Bless Back Worldwide

We had an extremely busy week with a team from Bless Back Worldwide (Charlotte, NC).  This team of twenty-two included medical doctors, dentists, PAs and RNs, as well as non-medical folks.  Everyone worked together so well and truly blessed the people of Haïti.  While medical clinics were the main thrust of their time here, the teens and some of the others were involved in teaching sanitation lessons and playing with the students in our schools.  Thursday evening was “movie night” for the kids in the neighborhood near the Thozin campus.  The place was FULL of little ones, bubbles, dancing, snuggles and laughing.

We had several challenging medical situations that presented this week.  Our 4 year old friend, Totou, continued coming to clinic for burn care.  his entire forearm was badly burned in a pot of boiling rice over a week ago.  His mom brought him to the clinic every day.  Angela, Dr. Prasit and Liz Cambo cared for him daily.  I’m happy to say that his skin pigmentation has begun to return on his arm.  Praise God!  His battle is not over, but he’s on a good path to full recovery.

A young girl had a piece of a matchstick stuck in her ear for over a year!  The team’s doctors were able to remove it.

The team shared the following praise report: “On Tuesday night we got an emergency call that a baby needed our doctors help. The 2 month old baby girl was brought to the beach property where we are staying and our doctors saw her immediately. They diagnosed her with Spina Bifida and said she needed surgery ASAP. They wrapped her back in gauze so she could make the long drive to the hospital to hopefully get in to see someone. Before she left, all 23+ of us prayed for her and for a miracle. We found out last night she got into a hospital and it just so happens that an American neurosurgeon will be in Haiti in a couple days and our sweet baby girl will have the surgery she needs this Friday! God is SO good!”

Ledan, a man from les Cayes who used to serve on the police force here in Grand-Goâve called Pastor Lex Wednesday.  He had broken his leg a while back, was treated, but was now experiencing a lot of pain.  He asked  Lex’s advice where he should go to resolve the problem, as he felt he had not received proper care.  Lex told him where to go to get a free xray done and invited him to come to see the Bless Back Worldwide doctors with his xray.

The doctors looked at the xray and realized that not only was his leg not set, but the plate the previous doctor had implanted had literally broken in 2.  The “cast” on his leg was very flimsy (they were able to cut it off with scissors!) and only reached above the break by an inch or so, so the pressure on the break was certainly too much for it to bear.  The team was able to reset the leg, using HUMAN traction (see the picture above!), and recast the entire leg.  Ledan called when he returned home and told us how much better his leg feels and he knows it’s a different ball of wax now.  Lex told him to make sure he stays off of it.

Friday the team had the opportunity to bless the people in the village of Ti Paradi with a mobile clinic and fun activities for the kids.

In five days this team saw 136 dental patients (which included 233 extractions) and 873 medical patients!!!  What did they have to say about it?  “We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to Bless Back the people of Haiti!”

Here are some more pictures of the many special moments experienced while they were here…

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Church

The Inter-Youth Choir from the Missionary Church of Port-au-Prince visited our church in Thozin this mornning.  The church really appreciated their ministry and they enjoyed a great message and time of worship with us.  

After church, we invited the church down to the mission compound to witness Marcy’s baptism.  It was a special time.  It reminded me so much of the “family picnic and baptism” our home church always held in the summertime.