Deb: Update on Community Health Agents. Congratulations to
all of our students for passing their final written exam. Today we spent most of our time at the Mission
Center reviewing content and getting them ready for “clinical” next week. The team members doing physicals today got
back to the Mission Center around 12:30, and while they were eating lunch,
Shari and I took the Community Agents to Lanzac to measure heights and weights
on the children before the other team members arrived to do the physicals. They
loved it! One of our Community Agents taught the little children our
hand-washing song while they were waiting to get measured and weighed. Since
they loved doing heights and weights so much, I can’t wait to see how they will
react next week to actually seeing children in the schools and orienting to
their jobs. Shari and I miss you, Belinda! Thank you to all of you at home who
are praying for us. I can feel the
prayers and I appreciate them so much! God is with us!
Joanne: Hello all again! Well we're into our 2nd
week J.
Another awesome hike up to the Degeance school. Literally pouring sweat but it
was great! In the afternoon we came back to the mission center to see the small Lanzac
school children. Doing a small lancing procedure to drain a large abscess on a
small boy looks quite different in Haiti than anywhere else I’ve had the
pleasure of assisting with a procedure. To give him some privacy at least from
his class mates, we carried him across the small school yard to another empty
classroom, laid him on an old wooden table covered with a blue pad, and did the
best we could with equipment we had. Assisted with not only medical people but
the boy's mama, my translator and my mom held the child down so we could
relieve him of a very uncomfortable abscess to his buttocks. Trying to do
teaching via a translator to explain to the mama how to do daily dressing
changes on her own with likely very limited and primitive resources also proved
challenging. It is so rewarding to see the smiles on these peoples faces for
helping them! There are no complaints or grumbling whatsoever, only grateful
hearts! God bless their souls!! Just a little friendly reminder to those of us
who have been so fortunately blessed to have the resources we do in US and
Canada, please don’t complain the next time you have to wait for 30-60 min in
the waiting room to have your “prescription filled” after you’ve left the
comfort of your own home, gotten into your heated or AC car and comfortably
driven to your modern, clean hospital.
Many of these mamas have a long walk up or down a mountain with at least
one or two children in tow in this humid heat with smiles on their faces
because they know someone will help them today! Also after a procedure like
this , we would probably be able to have the dressing changed at our local hospital as well! I'm not sad I have the resources I do where I live, nor am I sad I was
born in Canada, however I am sad for
these less fortunate folks and glad I could help just a little. We met the new team yesterday after most of
our initial team left and it's nice to
have another great team! The ocean and the cold showers have been a great
relief at the end of a hot work day. Tonight we played games and had a lot of
great laughs!! Well as always Im LONG winded LOL so I’ll turn in before Rene
chokes me! A special hi to Ernest, Cammi, Matthew and Christie and her family!
(and all my furballs!!) Love and miss you all from mom and I! Ta Ta!
Shout Outs:
Hi Marky-Poo! Love, Pam
Corey! Got a good laugh tonight, I'm sure you know why!!!!!! :) :) :) Love, Shelby
