want to keep this update short and at the same time really give you guys a good feel of things in Haiti now.

I still really appreciate the emails and updates I get from each of you. I might not be able to write much but please know you are very appreciated.

Last time I wrote to you I asked you to pray about an orphan situation....I literally stopped writing an update to check out what was going on. I do not want to kick anyone when they are down but it involved the lady who has been on the news for child trafficking. Long story short we gave her some advice for about 3 days. I want the people (children) who need help to get it but there are correct paths that people must follow. I am glad for the wisdom God gave me and some others here at the school. I am saddened because the parents and workers who have followed the correct procedures now have a tougher road. I still know that God loves each orphan and cares for each one personally. I would ask you to continue to pray that each child gets the love and care (while still following the appropriate steps) they deserve.

I just returned from a 4 day medical trip to Jeremie Haiti. Jeremie is a remote town on the far west of the southern peninsula. It is a city of about 80,000 and has had 20,000 more people move there since the quake. Many are taking a tough 12 hour truck ride and others are going by overcrowded boats. The team of doctors were able to see many cases that would not have gotten care. There were a few "life-saving" operations as well. One lady had a compound femur fracture in her right leg and fractures in her left tibia and fibula. She had gotten to Jeremie on a board in the back of a truck. The doctors were able to set her bones correctly and give her the hope of walking correctly again.

One of the growing needs in Haiti is going to be getting needed medical attention where the people are. While there I was able to visit 4 other small hospitals with Miquette. There are many people in those regions that need care as well but are staying at home. The hospitals are just not able to give much care. We are working now to figure out ways to get aid and supplies to the necessary locations.

The trip was productive in meeting doctors and the main hospital in Jeremie for future trips.

God continues to be at work here. There are so many questions that have no answers but I know He is here. I can see Him at work in so many ways each day. One of the most humbling things has been the Haitian people continuing to praise God each night. I am not a singer. Each night in both Port-au-Prince and Jeremie people join together to sing and praise God...people who lost their homes, their jobs and possibly loved ones. It is such a lesson to me that these people have not allowed their current surroundings to change their passion and love for God.

Here are a few prayer requests/concerns I want to share:

1) Nurses are needed. If you know of nurse teams or individuals interested in coming please let me know. Most operations, etc have been done....good follow up care is needed to help the people heal.

2) Please pray for the many people without homes. Tent cities have been set up. The rainy season is coming and there will be other health concerns as the rain comes.

3) Good organization of the aid and supplies coming. I know so many people in the States want to help in many ways and all want that help to get where it needs to go.

Thanks again for your prayers, support and all sorts of emails that make me smile.

Art

ONE OF THOSE GOOD ONES

There are those weeks that just go by but occasionally I find one that helps me feel that maybe there really is a reason for my existence. Don't get me wrong, it's not all that frequent.

This past Sunday after church I was asked by a friend if I could help them out and give a shot to a young boy for them. He was 17 years old but when you're 60 he was still young. It seems that he needed some penicillin Benzathine Penicillin as a prophylaxis for a mitral valve regurgitation that he has been under a doctor's care for for a couple years. I said that I would do it but I wanted to take the time to listen to his murmur before giving him the shot. I am rather personally involved with mitral valves since I had a rather massive prolapse in my 40's and would have long gone by now (or at least displaced) had it not been for a number of very loving and proactive friends of mine who happened to be in the medical field.

When I listened to Robert's chest I heard nothing but a normal chest with no murmurs. Well, since I was there to give a shot and not to play doctor I went ahead and gave it which was no fun. This type of penicillin is almost a glue-like substance especially when it is given in 5cc doses. Needless to say this young man was not without complaints about his treatment. I didn't blame him.

Just to satisfy my personal questions I asked Robert's mother if I could get a copy of his medical records to look at and possibly have someone else to check through. By last Wednesday she got them to me and since they were in French and also in detailed medical terms they were basically useless to me but when I stopped at Dr. Theard's office on Friday he was kind enough to look at them for me. He wasn't surprised that I couldn't hear a murmur since he discovered that Robert's heart was still of a normal size and this mitral regurgitation was extreme minor at the present. Not only will Robert not have to have the shots every other week but he would not need the expensive echo cardiogram every 6 months but would have to be checked out when he had time in "five years or so."

