Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Update

We learned a bit more about the accident yesterday out on Teleco Hill. The driver decided to shut off his engine and coast down the long concrete slope--so that not only did he have no brakes, he was free-coasting with no brakes! No one knows What He Was Thinking, as he is one of the dead. The hospital here is still full--some not-too-ill patients were sent home to make room for accident victims yesterday. Tomorrow, Rich has to make another accident-related run. Doctors here suspect one lady has a neck fracture, so they are inventing a back board for her, and Rich will take her to Gonaives, where her relatives will meet and take her on to a hospital in Port au Prince, where she can get the scans and care she needs. Original intentions were to take her to Jean Rabel for x-rays, but Trois Riviere is high, and no one can cross to Port de Paix, so all the accident victims with broken bones are still waiting at Jean Rabel until they can be transferred. Nothing is easy in this country.

In other hospital news, the little burned girl died last night. Her family is mourning, but she was suffering so much, it's impossible not to be glad she is home with Jesus.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Hard Day

There are no photos for today. You wouldn't want to see them anyway.

We got up early this morning--the crew was supposed to arrive at 6:00 a.m. to start pouring the floor in the main bay of the shop. We fed the guys, Rich got them started...........at 8 o'clock, the first ambulance call came, a possible stroke victim out at Clenette. The ambulance had a low tire, so he changed that and headed out. Just as he got back from that run, we got word that there had been a bad accident out on Teleco Hill (on the road to Mole St. Nicholas, for those of you've been here), so Rich was off again, this time with Dr. Gilles and Dr. Felix. They arrived at a scene of complete chaos--people milling about, wailing; blood in pools on the ground; victims lying every-which-way. Town folks had gotten there ahead of the ambulance, and were loading injured people on motorcycles or pickups, dragging them off any old way. The doctors began triage, and they were soon on the way to the hospital at Jean Rabel with a girl who needed immediate surgery to close a hole (about the size of a tennis ball, Rich says) in her side. After leaving her at the hospital in Jean Rabel, Rich came back over halfway, met another vehicle, and took two more people, one with a broken collar-bone; and the other with an injured/broken hip back over to Jean Rabel. He got home at around 4:00 this afternoon.

Vanise, one of our nurses, was on the pickup that rolled (no brakes, 20 to 25 people on the back). She wasn't badly hurt, but injured her back helping to lift the pickup off some other poor folks. Another nurse, Kerda, was on a motorcycle, and either saw the accident, or came on it right after it happened. She was rather badly rattled, but helped willingly all day. We were very impressed with her dedication.

Midway through the afternoon, Elimeme, senior guard at the hospital, came to me and said, You know, they've been doing wound care all day, and there's no one to clean up down there. It's a mess." Upon questioning, I found out that both of our cleaning ladies had lost family members in the accident, and had gone home to be with family......he had found someone who could help out, but needed to know if we could pay her a bit.=) Not sure how schedules will be at the hospital for the foreseeable future, but we'll "degage" (make do). The hospital is very full; we already had two burn victims--father and child...........

Whew, enough for the day...........pray for Haiti.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Shop Photos

These photos of the new shop were taken about four weeks ago. It's looking much more finished now; unfortunately our new camera went on the fritz--we were quite unhappy about that, but "se lavi". In the photo above, you can see the loft storage area above the side rooms.

The north end and a partial front view.

The back side of the shop--the corner room with the window openings will be Astrel's new "house". He can hardly wait to move in!


Hi Folks!

Here's Tyler having fun welding rafters for the new shop roof.

Jean, this one is for you. These are the triplets you delivered two years ago.

And this is ten-month-old Oze (Hosea). Oze's mama, Wilna, works for us at the widow's home. Oze is hilarious entertainment for the widows, and a full-time job for his family!