Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Cuban Health Care, a First-Hand Report

This coming Sunday, August 2, we are lucky to host Dr. Nancy Lanthorn who will speak on her recent trip to Cuba for the purposes of learning more about a strong health system in an impoverished country. Here's her synopsis:


"In Feburary, 2009, Dr. Lanthorn spent ten days in Cuba visiting various urban and rural facilities in three different areas to observe the Cuban health care system and the mental health care delivery system. She met with physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers and observed them at work. Although the educational system was another interest, there was not time to visit schools except at the University Level. She has prepared a program which provides highlights from this trip and will contrast the Cuban system with that of the United States. "

As a brief bio:

"Dr. Nancy Lanthorn is a licensed clinical psychologist practicing in Johnson City, Tn. After completing the program at the University of Wyoming and an internship at the Greater Kansas City Mental Health Foundation, Dr. Lanthorn worked for an educational cooperative with four school systems before entering private practice. Since then, she has practiced in Kingsport, Colonial Heights, Gray and Johnson City. "

Please join us. You'll be very welcomed.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Public Health in America

For this coming Sunday, July 26th, we are lucky to have as our presenter, Dr. Randy Wykoff, Dean of the College of Public Health at ETSU.
Randy will give a general presentation as an overview of public health issues facing our region, and the nation and he will present specific community-based interventions we can pursue to make things better.

Dr. Wykoff is fairly new to the area. He arrived at ETSU in 2006, and he has been making things happen since. It was Dr. Wykoff that brought Vice President Al Gore to speak at ETSU, and short afterwards David Kessler, former head of the FDA, as part of an outstanding seminar series that has been chocked full of public health luminaries.
Dr. Wykoff is in the midst of a distinguished career in Academic Public Health. He has published numerous noteworthy articles in prestigous journals, including the "New England Journal of Medicine." Dr. Wykoff worked at Project HOPE and at various positions in the federal government. He is a phyhsician trained in pediatrics, preventive medicine, and tropical medicine.
Randy earned his BS, MPH and MD degrees at Tulane. He enjoys Mandolin, Fly Fishing, and Kung Fu. He and Janine have five children.

Fell behind of Posting : Sufism and Creation

If you're one of the ones of people who look at this blog you'll not that I fell off the wagon with regular postings for July 12 and July 19.
Quickly, on July 12th, Rebecca Nunley gave another of her excellent presentations, this one on an overview of Sufism. Among other things, Rebecca gave us 10 Sufi thoughts:

There is One God, the Eternal, the Only Being, none else exists.
There is One Master, the Guiding Spirit of all Souls, who constantly leads all followers towards the Light.
There is One Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of Nature, the only scripture which can enlighten the reader.
There is One Brotherhood/Sisterhood, the human family, which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Parenthood of God.
There is One Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfills the life's purpose of every soul.
There is One Law, the law of reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience, together with a sense of awakened justice.
There is One Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all perfection.
There is One Truth, the true knowledge of our being, within and without, which is the essence of all wisdom.
There is One Moral, the love which springs forth from self-denial and blooms in deeds of beneficence.
There is One Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshippers through all aspects from the Seen to the Unseen.

Thanks Rebecca.

On July 19 Dwight Cope lead the group with a presentation on Creation Stories from te LTQ2 series. I'm sure it was good.

Thanks Dwight.