A Baby!

Hello everyone!

As you have probably guessed by now, things have been surprisingly quiet around here!

We haven't had anything serious come in for quite a while, until this lady came in.

It seemed like she was a few weeks early, so we made all preparations for any trouble... thankfully, we didn't need to use any of those preparations!

The delivery went smoothly with no complications, so we are praising the Lord for that!

The lady comes into the clinic.

Breanna waits outside until she's needed.

She didn't need to wait for long- the baby came pretty soon!

...and here he is! A healthy little boy!

"Wow! This is a big world out here!"

Anita and Breanna, the happy nurses that helped with the delivery.

Good job!

More than a "rash"...

A mother brought her baby to the gate Friday afternoon, saying she needed a nurse to look at it. It sounded like it had a rash of some sort on it's neck. Shana went out to see how serious it was, and came back, saying they should probably check it out. The clinic had been closed for a while, but they agreed to unlock it and bring the baby in.

So, as the nurses got everything opened up, the lady brought the baby around to the clinic. When she came in and they unwrapped the blankets, they were met with something a little more serious than just a "rash"...

The first thing that was noted was the size of the baby- she was only 4lbs!

For a newborn, that's not much at all, but for being 16 days old, that's unbelievable.

The second thing was the sores it had all over its face, neck, and upper body.

A large gaping sore next to her left ear was testament to the seriousness of the situation.

Surprisingly enough, as they unwrapped her, 

she opened up her bright, big eyes and started looking around.

She was fairly energetic, which was unexpected!

She was so tiny, but very alert.

One of the nurses puts her hand next to the baby to give you an idea of her size.

After getting washed up and treated, they wrapped her up in some new clothes and a fresh blanket!

She'll be coming back for a checkup soon...

Update on the lady with the foot injury!

It's been a while since we told you about the lady with the foot injury (See story here: A Ministry of Love) and we thought you'd like to see the improvement!

She comes faithfully, each day, to have her foot rewrapped. It's still not the most pleasant duty for the nurses to do, but they (just as faithfully) clean and bandage it each day!

The improvement has been impressive, considering she hasn't had a skin graft!

It's just slowly closing up! 

What an amazing thing, the body is; we are truly "fearfully, and wonderfully made."

Since tomorrow is Good Friday, the clinic will be closed;

We posted a sign on the doorway- we'll see if it's heeded! :)

A short update on the cholera situation...

Dear supporters,

Thanks so much to everyone that has been praying for the cholera situation here. God answers prayers, doesn't He?

So far we have had no other cases come into the clinic, and we are indeed grateful for that! Hopefully the two cases we had last week were a isolated incident, and not the beginnings of a widespread epidemic. We were trying to make it clear to everyone that we could not treat it as we did before, and they would have to go up to another CTC if they needed care.

On Sunday the two patients went home, so we cleaned out the CTC tent and put a bunch of the equipment back into storage... we're hopeful for the best!

Again, thank you for praying!!

-Us at Aleg

Update on the Cholera situation...

Yesterday we erected a containment area for our two cholera patients and got a bunch of our CTC equipment out of storage. We haven't had any more people come for treatment, but we have heard that some areas are being infected with the bacteria again. We continue to pray and trust God to stay the possible outbreak again, but only time will tell what will happen...

That said, our two patients are doing very well, and we're hoping for their speedy recovery! The nice thing about cholera is that it's usually very predictable: once you have someone in, getting treatment, they usually turn around in a few days. There are some severe cases in which the individual needs extended treatment, but about 80% of the time, they're only in for a few days.

So, please continue to pray for the situation here...

Here, Breanna sprays bleach water on herself, after coming out of the "containment" area.

The plastic fence was put up yesterday by the guys...

Here's an overview of the "containment" area.

This is the latest patient- a middle aged woman.

She was in need of extra liquids, so they put two IVs into her.

Anita speaks with a concerned relative about the situation.

To the Haitians, cholera is basically a death sentence...

Thankfully, we can give concerned loved ones quite a bit of hope for recovery!

The trash bin, laundry, and wash bins...

We go through LOTS of bleach when dealing with cholera...

The nurses track the amount of fluids each patient takes in, so they can better track recovery.

Here, Anita uses her iPod to calculate an IV's drip rate.

It's important to get the right amount going in- not too much, not to little!

Cholera...

What went through your mind when you read the title of this post?

Probably the same thing that went through my mind yesterday when I heard that word come across the radio... Someone had come into the clinic with symptoms of the dreaded sickness, and they were evaluating the patient.

Later on I went out to make a phone call on the depot roof; as I came through the gate, there was the spray bottle of bleach water... and below the depot roof I could see them preparing one of the white tents for cholera containment. After my phone call, I went in and checked on the lady in the tent; she sure looked like she had cholera. After that, Anita did confirm that the lady had been infected...

So, please pray that this is simply an isolated case, not the beginning of another epidemic! We have been hoping that the rainy season wouldn't cause another outbreak, but only time will tell... By this morning, the lady is doing very well, and will probably be released by this evening.

If it does turn into an epidemic again, we determined that we wouldn't be able to start up another CTC here in Aleg; since the new clinic isn't done yet, and we're using the former CTC building (the depot) as the current clinic, we don't have the facilities to care for people... we will have to take them up to Basis to be treated. Of course, if a serious case comes in, we will treat them here until they're well enough to be transferred to Basis; but we won't be able to treat the same amount as we were before.

Again, please pray for us as we continue to wait and trust God for the best... May His will be done.

A normal day at the clinic...

Today was just another normal day at the clinic, with no strange or unusual cases coming in. Even so, I snapped some pictures of everyone doing their jobs so you can see what all goes into everyday life here...

Breanna's main job is to check everyone's blood pressure and dossiers.

Fre Direk is the receptionist...

Mis Leida is one of our main Haitian nurses;

She gives evaluations and writes prescriptions for people.

Mis Joselin is also a Haitian nurse which gives consultations.

Fre Noaz sees people in, and calls out their numbers as their turn comes.

Patients waiting their turn outside...