TeamTwo Update #2 : Pastor Darin Garton
Today we started our first real clinic day. We had about 25 docs and nurses working in Chambrun today trying to see as many people as possible. Most of the people are not dealing with severe wounds like you might think but all are dealing with emotional trauma from the quake and the common hunger/vitamin deficiency things that everyone has. People started lining up at 4:00 am to see the docs. One lady had gotten up at 4:00 am to walk 2 hours to the clinic for the past three days to have someone see her sick son only to find that we didn't have time to see him. So she'd make the 2 hour trip home and try the next day. We finally saw him today and they were SO grateful. The woman said, "Pastor Pierre, I LOVE you!" She was so grateful to have some news about her son. Sheri ran the pharmacy as she always does so capably and Stacy worked with some young Haitian girls from the school to train them on how to organize our meds into smaller units that can be dispensed.
The other team of 9 docs and nurses took the bus out to one of the tent villages that have been set up all around Port au Prince. We set up a mobile unit to address medical needs in this area. In this small field, about 1500 people had formed "tents" out of sticks and tarps. They are displaced from their homes and are trying to figure out what to do next. Randy was on the bus seeing more serious cases and I (Darin) was the bus driver/security. (I'm thinking I may have a future in this if this pastor thing doesn't work out :)) Scores of people came up and said, in broken English, "I've lost my family. I've lost my home. My job doesn't exist anymore. Can you hire me?" I had to tell them, "I don't hire people but your story breaks my heart. I'm here because we care about you, our hearts are breaking for you, and we want to try to make things better." I was able to pray with several of guys and just hurt with them and try to encourage and share the love of Christ.
In the morning we have so many people and such limited transportation that there's a lot of waiting around. We must pass right by the American Embassy to get to Pastor Pierre's and there are crowds of cars and people around trying to make arrangements to get out of Haiti and so it makes driving slow. So our mobile clinic had to wait quite some time before getting out. We finally checked out several of these encampments before settling on one particular tent camp. We had been working for an hour or so, when all of a sudden a frantic young man pushes through the crowd with a limp 19 year-old girl in his arms and lays her on the blanket under the tent where we were serving people. Kind of a wake of panic is trailing behind him and the crowd freaked out momentarily. Turns out, the girl had been crossing the street to get food from the Red Cross distribution with one of her friends when she was hit by a car that sped away. They laid her, unconscious and bleeding from the head, on our blanket and were begging for help.
Randy and the other docs and nurses rushed out of the bus and began assessing her. They did such a great job of figuring out what was wrong, starting an IV and check her out. Meanwhile, her friend who had witnessed the accident was convulsing, having seizures on the bus. We asked a translator to call an ambulance, and they just made it clear that there would be no way to get one in Haiti during this crisis. But right as we got her ready to transport, an ambulance "just happened" to be going by and we loaded up both of the girls. The drivers came back later to tell us that both girls had come through beautifully and were doing fine. We continued to see patients until we had to get home before dark. There were still about 150 people in line, but we had to tell them that we were closing up shop. We are planning to go back there tomorrow.
One other part of our group is working to deliver water filters so that people can have clean drinking water. They do a great job of presenting Jesus as the living water as they meet a very practical need in this crisis. We also have a photojournalist embedded with our team working out of Grace Community Church in Indianapolis. He's been taking some great pics and blogging about it. You may be able to see some of the pics at http://www.worldnextdoor.org.
We had another group of docs, nurses, and EMTs show up here today to help us out. Our circle keeps expanding! These guys are from a ministry called Helping Hands out of California. They are very dynamic men and women who are very flexible and exciting about sharing the Good News. They had an insurance company donate the use of a Leer jet and fuel for a week to bring in supplies and get them in and out. We incorporated them into our worship tonight and had a great time telling stories about what God has been doing in the different areas.
Well, I said this update would be shorter, but it turns out I lied. Sorry! Please keep us in your prayers! It's obvious that God has been coordinating our work here. Just the thought that we had several options of where to set up our mobile clinic, but chose that spot just hours before this girl was injured. Pastor Pierre said that often when someone is hit by a car, people will just start shaking them or throw water on them to wake them up and can cause more harm in trying to help. God had us be there possibly to save this girl's life, so it was cool. We will try to update whenever internet is working again.
