Twins and Much More!!

As I walked into the house one afternoon this past week, the song  "My Jesus knows just what I need" was playing. 

That phrase replayed in my mind. How true!! I soon began to think of the many ways that God had blessed us over the past several days. After a week of sleepless nights/ stressful clinic days/ big decisions etc. God saw need for a "ti repoze". Last Friday, we awoke to about 3 1/2" of rain. PTL!! We were not just thankful for the rain but also predicted a small clinic day which proved to be true. 

After a relatively quiet weekend, we dived into another week. This week has been more or less the usual. Colds, minor flu symptoms, cuts, scraps, and abscesses. 

On the subject of abscesses, imagine walking about with your face half swollen and you can barely open your mouth. Your face hurts so bad you don't want anyone to touch it BUT the only way for relief is for the infection to come out. That is the life of several people in Haiti. Why?? I don't have all the answers but many are tooth infections that have not been treated. No one would have wanted to be there to open the one abscess. It was a smell beyond description. If the one patient had been left she could have died before long due to a systemic infection. 

Another lady came in with a fast growing Tumor! She is eight months pregnant. Pray that God can give wisdom and direction in this situation. Her best solution is surgery in Mirebalais Hospital. She is a poor mountain woman who could never come up with the funds it would take for such a surgery. Pray she is depending on all of us!! 

The major excitement of the year happened on Wednesday afternoon!  ( I would love to let Mali or Ellamae share this story since they were involved but since it is my week to blog I will tell you what I was told;)) We were all awoke Wednesday morning to a message bearer telling us there is a lady in labour. Mali and Ellamae went down to clinic to check her status. She was progressing so they stayed with her. We started clinic. Around 1:00 pm there was news that a baby girl was born! BUT she still had another one. After about another 2 hours, a little boy made his appearance. Our hearts were all filled with gratitude to God for a healthy delivery of the TWINS!! Congratulations Mali and Ellamae you did an amazing job!! 

                Happy, tired, nurses!!

Thanks to God for providing for us so richly. Thanks to each one who reads this blog and supports us through pray and in many other ways. We feel the affects everyday!! 

~ Alyssa 

God is Good!

One morning when I arrived at clinic, I noticed that someone had changed the quote on the white board. I didn't really stop and read it till later in the morning.
"I will never give you more then you can handle. I will let you bend but will not let you break" -Jesus. Wow, just exactly what I needed right then. Isn't it amazing how God does that?

Some days, the stress in the amount of work we have to do is overwhelming. But I'm constantly reminded that God will give me the strength to do what I'm called to do here.
This week has been very stretching, tiring, and stressful. Every single day had it own set of difficulties.        

Monday was a long full day with seeing just over 130 people total.
Tuesday dawned bright an early, with lots of knocks on the gate. People who had cuts that needed to be stitched, laboring mothers and little sleep.
  Mali and I had a lady in labor. A 13 year old mom. Yep, you heard right. 13. Our hearts broke. She wasn't progressing very fast so we told them to call us if anything changed... and we went to bed. We had barely been sleeping when we heard the knock on the gate and we made our way to clinic, but she really hadn't changed. That night we made our way to clinic 4 times till the night was over. On one of the trips down, we where greeted with a huge group of people who had brought in another laboring mother. Due to the high risk in such young girls giving birth, we transferred out first laboring patient out to a bigger hospital. Just after Alex and Mali left for TG with her, we welcomed our 3rd laboring mother.  I wondered to myself how much more we really could take, and as evening started to near I started to worry about loosing my second nights sleep. Neither of the ladies seemed in a big hurry to have their baby's. Finally around 1:00am the urgent gate knock came. We hurried down to clinic to be welcomed with the wonderful sound of a baby crying! I was so happy!  We still had a lady in labor, who wasn't making any progress. In the morning, we started clinic, but it was soon decided that we needed to take our lady out to a bigger hospital. It wasn't long till Alex, Mali and I left for TG. Thankfully we made it out to town safely and transferred her to a bigger hospital.  We found out that the first girl we transferred out had a C-section and mom and baby are doing well. We are still waiting to hear what the rest of the story is on our 2nd transfer but we are praying that everything went well for her too!
  Please to continue to pray for us. Big decisions and nights without sleep are stressful. We NEED your help!

