From the HCHB President
March, 2007
Greetings friends and family,
Thank you for praying for us during this trip. We arrived safely on the 11th with one minor snag at the airport. When we went through customs, they again did not have a copy of the list of supplies we had faxed to them. We were prepared for this after the last trip, so we took copies of it along. They looked through some of the boxes to make sure none of the supplies were outdated. They did end up charging us $100.00 U.S. for the urinalysis machine we took along. They gave us a receipt, so we are hoping to get the money back, if possible, since they are not allowed to charge us duty on equipment or medicines we bring into the country.
We took the bus to Dangriga and the ride took about 3 hours. It was a nice trip, but a bit long. The entire group then decided it would be best to fly back to Belize City when we went home. Everyone checked in at the hotel, except for one mother and daughter who were planning on staying in our house. However, it is dry season in Belize right now, and the dust in our house from the trucks passing by on the dirt road caused the young girl to have an asthma attack. Her inhalers did not ease it, so we took her to the emergency room and gave her two nebulizer treatments and some IV steroids. She spent about an hour and a half in the ER and then we took her back to the hotel to stay. She continued to take oral medication and didn’t have another relapse during the trip. Thank you to those who prayed for us during this time for her health.
We saw patients on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Cheryl was amazed at how quickly the team fell into an effective routine. The three doctors saw about 100 patients a day. Dr. Zartman, the orthopedist, saw many patients with arthritis and was able to help them with injections to relieve the inflammation. He also did a small procedure on Wednesday to remove a growth on a woman’s finger.
Dr. Theodoran, the urologist, saw many patients with prostate problems, and was able to follow up with 3 patients treated by the urologist from another team that was in Belize in January. He did four cystoscopes (looking into the bladder) on Wednesday and was able to treat many patients with medications. The operating room tables are not functioning fully, along with some of the anesthetic equipment. This kept us from doing any major surgeries. We have the potential of receiving an operating room table, anesthesia equipment, and gases as a donation. We ask your prayers in this situation, since we have not yet handled a donation of this size at present.
Dr. Ouilikon, the internist, saw many patients with chest pain, high blood pressure and diabetes. When the first patient walked in with chest pain for a week, Dr. Ouilikon almost had a heart attack herself. J She found out that the EKG machine was out of paper, so we could not do EKGs. She was able to help patients with their medications, although her biggest frustration was not having access to the patients’ old medical records. This also brought to our attention that we need to work with the system, but also see how we can help them improve the situation, making it more helpful for the patients.
Wednesday afternoon we headed out to the island and spent 1 ½ days relaxing, fishing (caught 2 barracuda), swimming, snorkeling and kayaking. We had all been working hard here before the trip, so it was a much needed break. On Friday afternoon, we came back to the mainland and followed up with the final patients and gave away over 25 boxes of supplies and medications. We are so thankful for all the supplies that were donated to the ministry for this trip. One of the blessings, in addition to the medications, was a donation of basins, disposable gowns and soap to make kits for patients to use that have no family members to provide these things for them, or to use for emergency surgeries. This was always difficult to provide for in the past, so we are grateful to provide them this visit.
We were glad to be in Belize this past week, especially when we heard the weather reports from home. We were also glad we did not have to fly in that weather. We came back to PA by good flights and safe travel. We all experienced many new things on this trip. Each trip is different because of the number of participants and also because of the planned activities. We think the word for this trip was new adventure. Most of the adventure was good, although some members of the team were really stretched.
Thanks again for your prayers on our behalf and for the support you have given. We ask for your continued prayers as we settle into the routine here at home, but we don’t want to forget the way this trip has changed our lives.
In His Service,
Hubert and Cheryl Stephen
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