MOVING!!! well, sometime...

     It's Christmas time and we are having vacation... We even took time to eat chocolate,drink tea, and sing Christmas songs together on Christmas Eve. We all hope you have had a joyous holiday as well.

     So, yeah, vacation, well, from long lines of waiting patients, anyways. We have dropped down to three or five patients a day. Most of these are bandage patients that need to be cleaned and freshly taped up so infection doesn't set in. We are keeping most of our things in the clinic until the new facility is prepared.

     What have you seen on our blog since the most important part of clinic life is gone? Probably not much. Without our patients to blog about, we have resorted to talking about the buildings. Do you want to see inside our NEW building?

     At this point, we have decorated the building with paint cans, sanders, rags, buckets, and such. We are still painting shelves and walls. Sometimes we spend hours removing paint, too. Like when the people who paint put the paint on the floor, then it needs to come off. We will not disclose any names of the culprits. We will only show you their pictures on the following blogs.( Please do not hire them yourself, we would be glad for their continued help here- and, well, really, they didn't slop too much. )

     At times, we see someone welding still more pieces to fit into our clinic" puzzle". I don't always know what they are welding. Probably it is some grate for the door, or maybe some more shelves for the pharmacy. Other times we see Donovan fixing a sink up for our bandage patient corner. Or maybe Alex is washing out a paint roller for us. I have seen some Haitian men chiseling away at plaster. Many other helpers are doing many other undisclosed functions.

    Sometimes Anita, or Michael, or Steve come down to the clinic and discuss the layout of important rooms or the placement of needed objects. One day I believe their plans will turn into visible results.

    So go ahead and look at the pictures, and if you get hungry, stop by the house. This whole time, Shana and Thea have probably been up there at the house making some wonderful food or brownies or something for all the clinic workers to eat.

    And while you are up there, look at the yards and yards of fabric that are being turned into curtains for our clinic room dividers and cabinet covers. Thanks goes to Sharon and Breanna here. We can hardly wait to hang them up.

     Stop by any time, especially if you love dust and dirt! We would love to use your energy! Happy Holidays!

     

Finishing Touches

Right now the clinic is closed for holiday vacation and for us to move to the remodeled facility.  Below are just a few shots of what you see at the new clinic now.  

Pills of equipment and supplies waiting to be placed

Final painting 

New shelves in the pharmacy ready to be filled

Poor Little Girl

This blog post isn't as cheery as the last one.  Here is a little two year-old girl that got burned badly yesterday.  Somehow she got hot corn meal mush all over her.  Her right cheek, forehead, chin, and right arm got most of it.  It has to hurt her pretty badly, but she does well when we clean and bandage it for her.  She'll be coming in frequently for a while.  

Her and her Daddy

A close up of her face

Big Boy

Clinic was almost over yesterday when I got the news that a lady in labor had just arrived.  As I finished what I was doing, Breanna began getting vitals and checking the lady.  It was a 19 year-old mother, first baby, and vitals for mom and baby looked good.  She was progressed enough that we didn’t go home, and a little later Rhoda went and got some lunch for us all.  Her advances were slow so we hung out in the pharmacy and kept an eye on her.  Baby finally came just before 7 pm.  The delivery went well, and Rhoda was soon bathing a healthy 8 lbs. 10 oz. baby boy!  

The nurses with the baby

Mama and Baby

Below is just another shot from the clinic this week.  Here is a little child who is under weight and hopefully can benefit from some of the supplements that CAM sends us

Little child getting Herbalife and Ensure

     Today is Tuesday. We started the day busy with blood pressures. The line was reaching way back to the door for a few minutes, until Breanna came around the corner. She got busy real quick at diminishing the numbers.
    Philip and Miriam Rudolph spent a few minutes checking in on our day. Maybe that is why it ended so smoothly.
    After getting home, we quick-fixed some lunch, and prepared to go to visit a lady in Molliere. She has a seven month old baby that was born in our clinic. One day she told Breanna that she must come visit her at her house. Today was the day!

     The sky had a couple dark clouds floating above us, and a frisky breeze was blowing. That was a good thing, because we had a pretty sturdy hill ahead of us to climb. Along the way we met our friend's son, who showed us the way to her house.
     As we walked into the courtyard, our friend's hurricane-beaten house came into view. She greeted us, and wondered if she could make us some Chocolate to drink. While we sat on the chair holding the baby, and another neighbor's baby, we watched her prepare us a special treat.
    We watched them wash our cups with long grass. Then we saw them start a fire, grate ginger, and shred chocolate into a big kettle. Soon we were sipping steaming cups of chocolate/ginger drink and eating Haitian bread. Following the snack, we had a bit of talk time and prayer.
    It was time to leave. We had a gorgeous walk back home. After all that beauty we should be ready to face anything at clinic tomorrow.

