Update!

 

Hi you all! :) 


Meredith and I began wondering if our team does not have some magnetic draw on patients! On our last two rounds we had over twenty patients come in! There were times that we were trying to decide who and what is priority. And at times it was even a bit overwhelming. I will admit that my patience was stretched by some of the patients! Especially when nearly half of them put their buckets of waste in the outhouse and didn't cooperaterate very nicely when we were dumping and charting buckets. 


The one young lady I explained to twice what to do with her bucket when there is something in it, and she turns around and tells another lady to take her bucket to the exact place I reprimanded her for putting her bucket last time! Oh well, at least days like that make you feel your need of personal growth in your Christian life!  Overall it is enjoyable to be able to relate to the patients, and to see their interest in the Bible story book that they receive when they leave.

Keep praying for those that have been surrendering their lives to Christ at the CTC, that they may faithfully walk with God and be able to find a stable Bible believeing church.  ~Kirsche~


P.S. picture explanations!
1st- tent nearly full of patients
2nd-Meredith looking overwhelmed:)
3rd-the crew that went to dump CTC waste the other day! Hey there is always room for one more! RIGHT?:)

Doing my job at the CTC ;)

Hello to all once again!

What do I write about this time?? Ummm…

A couple nights ago I was on the midnight to eight shift, and I was just about to walk through the Grand CTC Gate to the inside, when on the outside I noticed a bucket with a kevet on top exactly as such used in the CTC for vomiting and other like purposes.  I decided I probably wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) go and take the kevet off the bucket with my bare hands to see what was inside, so I went through the gate and in to the nurses’ station and told the other girls (Amanda, Kirsche, and Thea) about it, and they said to me, “well, get a pair of gloves on and go see what’s inside the bucket!”, so I did!…I pulled on a pair of Latex gloves and off I went to get that bucket which did NOT belong out there and solve the mystery of what was on the inside…I went back out through the gate, got to the bucket, took a breath and held it (just in case…you never know what’s going to be inside a bucket with a kevet on top!), then lifted the kevet off and “OH EEEHH!!” There was a humongous tarantula in the bottom of the bucket that someone had found and was “saving” there…  I tell you I put that kevet back on top of the bucket very fast! I went back into the CTC to report my findings to the girls, only to find them standing outside listening to my reaction very amused by it all. Humph. Next time I’ll make them do all the dirty work…! ;)

Things have been slowing down once again at the CTC…right now we have 4 patients here and 3 of them are on IVs…we have one more out in a tent that we’re just keeping an eye on for now, so things are a bit boring over here at the moment…but just watch out! Normally it seems when we say things like that, pretty soon a whole herd of people come in with cholera and keep us on our toes.

One night Kirsche and I were in the nurses’ station (otherwise known as the storage room) and we were trying to keep our minds busy so we wouldn’t fall asleep…I was just about  ready to start reading my Bible, Kirsche was listening to music or something,Vickson (one of the CTC guards) came in and said something like “you have cell phones, you have camewas, you have books to wead, but me, I have noffing! Noffing to do wift my time.” So I asked him if he would like to read a “25 Bible Stories” book, and his face got all lit up and he was like “Yes! Thankyou!” Then I asked the other guard if he knew how to read too, and he said he did, and then I asked if he wanted one to read as well, and he got a real big smile on his face and he said “Wi, mesi!”…that kept them busy for a while anyways until Vickson got distracted by a sermon playing out loud and then I think he gave his book away to listen to the message because a little bit later I walked out onto the porch, and there standing under the light was the dad of one of the cholera patients, just poring over one of those little Bible story booklets…that was pretty exciting to see!

 

Sunday everyone except for Anita, Kirsche, and I went to the orphanage for the evening. We had a good time practicing on each other with IV needles back at the CTC…it was a lot of fun and good practice on small and disappearing veins! I think about all of us have some pretty colorful wrists to show for it too. :) Anita poked Kirsche and then we got her hooked up to a small IV bag as you can see on the picture.:)

I guess that time I found a few things to write about huh?! I guess it’s time to close!

