While the rest of the team was at Gertrude's this afternoon, Nikki and I (Jenny) travelled with the nuns about a half hour away to an area called Portail St Joseph to the wound clinic.
We travelled with the nuns to an area in Port-au-Prince called Portail St Joseph, where they run a wound clinic for any walk-in patients. They do this three times a week, and we were able to serve with them. When we arrived, there was a line of people sitting outside the gate waiting to come in.
We worked with the nuns to put together wound care kit stations using the donated medical supplies. Nikki was impressed to see how well they made do with what they had. Nikki managed one station, and I was her assistant and translator. Nikki is a nurse, and so she was of great help. For those of you who know me, you know that I can't even put a small bandaid on someone without getting queezy, so this was a definite stretch for me, but somehow (God!) kept me calm and focused. It was a privilege to see Nikki hard at work just as she is gifted. One by one we took the patients, which all had major injuries to their feet and/or legs. Nikki removed their previous worn bandages, then cleaned the wounds once it was removed. We tried as best we could to find out how the injury happened and how long ago it had occurred. Most of the people we met had been to this wound clinic again and again, which is encouraging, especially since some of them were fairly severe and really needed to be changed frequently. Since the procedure for wound care was different than home, some of them were able to help instruct us on how to best dress their wound.
I will never forget meeting our six patients. They had absolutely terrible injuries. We couldn't believe how calm they all were, and how none of them expressed any amount of pain. They didn't even flinch as Nikki poured saline on their wounds. I would have been screaming so loud if I had one tenth the injury that any one of them did. Oh, these amazing Haitians. They endure so much, and yet manage to have a smile and a welcoming spirit towards us. It is so inspiring and humbling. They're fierce and they
persevere.
We can't share any photos of today out of respect for the patients.
We are tired after a really long day, but we are so grateful to be here and to be a part of all this incredible ministry. Thank you for all your support and prayers.
Tomorrow we will visit Jean Garry's School and we will deliver some of the supplies that you donated, then we will visit Grace Village, the orphanage that Healing Haiti built last year. After that, we will visit some time with the elderly in the town surrounding Grace Village, both doing crafts with some of them at Grace Village, and then delivering meals to others that are house-bound nearby. Looking forward to another wonderful day.
Jenny Koehnen - for the team
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