New Arrivals

Today was tough. While I was working on the medical charts for the new kids, we found out that we would be leaving soon to get the three that would be arriving by air today. We headed out to the airfield on the big safari truck, driving through part of the town, past the cemetery (above ground like New Orleans) and through a garbage dumping ground. We passed lots of little children getting their Saturday chores done: bathing, washing, chasing goats. They would stop and wave with big smiles in their faces, some would even run after us. One little boy ran several paces naked and then stopped and laughed. I guess he was supposed to be washing.

We got to the landing strip which wad a narrow plot of barren land with houses lined up and down. We stopped the truck and got to play with the kids while he waited. After what seemed like an hour in the heat, we finally began to hear the plane. It made a sweep across the runway to scare the goats out and then came back to land. You know in the movies when the music gets really full and emotional, that's the music that would have been playing if this was a movie. I could barely keep myself together.

After the engine shut and down and the pilots got out, Karris and Brenda approached with me following along. The pilots instructed us to come up to the side hatch where 2 children wee lying on a mattress on the floor. I picked up the first child, a 4 year in a body cast. He also had lost his left arm. I carried him back to the truck and placed him in the arms of Lacrecia and Robin. Next we brought Amani, a 12 year old who was also in a body cast. We had to place her on the floor of the truck, on the mattress that she came with. Nurse Hannah (a different Hannah than the one that came with my group) sat behind her to prop her up while Nate sat with his back to Hannah to keep her propped up. Then Lonic's mom, who was also in the plane, carried the third child, an abandoned toddler with developmental delay and cerebral palsy. She sat with him in her lap.






Once we were loaded up, I began to assess everyone. I lifted up the blanket to look at Amani's cast and saw around the waist: "Remove on March 7, 2010. Clinical Diagnosis Femur Fracture. Never Been Xrayed." That was entire medical record and I was grateful for that, it was more than what I had already been told. But the next part is what made weep. On the fiberglass down her left leg was: "I love you Amani Dr Jo - Get well soon! RN Kat - God bless you! Michelle FNP - God bless you Dr Rob - We love you. Natalie RN - Get well Dr Jeff" All I could say was, "Take a picture." After a minute I was able to take some but not with my phone.

We got back to the property and Brenda and Kharris arranged for us to go across the border to a clinic to get xrays. Hannah, Ben, Linzi and I went with the 2 who had casts. We were able to cross the border fairly quickly and made it to the clinic. A few minutes later the technician showed up and we carried the children in. Fortunately Amani's cast was fiberglass and she was light to carry, only difficult because of her position. Lonic, though a little 4 year old, was quite heavy because his cast was made of plaster.



After we both were xrayed, I reviewed the films with the tech. Lonic's did not look too good but I wasn't really shocked. He had a completely displaced fracture of his femur, which means it was broken in the middle and the two peices were beside each other overlapping. Amani's film, on the other hand, looked good, with the bone lined up correctly and healing.

When we got back to the property, Kharris emailed photos of Lonic's xrays to a Dominican orthopedic surgeon who said he could put a pin in his femur tomorrow morning. So we'veade arrangements to take him over in the morning for surgery.

After dinnner tonight, all of volunteers with medical training met with Karris to discuss plan plan of care of all the injured and make plans for transition to new volunteers. We will moving the temporary clinic to a new area that will be more accessible and accommodating, and we'll be doing that tomorrow afternoon. As I really like to organize and set up stuff like that, I'm particulary bummed that I might miss some of that because I will be going with Lonic to see the surgeon.

Well now I need to get some sleep. We have to be ready to cross the border when it opens but if it's like most things here, it will be a lot of sitting and waiting.


Update ate 7am. It turns out that we will not be going to take Lonic for surgery. Danita has reviewed the films with an American orthopedic surgeon and they hve decided that surgery at this time would be too risky. We'll get to stay for church instead which should be neat experience.


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