Allison Ruark discusses her first year of teaching epidemiology during a pandemic and life changes the pandemic has brought to her and her family, with a sudden move from South Africa to the states. She gives us an epidemiological perspective on the pandemic and the impact the vaccine is having on our daily lives.

Esther Bucher talks about her experience as an occupational therapist, how she came to her profession in her forties and her two service terms abroad with different Mennonite mission groups, including time in Vietnam as a MCC service worker where she worked with victims of Agent Orange.

Dr. Martin is a retired physician currently living in York County, PA. He spent much of his career working in medical missions in Nazareth, Israel alongside his wife, Nancy Martin. Nancy, who died in 2019, was instrumental in starting the School of Nursing at Nazareth Hospital. Dr. Martin recently published a memoir of their life journey entitled, “Together in Galilee.

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A year into the COVID pandemic, Jesse and Marla talk about their experiences working in Emergency Medicine and Primary Care.  Marla is a nurse practitioner in primary care and Jesse is an emergency medicine physician and COVID has changed both their personal priorities and professional practice.  They discuss the expected and unexpected challenges the pandemic brought to their work and how they were able to support each other through the past year. 

Lawrence T. Cheung, MCS, BCC is a Certified Spiritual Heath Practitioner (chaplain) specializing in the care of nephrology patients in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He spoke with MennoHealth Cast about the special needs of nephrology patients at the end of life, how COVID has changed his practice and his work on cultural competency with Canadian Virtual Hospice. Attached is the link to the Interfaith service of loss, healing, and hope which was organized to give assuage the sorrow carried by all of us in the midst of this pandemic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO5w_p8pm64.

Dr. Joe Longacher, former President of Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship, discusses his years in service serving as a general practitioner, how he found his way to the specialty of gastroenterology, and what has continued to keep him busy as a retiree.  Dr. Longacher explores his immense grief, considering the death of his several family members over the last 18 months and how he and his family have found resilience in the toughest of times.

In this episode, pastor Joy Sawatzky describes her passion for exploring the stories of her congregants at the senior living community of Souderton Mennonite Homes, which is part of Living Branches. Joy describes her winding path from being a bedside nurse to finding her passion as a pastor who dwells in the stories of those in her church, helping them to find meaning during the last chapters of their lives. This podcast was recorded prior to the COVID pandemic.

Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship welcomes Cate Desjardins to bring her passion for integrating spirituality and faith into healthcare as the organization’s new executive director. Cate has a Master of Public Health in epidemiology and is a leader in spiritual care research with a primary focus on how people use faith to make difficult medical decisions for their children or loved ones who cannot decide from themselves. Listen in to learn more about Cate’s research, how COVID-19 has affected hospital chaplaincy and her hopes for MHF.

Dr. Maria Morban is a medical doctor who trained at Universidad Autonoma is Santo Domingo, Domican Republic. She has been living in New York City for over a decade, where she holds several volunteer positions and works as a clinical research coordinator for a nephrology research group at Columbia University. She was recently redeployed during the coronavirus crisis as a dialysis technician. Dr. Morban is a member of Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship in New York City. A transcript of this conversation is available here.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, MennoHealth Cast host Joann Hunsberger speaks with two frontline health-care providers, Anna Hershey and Kaedi Baer. Both are nurses who have been redeployed during the pandemic. In part 1, Anna, from Philadelphia, talks about working at a coronavirus testing location. In part 2, Kaedi, who normally works in a surgical center in Parker, Colorado, discusses her work after being redeployed to an emergency room. Listen as these women discuss some of the challenges of redeployment and working as frontline health-care providers during the coronavirus pandemic.