Objectives 1. Discuss the value and importance of praying with (for) patients.  2. Identify “do’s” and “dont’s” in clinically based prayer. 3. Demonstrate how to begin praying with patients. 

AMEN 2018: Call to Service

Objectives 1. Discuss the value and importance of praying with (for) patients. 2. Identify “do’s” and “dont’s” in clinically based prayer. 3. Demonstrate how to begin praying with patients.

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

Breakout Session C

Angeline D. Brauer

No Guts, No Glory: Using the Microbiome to Support Healing

The presentation today is on the gut microbiome.

And as a little bit of background, I am, yes, I have a doctorate in public health from Loma Linda and a master's in health science in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins.

And I spend a considerable amount of my time in research.

So research is really where I get a little bit excited.

So what we're going to talk about today is the microbiome.

I'm actually not going to go into the nutritional part of it very much.

Kind of the feedback I got was, you know, kind of let us know what this is.

There's so much information out there, so this is sort of a starting point about what the microbiome is, what it entails, and how it can help us in our healing practices.

So, Hippocrates said this, death sits in the bowels.

He also said bad digestion is the root of all evil.

Now, very interesting, what is he implying here?

That it has an effect on your health and perhaps your mortality.

And it has an effect on your emotional and mental state and perhaps even your spiritual state.

So of course there's been a growing interest in the microbiome and this is just a quick look at publications from 1990 to 2009 which went from a hundred plus publications to over 500 publications every year.

So, when I did a search on PubMed on human gut microbiome, I think there were over 26, 000 articles.

But we are going to share at least some of the information.

But we're going to start with the pop quiz.

Kind of get a feel of where everybody is in their knowledge of the microbiome.

100 trillion microbes in the gut, in the entire GI tract.

How many pounds of bacteria are in the human gut?

And, and, you know, there's a range, 2 to, 2 to 6 pounds of, of microbiome, of gut, of bacteria in the gut.

Now, please tell your patients this is not a quick way to lose weight.

Okay, you know, trying to just get rid of all your microbiomes is not the optimal weight loss program.

So true or false, there are 10, 000 times more microbes in 1 person's gut than all people on the earth.

A hundred thousand times in 1 person's gut compared to all that are in the world.

Microbiome genes outnumber the host genes by 10.

So it's 100 to 200 times in terms of the genes in the microbiome versus in the host.

The microbiome is composed mostly of facultative anaerobes, strict anaerobes, or...

More than the 2 combined, the other 2 combined, by up to 100 fold.

How many phyla have been found in the human gut?

Well, you know, it honestly, we probably don't really know because there's a variety of what you find out there.

Okay, there are the 2 that are the predominant 1.

And there are 500 to 1, 000 species of microbiomes, of micro, micro of bacteria in the gut.

17, 000 years ago in China, 1958 in post-op patients in Denver, or on Grey's Anatomy.

So with your GI tract, the number of bacteria that are in the tract per content of what's in there.

So in the stomach, we're starting at about 10 to maybe 100 bacteria per gram of content.

And as you go down, there's an exponential increase.

So in the colon, you're at 10 to the 12th power of microbiomes per gram of content.

So this is 1 of the features that you want to look for, is that this increasing number of bacteria.

Infants delivered through c-section show a reduced microbial numbers in the first month after birth.

But those difference don't remain after about 6 months.

So something to keep in mind during those very early time of the child's life.

The infant's gut microbiota correlates with shifts in feeding.

So as you change the feeding process, the gut bacteria is also going to change.

So factors in that change, there are both internal and external factors that affect that change.

External factors include the maternal microbiome, the feeding habits as we just saw, the type of food eaten, and now as a dietician, that's where I like to get excited, so the type of food eaten, the microbial load of the environment, that makes sense, and dietary and temperature-related stresses.

So dietary stresses is certainly something that we can work on, that we can actually help by educating and providing the family with an important information of how to feed their children.

