VEINTE CAMAS. (20 Beds)

This is what the locals call the new little government hospital.  It is a few miles away from our clinic, on the outskirts,too, on the other side of Ocosingo.  It has no name, and obviously, it has 20 beds.  I was delighted to take a tour with Patricia.  She is a newly graduated physician doing her 1 year of service here.  They do not have internships here, but an obligatory year of service, usually in an impoverished, out of the way facility.  She is about 4 feet tall, very bright, and has a big smile that covers her face.  She also just happens to be the novia, girlfriend, of our own Dr. Gerardo Cruz.  It is wonderful for him to have this medical connection.  Manos de Cristo is an out patient facility, and because of the licensing, can never be a full, inpatient hospital.  So when there are patients who are very ill, or who need emergency care, or surgery, he now can refer those patients. Previously, there was no connection, and the hospital might have rejected especially our Indigenous patients.  

The hospital is clean, with small areas for simple surgeries, deliveries, isolation, emergencies, and the 20 bed inpatient areas, divided for adults, peds, and nursery.  The day I was there we observed 4 day old twins born prematurely, one weighing a mere kilo, 2.2 pounds.  There wasn't a lot of supportive equipment, but the nurse was lovingly stroking his tiny head, filled with black hair, and feeding him drops with a syringe.  

Patricia proudly described all areas and introduced me to the staff.  It felt nice.  There are 4 physicians, one surgeon, one gynecologist, and 2 internists, it seems.  She emphasized that it was a good hospital, just very small and ill equipped to do a lot of things.  It is very busy, and she is learning a lot.  They treat a lot of Tuberculosis, pneumonia, other infections, and burns fron children falling into the open cook fires at their homes.  They cannot set broken bones, diagnose cancers (no mammography), or do any major surgery.  But they CAN do many things, and certainly complement the care we give at our clinic.  

Ultra sound in town.  20 Beds uses this facility as they have no technician to read theirs.

So, another day on the ground.  So much to see, appreciate, understand, and be grateful for.  I try to take my free time to do all of these.  I see God's hand in so many things, even things that seem as if they should be better.  But it is all how you look at things, what your perspective is.  Is the glass half full?  Or half empty?  I like to think of all of life as being very full, even in light of some emptiness.  My mother in law used to say, "It could be worse, better like this."

Bonfire for the young people at our little mission church.  40 attended for singing, prayers, and marshmallows!  

So, it is the last day of January, 2015.  The new year has well begun.  How will you look at the rest of the year?    I say, CELEBRATE, and look at the 1/2 full glass, and maybe work at filling the other half.  

The group arrives late tonight.  I look forward to the camaraderie, the joys, the tears, the questions, the living and learning a new way of life.  The medical decisions we make, are made with care and love.  God's hand is in all we do.  We hope to touch the patients, literally, with medical care and medicine, and with some quiet spiritual inspiration.  PRAY FOR US AS WE DO OUR BEST TO SERVE.

Bagging thousands of meds, lovingly!  

Carolyn 

CHIAPAS January, 2015. LATE ARRIVAL!

I am alive and quite well!  I arrived fashionably, one day late...as I missed the Mexico City to Tuxtla flight.  There wasn't much time between, immig. took long, I dallied for 10" in line to exchange money and buy water, went to the wrong gate as they don't post the gates til right before, and when I got tothe gate 20 " early (I thought).. The door was closed, flight had left early.  Rrr.   Had to pay $200 to change flight, and spend all day in Mex City airport.

 Ah well, it is the start of letting go, moving on to someone else's plan.  Pablo with his ever changing, complex travel arrangements, was able to adjust.  My luggage followed later.  We spent the night in San Cristobal and Jan and I made a relaxing trip back to Ocosingo , 2 hours over the mountains, by taxi on Sunday. I had left at midnight on Friday, so by that time I had no idea what day it was!  

Then, I had a double edged, violent case of the revenge on Tues. Not sure what that was all about.  The 2 meals I ate were wonderful and everyone else was fine.  12 awful hours and it passed, literally, and I've been awesome since. 

The clinic is running smoothly.  Doc Gerardo and Nurse Lidia are handling the day to day pts beautifully.  It is as we imagined.  God is good!   They are happy in their roles.  Continued funding is the biggest challenge.  Pts now pay 20 pesos (about $1.50) for the exam and 50% of our cost for any drugs.   This is a drop in the bucket.  The American tylenol, vits, ibuprofen, glasses, etc. that we bring, are always free.  We are looking somehow to model ourselves after larger organizations and donors.  As with me and the ever faithful Village Church and my loving supporters, others work hard at their churches to eke out a few thousand dollars. 

So, I spend time with Doc Jerry and Lidia.  Doc is wonderful, bright, anxious to learn from us.  He loves to read.  He is a new breed Mexican, is VERY kind to the pts.  He touches, listens, and has a great big smile for everyone.  We talk about life here and there, in broken English and Spanish, about diseases and treatment, etc.  

He and I and others went to Yax (short for Yaxoquintela), Pablo's village, yesterday for the day (2 hrs one way over pretty hairy dirt road in the broken down VW and Pablo's truck) to make greetings, and presentations and announcement of the upcoming Medical Caravan.

 That is how the word gets out to the remote places.  It was a 3 day Maya Presbytery meeting.  

Pablo's Presbytery will meet later as there are Zapatista roadblocks to the village he needs to go to.  They periodically take charge of a village or a school or a business, and then stop cars to demand tariffs.  Usually no problem, but you pay or don't pass.   I had thought of traveling to Xpujil to visit with Todd and the folks there, after the Caravan.  This is where this ministry, for me, all started.  I haven't been there in a long time.  They ask about me!  It is a 6 hour bus ride.  But there are roadblocks along that highway, so I may not.  

I have been inventorying meds and getting ready for the big caravan in 2 weeks.  There will be a total of 28 different medical folks over 2 weeks, and as usual we will see 1000 or more pts.  This is all free for them.   We see very sick pts,  pts with advanced illnesses, and those with headaches and colds. This is an awesome time for new travelers and veterans alike   We have devotions on the roof at sunrise each day, and sharing there again at sunset, or by moonlight.  These are highlights of our time here, and enriching for all of us.  There is always an outpouring of Thoughts and feelings.  It is what we have come for.  

I have been walking down the mountain to Jan's house, going to the market, joining Sharon (and Jim Heneveld, who were missionaries here for 30 years. They translated the Bible here to Tzeltal. They are from Holland, Mich. and are semi retired. They now spend 3 months per year here. They live down the road from the clinic and are involved in Bible studies, jail ministry, pastoral training, etc. Jim is preaching Sunday at our little mission church, as Pablo is gone.  Jim is on the HEBRON board)  

So, life is full...  Laid back, inconvenient, mismatched, but oh so rich and peaceful.  I am alone in the clinic at night.  I have blessed time to pray, read, write, even work on 2 programs/projects I need to do for work at CTCA!  

More later!  

Your on the ground reporter, Carolina del Norte