I wish you could have seen the shear relief and tears of joy when I told Robert's mother that Robert wouldn't have to have those shots and that he should have a relatively normal life. It was giving her a new son back.

Sometimes we have these days! I'll take them.

And so it goes. John

Are You Kidding Me?

I have a bachelor's degree in biology. I am a Registered Nurse. I have practiced medicine in Haiti for the past 22 years. Then I take this test. It's just not fair. I think I'll go eat worms.

And so it goes!

John

Now We’re Really Back

Although we began to see patients at the clinic last month there has been something missing since our return. The missing part has been the people from Bellefontaine. Now they’re back.

Bellefontaine is a small, poor farming community that is far from the main streets of Port-au-Prince and even far from the doorstep of our clinic at Prospere. I have noted a number of our regular patients were walking for many hours over the mountain but had no idea what sacrifices they were making to get to our humble clinic. Just for our own knowledge Eden and I took a day and drove out to Bellefontaine about three years ago. It took about 8 hours to get there driving on roads on the ridge of mountains then down in river beds where the 4 wheel drive was an absolute necessity. The wear on our bodies and the vehicle was enough to make us realize that a clinic out in this area, although having large numbers of patients, would be impossible to do on a regular basis. We were happy to visit the home of many of our patients but a regular visit was just not in our future.

So instead of our going out to them the people of that community have become regular visitors to ours. But, since our return in September we were seeing none, until this week. The lady at the bottom of this blog is Mdm. Charles Mandeau. She and a friend came in complaining about their aches and pains. (Who wouldn’t have aches after walking all that way?) They said that they had left home the afternoon of the day before and arrived at 11pm that night. They spent the night sleeping in our new waiting area. They had crossed a number of streams on their way and said that the persistent rains have been what was making it impossible for them or anybody else from Bellefontaine to make it to the clinic.

We’re happy they’re back.

And So It Goes!

John

The Reopening of the Clinic or is this just a joke?

Luckily Jodie had agreed to go out with me to the first scheduled clinic since our return. This wasn't easy for her since she is already active at school testing kids for admission and getting her classroom in shape for their opening day. But we both felt that since Eden wasn't available I shouldn't go alone. There was always the chance, especially with the roads being flooded, of getting stuck and having to walk long distances while still on new knees. So we got back into the usual morning routine of "up at five, showers, breakfast, become presentable then leave the house by 6:45.

The traffic wasn't bad since schools hadn't opened yet and the roads were in better shape until we got to within a couple miles of the clinic. Then we saw the water flowing in the road. I'm not exactly known for giving up midstream but I did consider it. As we continued the roads became more rutted out with more and more water running in the ruts. One thing I hadn't seen before was women with their large basins of laundry sitting in these water swollen areas doing their laundry.

But we slowly continued. When we came to the area where we could see the church and clinic in the distance we had to leave the rutted road for the irrigation ditches beside it then sort of by surprise we actually arrived to the turnoff and drove into the fields that led us to Prospere. They were dry.

(editorial) When I turned off the road there were men cultivating the field. They didn't stop their work. I waved and they waved. It was like I was just one of the many passers by for that hour. But I know that mine was probably the first vehicle to pass that area in more than a week, possibly two. If I had been working in that field I would stopped my work, run to the car, and asked how in the world did you get through the flooded road? But no, they almost didn't take the time to look up from what they were doing or take their hands off their tools. It was as if a steady stream of cars had been passing all day. I've lived here 21 years now and this place never ceases to amaze me. Back to the clinic.

So we finally arrived. There was nobody in sight and all was quiet except for the roosters. I walked up to the pastor's (Pastor Francois) house and finally woke he and his wife up. We asked if anybody had come for the clinic. He said yes, but said he had sent them away since he knew we weren't coming back until the end of August. The last thing I told him was that I would be back in early August and our first clinic would be on the 16th. I love these people, I love this country but one of these days this place and these people are going to drive me to drink. Enough said!

To make a long story short Jodie and I cleaned the clinic for the next three hours or so and left very tired and sweaty, but with the clinic was much better prepared for what will be happening on Monday: a clinic.

Note: From Prospere we drove directly to downtown Port-au-Prince to the American consulate where we needed to go to renew our passports. We got our photographs taken. When the guard at the consluate asked us what we were doing here we told him and he told us the office was only open from 9:30-12:30. It was 1:00.

And so it goes.

John