Now internal, and there's a longer list, But these are some of the things that affect the internal, or these are some of the internal factors that affect the microbiomes changing over time.

Intestinal pH, and we'll see later on that vaginal pH is really important.

Microbial interaction, so the communication between the different species that are in your gut.

The environmental temperature, physiological factors, the digestive process, host secretions, immune response, and of course we know about drug therapy, how that affects the microbiome.

So, this is sort of a summary here of the types of bacteria that are located in the different regions of the gut.

Laren Tan

Carissa Vitorovic

Lost Opportunities

Gracious God, Heavenly Father, I just ask that you will clear everything within our minds.

Help us to remember the calling that of which you have put in each of our hearts.

Lead us as we go throughout this whole weekend.

And as we leave this place, may we be a better person to go out there to reach your people.

All right, I'm gonna try to project here.

As well as stating my name is Laren Tan, and what I didn't state and put up here is actually my title.

Because I really just wanted to highlight basically who the 2 speakers are, but also didn't want to lose anybody, but I'm glad you guys are here.

So why did I title this Lost Opportunities?

Because you'll hear many other talks and breakout sessions throughout this week, a lot about the what and the how.

But I'm going to tell you about the why and how important it actually is that we should be doing the things that we're doing.

And so I'll explain that as we're going a little bit further.

As this being a CME course, we've got to state what we have to disclose.

Well, Carissa and I have nothing to disclose except that God loves you and everyone in this room.

That's a big disclosure that we actually have.

When I was actually figuring out our task to actually talk for here, I was actually asked to talk about prayer and how we can actually do this prayer initiative at any university and any institution at any place.

And so in trying to think about how can I actually present this, there had to be a need, right?

What is the need before we can move forward?

I don't know if anybody knows about him, but he's a gerontologist at Cornell.

Gerontology is the study of social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging.

And he's an author of this book, which is a wonderful book, actually.

30 Lessons for Living, Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans.

Well, they surveyed 1, 500 people over the age of 65 and asked them, what are the things that actually haunt you?

What are things that you pretty much regret not doing or lost opportunities that you may have actually had throughout your life.

And this is where it started to get really interesting, where we could make it like a family feud style, right?

But I want to pause here and just say that even though what we're hearing from this 1, 500 people that they've actually surveyed, I think it's also important to be able to reflect it and cross, if not see, what the Bible says and also perhaps what Sister White has actually stated too.

So bear with me as I go through this with you.

Number 1, not being careful enough when choosing a life partner.

Now I'm going to ask at the very end, you don't have to show by hands, perhaps something in this list that you're like, man, I wish I had done better in, right?

Number 3, putting off saying how you feel.

Number 5, spending too much time worrying.

Number 7, not taking enough career chances, and number 8, not taking care of your body.

Hans was speaking here about lifestyle and everything else that we're emphasizing?

And yet, that's still 1 of, you know, it's 1 of the top 8.

Now, being a pulmonary critical care physician, we do deal with a lot of end of life cases.

And I'll tell you that out of the top 8, these 4 right here are the most common things that we actually hear patients and their family discussing about before they actually die.

Not being careful enough when choosing a life partner.

The elders agreed that choosing a mate is 1 of the most important decisions a human being makes.

But looking back over their own experience, they believe many people aren't careful enough.

Take time to get to know someone before committing.

Really make sure you know that person is the right 1.

Whosoever findeth a wife, findeth the good thing, and obtain the favor of the Lord.

House and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the Lord.

So a lot of things I like to say parallels well biblically.

And yet, whatever man may be saying that these are my wisest comments to you, I think they're all biblical to begin with, right?

In public speaking, you got to look for where that energy corner is.

I'm going to be looking at you guys occasionally, and occasionally at the Ms on that side, too.

We see that this comes up time and time again.

Almost all wish they had tried harder to reconcile, ask for forgiveness, apologize, or tried to communicate before it became too late.

So they are advised if it's within your power to resolve an estrangement, whether with a child, parent, a sibling, or friend, do whatever you can to repair that rift.