In HIS service -Mis Ellamae

"His hand is in every detail."

This morning we heard at devotions something that struck  me.

 "And if I could tell you all,you would see how God has done all,and I nothing. I(we) have worked hard,very hard. That is all;and I have never refused God anything."-Florence Nightingale

I watch my fellow nurses...I watch Hans...I watch Donny and Thea...I watch Janell...I watch Brandon...
Yes,we work hard. Very hard at times. Our minds and bodies are taxed(at times) and yet....it is God that is doing all. His hand is in every detail. I truly believe it. With all my  heart.

With Alyssa being gone...we missed her. (Not her work but her presence) I'm always shocked to see how evryone joins hands to carry the load. Ellamae has become a pro a prenatal consultations. Bravo! Kayla picked up my lose ends...Hans took care of all the controlling and helped Fré Dolph. I'm blessed. It did seem that....well...the babies all wanted to be born the end of April and beginning of May. I guess they wanted spring birthdays!!;) I believe I prayed away quite a few....desperate for a full nights sleep. (I did pray that whatever was best would regardless of my comfort)

Ellamae did great at her first delivery. Happy to be her teacher.😉

Kayla,Hans, and I had a bumpy ride out to Fonds de Blan....
After a crazy hike in the rain,Mis Marquise called me down to clinic for an emergency she said...a severely preeclampic woman in labour.  I had referred her to FDB,but she didn't take it seriously. So here she lay....in labour. With a sky high blood pressure. We administered the correct meds...changed from my wet hiking clothes and took off. The trail was nice and bumpy after tropic downpours. Hans did great. Kayla and I switched off holding the IV bag... it was 7pm by the time we got on the next bumpy leg of journey...her cries and moans got closer and between comforting her telling her to 'Pren Ké' take heart...I prayed...we all sighed a huge sigh when we pulled in the nicely lit,clean OB ward. The joy ,the relief of placing her in the have of very capable doctors.  I felt like I lost 50lbs right there. We feasted on Pringles as we drove back to Petit Gôave.

These little children never cease make my heart squeeze with joy. ... my little Plumpy Nut babies. He was such a grump...tiny...his skinny neck barely held his head up. Now....he's a little sweat heart. He lisps name and just kinda go "ahhhhhh"



He's a new patient...I can hardly wait to see him nice and chubby....

This is one brave little feller.... you see the size of those burns?????well....he didn't cry a tear. At one point he asked me in such calm,cool voice..."Mis Mali...ou preské fini??" (Are you almost done)  I bent down to look at him,"Does it hurt cheri? "  He gave me the cutest lopsided grin..."yah it does..." how can help but kiss such an cute little child??They are such day brightners...I cherish those moments.
...
This is a day late....I've finally managed to load my pictures. Yay!!

...
Mis Mali

Real World Problems

   Haiti's healthcare situation is worse then it's been in a longtime. The largest state run hospitals in Port au Prince as well as at least half a dozen other government hospitals around the country have been on strike for several weeks. Last week a pregnant woman died in the street outside the gate of the general hospital in downtown Port au Prince because she was unable to find care inside.  The doctors and nurses are holding out for higher pay and asking to be provided with basic supplies and better working conditions. I can hardly blame them. There is nothing more frustrating for a healthcare worker then to know what care needs to be given to a patient yet be unable to provide it because of the lack of equipment or supplies. This situation has further complicated the already difficult process of transferring emergency cases out to a higher lever of care since this means that the hospitals run by international organizations are now even more overrun and beyond capacity then before due to the unavailability of the public hospitals.
  Yesterday afternoon an extremely hypertensive and preeclamptic woman in labor arrived at the clinic. We had been unsuccessful in getting her blood pressure sufficiently under control and had advised her a week before to go out to a hospital in Fond des Blancs that has lodging for high risk pregnancies and complete OB capabilities because of her preeclampsia. Unfortunately that didn't happen and now we had to get her somewhere where they would be able to do a C-section. Thanks to the strike Ti Goave hospital wasn't an option. Because of the excess rain throughout the last month sections of the road between here and port are covered in mud and traffic is absolutely horrible. Mali, Kayla and I ended up taking her the whole way to St Boniface hospital in Fond des Blancs. With the current rutted up roads this is a 3+ hour trip. Only about 45 minutes of that is on a paved road surface.  Thankfully we made it without incident and without the baby coming and transferred her into the hands of the capable hospital staff there.