God bless each one of you for praying for these people here.

His Servant,
~Meredith Keller

A slight wave...

      Okay, I'll try to give a bit of an update on what's going on around here. We haven't been like overworked, but it's not as slow as it was earlier. In the past week there have been quite a few stretchers come in which always makes for some excitement. One of them that came when I was working, was first taken to the regular clinic and they wanted a consultation. They didn't think or maybe didn't want to think he had cholera, but Anita sent them straight here because they said he had diarrhea and vomiting, which was obviously cholera. Another one that came had a bunch of guys with him. They were all being goofy and wanted to be sprayed down so Steve sprayed them all very thoroughly while they laughed and had fun. That was a little different because they're usually serious and worried about the patient but I guess these decided he was in good hands now : ) I'm posting a few pictures of two of the stretchers. 

On Friday the total number of patients reached 13, but by the time Thea and I came on at 4:00 there were only eight. We had a few on cholera beds lately and that sure is pretty disgusting, but I guess if they're that out of it they have to be on there. 

 Yesterday everyone except Steve's, Virginia, and Kirsche went out to Ti-Goave for a baptism at the ocean. Rhonda's oldest girl, Rose, and two of Darv Siebel's girls, Deidra and Ashley were baptized. They had a very nice baptism, there were about 80 people there, a lot from CAM so we didn't know them. But the ocean was beautiful, the weather was sunny but not very windy so there weren't big waves. After dinner we went to market for a while, then headed up the mountain and were back to the mission by 6:00. I think everyone had a good day. I sure enjoyed getting out for a while.

Right now we have about six patients and only one IV bag to keep going, but that will probably come out today. Two of them were on cholera beds two days ago, they are on regular cots now but I just got done helping clean up both of them. They had been sleeping and had a mess all over themselves and their cots, but thankfully Wilmon was out here to help. 

I am typing this at 3:30 a.m., I thought since someone should be awake out here I'll take care of this now while Thea gets some sleep. I'm looking forward to going to church today since Darwin will be preaching so I'll be able to understand what's being preached. I went two Sunday's ago and I enjoyed the singing and all but the message gets a little long when you don't know what's being said. 

Well, I should stop rambling now. Thanks to everyone for their prayers for us, the Lord is very faithful! God's blessing to all.

~Amanda Sensenig~

Things WERE slowing down!

Bang, bang, bang... "Virginia, you need to come put an IV in!"  That's what I woke up to at 1:00 am this morning.  I was so confused as I got up, wondering why they were calling me.  It took me till I was going out the door to realize I was supposed to be on shift already!  I had slept through my alarm, something I thought I wouldn't do.  I went on over and here was a 40-something year old man terribly dehydrated, ice cold, with his eyes rolled up in his head.  I started praying as I attempted to start his IV.  It took several tries till I got it going, but it wasn't flowing fast enough.  


So I got out the blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around the bag, and pumped it up.  That did the trick, as long as the man kept his arm straight.  His IV was in the crook of his elbow.  He had a bad stomach ache so he was thrashing and moaning.  So I sat with him for a couple of hours holding his arm straight and letting the fluid do its work.  I am so thankful for IV fluids!  If we didn't have it, so many of these people would die!  The man was moaning and groaning so I asked him if he knew Jesus.  He said yes, and I reminded him the He was with him now.  After that he was praying along with his moaning.  After about 4 hours, 2 doses of Pepto Bismol, and 4 liters of fluid, he was able to fall asleep.  I was able to read a my Bible for a little while till around 7:00 am when I heard a crowd coming down the road.  In though the gate is carried another seriously dehydrated, ice cold man!  Thankfully his IV wasn't as hard to get started.  I came off shift at 8:00 am, but I heard that there were at least 13 people that came in today.  Most were treated and released, but there are currently five admitted and two in the observation tent.  Hopefully this is not another upswing in patient numbers.  I realize that people need help if they are sick, but I hope that there aren't a lot that get sick! 