Whenever you have an opportunity to forgive, forgive.

And whenever you have an opportunity to reconcile, reconcile.

Repent then, turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, that he may send the Messiah who has been appointed for you.

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone, to be holy without holiness, no 1 will see the Lord.

And lastly, be kind and compassionate to 1 another, forgiving each other just as Christ God forgave you.

So these are little principles and little things that we've actually start to implement, at least within the ICU in moments of like this, to be able to bring up biblical verses, to redirect patients, to help them to be able to reconcile things.

Moving on to number 3, putting off saying how you feel.

Often a big regret of older men was not expressing love frequently enough to their wives.

Pilmer said, but it could be anything you feel strongly about, but hesitate to bring up.

Say what's on your mind now while the person is still around.

Hebrews 10, 24 through 25 says, and let us consider how we may spur 1 another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging 1 another and all the more as you see as the day is approaching.

In Adventist home, men and women can reach God's ideal for them if they will take Christ as their helper.

With human wisdom cannot do, his grace will accomplish for those who give themselves to him in loving trust.

His providence can unite hearts and bonds in our heavenly origin.

Love will not be a mere exchange of soft and flattering words.

So Christ continues to need to be that center, that pillar.

Mark Finley

Brian Schwartz

Praying with Patients

Just like to welcome you to the seminar on prayer.

This is an actual seminar that we do now every year and have been doing so for about the last 6 or 7 years.

I've had the opportunity to do this, actually we've probably been doing it for about 10 years.

I've done it a couple times with Pastor Finley.

Small, who's here in the audience and several others.

And just going to go through a few principles on praying with patients and share a few testimonies.

I wonder if you would just pray for us as we begin the seminar.

Father, we sense the unique opportunity of seeing each patient that walks through the door of our office or whom we see in the hospital as a child created in the image of God, a son or daughter of God.

Enable us to open spiritual doors of opportunity, spiritual conversations, and may the ministry that we have to them make an eternal difference.

So I think in the program this is routinely entitled Praying with Patients.

But I think it's actually much more than that because praying with patients is just 1 way, and I think 1 sure way to just open the door to a spiritual conversation.

And that's ultimately what I think the power, 1 of the powers of praying with patients is to do.

And I've been struck with the fact that as a physician, but it's true as a dentist and optometrist, any type of health care worker, we have access to patients from all walks of life.

The other side of the railroad tracks to the gated community and who fly on their, work for Fortune 500 companies and fly on their business jets, they all come to my office.

So I have just a few moments to make a contact that Pastor Finley would probably not be able to make as a pastor.

A Bible worker might not be able to get into their community, but they're coming to us and it's a huge responsibility.

Just as we begin, I got started with this with the conviction that I should pray with my patients.

I was out of cardiology fellowship about a year and a half.

I worked at the cath lab at Kettering Hospital and the Adventist Hospital.

I went to Loma Linda and I can honestly say in my 4 years at Loma Linda I may have observed a prayer with patients once or twice.

I wanted to get some lifestyle medicine experience and figure out what I was gonna do.

And 1 time there we had 1 patient who came into the emergency room and I stitched up his ear because he had fallen.

DeRose, who was my mentor at Wildwood that month said, well, are you gonna do the most important part of your encounter?

And I was like, oh, most important part, what's that?

That was the most awkward, difficult prayer that I felt so clumsy and awkward with because I didn't know how to pray with a patient.

I was yelling at the top of my lungs trying to get through to him and was not comfortable with that experience at all and that's basically where my prayer life with patients ended for quite a few years.

Small who had practiced as a surgeon at Kettering for many many years and I knew that his patients really appreciated the fact that before surgery he would pray with them.

And a year into this then, into my after finishing cardiology fellowship, I had a lady come up who had a very critically tight left main coronary artery occlusion, just barely put the catheter into her heart and the blood pressure just immediately started going down, her heart rate started slowing and you just take 1 picture and pull the catheter out and essentially call surgery.

