February 1, 2010

This post is from February 1, 2010
We are having clinic today at the mission house – and people start to gather at the front gate before we are all awake. We know this because we hear the voices that become louder and louder as the morning goes on. Soon there are several hundred voices, and the crowd starts to become unruly. There is no line, just a mass of people gathered at the front gate. A policeman has brought someone for treatment and volunteers to control the crowd and we are thankful for his help.

Today brought an assortment of patients. I am surprised that some of the ones we saw at the plaza have managed to find our mission house and have come for follow-up. These are people who had wounds from the earthquake, and they are all improving. Simple medical treatment could have prevented many of the infections and complications we have seen.

Other patients really have nothing wrong with them. This is a little frustrating for those of us who want to see a medical problem we can “fix.” Everyone wants a tent. They are all sleeping outside on the ground. I saw one young girl, 18 years old, from the plaza. She had typhoid fever and pneumonia and was sleeping in a tree. Although she had improved medically, my heart is heavy when I think of her, with fevers up to 104, trying to sleep in a tree. But we do not have tents for everyone we see.

A 5-year old boy, brought in by his mother, who asks us several times, if her son is dead. He is lethargic, febrile, with a distended and tender abdomen. We send one of our team members with him to the local hospital to make sure he is seen by a surgeon. It is good news when we learn that he was evaluated and admitted immediately. This would not have happened without one of us accompanying him. Haitians stand in long lines for several hours to be evaluated at the one local public hospital that is still functioning.

A 3-year old little girl named Stacy has pneumonia or typhoid fever or malaria, or all three. She does not have a surgical problem, and thus the overflowing hospital is not an option. The mother pleads for us to treat her with whatever we have available. We fix up a “hospital bed” on a sofa; start an IV with fluids and antibiotics; and begin treatment. Team members are assigned to do “breathing treatments” which consists of her trying to blow up balloons – this makes her take deep breaths. Another team member boils water and we give hot water vapor treatments. Her lungs start to clear a little, and I am more hopeful. At the end of the day, I have to send her home, with instructions to the mom to continue her medications and we’ll see her back tomorrow.

Well, this is way too long – but the patients keep coming. We are sharing the gospel and people are receiving Christ. This is the only way to truly heal them.