Fre Daniel doing devotions in the morning before clinic opens

  With all the instability and problems this country is facing, it is a tremendous blessing that, thanks to all the people who help support the mission here, local  folks  can rely on our clinic to be there and provide what care we can give. Sometimes it can feel like  we aren't capable of doing very much here but the simple fact that we will do whatever we can do no matter what or when the problem is brought in has been an incredible witness to the people of this country.
  We Americans like to criticize our own healthcare system, which no doubt does have its own set of very real problems. Today, however, I would like you to take a moment to thank God for  your hospitals as well as your government for all the good that they do. There is a huge amount we take for granted.  Please keep Haiti in your prayers as well. The current interim government has not been paying its bills and we very well could be heading towards a major fuel and consumable goods shortage.
   The following are some pics of a boy who was brought in with some major burns last week. Thanks to the care of our dedicated nurses he is quickly starting to heal.

This fellow had hot cooking water spilled on him

Bandaging up this brave little guy

All ready to go!

His Hand is in Every Detail...

“ His Hand is in Every Detail” ~ Unknown

Have you taken the time to notice His hand today? Have you taken the time to notice the detail in everything He does?

God is a God of detail and cares about all the small things in our lives. He knows when we are weak and tired. He is there in the sleepless nights. He feels the pain physically and emotionally when no one around can completely understand. He has a plan when circumstances are out of our control.

Walking to clinic the other morning, I was thinking about the past week of events. I had to think about how God has His hand in every detail of our lives. I noticed the flowers blooming beside the path, the little lizard running across my path, the clouds in the sky. God created everything beautiful. Everything was created with fine detail. So much more does God care about every detail in our lives.

While thinking about details, I started looking around at the little details at clinic that God cares about. The lady sleeping on the bench waiting to be seen. Why was she tired? What was going on in her life?

Another girl was sitting on the bench holding her abdomen. I could see the pain in her eyes. I can’t feel her pain but God can. I saw a man waiting to be seen by the dentist. He had a huge tooth abscess. I could see the anticipation in his eyes as he anxiously waited for answers. A small malnutrition child crying for no apparent reason. Who knows the story behind the scene before my eyes? God does. He cares about this child even though the home situation may be a wreck. Food may be scarce and money hard to come by.

Walking home from clinic I stop and talk to a neighbor man whose marriage is struggling. His wife is pregnant and it feels like a mess but God knows. He sees each tear that is shed for that home. The prayers that are prayed and the hearts of each one involved in the situation.

God sees each tear that is shed, hears each prayer that is said. He feels the pain when no one else can. He knows when our hearts are heavy and hurting. He knows when we feel weak and small for the work He has called us to do. He shows Himself in the rain, in the storm. He rolls the clouds back when he sees fit. He places flowers in our path to cheer our way. He brings people into our lives to encourage our heart. 

" Don't worry God is never blind to your tears, never deaf to your prayers, and never silent to your pains. He sees, He Hears and He will deliver." 

Thanks for your prayers, 

~ Alyssa 

Pulling, filling, and cleaning...Teeth!

