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...