2nd day at the Clinic MOH, Haiti

Today again it was very hot. 95+ degrees. You sweat just standing in the shade. Today we saw about 100 patients. Many kids today that were dehydrated and malnourished. One I saw who was difficult to wake and flaccid. He was rehydrated with IV fluids and then he drank 8 onces of formula. It was great to see the little guy alert.

Grant is having an opportunity to get to some other work while we are here.

John and I did triage with an RN from Missouri. Then we moved to the med room and continued to organize new stock.

Fiona worked in the E/R room with Doctor Keely and was in her element. They treated lots of kinds and did ultrasound on a number of pregnant women.

Shane is doing his magic fixing anything with a motor. Today he fixed an ATV and now has his own wheels to zip around on.

Kim had a great day starting at the orphanage with the babies and then came up to the clinic to pray and massage some patients. She had a chance to pray and work with the same lady, Naleze, that she met yesterday.

The food has been great down here and dinners have been traditionally Haitian. Rice, potatoes, chicken, goat, and salads. Very good and the staff are awesome.

Yesterday we heard a story about one staff member, he met us at the airport. When the earthquake hit he was studying at a bible school with about 50 students. The building collapsed. As they tried to get out a friend pushed him to avoid a collapsing wall. His friend landed on top of him. Both were crushed under the wall. As the lay in under the collapsed wall they were singing worship songs. It started with many voices and as the hours passed less and less were singing. His friend who tried to save him did laying on top of him. He was finally pulled out from under the rumble. Only 11 of his class survived. He works for MOH and came to the clinic for his injuries. He was mentally a complete wreck for days and many prayed for him. He has completely recovered and now knows that he was saved for a purpose here on earth. He now is the worship leader at the MOH church and has a passion for doing whatever God would ask him to do.

There are many stories like this and we are starting to hear more of them. We will try to share as we go.

Tomorrow we are back in the clinic and then we will do other things on the week-end as the clinic is closed.

Robert enjoy the provincials. Go Grizzlies Go! Alanna, I hope you have a great time at Courtney's. Love you both. Daddy. XOXO.

Great First Day

Hello Robert, Alanna and friends. God is so amazing how He turns disaster and grief into something good. We are learning so much about Mission of Hope. Since the earthquake this place is being blessed with abundance of supplies, food, medical equipment, medication and so on. Funds to increase there building of housing 100 more guest , building rooms for the orphanage and they are building a sport pad that will be used for basketball and the first in Haiti roller hockey. The medical clinic is one of the best clinics for people from Port au Prince and in the other direction, people come hours away because there is nothing else. They line up every morning at the locked gate and they determine the number of patients they can take by the ratio of medical staff they have. They do hire haitian nurses and doctors, but they say it is not easy to find medical staff. They would like to hire more so this is something we can be praying for. There mission statement is all about education for the young. They have 1,300 students at the school. They are educating and feeding them. They have come to the understanding that the children need to have good nutrition to learn well. The grades are from kindergarden to grade 12. They have a state test they write at the end of high school. The average pass in Haiti is 15%. At mission of hope there are getting a 90% pass. They are expanding the school. So that they will have 1,300 in the morning and 1,300 in the afternoon. This is just a little insight on their heart here to educate the children so that they will become leaders and train them in the trades to make a better life here in Haiti. Their next step is to build a technical school for the trades. I had an amazing day. I was given the privelege and opportunity to massage patients in the wound care area. I massaged them and prayed with them and I am believing for Gods mercy and love to heal them. I made some special friends today and I will be seeing them each day at the wound care area. We took Nalize a woman home in the ambulance with Jim and John and I rode in the back with Nalize and her sister Jenize. It was a crazy journey to her home, all the back roads through endless villages. It is so impoverished. We met her family, all her sisters and babies, mother and husband. They all live together in a few houses beside each other. I look forward to seeing her tomorrow. She was in motor cycle accident and broke her wrist and her leg which has a serious road rash and she is not able to walk without a walker. So I am helping with range of motion and walking. Well, time to go. Love you all and thank you so much for your prayers and support. Good night Robert and Alanna, God bless, sweet dreams to all. Kim

First full day in Medical Clinic at MOH

Bonjour, our first full day we were working in the medical clinic and Shane was busy fixing a generator and the Haiti 1 ambulance. We triaged and treated about 80 patients today. The set up and Haitian doctors and staff are great. The interpretors we worked with are all very good and we had fun bantering back and forth with them.

John set up and in triage and did initial vitals on most of the patients. Fiona and Jim triaged the patients and then sent them into the clinic area and E/R. Kim worked in the clinic massaging patients and doing some physio. She ahd opportunity to pray with patients as well.

Shane has been having a ball working on the motorized toys down here already. Last night John and Shane rebuilt a fan and today Shane fixed a large generator and in doing service work on the ambulance.
Were about to have dinner. more to come. Jim

Safely in Haiti at Mission of Hope

Hi everyone, after a long day flying from Toronto to Montreal and then direct to Haiti we have arrived. Grant and Sandy picked us up at the Airport and it was a bit of a zoo. We had help bringing the bags to the van and then we were off through Port au Prince to get to the mission site. MOH is approximately 25 km from the city. As we drove through you could see some of the damage that was done. We went around the city and Grant said that most of the devastation was in the city centre. I am sure we will see more of this as the week goes on. The roads are terrible and so it is a slow ride out of the city. It is a very busy and populated city with over 80% unemployment before the earthquake. There are no building standards and so many places collapsed due to poor quality construction and poor cement.

A large team of 57 will be leaving tomorrow and that will leave just a small team of us to work at the clinic. It should be a very busy week seeing about 100 patients per day and the odd emergency from the community at night. More about this tomorrow.

It is very hot here and we will need to adjust. It was approximately 30 celcius today. Many people doing incredible work. We stopped in at the University of Miami Hospital today near Port au Prince. Very well laid out and they have probably 150 patients.

Jim

Hi everyone, the flight and the entire trip to the mission house could not have gone smoother!!!!
All the stories that we have heard are not what I experienced so far. The people are lovely and it reminds me much like the other trips we have been on. Although we are just beginning to hear the stories of the devastation of people who have lost many family members or all their family. When we toured the hospital today we saw some serious burns and wounds - some very sick and injured people. My heart went out to them. We are doing well. It is great to be with Grant and Sandy. We will add photos of what we saw today on tomorrows blog. We love you all and thank you for your prayers. Sweet dreams R&A.......love Kim

Getting ready to go to Mission of Hope in Haiti

Welcome to our Blog. This will hopefully give you the reader an opportunity to follow us as we try to provide assistance to the Haitian people. We will try to Blog every other day and provide photos and our experience as it unfolds. I hope you find it insightful.

Kim and I have been interested in going to Haiti every since friends, Grant and Sandy Rumford and their four kids, decided to go to Haiti as long term missionaries. Grant works with Jim as a Halton Advanced Care Paramedic and took a leave of absence last September and now Grant, Sandy and their kids have lived through the earthquake. Grant has been managing the medical clinic on the Haiti Mission of Hope site. Many medical teams have been down already. In the wake of the Earthquake their has been incredible need from the Haitian people for an international response, rescue and ongoing medical care.

Kim and I are busy packing. We are part of a large 15 person medical team that is going down to assist in the clinic, on the ambulance, in the orpahnage and school that are all on the MOH site. Many people have donated items that we will be taking down with us. Each person on the team has been gathering items of medical need to take down. We will each be taking down two hockey bags full of supplies. Our personal items will all fit in one carry on and a back pack.

Well time to get back to packing and some time with Robert and Alanna.