A trip to the hospital

This past week the clinic received a call from the local health department asking if we could transport a child to the hospital that is located about 45 minutes away. There is no ambulance service where we live, so the only "ambulance" available is the clinic truck. When we arrived at the health department, we realized the gravity of the situation. A little 4 year old girl had gotten into her grandmother's meds and had taken an unknown amount of Phenobarbital. By the time we arrived, she was unconscious. Now, because our truck is not an ambulance, we have no equipment...no oxygen, no monitor, nothing. I sat in the back of the truck watching this little girl forget to breathe and having to stimulate her so that she would remember. The only tool available to me in that truck was prayer and it was being used by not only myself, but the other two workers I was with. When we arrived at the hospital, our patient was put on oxygen and started on IV fluids. I stood back with the patient's mother and prayed. I told her mother to come see me when she was released from the hospital thinking that it would be a long time - since they were talking about sending her to the capital city of Tegucigalpa. On Friday, I received an amazing suprise at the clinic - the smiling face of a little girl who, a few days earlier, was forgetting to breathe. What an amzaing answer to prayer and what a reminder that with God all things are possible.

My friend Moises

When I was leaving for Honduras, I figured that I would get here and start my blog right away...even during the first few weeks, I thought of several things I wanted to post, but there was no internet available. SO...now that I've been here for almost 3 months, I have a lot to say, but I want to start with my friend Moises. I first met Moises during the first few weeks of my time here. He came in to the clinic with severe malaria. His mother brought him in after 15 days of fever because she did not have the money to pay for the clinic visit. She finally came in because Moises wasn't eating. Moises had a hemoglobin of 6 when he arrived. A normal hemoglobin for his age is 9.5 to 14. In the United States, Moises would be admitted to the hospital and would possibly have a blood transfusion. Here in Honduras, Moises received IV fluids and was started on malaria medication. He was then sent home with medication and instructions to have Moises drink whole milk (this is a luxury for some families here). Moises has been coming to the clinic every few weeks since this time. His hemoglobin is now at a healthy 12. Today I was talking with another child (I'll be talking about her soon as well) and Moises said to his mother..."Mom, she's taking my Cristina from me". He sat in the corner and pouted for awhile and by the time I took this picture, he was finally talking to me again. Kids are so precious....

Photo of washed out bridge

crisis in Honduras

I have been in Honduras for 3 weeks now working in a small clinic outside of Catacamas, Olancho. Last weekend the rain started and on Sunday we lost power. More importantly, however, the rain has been so strong that many people around Catacamas have lost their homes and many more are without food and water. We're in a time of crisis, but what has been so incredible has been the way that people have come together to help others. I have been staying with a family since I arrived until I can get things together to move into an apartment. On Monday, the bridge by our house went out and someone from the church came to the house to get us through another route in order to make sure we could make it to the clinic. We found out later, that this same person had lost part of his house that morning, but had left to help others. Please pray for those who have lost homes and businesses due to the rain and the power outage and that power will be restored here soon so that we can continue our work.
More posts to come when things start to get back to normal.