The Hospital

May 19, 2007

We spent today at the hospital, arriving about 6AM and leaving the hospital 12 hours later at exactly 6PM. I spent the day power washing the walls in preparation for the painting to come sometime later next week. It was an exhausting day blowing off paint chips and a lot of unidentified material (details of which I will spare you) from literally thousands of square feet of wall space. The saving grace for the day was that it was pretty much shaded as the hospital grounds contain a good share of the remaining trees in Dessalines – the remaining trees have been harvested years ago for charcoal for cooking.

Jane has spent the day inside (roughly 95F) sorting through hundreds of patient records as she continues the job she started here earlier in the year. Many have stopped by to greet her as she has become somewhat of an enigma to these Haitians who wonder openly why anyone would come to serve in such a place as Dessalines. She has friends from previous visits that are letting out her secret of knowing perhaps enough Creyole to “get by” in a pinch as I have heard some simple conversations taking place that end in both parties walking away quite satisfied.

Our goal here is to make the hospital self sufficient or nearly so as the Lord will provide as there are great needs in the community of Dessalines (25,000 population) and the surrounding areas (an additional 175,000 people) in various mountain villages. A simple birth here jeopardizes the lives of mothers simply due to the distance and quality of medical care. Dessalines Rural Health Project (DRHP) provides the key medical care for disease, malnutrition, broken bones, HIV, AIDs, malaria and the only legitimate dental work in the region to name just a few of the “specialties” offered.

A young man came by today as we were working to share with Jane the miracle of his life being spared by the staff of DRHP. He had been shot in the leg in a neighboring village with the bullet going into the thigh and out the calf; infection had set in by the time he managed to get to the hospital and the lower part of his leg had to be removed. He and his wife were praising God that his life was saved and how fortunate he was to have medical facilities so “close by”! Jane and Gail had listened to his story earlier and when he discovered that the husbands were working outside he hurriedly directed his wheelchair outdoors to share the good news with Gregg and me as well. There is a huge lesson in all of this somewhere for each of us, I am certain.

We spend the evenings in somewhat of a “share the load” mode with the two other couples residing here currently with each actually preparing an evening snack/meal every third day.
Again Jane is in charge as it would make no sense to delegate something so important to my care. Each couple returns to their “home” apartment around 8PM with “lights out” occurring roughly at 9-9:30PM; the resident fowl arise at about 3:30AM and it’s pretty much cat-naps from then until daylight.