New Little One

 Thursday night at 11:30 this little one was born.  It was a first time mom so it was a longer labor--making it also a longer process for us nurses who were keeping an eye on things.  She had come to the clinic mid day Wednesday.  So after a many watchful hours and back and forth from home to the clinic, we were so thankful once again for a safe delivery and healthy baby. 

This makes baby number four born at the clinic this month.  Normally we don't have more than 4-5 births a month, and we're only to the middle of December!  There were two ladies in labor this week that we sent the stretcher out to carry them back, but they delivered before they got here.  

Little girl--6lbs 2oz

Mama and Baby

Progress

Here are a few shots of the progress on the rebuilding project at the clinic.  A team was here for the past week from PA putting up the fence around the clinic compound and working on shelving and painting inside.  We plan to move in over Holiday vacation, opening up again at the "new" clinic January 7, 2013.  

We are so excited about operating in the new facility!  

New fence

Making shelves

Mounting shelves in the pharmacy

Thank you SO much to all of you who have made this project possible by giving time, labors, money, and prayer support.  Do continue to remember the work here as we serve our Savior in serving others each day!  Lives are being touched and souls witnessed to.  

Progress

Here are a few shots of the progress on the rebuilding project at the clinic.  A team was here for the past week from PA putting up the fence around the clinic compound and working on shelving and painting inside.  We plan to move in over Holiday vacation, opening up again at the "new" clinic January 7, 2013.  

We are so excited about operating in the new facility!  

New fence

Making shelves

Mounting shelves in the pharmacy

Thank you SO much to all of you who have made this project possible by giving time, labors, money, and prayer support.  Do continue to remember the work here as we serve our Savior in serving others each day!  Lives are being touched and souls witnessed to.  

Hypoglycemia (and worried friends:)

Thursday afternoon, a man was carried into the clinic on a stretcher. About 40-50 excited, loud people accompanied him. The man was unconscious and breathing heavily.  He had a large gash on his forehead.  It was Virginia and I that attended the call. Virginia asked for the story as to what happened exactly and this is what they said:  The man was out working in his garden that morning, he hadn't eaten anything.  He drank alcohol and went back to work.  He felt bad and 'tumbled over' as they say.  Went unconscious.  A group of people brought him to the clinic on a stretcher. But on the way...the bamboo stretcher broke and he fell out, which gave him the gash on his head!!  

So...we started by taking his blood sugar. The monitor read, "Low". Yep, that's what happened! Since he didn't eat that morning - drinking alcohol gave him a short lived sugar spike...then working...gave him a major hypoglycemic crash!   Virginia started him on an IV and we did some other things to help raise his blood sugar.  The gash we placed some temporary gauze on, and knew we would have to stitch it later. Who knew how he would wake up, being potentially drunk, crazy from the low sugar, and in a strange place?  We didn't want him to wake up in the midst of being stitched!

He finally came to, and he felt miserable!!  He roared, and vomited, his muscles were spasming, and he tried to make sense of what was happening. After about 25 minutes of that, he was a very polite, nice man!  He understood what had happened, understood that we needed to stitch his head, and thanked us for helping him.  So, Virginia did a great job at stitching his forehead, and he was soon on his way home!

 Above, the cut on his forehead from falling off the stretcher. Virginia is applying the anesthetic before stitching.

Cleaning his wound

The next day he came back for a check up. Everything looked great! He was very thankful for all the clinic did for him, and also received some tips on eating and alcohol habits...

In Need of Oxygen. . . and more stories

 We were in the midst of our day at the clinic when Fre Noes came in and told me that a child had come who was seriously ill.  I told him to have them bring the child in, get weighed and temperature taken, and I'd see it for a consultation.  The little girl was breathing very noisily but had no fever.  I suspected it could have been viral, but we have no way of testing.  Upon listening with the stethoscope her airway didn't sound good, and her heart rate seemed almost too fast to count.  The mother said that she hadn't been nursing well since yesterday morning.

We soon got her on oxygen, and it didn't take long for her heart rate to slow down.  After a while I was able to switch her to a nasal cannula and she nursed well.  

Here is the mother holding her in the hospital room      

She did will throughout the afternoon so we turned the oxygen to a slower flow rate.  They'll stay yet overnight and hopefully go home tomorrow.

At around 11:00 am, while clinic was in full swing, we had a lady come in in labor.  We monitored her during the remainder of clinic, and she delivered a healthy little girl at 12:30 pm.  Everything went well, and we soon had things cleaned up and headed off for lunch!  

   New baby, Mis Breanna, Mis Rhoda, and I

Exciting news!

Many of you by now are familiar with the "foot lady", Arlene.  She has been coming for wound care on her foot that she injured over a year ago now.  She is diabetic so the healing processes is slow, but her sore is almost completely healed.  

But that's not the exciting news!  Last week one day, toward the end of clinic, some of us got to witnessing to her.  Some of the Haitian clinic workers were there, a sister of hers who is a Christian, and I.  It didn't sound like she was really ready to take that step, but I was pleasantly surprised on Sun when she came and told me that she got converted!  

