Report from Monday

Monday, November 19, 2018

Day one in the clinic was a success! We were split into groups with one PT, one translator, and two students. Each group worked on different patients with a variety of needs like orthotics, wheelchairs, home exercise programs, and/or walkers. The diagnoses for our patients ranged from cerebral palsy, duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, general orthopedics, amputees, and developmental degenerative diseases. As a group, we can collectively agree that without our schooling so far, we would be totally lost. Some of the highlights from today were:

- After 3 hours of working on a wheelchair, we succeeded in providing the child with a functional wheelchair

- Watching as a mom hears for the first time that her child does have a chance to walk 

- Learning just how much some of these parents give up in order to provide for their children. Some of these parents have to carry their children everywhere because they don’t have the proper equipment to help them.  One father didn’t have anywhere to live or food to eat because both of his daughters were in the hospital. 

1 John 5:14 and 15 says, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (ESV). This was the theme of the day. We saw many instances where God provided in ways that we couldn’t have expected. We were able to provide for the needs of all of the patients as well as fulfill some of their spiritual needs by praying for them after treatment. It was a humbling experience for us to see how welcoming the patients were to have us pray for them. Overall, our first day in the clinic was an amazing experience and we were able to end it with ice cream and a sunset at the beach.