Whew!

We were able to house 21 people. It has been so neat. People were everywhere and when it came to meal time, we had seven more. Service International came in with a team of four Dr's and four nurses to work at St Nicholaus Hospital; two orthopedic surgeons, one plastic surgeon, one anesthesiologist. Brian and Diana Moreno, friends and nurses from WV got in two days before the St Louis team to assess everything so they could give a report and the team could begin working immediately. On Wednesday, they hit the ground running. The list of everything they accomplished is quite extensive, it must be posted.

Rewired one operating room during surgery
40- E. R. Patients treated
1- laceration repair
1- pin removal
1- abcess repair
1- wound debrivment
2- cast removals
4- splints
1- fractured arm repair with plate
2- incision and drain
4- fractured bone set and cast
10- nerve blocks
12- spinal blocks
60- dressing changes
17- skin grafts
1- severed heal and sole repair
1- gunshot wound treatment
1- machette wound repair
3- amputations
150- patients
Prayed with ALL

Sunday distribution of personal hygiene kits to over 250 patients along with prayer for each one!

More surgery and treatment scheduled for Sunday.

If you notice there were 17 skin grafts, every one needed. When I walked through the hospital while dressings were being changed, all I could see is huge pieces of flesh missing on arms and legs from the quake. The only way they could possibly heal would be to graft skin. Dr Corbin, a retired plastic surgeon from St Louis area, (with a reputation of being the best, I'm told) did the grafting and people are healing because of his laying down his life to help the least of these. By the way, I've said more than once, 'if a plastic surgeon ever comes to Haiti, perhaps I'll get a facelift,' but it did not happen. :0)

The orthopedic men and anesthesiologist work together on a regular basis and it was apparent as they made rounds, each doing their part of looking, diagnosing and counseling with one another.

The nurses were Service International volunteers who, except for one, had been on other teams around the world. They were so kind.

The construction side of the team was awesome as well. Service International has rented a house on the street above us and they spent their time, fixing, securing, and sleeping. In their love for the Lord, one gentleman was assigned to me and was told to do anything I wanted in the mission house. Do you think I had fun? Every woman desires someone who has the skills, to do everything they want to make a house more convenient (especially when there was no kitchen originally). That's not to say that Gary hasn't done plenty, he has and I'm blessed, but those "little thing" or "bigger things" take time he doesn't have. I now sport more selves in the kitchen, a huge cabinet with a door, in a space that was unusable. Now the only problem is my inability to find things because they are so rearranged! Today, I will have time to plan where to put things and maybe label drawers so Nancy won't be lost trying to work when there are other groups.

Speaking of other groups, today we said goodbye (to the SI team) and this evening we will say hello. There is a group of four coming in from WI. Moreno's are still here and with five of us who live here all the time, we still have a house full. The Fearings will teach at El Shaddai and get to sight see a bit. They are excited, raised money for motorcycles. Touch Ministries now sports two brand new motor cycles. One Joe drives and he runs for the orphanage needs as directed by Al and Bev Carpenter; the other, Kevin drives and will keep at his home at the end of the day. It will be used for school needs. There is always running to do at school and it's always an emergency. A "moto" will get there in half the time it takes the truck to lumber off the hill and through town. The blessings of the Lord maketh rich and He adds no sorrow to it. Just for thought, I've confessed for years that this is a house of abundance. Not for Gary and I but so we can give to others. Truly, I've watched God bring abundance into this house. Our refrigerator is so full I can barely get the door closed. We didn't buy the food, it is left over from what SI brought in from the Dominican. Everyday now, Junior wants a turkey sandwich for breakfast.

Ed Fasnacht, has traveled literally hundreds of thousands of miles with teams for SI. He certainly knows how to organize and motivate the team to flow toward one direction. We learned a lot during his stay by observation and his counsel.

I know this is a long blog, hope you stayed with it because there is some more. We saw Richard, a former employee, who had the opportunity to go to medical school in Port au Prince. He told me the day of the quake, the professor gave them a ten minute break. They were all outside the building, the quake hit and they watched their school fall to the ground! Now, he's living in a tent, volunteering at a big hospital, and distraught to say the least. He told me about all the children wondering around without father or mother. They come to the hospital daily to get food. He also told me about a 15 year old girl, who is alone, no one to care for her because the rest of the family was killed. She has had to fight off rapists at night and she too, comes to the hospital for food each day, after she sweeps and mops the hospital floor. It's very hard to hear these stories and not do something. He asked if we'd take some of these young boys in the orphanage, but right now, we don't have the space. Richard is one of many whose hopes were crumbled in less than a minute on Jan. 12^th. His school is gone, it will not be rebuilt for many years. The future Dr's for this island is grim. Not to mention children, young women, teachers. Everyone who had anything now has nothing. It's overwhelming and the stories keep coming.