Other things are happening here besides life at the CTC.  The other afternoon I got to go down to the clinic and assist Anita with a delivery.  There is nothing quite like holding a brand new baby!  It was a little girl and she is so cute and tiny- 5 lbs 6 oz!  

One last picture for you- this little boy was in a while ago, and when he was better but not well enough to go home I gave him a piece of cardboard and a pen.  He carried it around all morning, and would sit down and scribble and then come and show me or someone else.  He was so sweet!

Blessings to you all and please keep us in your prayers!

For His Glory,

 

Virginia

"Ou Bezwen Bwen!"

Hello again to all! :) 

This morning Kirsche and I were on shift from 12-8...and I even had Ella Mae Hostetler convinced to come out and help keep us "awake"...as you can see in the picture that Kirsche took of Ella Mae and I under the blanket. Our eyelids were just starting to feel like suitcases were tied underneath, and after awhile of fighting that feeling, you eventually have to at least "rest your eyes" alittle, so that's what we were doing under the blue blanket where no insects could fly in and eat us up. At the moment there was nothing else to do! All the IV bags were taken care of, the buckets emptied, etc. and I had done all the doodling I could doodle, and had gotten almost all the way caught up with my Bible reading. :)  So anyhow, we were peacefully resting our eyes under the blanket, and all of a sudden Kirsche came in and announced that there was a stretcher on the way! Whoa...we both fought away the blanket so fast and jumped to our feet in a scramble! I don't know if I ever woke up so fast before...I mean stopped resting my eyes so fast...I mean......anyways!

 So we went outside and sure enough pretty soon a big group of Haitians came with a young man on a stretcher and Wilmon started shouting out orders to get the cot ready, and the supplies for washing down our new patient...we all rushed around to get everything ready and then Virginia came to give him an IV...he seemed like he was half out of it and didn't have enough strength to sit up by himself to drink his PED.  After several attempts by myself and Virginia to get an IV into his vein which always seemed to disappear whenever the needle was poked in, Virginia managed to get it in right and we hooked him up to an IV bag. He's doing much better now, just a few hours later, and can even get up out of his cot by himself.  

The picture of Kirsche and I has a little story...:) 

Kirsche told me she had some extra scrubs in the house, so I was like, "ok, do you mind borrowing one to me for working in the CTC?" she said sure and she'd go get it..so in she went and out she came with this scrub top and big pictures of cats all over it...and I actually put it on, then somehow people started calling me gramma, and then certain people started singing or referring to a song about being "allergic to cats". But it made me feel a whole lot better when a couple days later Thea showed up at the CTC with a Christmasy type scrub top on and with big SNOWmen all over it...ha! ;) 

 

This morning five of us girls that had off work went on a little hike up the mountain...that was so refreshing! The view was so neat and we had a perfect view of the mission compound. :) 

Right now we have a group of cholera patients out there in the CTC that drink, and drink and drink and drink! whoa! Sometimes we can hardly keep up with their input (and output too, I might add!). Hey and that ORS stuff does NOT taste good at all...I know because I tried it once, just a little cupful of it. Oh...was it ever salty! I didn't want to waste it, so I drank the rest that I had poured into my cup. I licked my lips awhile later (must've gotten thirsty), and all I tasted was SALT. :-/ Poor people...they have my sympathies! But they know "Ou bezwen bwen, bwen, bwen!" (You need to drink, drink, drink!) in order to get better. But anyhow, the group of people out there right now are especially good drinkers, and they're really funny about it too...they'll gulp down their last swallow or two of ORS and then look up with a grin or chuckle and hold out their bottle to be refilled!

Anyhow there's just another little tid bit of news about some of the stuff that goes on around here...:) 

God bless each one as you shine your Light for Him where ever He's placed you. Thank you for praying! 

~Meredith Keller

Making Friends at the CTC

   Well my first week here in Haiti working at the CTC has flown by so fast.. I've been really enjoying it as a whole. One of my highlights of working in the CTC is making friends with the patience's caretakers.. These two girls came in with a parent that had Cholora. I had so much fun making friends with them. Till they left, they were so glad to help me with anything I had to be doing. Both of them had professed a conversion during their stay at the CTC, so that made their friendship even more special.


