Haiti Trip Update #1 -- Thank You, Smyrna!

My husband, Pete, left for Haiti last week with The Chadasha Foundation. He is working in both a clinic and a hospital alongside an incredible group of physicians and nurses, trying to make a small difference in a country with great need. Before he departed, he was overwhelmed with support from the community of Smyrna: the Rotary Club, StoneCrest, friends, his office staff, numerous pharmacies and medical equipment companies, even people whom he had never met (and more -- please tell me who I am leaving out. Pete has the list). Donations came in the form of money, supplies, and equipment. When I spoke to Pete earlier today, he asked that I let each of you know that your donations have made a significant impact already. Let me explain.

Saturday, the team went to work in a local hospital. These are Pete's comments about the hospital and its patients:

Today we embark for the local hospital. Thirteen bed hospital that has fifty plus patients, most of whom stay in tents on the outside. Post-op patients that are still trying to learn how to walk after amputations. No prosthesis, no handicap parking, no jobs, no house to go home to - they lost their families, most of them. Their homes fell on them. I will be looking at the pharmacy to see if they can use some of the drugs we brought in. They will be a blessing and relief, though be it a short one, to many patients.

This hospital has a working operating room. The operating room has not been able to serve patients because there was no available pain medicine. Today, thanks to the generosity of many of you, that operating room is working. Pete delivered to the hospital pharmacy the medicine you graciously provided and it allowed doctors to resume operations. Praise God for meeting this need and thank you, thank you for your part in His plan.

Following are excerpts from another email. They are simply his impressions after his first day.

We got off a plane yesterday that cost about the same as it would to provide clean water for the entire city for years.
The stars here are beautiful.
Just downstairs last night looking at the vast amounts of medicine that the people of Smyrna helped to provide. Incredible. Not one wasted penny. Hitting the streets running>>>>
Today we will likely see 200 people between the three of us - scabies, "everyone has worms", post-traumatic syndrome, abscesses, HTN, DM, just to name a few.......
Tap-taps are awesome. It is the local, colorful buses that the people ride. they are fuller than the halls at a titans game.They are tap-taps, because that is what you do when you want to get off the bus.
People urinating on the streets - there is nowhere else to go.
Why do I feel so sorry for the dogs down here. Their bones so prominent. Tell Lulu next time she complains how lucky she is.

And finally, this one after his first day in the clinic:

Most of the people I saw complained of "my stomach hurts", "I have anemia", "my child has a cold" and in general were not a sick as i thought they would be. Yet a couple were very sick. To the point that on Monday when I have follow up with them I dont know if they will be back. Ever. Didnt know what they had. Helpless feeling. How do you treat an 11 year old girl with a mass growing out of her temple and a fever of 104. You give her a shot of antibiotics and 4 pain pills and you pray you see her again. CT scan of the head and bloodwork sure would be nice right now.

My last patient of the day was a 70 year old man who has a chronic indwelling catheter. He came to us wanting surgery on his prostate. He cannot urinate if he takes the catheter out. We were able to arrange for him a ride to the local hospital to meet a urologist. He said that he had been praying six years for this moment and he was just rejoicing in how faithful God is. Wow. Haitians are a patient people. I have already learned a lot from them and I know they will teach me a ton more.

The gentlemen in the top photo with Pete will be riding to the urologist tomorrow. I pray he finds the answers he needs.

More photos:

Remains of church. Notice beautiful arches inside.

Beautiful young girl with her father. She is an amputee. Pete got to hang out with her and her dad for awhile and he fell in love with her smile. He made up for the scary, bald/goatee look by giving her candy and a bracelet. :)

I will post more as I receive it. Thank you to the many who continue to pray for this trip and for, most importantly, the Haitian people.