What is the PRTP?

We have written a little bit about this before, but given the recent news that all of us will, in fact, be spending our first two years abroad with this program, we thought it worthwhile to give a little more explanation.

The Post-Residency Training Program is a 2-year fellowship funded by World Medical Mission, the medical arm of the larger international relief organization Samaritan's Purse (which is chaired by Billy Graham's son Franklin). WMM does a lot of short term work (including sending the McLaughlins to Bangladesh last year), but is not a long-term agency, and thus we will be looking for another sending agency when our 2 years is up. This fellowship program has been sending people out for a few years now (not just to Africa, but all over the globe), and its purpose is to bridge the gap between residency and longer term work by providing funding and mentorship while you work in a hospital in the developing world.

WMM partners with dozens of hospitals around the world, that are run by other organizations. When someone (like us) is accepted into the PRTP, they will work under one of these mission hospitals, where the fellow provides staffing, and the long-term docs provide mentorship - medical, cultural, spiritual, etc... A big plus for this is that expenses are covered by WMM, including travel, and they partner with Project MedSend, who, in the past, has been very ready to cover student loan payments for the fellows for the 2 year period.

They have never taken on a team of 3 families (4 doctors) before, and we appreciate the flexibility they have shown in working with us. Now begins the location question, but more on that later.