   On a side note, the other day I put my first IV into a guy who came in on our shift with Cholora. I was not really looking forward to doing it, but it went fairly good and I'd be into trying again someday if the need arose. 
   
   Thank you all for your prayers, 


~Anna Hess

ORS fun & IV crisis...

Hi to you all! 

I am enjoying the opportunity to be here in Haiti this month! Yesterday Meredith Keller and I were on duty from 8am-4pm. We half anticipated a slow,boring sorta of day since the number of patients has been lower lately. We were surprised by a little faster pace! :) 

One of the fun moments of the day was when we were in the main room making our check-up rounds. We had one older gentleman that just came off his IV and he was doing a good job of drinking up the ORS we were giving him. However the man across the room was being rather contrary about drinking his ORS! {And the lady beside him really was
not doing any better!} So we began to jokingly tell him how he will be punished if he does not drink. It quickly turned into a fun competition of who could finish their bottle of rehydration fluid { ORS} first! The room echoed for a while with much applause and peals of laughter! :) It was a relaxing time for staff and patients!

Later in the day we were quite busy admitting one patient when this little boy was carried in, laying limply across his dad's arms, his eyes rolled into his head, and obviously very dehydrated! We found out in short order that he was carried down from the clinic in Basice because the nurses there had tried and failed to find a vein to put an IV in. Faithful Thea was called upon to try her skills of putting in IV's.

After several tries,and some very desperate prayers,the IV did slide into a vein and the fluids began to go through his little body! In 4 hours the difference in his condition was outstanding!!! PTL! He is continuing to heal. The dad, who looked so hopeless before, was very pleased with how fast he was turning around,and asked special permission for a few of his other children to come see how he was improving! 

It is so exiting to see life returning to these sick folks. How much more to see some receiving everlasting life!

                    ~Kirsche Hess ~

Things are slowing down...

     Things are slow right now at the CTC, and I am so thankful for that!  When I came off shift this morning at 8 am we had three patients inside and one in the observation tent.  The old lady spoken about in the previous post is now well and ready to go home.  She should have gone home today, though I am not sure if the people coming for her got here yet.  She lives very far away so they are bringing a donkey to take her home.  The two other patients are men, the one should go home tomorrow, and the other is improving rapidly.  I did hear that a little boy came in today pretty dehydrated, and that Thea got an IV going in him.  

     I am enjoying getting to know the people who just came down.  They have pitched right in both in CTC life and "normal" life.  Since things are slow at the CTC we have time to get to a few other things that have been needing to be done.  Our girls house has needed a thorough cleaning, and we are finally getting around to it.  It has been raining a good deal, so our laundry has been getting a double or triple rinse, not that we mind - until we need dry clothes!  

     Here are a few random pictures you might enjoy.  The moths come every night to the CTC, and most of them are beautiful!  I have never seen so many iridescent colors on moths or butterflies!  The other picture is one of me trying to chop open a coconut.  It didn't work, and I ended up laughing so hard I had to let someone else finish the job!  The juice was really good after we got the thing open!   I'll leave you with a picture of the sunset I saw this evening; I was able to watch the sun go down since I'm off shift for tonight.

     God bless you; and please keep us in your prayers!

For His Glory,

~Virginia

Another day at the CTC...

Well, it's my turn to write a report again. I don't know for sure what to write about as we have not been very busy. As of this morning we had two patients admitted and four in the observation tent.

The last real excitement that we had was the old lady that came in on the stretcher on Tuesday morning. I guess Thea already wrote all about her, for me it was very new because that was the first one that couldn't walk since I came and she was almost dead! Since then there have been two that couldn't walk, so I am getting a little used to it.

