IT'S A GIRL!

We had an ultrasound today, and the baby girl is fine and due the first week of july.

Hospitals in Haiti---and Some News

It's been five months, so I figure it's time for a new blog!  I wouldn't want to overload any of you with news of Haiti and myself by writing too often, you know?  Actually, life's just been super busy with wedding, medical and optometry mission conferences, work, new house, new marriage, and holiday visits to the stateside folks.  But now I've finally found a couple of minutes and a high speed internet connection, so I'm taking this opportunity to update my much-neglected blog.

   The topic of this blog is Haitian Hospitals, because they've been on my mind a lot lately.  For personal and professional reasons.  As you all know, health care in Haiti is a funny thing.  And I mean funny in the tragic sense of the word, of course.  I was very happy to move to Christianville and I've been overwhelmed at how much nicer it is to practice medicine in a facility with a full lab, xray capabilities, and ultrasound.  It makes diagnosis 100 times easier than it was in Seguin.  However, there remains one frustration.  Seguin was two hours from any hospital, and Christianville is only five minutes from one, and about one hour from dozens of others.  So I thought that moving here would eliminate some of my hospital frustrations, but it turns out they are only magnified by working so close to civilization.   Why?  Because whether you are five hours or five minutes from sub-par hospitals doesn't change the fact that they stink.  There are a few exceptions to this rule:  a Doctors without Borders hospital for pregnant women (but they only take the very sickest cases and turn all others away), a free Catholic hospital for children under 13 (but they are often full and have to turn patients away), and a Harvard funded episcopalian hospital (that is four hours away by bus for our patients).  Besides these hospitals, we shudder each time we have to refer a patient for hospital care.  Here are some examples from patients of mine.

In October I saw a woman who had been bleeding for more than one year straight.  It was like she stepped out of the biblical story where the woman with the "issue of blood" came and touched Jesus' robe.  Only I couldn't offer her Jesus' robe.  I did pray for her, and sent her to a hospital for treatment.  She had a hematocrit of 7 (normal is 36 and anyone with a count under 10 should probably not be alive... definitely should not be standing in my exam room having a conversation with me).  All this woman needed was several blood transfusions and a hysterectomy.  I sent her to the hospital, and the next time I saw her was two months later.  She had a hematocrit of 13 (still very dangerously low), and had a tissue sample in a cup in her hands.  She said the hospital had given her one unit of blood, made her lay in bed for weeks, and then taken a biopsy and sent her on her way to go get it analyzed and bring back the results (a process which could take weeks in Haiti).  She was still actively bleeding.  I gave her more iron, sent her on her way to go get the biopsy analyzed, and tried not to bang my head against the wall.

Another patient of mine was a young man whose wife brought him in.  He could barely stand up and was complaining of a huge headache.  I examined him and found neurologic deficits.  Jim came and looked at him and saw a cranial nerve palsy.  We sent him to Ryan to have his eyes examined and Ryan found cranial nerve problems as well.  All this led us to believe he had a mass or bleed in his head.  He needed a CT scan right away.  Sandy gave him the money to go get one done, and he came back the next day with the results.  There was a large amount of blood pooling in his brain.  He had had an aneurysm that burst, most likely.  He needed immediate surgery.  We called a neurologist, who told us to send him and his wife (they were both very pleasant people and appreciative of everything we did for them) to the hospital.  The neurologist said he would meet them there.  Perhaps he did, but if he did meet them there, he did nothing during his visit to help them.  The man died that night.  His distraught wife came to cry on Sandy's shoulder the next day.  Perhaps this man would have died in the States as well, but at least an attempt would have been made to save his life.  In Haiti, he was just left to die in his hospital bed.

  Perhaps you all remember me telling the story of the pregnant woman in Seguin who gave birth to twins and then started to hemorrhage.  It was 10 at night.  I had no pitocin.  I needed to get her to a hospital.  She bled all night long in my truck as I went from one hospital to the next looking for help.  Four hospitals and 8 hours later, I finally found help for her.  That is the state of hospitals in Haiti.  Why am I telling these depressing stories, and why do we have a Hospital Fund, if this is what the patients get?  Well, many times patients do get the help they need... it's just not as fast or as neat as we are used to in America.  Patients do need CT scans and surgeries to remove cancer or repair ruptured bowels or broken bones, and the Hospital Fund helps make that happen.  It's just frustrating for us to send our patients out, knowing that they won't get timely care, but praying that they will get the care they need before it's too late.  Please pray with us for our very sick patients.  Pray that they will receive mercy at the hospitals that they are sent to, and prompt treatment.  Pray that we will have wisdom to choose the right hospital for each different case.

