Cuts and Cholera

Our days at clinic have recently been filled with quite a variety of things. We have continued to see cholera the past several weeks as heavy rains continued to fall nearly every day. Thankfully we seem to have a momentary break in the cholera cases the last couple days. But we have had a lot of people showing up with the complaint of diarrhea, and/or vomiting. Not all of them have cholera....some are just worried they do, and then it's our job to figure out the truth and treat accordingly. 

We also had two trips out to Ti-Guave with very ill patients who needed to be transferred to the hospital, this past week. That is always a rough trip on the rugged trail, but thankfully things went smoothly both times. 

One day after clinic this past week, we made good use of a bit of sunshine, and took our opportunity to go visit some people. We still haven't figured out how the Haitian children always win at Dominos, but we had a lot of fun and enjoyed spending time with people outside of the clinic. 

Another afternoon all of us clinic staff were able to go visit a lady named Rose. Back in November Rose delivered her first baby at our clinic, but the baby died a few days later after a very traumatic birth. Thankfully Rose is doing very well today, and we had a delightful visit at her house. Times like this are refreshing and encouraging, seeing people thrive who have been through very intense and even life-threatening situations at our clinic. May God get all the glory!

This was during our visit at Rose's house. The little girl was shy, and so precious!

These children kept us company for an afternoon, and beat us at Dominos repeatedly....they can be full of mischief, but are lovable, and often come in to clinic with their little scrapes and cuts, for a bandaid!

This little lady came one day for a bandage, along with one of our regular bandage patients who is a dear friend of ours. 

This cute little guy was shy and didn't want to smile.... he was at clinic this week for a visit with Mis Kayla....he loves her!

Mis Katie did this very nice stitch job early one Saturday morning. 

A familiar scene the last while.... a cholera patient just arrived, on a cot.

The group of us that went to visit Rose.

That's all I have this time....thanks for praying for the work here, and please keep it up! =)

-Mis Sharon

Med Shopping

So jumping into this next blog! I guess for lack of other things to talk about! I will try and describe a meds shopping trip!!

So this last time I went out..... I left the house at 4:30am and headed for Ti Goave which takes approx 1 1/2 From Where we live in the mountains! Once in Ti Goave I would head down the coast to Port au Prince which is another 2 hr. When we get there we have about 5 stops to make at various Pharmacies, and stores! About 4 Pharmacies and then the grocery store for Clorox and various other cleaning supplies! And sometimes we need oxygen for the clinic and that can add time on the trip! Or if we need IV fluids I have to go to a pharmacy on the other side of town! And that can add about 1 1/2hr.   If things go well we can be done and ready to head home by 1:00 or 2:00pm. And the trip back takes about 4 1/2 hrs!

But last time we hit traffic in Port! And didn't get home till about 8;00pm

So This trip is done once a month! And we also get meds from Christian  Aid Ministries (C.A.M) And they bring the meds to Ti Goave so i don't have to go so far for them!

So as far as how much meds we use in a month can change depending on how many people we see that month! But to sum it up we get roughly two Land Cruiser loads a month!!

This would be for example.....What
 we consider "One Load"

So you can pray for us as we continue to make these trips to town! The roads are dangerous....And we have been having lots of rain as of late! The trails are vary muddy! And lots of things can happen!

So till next time thanks for your prayers and support!!

                                                                                           James.

                                   

Unseen Wars and Victories!!

This past week you could feel the powers of darkness all around. As we went through Easter, the Voodoo Balls and Raw Raw's are grabbing for the attention of our native friends. Many are victims of circumstances having grown up with devil worship and not knowing truth. It is a vital time for the Christians to stay strong. The devil is trying to attack everyone who is weak.

The past several weeks we have seen multiple cases which appeared to have demonic powers connected. It can be so hard sometimes to distinguish spiritual attacks from real medical emergencies. You can pray that we would have much wisdom to discern in these situations.

One morning this past week we were faced with a life/ death situation. It was a dear friend of ours who came in severe respiratory distress. She has a history of asthma so it's not uncommon for her to have asthma exacerbations sometimes. However,  this one was different as she was what appeared on the edge of death. We immediately started oxygen therapy and nebulizer treatments. As she was struggling to breath the devil seemed to be stomping on top of her. I prayed for her soul. It's only her soul that I want saved today. Pastor Jira was called in. He came in with several other people and started praying with her and rebuking the devil. After a short time you could see her body relax. It was rewarding when you finally see her and know that she was the one talking to us. 

Please pray for the many who are weak and allow the devil to have control of their lives. 

A few pics from this past week. Since it was a small week we had lots of people over in the afternoons. 

Our friend Rosina is cooking lunch for us. She spent several weeks at the hospital. It is so much fun to see her cooking again!!!

Her sweet little baby Mislove who has stolen all of our hearts!!

Emma, entertaining the children. 

Our team members interacting with our guests. 

"Greater is He that is in you then he that is in the world"

Thanks for your prayers and support,

                                                  ~ Mis Alyssa 

                                                You give and you take away,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       I couldn't help but think of these words this week as I watched one woman mourn over the loss of  her child and an other rejoice over the new life of hers.        God gives and he takes away.  sometimes we don't always understand why he does things the way he does or at the times he does it, but we must remind ourselves continually that God never makes mistakes!


Thursday during clinic hours, I was working away in the pharmacy when I heard screaming and a lot of commotion going on in the entry way! I ran to the door to see what was going on. Noaz and a few "bystanders"were holding a woman down the best that they knew how while the woman was thrashing and fighting with all she got! There was several "patients"(ones that were there for appointments or check ups) that were trying to throw their hand of help in as well . 
I then realized that the woman had just lost her seven year old daughter. We don't know exactly to what, but she had come in the night before with a low grade fever and an altered mental status. So we treated her for her fever and kept her over night to watch her closely. The next morning she looked, and was feeling a lot better,so we sent her home. The next morning she returned with the same symptoms only worse! We treated her to the best that we knew how but it was to late and within just a few hours she past away.

James, Noaz, and Daniel took the body and the mother home as soon as possible so we could get the crowd back in order and get back to attending or other patients. If you think of the mother you can lift up a little prayer for her as I can't ever imagine what she is feeling. 



Around 8:30 last evening, James,Kayla and I responded to a gate knock with news that our laboring lady that we've were keeping in our hospital room was pretty close to delivery!As we hurried to the clinic and walked into the hospital room we heard the beautiful cry of a healthy new born baby! Praise the Lord for new life!

This was was our delivery team! :) Since we weren't able to make it in time for the actual birth. Those who were staying in our hospital room (" one patient") and family of those who were staying with patients at the time,ended up  helping out with the birth!


This young boy came into clinic on Friday with all four of his fingers on his right hand nearly chopped off! The evening before,he was working with a machete when it slipped and got his fingers! Thank the Lord Dr. Phillip from Tennessee was here for the weekend to perform a few surgeries and was able to stitch together a few tendons and muscles before he left the top stitching to James so he could go and began his first surgery for the weekend.

Here he is! All bandaged up! To be honest, we are super excited with the progress we've been seeing with how much he's been able to move and feel all four fingers! Praise the Lord!

I guess I'll bring my blog to a close,but once again I want to thank each and everyone of you for your support in multiple ways. God is good!

Mis~Katie