Yesterday I had something a little different. Steve was going to Ti-Goave and I knew Thea wanted to go along so I convinced her to go and said I could take care of everything in the CTC. I ended up not being too bored. Around 11:00 a man came in on a horse and he couldn't even walk so I quickly called Michael and he came and helped spray the man down. Then he put the IV in, since I have never done it before. So the rest of the day I was kept busy with keeping the IV bags going and taking care of the old lady that the others have written about. She was wearing a diaper and kept getting up, trying to pull the diaper down and hitting the bucket about halfway through, so there was almost always a mess to clean up, since she was going about every 15 minutes. I can tell you this much, I was tired of cleaning her up by the time 4:00 came around. But over all I enjoyed my day alone there, I even had a patient come in the afternoon, so I put him in the observation tent, got a haitian to take his information, and I gave him his meds. Also, Thea said she enjoyed her day, so I was glad for that.

The other evening I decided that I'd like to drink some coconut milk, so Vickson climbed the tree and threw a few down. I was glad I got to drink some but I can't say I was very impressed! :) 

I think every one is a little tired of trying to stay awake for only 2 or 3 patients! It was kinda funny at midnight, Thea and I came out to find Virginia and Anna fast asleep in the supply room and they didn't even wake up very easy. So we gave them a little bit of a hard time about it, but then we woke up later to find Steve had been out there and we never knew it :) But we sure did have a job this morning when our old lady woke up, she had a thorough mess all over her bed. So we sprayed and wiped her, put her sheet and gown in the bleach water, took her bed outside and gave her a clean one. Then we had to clean the mess off the cot she had, which was quite disgusting, but her family was supposed to be bringing a mule to take her home today, although I haven't been working out there so I'm not sure if they came. It'll be kind of nice to not have to take care of her, but I also think it was a good experience and she was a sweet "grandma", as we called her. 

One exciting thing is that this morning Pastor Suejet was here witnessing to our patients and three of them gave their lives to the Lord! He is such an encouragement to have around here, but he's going to Ti-Goave and we're all going to miss him.

Well, I guess that's a little of what's going on around here. Thanks to all who are praying, may the Lord bless each one!

Serving my Saviour,

       ~Amanda Sensenig~

      As I was preparing to write this article, I had to think quite a bit about what to write. Things have been getting pretty slow in the CTC so there hasn't been a lot happening. We currently only have two patients, one is a 75 year old lady and the other is a 30 year old man who was admitted today. I will talk a little bit about them later. So as I thought about what to write, I couldn't remember anybody giving a description about what actually goes on throughout an entire day and the daily chores that need to be done. I will start with the shift beginning at 8 am and ending at 4 pm. When we arrive at 8 we can usually expect to have at least one patient that is ready to be discharged. We will give the person/s several packets of ORS drink mix with the instructions to put 1 packet in each one of their 1 liter bottles of water that they drink. We also give them a little jar of chlorine to mix with the water that they wash their clothes with as well as a paper that informs them about cholera and how to prevent it.
        Once we have given the discharged patients their instructions we will go into the rooms and have each patient go outside to sit for awhile. This helps to prevent getting pneumonia because they are not able to just lay around while they are getting so many fluids. Once we have gotten them out of their bed, we will change their gown and spray them down if they have soiled themselves. While they are sitting outside we will go through the whole room and clean it out. We start by sweeping it, then mopping, and then we spray down the walls with a certain cholorox solution. After that we will spray and wipe the beds off, change the bed pads and give them new sheets. We try to leave the patients out as long as they want and then help them with their IV bags if they have one and bring them back in. After the rooms are clean and the patients are taken care of, we are normally kept busy with numerous other tasks. These include soaking all material in bleach water for 10 minutes, filling people's ORS jugs, dumping buckets, dosing meds, paper work, and other little cleaning jobs. We also have a lady that comes 6 days a week and does all of the laundry for the entire CTC. This helps us to stay on top of the other responsibilities that can keep us quite busy.
        If a sick person comes to the gate anytime throughout the day, we will give him a 1 liter jug of ORS as well as medication and put him/her into the observation tent where we will monitor their input /output. If they have a lot diarrhea or vomit we will take them to a tent where we take their clothes off, spray them off, put a gown on them and then admit them into the CTC. From there we will continue to monitor their input/output and possibly give them an IV depending on their condition.
       When the crew comes on duty for the 4 pm to 12 am shift, they only have a couple of chores that need to be done. First of all, one of the things that need done is the laundry needs to be brought down from the roof and folded up to be used over again. Around this time is when I also take the buckets of waste out to the dumping hole with Michael Rudolph. When we come back we usually wash all of the waste buckets to keep them clean inside and outside. Also every Tuesday and Friday we spray down the porches in front of our own houses just as an extra precaution.
        The shift working from 12 am to 8 am can be quite boring at times. There have been several times where I have worked that shift and we didn't have many patients and nobody new came in so it made for a really long and boring night. We have several things to do on this shift. One of the things is that we have to refill everybody's hand washing jug. They each have a gallon sized jug with treated water that they use to wash their hands. After this we need to sweep and mop the nurse's room and the porch. We spray down the outside porch and also the area where the patients sit and walk around during the day. We also have to wash everybody's bucket that they use throughout the day.
        The patients that we have now seem to be getting better. The old lady is sitting up a lot more and seems more energetic which is a really good sign. Last night I worked from 12 to 8 and we had quite the time with her. She has been known to take her IV apart so needless to say she can be a handful! She told us she didn't want a diaper on but then she messed herself so we decided to giver her one. After receiving the diaper and shortly thereafter filling it, she decided that she didn't need it on so she took it off herself and threw it off to the side. We had to change her three times and the one time it was so bad that we had to change her bed so we could clean the diarrhea off of it. The man seems to be doing alright. I don't know much about him because I haven't worked with him yet but I wouldn't be surprised if he is discharged soon because he seems to be doing a lot better.
       I also just wanted to thank you all again for all of your prayers! Please remember to pray for healing for the Haitians