Now for the personal side to these stories.  I've been thinking a lot about hospitals in haiti, because I may need to use one this year.  It turns out that the honeymoon that Ryan and I took in the Dominican was not only relaxing and wonderful, but also reproductive.  We got pregnant!  I'm due in early July.  It would be easiest for us to stay in Haiti to have the baby, but knowing all that I know about hospitals in Haiti, we have decided to try to come stateside for the birth.  We won't be moving permanently back to the States.  We'll still live and work in Haiti after the baby is born, but we are currently planning on coming to Minneapolis in June (or May) to prepare for the birth of the wee-one.  Please pray for us as we decide when the best time for our trip home would be.  Timing is everything, and only God knows when this little one is coming.

   Happy New Year!

CHRISTIANVILLE

I've been waiting for awhile to do a blog on Christianville because I was hoping to have some pictures to include with the write-up. But my camera broke and so I decided to write this anyway. I'm sure you all know that I've been working in a place called Christianville full-time since June. There is a clinic on the Christianville property that is run by Haiti Health Ministries. The staff includes two haitian doctors, two haitian nurses, a haitian pharmacy worker, two haitian laboratory techs, and three other haitians on support staff. There are also two american nurses, an american administrator, an american doctor, and me! If it sounds like more people than I used to work with, IT IS, and I'm excited about it. It is so great to not have to do every job myself, but instead to stick to what I'm good at. Which is seeing patients. Together we see about 120 people every day. We are capable of providing many services to our patients which other clinics can't offer, including x-ray, ultrasound, and lab tests. Dr. Jim and his wife Sandy have worked hard to equip the clinic with every item necessary to provide the highest quality medical care possible for our haitian patients.
One thing that I love about the work in Christianville is that we all work together to share the gospel with our patients. Leading people to the Lord and plugging them in to the local churches for growth is our goal. Each morning one of the staff, whether haitian or american, preaches the gospel to our patients who wait in a covered porch in the courtyard to be seen. Our patients are presented with an invitation to accept the gift of Christ's saving grace each morning. We all take turns preaching the daily devotion. If there are patients who are interested in receiving the Lord as Savior, Sandy prays individually with them while we begin to see patients. Then they are provided with discipleship materials and encouraged to attend a Bible-believing church near their home. While in the exam rooms, Jim and I pray with patients as the opportunity arises.
My favorite part of working at Christianville is the team aspect. I missed that and longed for it while I was in Seguin. Here is a patient story that demonstrates the way we like to work as a team in the clinic, while keeping our main focus to share the love of the Lord: A man walked into my office with a very large belly and yellow eyes. He was only in his early fifties, and he did not know the Lord. After I gave him a physical exam and Stacey gave him a chest x-ray and Jim gave him an abdominal ultrasound, we diagnosed him with liver cancer that had spread to his lungs. I talked to him about his spiritual condition and I gave him the bad news about his physical condition. He admitted that he did not know the Lord and was not ready to meet his Maker. I laid him on an exam table to remove some fluid from his abdomen to make him more comfortable. While the fluid was being drained, I called Sandy into the room to continue talking to him about the gospel while I went next door to see more patients. He accepted the Lord while Sandy prayed for him. He came into the clinic a few more times for follow up visits, and I encouraged him to read the Bible and go to church if he physically could. Then we didn't see him anymore. I'm sure he passed away, and I'm hopeful that we will see him one day in heaven, whole and healthy and joyful.
Thank you for all your prayers and all your support. Haiti is currently being hit by a category 1 hurricane. I'm in the States to prepare for my upcoming wedding, so I'm not sure how much damage is being done by the hurricane. Please pray for those who have dwellings that are less than adequate to hold up during this storm.

Jabez

JB

If only I could kiss your lips and breathe life into you, like that first day we met.

May 5, 2005

But it wasn’t me who gave you the breath of life that day, was it? God ordained that day for you to live. His Spirit flowed into you, and you opened your eyes and gasped and cried.

If only we could have kissed your lips and breathed life back into you, that day you died.

June 17, 2008

But it wasn’t us who had the power to save you, was it? God ordained that day for you to die. His Spirit called yours home, and you closed your eyes, and we gasped and cried.

The day you were born and the day you died… those days stand out in our memories. But the days in between, those are the ones that really count; the days that you lived, and laughed and made us love you, and changed us all.

