Haiti Day #1

Our first morning in Haiti began at 5:45 am as the beeping of the alarm clock awoke me and my teammates. We had been asked to sign up the night before for assignments that we would like to be placed on. There were several options, and this was the crazy part. Although crowds seemed well controlled and there was no rioting that we witnessed, the place was chaos. There were literally clinics and hospitals set up in any standing building in less than sanitary conditions. I have never seen anything like it. So our options were as follows:

1) The Police Station-where there was a general clinic set up and they also had the capability of doing minor surgeries with minimal anesthesia. The OR table was the police cheif's desk!

2) The University of Miami Hospital-located in a hangar at the airport, U of M set up 4 working operating rooms as well as an an entire wing of a hospital where pt's would go after surgery until they were discharged.

3) Mobile clinics-we take healthcare to the people in tent cities. With minimal meds, we would assess pt's, treat them if possible or take critical cases to the hospital.

4) Pediatric Postop clinic-this clinic had been set up in the chapel at the orphanage where we were staying, so those volunteering here wouldn't leave the base.

5) Commando Unit- some retired army soldiers had full protective gear and would take a few docs/nurses out into PAP to find critical patients that had not yet been identified and treated. If they found dead, they placed them in a body bag and took their bodies to the morgue.

We were told that the goal was to place everyone where they were skilled and would be most useful, but that they would also try to accommodate everyone's desires. I had signed up to go to the University of Miami, since I had circulated in the OR when I worked at the hospital, I thought I could be useful there.

At our morning team meeting, our assignments were announced. I was going to the University of Miami Hospital. Wait, what's that? Not enough people to stay and work at the pedi post op clinic? Nope, I'm staying home today folks. Now, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a little disappointed. (Are we seeing a theme here yet?) After a brief moment, I decided that if this is where the Lord wanted me to go, here I would stay and work faithfully.

And I must tell you that by the end of the day I was laughing with God. He knows our hearts so well. I had the grandest day! I spent the day getting accustomed to the routines of the day in the clnic- make sure the children are properly medicated, wound care for the amputees, pin care for the femur fractures, bandage changes for the kids who had lost fingers, and finally, play with the kids.

My giftings could not have been more suited for such a setting. I spent alot of time getting to know the kids and the families that first day. Hearing theirs stories, lost hopes and dreams and encouraging them that God has not forgotten them. In fact, He is very near. And then I spent alot of time playing with the kids, most of whom are bedridden due to their full spica casts and pins in their legs. Reggie was our translator for the clinic, a young 23 year old computer science guy. He was so gentle and loving, and when he was not needed translating, he would spend time playing with the kids. He was so sweet to watch. Balloons, puzzles, Candyland and Chutes and Ladders were a hit as well as coloring books and hot wheels. Little boys in Haiti call hot wheels "machines" so by the end of the day every little boy in that place was screaming, "Stephanie, machine me, machine me!" I also taught several of them how to use my stethoscope, which was a huge hit!

There is something special about children that can not be duplicated. Their resilience, joy, and innocence brings so much of God's Kingdom to this earth and the verse (Luke 18:16), "Let all of the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these." And I realize more and more that this is the posture I am to have before God. And I pray that my response to God would become more like it has on this trip, and less like it has been stateside. That I would experience disappointments with a small sting, and then quickly pick up and press forward with confidence to take hold of the plans that He has for me!