Jared Stump

The way some people around here keep their sanity... ;)

My past week here working at the CTC has been very interesting, to say the least!  I must say I didn't know quite what to expect coming here to Haiti to work with Cholera...but thankfully I had a very good teacher (Virginia Rudolph) who showed me how to give IV's, change IV bags, empty buckets, give medications, chart everything, and on the list goes. At first I didn't know if I could quite handle dumping the buckets of waste, but I remembered my mom's advice to "not gag the first time or else you won't be able to stop and then YOU'LL be the one throwing up!" So, I just gritted my teeth the first few times, and it really wasn't all that bad if you just keep your face away from the bucket as the contents splash into the bleach water. :)

Jared Stump came up with the idea for some of us (whoever wants to) to read through the New Testament in one month's time...the nights sure do grow long and dreary in the CTC sometimes trying to stay awake and looking for things to do to keep our minds busy. 

I'm really looking forward to it, and I'm growing more thankful each day I'm here for what we have in the Word of God as our Solid Foundation...His grace is sufficient for ALL our needs!  

Let's see, last night was pretty interesting...Virginia and I were on 12-8am shift...and I just was NOT feeling very tired...?? Not sure why, it's not like I've been getting my normal amount of sleep lately! But anyways, so I just sat in a chair and doodled for awhile on some cardboard while Virginia conked out. ;)   I got up every once in awhile to check IV bags and make sure everything was ok...5:00am came around, and then I was starting to feel sort of sleepy, so I wrapped myself in a great blue blanket to keep the bugs away from my head and was just going to la la land when I heard from the doorway 

Wilmon

"Miz....babble babble blabble...." I don't know what all she was saying so fast in Creole, but then Wilmon, a 55 year old Haitian man who knows English pretty good (photo of him waving in a white shirt), came and interpreted for me...saying the IV came out of someone in the second room in...we both rushed in there to see what was going on, and here of all things! The poor old lady (the same one Thea just wrote about) had pulled her spike out of the IV bag when she got up to use the bucket, and she had blood in her tube also. Poor Wilmon seemed quite upset about it and started clucking his tongue and muttering to himself...I went to wake up Virginia because I didn't really know what to do in a situation like that. It was 5:30am and we replaced the tubing and got things in order and all settled once again...then we started the chores of emptying buckets, filling ORS and water bottles, cleaning up, etc. 