The News

Sometimes it seems I have to work hard to come up with things to write on this blog. Life can get in a rut and not change for awhile, which makes coming up with new blog material a challenge. This, however, is not one of those times. I actually have had so much change happening in the last few weeks, that I’m not sure where to start. So, I’ll start with the part that all of you know already. I have been planning on leaving Seguin and moving to Christianville, Haiti for the past several months, and two weeks ago I made that transition final. I had family and friends here to help me move out of Seguin, which made the move easier. It was still a heart-breaking thing for me. It’s weird that a heart can hurt, and yet be at peace at the same time. But that is what I felt. Extreme sadness, and extreme peace. I know leaving was the right thing to do, and that now was the right time to do it. My neighbors cried and we hugged and had our moments of sharing tears and old memories. Even now as I type, I don’t like to think about the look on their faces as we said goodbye, because it makes me so sad. But I know it was the correct thing to do, and that God’s direction and guidance was in it. I know, too, that there must have been a lot of people praying for me during those last few days, because I could feel the powerful peace that only God can give. Thank you to all of you who remembered me and the people of Seguin this past month, and prayed for us as we separated. I know I won’t ever forget them, and still plan on helping them whenever and however I can.

So, now for the other change in my life. This change also had an effect on my heart, but it was a little different than the leaving-Seguin-effect. I say a little different, because instead of breaking my heart, it filled it to overflowing with joy. And underneath that, I could feel the same peace that I felt as I left Seguin. The peace that only comes from being in the will of God. Last Saturday, under a waterfall in Jacmel, I got engaged to a man named Ryan Price. I have known him since October of 2007, when I first visited Christianville. He is an optometrist from Alabama who moved here right after he graduated and has been living and working full-time here in Christianville since September. He heard God call him, and he followed. And I’m so glad he did. We have been dating since March, and plan on getting married in October of this year. The details of the actual wedding day are still fuzzy, but as soon as we know more, we’ll let you all know! When Ryan asked me to marry him, we were at a place called Basin Bleu with a bunch of our friends. So there was an audience there to witness the engagement and take pictures of it. Here are some of the photos from that day.

Food Riots

Several people have emailed me, asking how the food riots have affected me and Seguin, so I thought I should blog about it. Last week there were some riots here. Lots, actually. My mom was visiting me, and we were staying at a hotel north of Port for the weekend. On Monday, when we checked out of the hotel, we heard rumblings that there might be riots starting up, so we asked around before we headed into Port to buy meds. The people we asked said that everything in Port was quiet and good, so we went. And they were right... everything in Port was quiet and just like normal. We got all our med shopping done, and then it was time to leave Port and head to Christianville for the night. That's when things got interesting. When we got to Carrefour (the first big suburb outside of Port... built on a garbage dump and always a hot spot for riots), we noticed that no cars or trucks were moving along the road. There were several big trucks parked on the side of the road, waiting. I figured they were waiting for five o clock to roll around, because that's generally when the rioters get hungry and go home for the night. So we pulled off to the side and waited with them. At around 4 or 4:30, a police car loaded with officers with big guns pulled onto the road ahead of us, and all the big trucks that had been waiting revved up their engines and followed the police. So did several other cars and trucks. So, we decided to join the caravan, thinking there's safety in numbers (and big guns). We got about a mile down the road, and arrived at our first road block. There were many, many drunk, hostile-looking men standing in a line across the road, slowing the progress of our caravan. While we were watching these angry men, a rock flew out of nowhere and hit my truck, about six inches below the window on the passenger's side, where my mom was sitting. It made us both jump, but did no other damage. The men in the road let us through with just a few angry shouts and hands hitting our car. Then we just followed all the other drivers who had made it through the blockade. The cops with their guns stopped driving after awhile and turned back, leaving us on our own. Thankfully, though, we didn't encounter any more active blockades. There was plenty of evidence of previous ones, however. Every couple of miles we drove through areas with black scars on the road from tires that had burned there, and huge amounts of shattered glass. In some places, people were out in the road with brooms, sweeping up the glass as non-chalantly as if it were leaves in fall.
When we arrived in Christianville, we decided that we would spend the night, and then leave for Seguin very early the next morning, before the rioters got going. That plan was thwarted, though. I had a flat tire from all the glass in the road, and in the time it took me to fix it, the rioters got started and blocked our way out. The next day, we attempted to go to Seguin again, but had the same luck. Looking back, I know it was God's protection that kept us from travelling on those days. On Saturday the riots ended, my mom flew home, and then on Monday I drove back to Seguin. I saw evidence of last week's road blocks every couple of miles, even along the mountain roads. When Aristid was ousted, which was the last time road blocks were put up, they didn't make it to the mountains.... it was isolated to the cities and major roads. I guess this time it is different, since it is about food costs, and the mountain poor people are hit hardest by that. Unfortunately, it's not usually the hungriest that are out in the streets rioting, but instead the young, bored and unemployed.
Seguin was affected by the riots in a few ways. A large truck carrying rice and other provisions was looted on its way up the mountain. Many women here in seguin had their goods stolen, and are now in worse shape than before. There were also rumors that one of our local christian youth were involved in the looting, which made me so sad to hear.
So, now that the prime minister is gone and the price of rice is supposedly going to be lower, the people are somewhat appeased, and the riots have stopped. Please pray for peace here.

Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place. You will protect me from trouble, and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Announcing Changes

This is a very sad letter for me to write, but also an exciting one. As most of you know, I’ve been working in Seguin for the past six years. The majority of that time I have spent alone on the mountain, struggling through the daily demands of meeting the medical and spiritual needs of very poor people over the entire mountain range. I love helping the poor and destitute, and can’t imagine spending my life any other way. However, I’ve come to learn over the past few years that serving in a solitary setting, without a team of co-workers on site to help bear the burdens is too much for one person (this person, at any rate) to endure for extended periods of time. I’ve seen warning signs of “burn out” become more frequent over the past few months, and this year I began to ask God to show me what He would have me do and where He would have me serve. I asked Him to give me a team of people to work with, so I wouldn’t have to be alone. The more that I prayed and sought counsel, the more I began to realize that it was time to move on to another area of ministry.

About this same time, I received an invitation from friends of mine (Jim and Sandy Wilkins) who work in Christianville, Haiti. They emailed me and told me of their need for another American medical practitioner to come work with them in their busy clinic. I decided to visit their clinic and work there for two weeks, to test the waters and see if perhaps this was where God was next leading me. My two weeks in Christianville were very exciting and seemed to be a great fit. After more prayer and discussions with my pastor and family and friends, I decided that a move to Christianville was the answer to my prayers. Christianville is a community about one hour west of Port au Prince. Jim and Sandy run a non-profit organization called Haiti Health Ministries, and they are in charge of a very busy clinic in Christianville. Jim is a doctor, and Sandy is a nurse administrator. There are also three other American missionaries on or near the compound. Three Haitian doctors also work at the clinic. Jim, Sandy, and other workers at the clinic take turns preaching the gospel to the patients every morning and have seen many people come to Christ over the past couple years. I will be working in the clinic, seeing patients and doing procedures, much like I was doing on the mountain. I will hopefully be able to work with and train neighborhood midwives, and will also be able to teach health education to the hundreds of children who attend school in Christianville. There are opportunities and housing at Christianville for teams to visit, and opportunities for interns to come and spend time with me in the clinic as well. If you have any questions or concerns, you could email me, or go to the Haiti Health Ministries website at www.haitihealthministries.org

Now, for the question that I know is on everyone’s mind…. What about Seguin? My biggest fear in moving to another area of Haiti was that my patients in Seguin would be neglected after I left. During a meeting that I attended with Mac Burberry and Roro Eustache, two leaders of Haitian Christian Outreach, I expressed my desire to move to another location, and my desire to see the clinic in Seguin continue to prosper and be used by God to reach the poor and lost. Mac and Roro were very supportive of me, and very understanding. They expressed that they are committed to the work in Seguin, and plan on doing everything possible to keep the clinic in Seguin running. We would love to see Margarethe continue to work there, and Roro has already begun looking for a Haitian doctor to come up and help Margarethe see patients several days each week. Both Mac and I would like to make it clear that in no way am I leaving Seguin because of any disagreements with Haitian Christian Outreach. It is a very amicable parting, and Mac, Roro and I all plan on helping each other any way we can to see the gospel preached in Haiti. If you have any questions for Mac or Haitian Christian Outreach, please email him at mac@haitianchristian.org. Haitian Christian Outreach will continue to buy formula for children in the mountains who have no mothers, so for those of you who are currently giving towards the Formula Fund, please consider transferring your donations to Haitian Christian outreach by June of 2008. HCO will also help to hospitalize patients who are in need, and will also continue to raise money for salaries for the clinic employees and medicines for the patients. That is to say, if you are now giving regularly to the people of Seguin, please don’t stop. Just change the name and destination of the check! Make the checks payable to Haitian Christian Outreach and send them to P.O. Box 1052, Mahomet, IL 61853

All of these changes are going to slowly begin in January of 2008. I am currently splitting my time between Seguin and Christianville, and by June of 2008 I plan to be full time in Christianville. My hope is that I will continue to visit Seguin often and maintain contact with my friends there. Please email me if you have any questions and concerns. And please remember to pray for the people of Seguin… they are worried about the changes.

Thank you all for your understanding, and for your love for the people of Seguin.