The dentist is here and there's a lot of goodness going on! Did you ever notice that people's smiles are bigger and brighter without a toothache or abscess? Well, they are. And they're contagious. So, it's a good thing. 

I recently saw a quote that said "Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth". We're thankful that we have a dentist to prolong the life-span of a bunch of smiles around here! :-) 
Plus, No more sleepless nights from tooth aches or big abscesses. We all like our sleep pretty good I think so that's a pretty big one! 

  Sometimes it's not always that easy for the Dentist though. the one afternoon when I was down helping with the Sterilizing, Ewald stopped working and said "We need to pray for wisdom for what to do with this patient" so we all stopped and prayed together. Do you ever wonder what YOU can do to help? You can pray. It's a Powerful weapon that every. Single. One. Of you can use. Do it! 

This time Ewald brought with him a man who makes Dentures. He is doing a great job at making people's smiles complete again!

 

        Grandpa stopped by one morning to get his teeth cleaned.

    Isabel did a wonderful job at keeping all the tools cleaned and sterilized. 

                   John busy working at making dentures.

            Polver very happy to have his smile complete again!

A huge Thank you to everyone who prays and helps support the work here. May God richly bless you! 

"There's always a reason to smile, you just have to find it" -Unknown. Go find it, friends! :-)

-Mis Ellamae 

                    Morning wake up call… “bang, bang, bang…bang, bang, bang!”

 I lay in bed and think, “oh, probably the girls bringing the routine vessels of soup for Sunday morning; Janell will take care of them.”

 The sound reverberates again, “bang, bang, bang… bang, bang, bang!”

 My thoughts continue… “Well I am on call today, it could be a medical emergency.” I pull myself from the bed; throw on a skirt and a hoodie and after grabbing a key march to the gate (still expecting the soup girls). Well my decision to crawl out of bed was warranted, at the gate I found  a man a woman informing me there was someone at clinic who had fallen and had a “blese” (injury) on their head and arm. “Can they talk?” I asked. “Can they walk?” Wanting to make sure the injured person was not unconscious or anything.

“Oh, yes they are at the clinic.”

“Ok, I am coming!” I respond. On returning to the house I trade out my hoodie for a scrub top and put my hair up in a decent fashion. By 6:40AM I am on my way to clinic to assess the situation. I sure enough did find a blese on her arm and a small one on her head.  The gash on her forearm did not line up with the idea of a fall it looked more like a knife cut, but I chose not to investigate then. I repaired it with 8 or 9 stiches, and Mali butterflied the small cut near her eye. Both wounds are healing up beautifully.

Thankfully the rest of my Sunday was very relaxed and peaceful, there were no other clinic calls.

The slash in the lady's arm

 



Stitching up

 We have continued to have fairly busy days at clinic, no one is too busy planting or harvesting currently so they have time to come and have their maladies cared for.  The blood pressure program has kept up its usual steady flow of people each day; I enjoy my work with them. I like being able to give nutritional guidance for lowing your blood pressure rather than just handing out prescriptions, and the Haitian population seems very appreciative.

Thursday was a bit of a stressful day for all of us, one of our white nurses was feeling very ill and we ended up sending her out to a larger hospital. Clinic was a little hectic a big crowd to take care of, missing one of our nurses, two or three cots coming in but with God’s help and team work we made it through. Then that afternoon we got a “gully washer” of rain storm!! Nearly 4 inches of rain fell in about 2 hours! We ended up with flooding in both houses! First of all our girls’ house started flooding because we had water standing in front of the house and the front door was open, so where did the water go but inside! After that was all cleaned up Hans had went back over to the main house, a few minutes later we hear a radio call “Girls, girls!” Hans was calling in need of assistance, we assumed it was because of flooding once again so we grabbed the already soiled towels and dashed to the other house. Sure enough our assumptions were correct, more flooding! We made a party out of it and laughed! What else could you do!

A young woman who came in for a post-partum check up, this
was the first baby I delivered!

 Thanks for all your prayers for us down here, we need them and notice them!


~Mis Kayla