You all may think this is kind of weird, but I'll just tell you about it anyways. :) 

One thing that I've actually enjoyed, is going on PD (which is emptying about 35 gallons of cholera waste into a big pit)...and no it's not the emptying of the buckets into the pit that I enjoy, or the splash of the stuff as it hits the bottom of the pit like the sound of a mini-waterfall. :)  I really enjoy the ride in the back of the truck, hanging on for dear life as we go up muddy places slipping and sliding every which way...gets pretty exciting sometimes.:) It's a very nice break getting away from all the smell of cholera and bleach to be in the fresh mountain air! 

The picture of me in the big kevet of water washing my feet was taken after getting back from an exceptionally very muddy trip to the cholera pit. :)

So anyways, that's just a bit of what's going on...seems there's never an end of things to be done around here. 

There is only one cholera patient in the CTC currently. PTL! :) May God bless each one of you for your prayers. They really do make a difference! 

A follower of Jesus,

~Meredith Keller

Raisin's and IV's?

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Teach me Lord, teach me Lord to wait."

Greetings to all once again,

       Life here at the CTC had been slowing down the last few days and our number of patients was dropping so much that we wondered if we would soon have no one here. This morning I started my shift at midnight. Everything was going like normal with nothing much to do other than dump a few buckets, change a few IV's every couple hours, and try to keep yourself awake. Then at 4:30 I heard a noise outside and voices. I ran to the door just in time to see the crowd part at the gate, and a stretcher pass through. I groaned inside as I caught sight of the lady that was on it, grabbed a pair of gloves and headed out. As they tried to lower the stretcher from their shoulders it tipped sideways and the lady nearly fell completely off. For a minute I thought she would be finished by the fall right there and then when her head would hit the gravel. But her feet were either tied to the stretcher or someone caught them. I don't remember which it was. ~Remember that these stretchers are just made by tying a few branches and twigs together with rope. And you can either lay on that or they can put a chair on top for you to sit on. (Very sturdy!!! Actually not... I know from experience. I think that rated as the worst ride of my life.)~ Anyway she was then successfully settled on the ground and we set to work getting her unstrapped and out of her crumpled position from the fall. Her son carried her back to the bathing room and Amanda sprayed her down while I held her up, after getting the gown over her I carried her in and laid her on a bed and begin looking for a vein. She was ice cold and looked like a raisin. Her fingers, hands and feet were shriveled up and any place you touched the skin just stayed there. I pinched her skin and it stood up about half an inch and didn't go down. She lay with her with her eyes rolled back in her head and her mouth hanging open, her tongue was dried out. She looked so much like the same picture of the man I had seen die in front of my eyes when I had visited another Cholera clinic. It was not a very good feeling.

       I tried twice to get an IV put in her, unsuccessfully. Her blood was more like jelly than anything, and her veins were flat. The first try I blew the vein, the second one started but then it infiltrated. I called Michael Rudolph to come  put the IV in knowing that she needed it in quickly and figuring he could probably still easily get one in about first try without me messing up any more veins. He came out and on second try he succeeded in getting one in her hand, but within just a few minutes of setting the IV it blew and infiltrated so we started over again. Trying to find a vein and get a catheter to stay in. Her daughter was standing there watching the whole time, crying because she was sure her mother was dying. After three or four more tries we finally had one successfully running into her foot. Talk about cheering!!! Praise the Lord!

       We ran 6 IV's into her as fast as we could and this evening when I walked out to see how she was, she looked much better and is with the world again talking and even smiling a little. I think she might be one that will be here a while as she is 75 years old and very weak. Elderly people have a long recovery and more complications.

       We had hardly finished with her when there was another arrival. This was a 14 year old girl that was carried in on her fathers shoulders. They set her out in the observation tent and as soon as I had finished with the other lady I went out to check up on her. She had already had diarrhea and vomited both, in the few minutes that she had been here. I took her out to spray her down and ended up holding her while Amanda sprayed her because she had collapsed. I carried her in and put her on a bed, and then Michael put an IV in her also. Tonight she was cheery, talkative and all smiles when I came out to the CTC. It is such a rewarding feeling to see your patients doing well.