The other team of 9 docs and nurses took the bus out to one of the tent villages that have been set up all around Port au Prince. We set up a mobile unit to address medical needs in this area. In this small field, about 1500 people had formed "tents" out of sticks and tarps. They are displaced from their homes and are trying to figure out what to do next. Randy was on the bus seeing more serious cases and I (Darin) was the bus driver/security. (I'm thinking I may have a future in this if this pastor thing doesn't work out :)) Scores of people came up and said, in broken English, "I've lost my family. I've lost my home. My job doesn't exist anymore. Can you hire me?" I had to tell them, "I don't hire people but your story breaks my heart. I'm here because we care about you, our hearts are breaking for you, and we want to try to make things better." I was able to pray with several of guys and just hurt with them and try to encourage and share the love of Christ.
In the morning we have so many people and such limited transportation that there's a lot of waiting around. We must pass right by the American Embassy to get to Pastor Pierre's and there are crowds of cars and people around trying to make arrangements to get out of Haiti and so it makes driving slow. So our mobile clinic had to wait quite some time before getting out. We finally checked out several of these encampments before settling on one particular tent camp. We had been working for an hour or so, when all of a sudden a frantic young man pushes through the crowd with a limp 19 year-old girl in his arms and lays her on the blanket under the tent where we were serving people. Kind of a wake of panic is trailing behind him and the crowd freaked out momentarily. Turns out, the girl had been crossing the street to get food from the Red Cross distribution with one of her friends when she was hit by a car that sped away. They laid her, unconscious and bleeding from the head, on our blanket and were begging for help.
Randy and the other docs and nurses rushed out of the bus and began assessing her. They did such a great job of figuring out what was wrong, starting an IV and check her out. Meanwhile, her friend who had witnessed the accident was convulsing, having seizures on the bus. We asked a translator to call an ambulance, and they just made it clear that there would be no way to get one in Haiti during this crisis. But right as we got her ready to transport, an ambulance "just happened" to be going by and we loaded up both of the girls. The drivers came back later to tell us that both girls had come through beautifully and were doing fine. We continued to see patients until we had to get home before dark. There were still about 150 people in line, but we had to tell them that we were closing up shop. We are planning to go back there tomorrow.
One other part of our group is working to deliver water filters so that people can have clean drinking water. They do a great job of presenting Jesus as the living water as they meet a very practical need in this crisis. We also have a photojournalist embedded with our team working out of Grace Community Church in Indianapolis. He's been taking some great pics and blogging about it. You may be able to see some of the pics at http://www.worldnextdoor.org.
We had another group of docs, nurses, and EMTs show up here today to help us out. Our circle keeps expanding! These guys are from a ministry called Helping Hands out of California. They are very dynamic men and women who are very flexible and exciting about sharing the Good News. They had an insurance company donate the use of a Leer jet and fuel for a week to bring in supplies and get them in and out. We incorporated them into our worship tonight and had a great time telling stories about what God has been doing in the different areas.
Well, I said this update would be shorter, but it turns out I lied. Sorry! Please keep us in your prayers! It's obvious that God has been coordinating our work here. Just the thought that we had several options of where to set up our mobile clinic, but chose that spot just hours before this girl was injured. Pastor Pierre said that often when someone is hit by a car, people will just start shaking them or throw water on them to wake them up and can cause more harm in trying to help. God had us be there possibly to save this girl's life, so it was cool. We will try to update whenever internet is working again.
Labels: 2010, Darin Garton, Earthquake, medical team, TeamTwo
posted by Aaron Sherrick at
9:34 AM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the posts, I will be part of a team coming from Canada around Feb 19th. It is good for me to read posts here as I prepare to come.
I have seen nothing on accomodation for you - where are you staying?
Thanks - Mel
The teams stay at Pastor Pierre's home in a suburb of Port-au-Prince called Tabarre.
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