Preventing Heart Disease and Stroke in Mexico

In the 1930s, Frank Laubach, a missionary in the Philippines, began the practice of abiding in the presence of Christ. As he grew more successful living in this communion, he wrote, “This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before. I need something, and turn round to find it waiting for me. I must work, to be sure, but there is God working along with me.” (Practicing His Presence)

To my great joy, the universe so cooperated with me as I sought God in ministry. The next CHE health lesson for the nurses was “Preventing Heart Disease and Stroke.” I needed two lengths of hoses to demonstrate blood flow through a healthy artery as compared to a diseased one. Planning to search the local hardware stores later, I went out for an early morning jog. No sooner had I climbed under the barbwire fence that surrounds the dry fields where I run, some black tubing caught my eye. Long discarded irrigation hose, it was thin-walled and of a perfect diameter for my purposes. The astonishing characteristic was that its interior had filled with dirt, tiny pebbles, and pieces of weeds, everything dried to a brittle state that partially blocked the lumen – making the hose an exact replica of an atherosclerotic artery!

“Thank you, Lord!” I shouted, shaking my head and laughing as I ran. My jog lasted thirty minutes through the fields. In those three miles I realized the lengths of black tubing – or arteries – lay scattered over all the fields, but not once had I noticed them until now! “Were they there before, Lord? Or is it Your way of reminding me You provide for my every need in Your abundant manner? Got it!”

The class was a great example of CHE’s participatory style of teaching. I decided to do the opener myself, stuffing an extra-large T-shirt with a pillow to make me appear obese (or pregnant, depending on the view.) After downing a Coke, a giant cheeseburger, fried chicken, French fries, strawberry cheesecake, and “chicharrones” (deep-fried pork rinds), it was time to watch TV with a beer and cigarette. Enrique had had me add this Mexican expression, “Después de un taco, un buen tabaco!” as I inhaled the imaginary smoke with gusto. It meant “after a taco, a good smoke,” but rhymes and got a laugh in Spanish.
We learned about the pathology then poured water through the two “arteries.” The trickle that came out of the blocked one compared to the full flow of the other raised eyebrows. Their reaction increased when feeling the crunchiness inside the “sclerotic” vessel versus the pliability of the clean one.

“Which one do you want supplying your heart and brain?” “Okay, now it’s your turn to perform!” I told the class in the second half. “You’ve each been assigned a risk factor for heart disease and stroke, and you need to teach us how to reduce that particular risk. You can do a drama, make up a poem or a song, draw a poster, or you can be boring and just talk!” In the past, they had been too shy to act in skits and read the dialogues with no expression or volume. Today, perhaps inspired by my gluttonous man’s heart attack, they exceeded my expectations.

Josue borrowed my props and played an overweight couch potato eating a terrible diet and smoking. Then Raquel came in as a health instructor and got him and his wife, Catalina, to start exercising and eating better. Cristi made up a song about how smoking makes your heart sad and sang it in a sweet clear voice. The last line, translated, was, “This advice I give you: quit those cigarettes little by little and one day your heart will be healed!”

Precious.

Suzi drew a big chart showing all the sources of stress in her subject’s life and what she could do to reduce each factor. It was practical and brilliant. No one was less than creative and informative. After the class ended, everyone stayed around, “high” from the excitement and each student’s obvious success. The purpose of the participation in CHE lessons is to empower the students and create relationship. The instructor drove home in joy, thanking God for everything from crusty hoses to friends and fellowship.

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness or compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.”
Philippians 2:1