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.

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.

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!

Of Babies and Buildings

"Our baby" went home two weeks ago, weighing 5 lbs., 2 oz. and we hear she's continuing to do well. The first photo shows her with her mama just before mama hopped on the motorcycle to take the baby home--not the way we'd take a preemie home, but she survived it.

Here are some photos of the new garage/workshop in its current state--and these are truly current photos, taken only a couple hours ago, as the crew was pouring the roof on the south wing. This is the last roof pour; a steel A-frame roof with now go on the whole building, and these lower roofs will be wonderful storage lofts.

Baby Liz

Here are a couple of photos of Baby Liz, the wee person who is in residence at our house right now. We expect to have her for another 10-14 days, or until she weighs 5 lbs. She's at 4 lb., 6 oz. right now.

Construction Progress

The new mission garage/shop/storage/new living quarters for Astrel is taking shape nicely. It's going to be a very useful and practical place. It will have a room for Astrel (long-term guard and general go-to guy for the mission) in the left rear corner. In the front left corner will be a storage room for large items. The center space is 16'x28', plenty of room to park and work on any of the mission vehicles. The right side will have a storage room with shelves in the rear, and a workshop area with workbenches at the front of the building. There will be a concrete pad out front for welding and other projects.

Rich has also been taking "tet sab" (the sifted-out gravel from the cement work, and using it to clean up and beautify around the hospital. Then someday--when it rains a lot again--he wants to wash the outside of the hospital. These projects take awhile since he does them inbetween all his other jobs.

The gang

We had a fantastic time at home with this goofy gang! Love you guys!

Photos of the new mission garage/shop under construction next time I'm able to post--hopefully on Monday.

HEY FOLKS!

This is just a quick note to let you all know we're still alive, and actually, doing quite well. As some of you know, we haven't had internet service at the hospital since we got back from the states. We hear that service will be restored at some point, so we're exercising our patience, and thank you for exercising yours, too!

God bless you all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hi--Yes, we do have a camera again, and yes, the weather is just a bit different here. We are having a great time with family and friends, but are just about ready for some warm weather again.

You'll be seeing more photos from us again soon--I've been on vacation from my blog, too!

Hope you're having a great Christmas!

Pre-surgery Weekend

Everyone seemed to be everywhere over the weekend. Here you see Steve and John Benson installing the air conditioner the team brought down with them.................after the other one we already had wouldn't cool at cool............

Rich--working on wiring the big lights.

Mike, Dr. Tom, and Patty putting together a light.

John---installing one of the surgery lights.

More Photos from Surgery Week in Bombard

Astrel and Tyler washed the ambulance in preparation for a busy week.

Rich was the guinea pig to see if Mike's monitor's were all working properly Monday morning.

Surgery Team!

This was taken Monday morning while last minute preparations were still going on. Observe the ladder still straddling the surgery table.

I put these photos on in the wrong order (maybe it's been too long since I've done it?), but I'm not going to try to redo lest I lose the post altogether. So.............here's a post-surgery patient in the ambulance ready to go home.

Here's Dr. Tom, Lisa and Karen just as they were finishing up with a hernia patient. I'll try to post some photos of the team where you can see their faces, too.

Ready for surgery. Isn't it amazing? We thank God Who provided, and his faithful servants who worked so hard to make all this possible.

Trip to Port de Paix

I went with Rich yesterday on an ambulance run to take a lady to Port de Paix for surgery. We got her to the river just fine, but they had to cross the river on a little boat, then get another vehicle on the other side. The river is still high, swift, and muddy.
As we neared the river, we saw a lot of damage to banana plantations. Many plants were washed out or broken, and there were a lot of these sand bars. It reminded us of snow drifts back home.
More flood damage. We did not see many damaged homes.

Happenings

Still working hard to finish the surgery room before the medical team comes. We installed the lower cabinet doors today, and Rich started painting the upper ones.
Here's Rich, yesterday, checking things out on the truck, after hauling a load of food up from Mole.

Photos from Bombardopolis

Wow, I got to upload photos two days in a row! Here Rich is painting in the hallway outside the delivery room. He also painted the delivery room, and refurbished one of the delivery tables.
This photo is for my mother-in-law, who has been asking to see a photo of the outside of our house. Here you go, Mom! We do plan to paint it---someday.
We spent last Saturday down at Mole, meeting four MAF flights. We were receiving relief bundles of food for Samaritan's Purse, and BHM. Since roads and bridges are out, getting food to the Northwest is a real challenge.
Ty was our "in the truck" man all day.

Hurricane Damage in Mole St. Nicolas

Hi folks--Here are a couple of photos for you. I've been trying and trying to post, but either can't get on blogger at all, or get kicked off as soon as I try to publish. These photos show the damage that was done along the coastline down in Mole. There were no injuries, just property damage, and folks there are longing for supplies and food to be shipped in, as is the case across the northwest Haiti.

Back In July..........

..................the Wilson family came to visit. I did not get any pictures of Doctors Scott and Dnyse working, but we have photos of the rest of the gang! The kids did a great job of painting this mural. Here are all artists.
And here's Betsy, measuring kids to see who qualifies for the malnutrition program.

Painting.........................

Here's Rich putting the first coat of paint on the future surgery room.
Betsy and Laurie are helping to refurbish the old hospital beds that have been deemed salvageable. Here, after sanding and scrubbing, they're giving them a coat of paint.

A little late, but...............

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TY!