And before I say that, I was kind of embarrassed to express my religion around all these hip young people that worked in the cath lab.

They're all pretty cool, they're into the modern culture.

I was just like, oh man, this would be so embarrassing if I pray and so we called surgery and an anesthesiologist came down there the whole OR team came in there were about 30 people scrambling around this lady trying to get her ready to get to the OR within about 15 minutes and all in the middle of this hassle and hubbub in the in the cath labs getting ready to slide on over to the operating room, the anesthesiologist said, can everybody be quiet for 1 moment, I'm just going to have a prayer with her.

And I thought, wow, I should have done that.

And then to make it worse, several of these young hip people that I work with said, wow, that was really cool.

And that was just like a conviction to me that I should have been the 1 to do this.

I shouldn't have been worrying about what other people were thinking, but I still didn't know how to do it.

And it was right at that time that the very, well the planning session to the Amen is actually in Cahutta Springs.

Pastor Finley came down and talked about praying with patients.

And I guess I was the guy that took it to heart the most because by the first Amen Conference, I was then sharing a testimony about how powerful this had been and how I started off trying to identify the patients that I thought might be open to prayer.

You know, the people that go to church that are clean cut, they appreciated it, but little by little I realized it's actually the ones that I judged as probably the least religious or the ones that started sobbing and started getting tears in their eyes.

And the guys that would come in, big muscles and a cut-off shirt and tattoos and a headband and they look like they came from a gang, they would just start crying and say nobody's ever done that and I was able to minister to people from all walks of life.

So I believe as a principle God is the initiator.

We don't initiate anything in our salvation.

The goodness of God leads us to repentance.

He is the author and the finisher of our faith.

And because of what Jesus did, his righteous act results in justification.

God initiates all things and I believe that as we reflect his character and as physicians and dentists and healthcare practitioners, it's our job to reflect him and do the same.

And so shouldn't we also be the 1 that initiates, the ones that help draw people forward?

And so medical ministry page 13 said, some have asked me, why should we have sanitariums?

Why shouldn't we just like Christ pray for the sick that they may be healed miraculously?

And I have answered suppose we were able to do this in all cases how many would appreciate the healing?

Would those who were healed become health reformers or would they continue to be health?

Destroyers and so an interesting principle prayer I'm careful with what I pray for.

I don't pray for miraculous healing for my patients very often.

Normally I pray that they'll be able to make changes in their life that I believe will lead to good health.

And we'll look at that just a little bit more, because I think that's an important concept.

Wonderful are the opportunities given to the guardians of the sick.

And all that is done for the restoration of the sick.

Let them understand that the physician is seeking to help them cooperate with God in combating disease.

Lead them to feel that at every step taken in harmony with the laws of God, they may expect the aid of divine power.

And so I've now gotten into the habit of telling patients that the diet that we've been talking about, the lifestyle changes, the plant-based diet, this is a principle from God's word, and if you follow that principle, it's going to lead to healing.

And at that point, I pray that they'll have the power of God to make that change in their life.

My favorite story from a long time ago, but it's still the most powerful experience I've had about the power of prayer to make a change, Was a gentleman named Steven.

It's his real name because he was willing to even be videotaped for a testimony on prayer Steven came to my office a guy in his 40s.

His father had died of a heart attack at the age of 45 He'd lived a very hard life.

He looked like he rode a motorcycle with a headband, a leather vest.

He smoked about 2 packs per day, binged, drank on the weekends.

He was morbidly obese, had diabetes, high blood pressure, in the course of strong family history.

He had every risk factor for heart disease.

He had some sharp chest pains and wound up going to the emergency room.

They didn't, of course, find anything because it was very atypical.

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Series

Breakout Session C

Praying with Patients

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

No Guts, No Glory: Using the Microbiome to Support Healing

59m

Lost Opportunities

44m

Praying with Patients

51m

What’s Lifestyle Got to Do With Your Eyes?

45m

Sound Doctrine