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Educational Seminars:
For the first two years of JHI missions to Moldova, all seminars were conducted in Kishinev (the capital city), and involved a two-day conference for Hesed volunteer doctors and local doctors from collaborating local medical institutions, as well as a one-day seminar for homecare workers. Moldavian healthcare professionals from Kishinev and surrounding towns were invited to attend these lectures. In April 2002, a new format was initiated, and now the JHI mission participants present one-day seminars to Hesed homecare workers in four different communities: Beltsy, Tiraspol, Rybnitsa and Kishinev. In addition, the JHI team presents a one-day conference in Kishinev for Hesed volunteer doctors and local doctors from collaborating local medical institutions.

The seminars are an integral part of the mission. Mission participants are asked to prepare two or three 90-minute lectures, several of which will be presented multiple times to audiences in different periphery cities. Local translators translate all lectures, and therefore, each 90-minute lecture involves about 45-60 minutes worth of material presentation, and 30-45 minutes of translation time. Lecture topics are proposed both by Institute of Social and Communal Workers in Kishinev, and by the mission participants themselves, and the final lecture schedule is coordinated by the JHI Coordinator in Kishinev. Slide projectors, overhead projectors and PowerPoint projectors can be provided at most sites, and mission participants communicate directly with the local JHI Coordinator to ensure that the necessary equipment is available. Mission participants are also asked to prepare an abstract for each lecture. The abstract should be a detailed one-page summary of the content of each lecture, including key-points and key terms used. This should be similar to an abstract that you would write about a journal article, book chapter or lecture. Translators need two to three weeks to review the materials before hand and prepare all necessary vocabulary. Handouts, PowerPoint slides and other written materials may be translated before the mission and copied for distribution. Many Internet resources are available to aid in lecture preparation. MD Consult is a website that allows you to access medical texts online and search these texts to find fast answers to all your questions. You can subscribe, for a fee at http://home.mdconsult.com Or, register at the www.merckmedicus.com site, and you can link to MD Consult for free.

The Hesed homecare workers seminars are presented in Beltsy, Tiraspol, Rybnitsa and Kishinev. Homecare workers are volunteers or low-paid workers with varying degrees of medical background and no medical authority. Some are retired nurses, with extensive medical training, and others are general community members who want help those in need. Most are well educated in general, but not specifically in medical issues. They are not trained or authorized to make any medical decisions or diagnoses, however, they do report any medical problems that they observe to the homecare coordinator in the Hesed. Their primary work is to care for homebound Hesed clients, making both medical and social visits that include help with food-preparation and basic hygiene. Most of the homebound clients are elderly, and have some physical disability that makes it difficult for them to leave their homes. Some of the clients also suffer from mental disabilities. Lectures to these workers are on a basic level, and provide information on how homecare workers can help improve the quality of life of the homebound.

The one-day physicians conference is held on the last full day of the JHI mission at the Institute of Social and Communal Workers. The goal of the conference is to enhance the professional level of healthcare specialists by providing modern and interesting information to local healthcare professionals. These lectures serve as advanced training to practicing physicians (i.e.: continuing medical education) and therefore lectures should be at an advanced level. Those attending the conference are highly trained medical professionals who are considered experts in their fields. Similar conferences are held throughout the year at the Institute, and are presented by local distinguished doctors in areas of specialty that compliment the JHI mission participants. Topics are selected from and incorporated into the regular training process and curriculum for local doctors. These seminars are attended by "Hesed" volunteer doctors from Kishinev as well as doctors from periphery Hesedim. Medical students from the Hillel club are also invited as well as doctors from local institutions. Depending on the medical specialty, and timing of the mission, JHI mission participants sometimes give additional lectures at local medical institutions that collaborate regularly with Hesed and at the local medical and nursing schools.

Gauging the level of knowledge and expertise of the seminar attendees is often difficult. Most past mission participants have found that it is better to prepare at a higher level, and then depending on the reaction of the audience, simplify the materials as necessary. This is an opportunity for the local healthcare professionals and homecare workers to be exposed to materials otherwise unavailable in the country. While preparing lectures, mission participants are encouraged to contact past participants from JHI missions, to discuss local conditions and medical training at site (contact information of past mission participants is provided in the orientation packet).

Patient Care:
Over the past several years, Kishinev has requested, and JHI has sent, missions of volunteer healthcare professionals in the following areas of specialty: Dentistry, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, Geriatrics, Cardiology, ENT, Neurology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, Family Medicine, Internal (General) Medicine, Urology, Nephrology, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Pulmonology, Psychiatry, Social Work, and Rheumatology. Hesed volunteer doctors present diagnostically complicated cases to JHI mission participants. These "second opinion consultations" can take place at the Hesed Welfare Center, during home visits to bed-ridden patients, and during "rounds" at visits to local cooperating medical institutions.

Drug and equipment donations:
In Kishinev, all donations are made to the Hesed and JDC, who then distribute the drugs and equipment in order to enhance cooperation with local medical institutions.

JHI seeks the donation of certain medication and equipment from individual donors (including mission participants) as well as large pharmaceutical companies. Some of the materials are shipped directly to the country, and some medications are hand-carried by mission participants.

Jewish Renewal:
Finally, it is a goal of JHI missions to show participants a wide picture of Jewish renewal in Kishinev. This begins with a briefing and orientation at the JDC (Joint Distribution Committee). Participants take a walking tour of the city, with visits to Jewish sites such as the synagogue and the old Jewish cemetery. They visit the Hesed Jewish Welfare Center, the Jewish Community Center, and a boys' and girls' yeshiva. Some groups visit a Jewish shtetl outside the city as well. In addition, mission participants participate in a Kabbalat Shabbat with Hesed clients in a "warm home" and/or with Hillel students. During the Kabbalat Shabbat there is an opportunity visit with some of the elderly members of the Jewish community, who sing Yiddish and Hebrew songs and recount their return to Jewry after years living under Soviet rule.