       That is the most recent of happenings at the CTC. Just when you think all is normal and some think maybe even "boring," something is sure to come along and add a few interesting and exciting moments. May each one of you have a blessed day. Serve the Lord with all your heart and be faithful wherever He has you. 
A servant of the King, 
~Thea

A word from the front lines... 14 (Amanda Sensenig)

Well, I just got here a few days ago, but for some reason they decided it's my turn to write an update, so I'll do the best I can. The day after I came happened to be my team member's (Thea) day off, so I had time to catch up on sleep before I started in the CTC. Before I started I thought it might be pretty bad emptying buckets and caring for sick patients. But to tell the truth, I do really enjoy it, especially since most of the patients have been children since I'm here. They are so cute and fun to take care of! 

There were a few that were extra special to me. The one was an eleven-year-old girl who seemed to take a liking to me right away even though I hardly speak any Creole. She always wanted to touch me and had a ready smile. I wasn't here when she came in, but I heard she was very sick. When I started working she didn't have her IV anymore and was walking around some. Another one was a little 18 month old girl, she was adorable and I tried holding her but she didn't want me to. After a while her mother just came and handed her to me and thankfully she didn't cry and was soon asleep, later on her mother gave the baby to me while she rested, so I put a clean gown on her and carried her around for about an hour, she was so sweet. 

This morning Michael came and released a bunch of patients. In a way I was a little sad to see them go, but it's special to see that they are better and ready to go home. I gave my friend a granola bar and took some pictures with her before she left. It's kind of funny how much ORS the patients drink when they want to leave, they think it's their ticket to get them home. Our eleven-year-old drank 4 or 5 liters this morning, by 8:00!(then she went home) Also the nine month old baby that nearly died left for home this morning, her parents really loved her and were so happy she was better!

Another highlight is singing on the roof, it helps pass time for the ones on duty and is a blessing for everyone.

As of this morning, there were only a few patients, but it's been raining today and the others said it gets busier after rain, so we'll see how the next few days go. I'm looking forward to working in the CTC more, as I've only had three shifts so far. I'm very thankful the Lord brought me here and trust He will work in my life while I'm here and also help us all be a witness for him to all those who come to the CTC.

His lowly servant,

-Amanda Sensenig

A word from the front lines... 13 (Katie Jo Kauffman)

  Working at the CTC has been enjoyable, for the most part. The children make up for whatever else befalls,  I felt as if I received a rather "sudden immersion" method of what nursing can really be made up of. There was one lady who was particularly trying. She was on a cholera bed, which is a high cot with a hole in the center for the incompetent people to use, if they can't get off their bed to use the bucket. Well she was always flipping this way or that way making her gown a frightening wreck, and not really caring about modesty or anything. Thea and I had to clean her up more than once.  That was trying, but in the next room there were two little children, a brother and sister, who were the most darling things, and the little girl even was helpful in getting her clothes and things off, when I needed to clean her up. I felt as if taking care of them was "therapy" for dealing with the other lady, but the lady on the cholera bed always said Thank You, for everything, and that was an encouragement. Even when she left she said Thank you. That really made up for all the personal heartache I endured while providing her with care. :)

 The little boy and little girl's mother, I got a complete charge out of. Yesterday morning she was trying to tell me that her daughter was a mess, and I needed to clean her up. I wasn't getting the point, so she grabbed me by the arm, and took me to the bedside and pointed with my arm. I about laughed out loud, it amused me so. I was rather sad when they left, for I really enjoyed their little family.

 We had another little girl, who, while sitting outside,  took her IV bag down,and set it on the chair beside her. It filled with blood all the way up to the drip chamber!! Needless to say the shift leader was not impressed!! He took the IV out, and thankfully the little girl didn't need it anymore, and he didn't have restart the IV.

  It is my hope and prayer that the people who are treated in the CTC will come away with at least some knowledge of God in their hearts. Even though the majority of the staff cannot speak their language fluently, they can still be a witness  for Christ by their actions and attitudes.

   -Katie Jo Kauffman