recommended dentists limit their offices to emergency patients only. No handpieces were running. No cavitrons were cleaning. Some dentists were even finding themselves unemployed! Oral healthcare seemed low on the priority list, and any momentum we had made in terms of advocating prevention felt lost.

Thomas Okamoto, MD: Mental Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dr. Thomas Okamoto joins Dr. Mike Chupp on today’s CMDA Matters podcast to discuss how COVID-19 is affecting the mental health of healthcare professionals.

What if Christians Led the Way Out of This? – Redefining our Freedom According to the Cross

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free…You…were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself…’” (Galatians 5:1a,13-14, NIV 1984).

Steve Sartori, MD: Coaching and Well-being

Dr. Steve Sartori joins Dr. Jeff Barrows on today’s CMDA Matters podcast to discuss Well-being and the impact of COVID-19.

Daniel Lewis, MD: From Doc to COVID-19 Patient

Dr. Daniel Lewis joins Dr. Jeff Barrows on today’s CMDA Matters podcast to discuss being a patient of COVID-19.

Chris Hook, MD: COVID-19 Public Policy Statements

Dr. Chris Hook joins Dr. Mike Chupp in today’s CMDA Podcast to discuss CMDA’s Public Policy statements related to COVID-19, Duties of Christian Health Care Professionals in Pandemic Infection and Triage and Resource Allocation. Dr. Hook’s comments are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mayo Clinic.

Anxious? Me, Too. How To Lean On God When Feelings Don’t Cooperate

I’ve been a family doctor in the same location for 30 years, so many of my patients have been with me a decade…or two…or three. Following people through their life stages has been a joy. We’ve grown older together. I’ve been acutely aware of this in the last two weeks as I’ve called patients to reschedule them. I’ve wanted to call them myself to make sure they don’t need anything, because I’d rather they avoid any medical facility for the next six months.

Peter Saunders, MD: COVID-19 International Crisis

On the podcast today, Dr. Mike Chupp is joined by Dr. Peter Saunders, the Chief Executive of the International Christian Medical & Dental Association (ICMDA) who provides an inspiring message of opportunity with an update on COVID-19 from a global perspective, as well as an update on the amazing things ICMDA is doing to support Christians in healthcare and hospitals around the world.

Finding Precedent, Perspective and Our Place in the “Unprecedented”

Renowned British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge once said: “All news is nothing more than new people experiencing old things.” Over the last weeks accumulating into months, the word “unprecedented” has quickly become a favorite and frequently used description of the COVID-19 times we are living in.

An Approach to Outpatient Screening, Treatment, and Community Health Outreach during the Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City

Beacon Christian Community Health Center (www.beaconcchc.com), in conjunction with personnel from South Korea and Europe, created a first-of-its-kind comprehensive outpatient protocol at the start of the height of COVID-19 cases in New York City.

Be Contagious | Leading Through the Crisis

He does not recall where he may have been exposed. While he works in a medical setting, every precaution was taken from the time (and perhaps a little before) it became a common mandate. Could it have been in the community?

The Coronavirus Show Us Who We Really Are

Today, I’m writing with a reflection in a small effort to help us profit from this trying time. There are many lessons we could take away, but here’s one that’s smacking me in the face.

Christian Healthcare Professionals and Coronavirus: A Global Ministry During a Global Pandemic

Since the start of 2020, our world has seen a viral pandemic sweep through and ravage countries and nations. COVID-19 and its medical sequelae has uprooted and deeply impacted mankind, regardless of the assembly of the human race—the young and the elderly, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor. Many are speaking out and also searching for answers amidst what some people fear as God’s judgment on His people.

Be Prepared. Not Scared.

As a board-certified family physician and hospital medical director with over 25 years experience in emergency, hospital and nutritional medicine, I want to encourage you to do everything you can to stay as healthy as possible during this devastating epidemic.

As the U.S., state and local governments and healthcare professionals labor tirelessly in compassionate and effective efforts to protect American citizens from the spreading COVID-19 Coronavirus, governments in certain countries instead are reportedly exposing persecuted religious groups to the threat.

COVID-19 in NYC

On the podcast today, Dr. Mike Chupp is joined by Drs. David and Janet Kim, who are working to fight COVID-19 at ground zero in New York City. Their ongoing prayer and hope is that their story shows they are still trusting in a God who is a perfect Shepherd, even as they walk obediently through the valley of the shadow of death.

In addition, we have included in this week’s podcast a “Quiet Moment” with Ken Jones from CMDA’s Center for Well-being. Ken asks the question, “What are you doing?” He encourages that a time of reflection is needed in order to answer that question and three additional questions he asks in this “Quiet Moment.”

Tim Goeglein: American Restoration

Dr. Mike Chupp is joined by Tim Goeglein, the author of American Restoration: How Faith, Family and Personal Sacrifice Can Heal Our Nation. And then CMDA’s Vice President for Campus & Community Ministries Bill Reichart joins him to talk about how the unique challenges COVID-19 crisis has had on campus and community ministries across the country.

Philip Yancey: Fearfully and Wonderfully

Dr. Mike Chupp is joined by CMDA CEO Emeritus Dr. David Stevens to discuss how Christian healthcare professionals can respond with courage during these ominous days of COVID-19. Following that interview, he speaks with Philip Yancey on his updated book Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God’s Image, which is a fresh update of Philip’s collaboration with Dr. Paul Brand, one of our heroes in medicine.

My Story | by a Healthcare Professional Working in a Central American Country

Of course, everything is a bit on hold right now. So far I’ve only seen an official count of two cases of the coronavirus documented here, and so we’re several weeks behind most of you. The country has had a bit of a different approach to the virus.

An Encouragement by a Family Medicine Physician

I’m working the respiratory screening clinic at our critical access hospital/clinic. Personally, this medical crisis has actually acutely resolved my feeling of burnout.

Coronavirus and Ebola

Reverend Dr. Stephen Ko, a pastor and former CDC medical officer returns to CMDA Matters this week with an update on the Coronavirus. Dr. Rick Sacra, a CMDA member who is a missionary to Liberia and an Ebola survivor, talks with Dr. Mike Chupp this week recounting his experience with Ebola and how God used it to open the door for ministry.

Stephen Ko, MD: COVID-19 Update

This week’s interview on CMDA Matters with Dr. Mike Chupp features Reverend Dr. Stephen Ko, a pastor and former CDC medical officer. With a real and present danger of widespread community COVID-19 in the U.S., Dr. Ko gives insight into how Christians can be the hands and feet of Christ without fear while taking necessary precautions.