Saturday, November 19, 2011

Some Reflections on Yesterday as We Leave

Yesterday started off with a lot of drama as we were eating breakfast. Our Haitian-American RN friend Marise ran through the dining area saying, "Someone is bleeding! Someone is bleeding!" So RN Deb Knight popped up to go down to the temporary tent clinic we worked out of on the property site. In Haiti, it's hard to know when to "react" to a "crisis" vs. when a situation is simply another difficult but fairly "normative" in Haiti. Frank and I, followed Deb who came back up to the GH looking for supplies. Some of our clinicians (specifically our RNs) prepared to work as well. Well learning that a boy outside the Guest House had been hit by a tap-tap and seeing that some of the Haitians seemed to be truly shaken, I came and grabbed Dr. Al Halls who grabbed a pair of gloves. By the time we got down to the site, the boy was being rushed to the local hospital. It turns out he has 4 teeth knocked out and some lacerations and later came to our clinic for some meds as well as liquid food as eating seemed to be a difficulty for him. However, it looked like he was going to be OK- I took a picture of the boy and posted it yesterday.

Well, we got going in our makeshift tent clinic only to see right off the bat a 22-day-old baby who was struggling with breathing. Dr. Al gave her a nebulizer treatment but she really needed to get to the local hospital so he sent her. We are still waiting to hear what happened to the baby. My wife Tanya and Christine Schuele who were caring for this child were amazing. I wear big sunglasses in Haiti because: 1) it's bright I the Caribbean sun but also because 2) I will sometimes have moments I can't hold it together, so prefer crying under the cover of shade; this was one of those moments.  In fact, there are many pictures I choose not to post because they are far too sacred in my mind; this was one of the those  situations.  I choose to have this baby captured in my heart, rather than on film. I chose to cry out to God rather than point and click in that holy moment.

But then the day seemed to "smooth out" out a bit and we ended up seeing well over 200 patients, our "biggest" day by far. It was a good day. In the evening we debriefed and shared. Many thoughts were shared, mainly how amazing the Haitian people are, their thankfulness, patience and kindness. And then a lot of sharing went on regarding the amazing way in which our team worked together, loving one another well and collaborating to care for people. Dr. Halls said, "this week reminds me of why I got into medicine in the first place." Dr. Keith Miller shared as to how this was a new but amazing experience for him, to directly care for such people. I shared how much I admired each team member for their work and contribution. Gene Summerlin shared from Isaiah 53 about how Jesus himself was "rejected and despised by men" and then I was able to share from the end of Revelation about the healing of the nations is promised us and the Haitians. Also, opportunities to partner with GCA and future follow-up meetings upon returning from Haiti were talked about as absolutely crucial, that in some ways the post-trip meetings are even more important than the pre-trip meetings.

Well, so we're here at the PaP airport waiting to go home. I'm looking forward to seeing my kids but I have to say, what an amazing group and what an amazing time.

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!

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