I decided that I wanted to try to visit her soon, encourage her, and give her a Creole New Testament.   Today Breanna, Virginia, and I had the privilege to do that.  I figured she probably couldn't read as many her age can't, but usually there is a younger person in the household who can.  After arriving and visiting a while, I asked if she could read.  As I expected, she can't, but she said her daughter can.  I then gave her the New Testament.  I wish you could have seen her daughter's face as she handled the Bible and tore off the wrapping.  She was SO excited, and soon exclaimed to her mom, "It's in Creole!"  See, much of their literature is in French, and I really wonder how well even the moderately schooled understand it.  You actually can't find Creole Bibles readily.  I think she probably expected it to be in French, and was delighted to find it in a more comprehensible tongue to her.  Breanna, Virginia, and I were all thoroughly blessed to see their eagerness for the Word.  The daughter isn't a Christian so she can learn as she reads it to her mom.  

You can see in the first picture how happy the daughter is holding the new New Testament

We enjoyed a short time of sitting and visiting before we needed to head home so we could arrive before dark.  

Our visit to see Arlene took us right past Vickson and Gertha's house so we stopped in to see them briefly.  This is a picture of their sweet girl from today!  Her name is Angel.  Isn't she cute?

The view as we hiked!

Babies

There are 16 month old twins boys, Fred and Fredo, that have been coming to clinic lately.  They are way under weight and malnourished.  Their mother died some time ago, and their grandma is caring for them now.  One day this week she brought in Fred, and he wasn't doing well.  I gave him meds and supplements, but the grandma told me that she lost hope for this one.  I'm hoping Fred does well and will come back for his appointment on Friday.  My heart really went out to the grandma as she is trying to raise these babies.  

Fred and I

Grandma feeding Fred some of the supplements that I gave him

A New Baby!  

Little cutie!

Do any of you remember Vickson and Gertha, a young couple who lost their first baby girl?  Well, today God gave them another baby girl.  This time healthy and very cute!  Their first baby was born last year Dec 4th (a Sunday as well)--2 days less than a year after their first one.  

Baby, Vickson, Gertha, Gertha's mom and sister, Virginia, Rhoda, and I

They both really grew in the Lord this last year after losing their first child, and it was so special today to see their joy as they received their healthy little girl.  

The other side of The Coin

     By now, I fear, some of you will never come to work in or visit at this clinic. Why would you after seeing all the red, smeary, battered legs, arms, and heads that we faithfully post?

     There is the other side. There are the mornings, even in November, when the flowers bloom so bright as you walk to work, that you grab a couple to look at all day.

     There are the moments when you walk in to say hello to the patients in the hospital room, and after seeing their maladies, you get the brightest smiles, and think hopeful thoughts of health and recovery. The first picture here is a man who seems to have suffered a stroke. The other little princess of a girl is the top half of the foot picture you saw on our last blog. She seems to like her little Bible story book pretty well.

The stroke victim

The foot girl--what a cheery smile

     Or you might be taking blood pressures in a noisy, crowded, smelly waiting room; and there is this little cherub of a child, fast asleep. It might be worth soaking the sight up...

The little cherub

     And then, you are just about to walk out the gate and head for some rice and beans. Who is that chubby, healthy baby? Remember her from a blog way back?!

A previous patient looking very healthy now

     She didn't look quite this way a while ago. That's why you need to wait. Look at the other side of the coin. Only God knows what the outcome of a day's worth of looking at wounds and illnesses may turn out to be. Maybe there will be a bonus smile or a chance to speak a word for the Lord. If not, stick on the band-aid anyways and wait. Good things take time! 

     

A girl with a really sore foot...

Warning: Viewer discretion advised. Images below are graphic and potentially disturbing.  

Tuesday morning, I came into clinic, I happened to be the first one there.  I noticed a girl sitting on a cot - a whole group of people had carried her into clinic. They showed me her foot - it was wrapped up in a piece of gauze. I could see her one toe was completely black and dead.  Her foot was further infected, but I wasn't sure how bad. The other nurses arrived shortly, and we brought her into the examination room, wondering what we would find under the gauze. We peeled it off, and the second picture down is what we found. 

When we first brought the girl into the examination room (above)

Her foot as soon as we peeled off the bandage (above)

We found out that this wound started about a month ago - she fell and injured her toe.  Two weeks ago, it had progressed so far that she couldn't walk.  The family was actively taking her to some "bush doctor".  Evidently, they finally decided it was time to come to the clinic because that doctor couldn't do anything more for it.

As you can see from this picture, it is so rotten that this instrument can just be stuck straight in (above)

Michael removed excess dead tissue last night. She will be taken to a larger hospital down the mountain for further care and amputation as the doctors there see fit. Currently, the road down the mountain is closed due to road construction. In the meantime, we are trying to prevent the spread of the infection until we can move her on.