God is so good! The original plan was to be ready to head to clinic at Bay de Orang at 6:30am. However, time is more of a suggestion around here, so we didn’t get going until closer to 7:30am.
The bag of medicine supplies had been found in Jocmel! Thank you, Lord!! Jeremy had called Pastor Kevin last night explaining that he had found a bag of stuff at the pastor’s house. Pastor Kevin handed the phone to Hannah, and Jeremy said he thought it was dentist supplies! However, after listening to Jeremy’s explanation of what was in the bag, Hannah told him to bring up all the “dentist” supplies that he found. She was fairly confident that Jeremy was describing the thermometers! Someone was supposed to be bringing the bag back up the mountain shortly after it was found in Jocmel. Originally the driver had said he would come up the mountain rain or shine, night or day. Apparently though the driver liked day and sunshine because at 7:30am, we still didn’t have the bag!
But at 7:30, it was time to go. We would just have to make do at the clinic until the bag arrived. The eleven motorcycles had arrived at the mission house to take us to the clinic. Three people to a motorcycle and a motorcycle to carry the medical supplies. Just as we were about ready to ride and everyone was ready, a motorcycle could be seen down the road coming our way. Was this the bag? Hooray! It was the bag of supplies from Jocmel- God is always on time!
We arrived at the location of the clinic about 8:15am. Faith and I rode together on a motorcycle and we were actually in the front of the line-less dust to eat that way! Hannah and Josh got into a bit of an accident on the motorcycle, but no one was hurt. Hannah did say that the front wheel looked a bit wobbly after the accident, but eventually we all arrived! There is much to do before the actual clinic can take place, so it was time to get busy. While the preaching of the Gospel is happening on the other side of the wall (which the wall is actually just a bedsheet hung up to give a wall), we are finding a spot to put our pharmacy stuff on, a place to see patients, a way to do triage in an organized fashion, a place to count out pills and vitamins...and trying to do it fairly quietly! We also needed a spot to test the urine samples, and Joe needed a spot to set up his microscope.
Upon opening the bag from Jocmel, we discovered that the bag did contain the thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, and some medicine. However, we are still missing some supplies that we had last year. But no time to worry about that right now, and God gave us the necessary stuff so it’s time to begin our first day of medical clinic!
This location for clinic is a new location. As with all our medical clinics, we host them through a church. The church also has a school here in the same location, but there is no school today due to the medical clinic. The school here educates about 320 children! And there is no way to adaquately describe how that seems impossible when the size of the space is considered! The main area is made of tarps hung across rough beams and poles to create a large space. Then there are several smaller “rooms” off of that area that are divided by sheets and blankets hung up to separate the space. If this church can educate 320 children in this space, then I have no room to hear arguments about small spaces in our classrooms back home!
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While we were setting up for clinic, several Bible college students preached to the people. I’m not sure how many people accepted Christ as their Savior, but I do know that several decisions were made. We started the clinic after the preaching and we worked hard and steady all day! Debbie Lynn and our Haitian nurse worked in triage. Several other team members were baggin vitamins, Tylenol, ibuprofen, acid medicine, and iron in smaller baggies so that the medical people could give them to patients. Everyone seen gets a thirty day supply of vitamins, and often worm medicine and acid medications. That’s a lot of vitamins! Hannah, Casey, Corey, and Faith are our actual certified medical people, so they worked with their translators on seeing people. Emelie and I ran the pharmacy and urine specimen table. Emelie and I are great at handling the pharmacy as long as our medical people talk to us in colors. As in the “red pill” or the tablets from the “orange” box, etc. I mean, we get better at every clinic, but other than tums we probably shouldn’t be trusted to actually prescribe anything! However, we can mix medicine, test urnine samples, weigh babies, make worm medicine mixtures for kids (we call them worm slurpies), and laugh at ourselves!
The original plan was to end the clinic about 3:30pm, and walk back to the mission house. However, Pastor Kevin said that he would send motorcycles for us instead so that we could keep the clinic going longer. Praise the Lord for that decision as we were able to see everyone that came to the clinic. At the end of the day, we saw over 312 people! Many of the families in this area have large families as in five, six, and seven kids, so we saw a lot of children! And they were all so cute!
We treated a lot of kids for cold and respiratory symptoms. It makes sense that they would all have a lot of the same symptoms since all these school kids must practically sit on each other to squeeze in here! We also saw a few people with heart problems, a mama with pre-clampsia, and a lot of kids with colds, coughs, and an odd rash.
Although is was a long day, the Lord gave protection, strength, and wisdom for all the members of the team. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this team again this year. It already makes me want to come back next year, which God could allow...if He provides another miracle.
At the end of the day, we were very thankful to see those motorcycles arrive to take us back to the mission house. It would’ve been a very LONG walk, and I like exercise, but I was thankful for a motorcycle. Although Faith and I had a good driver both coming and going to clinic, it’s still an opportunity to pray for God’s protection. The roads are rough and bumpy with lots of gravel, rocks, steep downhills, and back up hill. Yet we arrived safely at the mission house!
Tonight I am praising the Lord for a great day at our first medical clinic. God is so good!
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