Thursday and Friday Bethesda Clinic

Here is a photo journal of these last two days here. It has been busy with many patients in the clinic, more teaching of the entire clinic staff as well as seeing patients side by side with Altidor, and getting to know some of the long-term missionaries here with OMS. We are looking forward to experiencing more Haitian culture  and the arrival of the rest of our team this weekend.

Haitian pizza with spam and fresh tomatoes- yum!

Julie (missionary PT) and Bev

We delivered this wheelchair -the first for this family. Mom and sweet little girl were ecstatic. 

Late afternoon sodas are SOOOO refreshing.

God’s favor shines in the morning through the trees on the OMS grounds.

Educational session on the “Health Benefits of Exercise” with Bethesda Staff.

Hitting the Ground Running

Morning: In Haiti, there is no need for alarm clocks or wake up calls. Before the sun rose, we were already being awakened by the sounds of nature - birds, chickens, but most loud and proud, the roosters. The breakfast bell rang promptly at 7am where we were greeted with French toast, hotdogs, fresh pineapple, pineapple juice and good strong Haitian coffee. We knew it was going to be a good day. We had a full morning of patient care with Altidore (the Haitian PT tech who works at Bethesda). We treated and consulted with her on treatment interventions for a variety of conditions. Most of the patients we saw had a stroke but we did treat a few orthopaedic conditions.

Afternoon: We had six patients scheduled but none of them showed up. We decided to invest our time in teaching and educating Altidore by giving her the chance to ask any questions regarding patients she is currently seeing in the clinic. Most of her questions revolved around treatments for gait deviations post-stroke. In the picture below you can see Bev demonstrating hands on techniques with Altidore. We then unpacked the supplies we brought and all discussed the benefits and uses of each item. Although it wasn’t what we expected, it was unstructured time well spent pouring into Altidore and Charlot, one of our trusty translators (the Haitian man in the picture below). They have also been pouring back into us to help us better understand Haitian culture, language and patient interaction.











Highlights from the day:

Bev- 

1. It was a little slice of heaven to spend a morning working with a full schedule of highly motivated post-stroke patients and their invested caregivers. They are so appreciative of any suggestions we have to help their recovery, which in Haiti, is mostly on their own.
2. I have been praying that this trip would be one in which our team can provide a long lasting impact through education of Haitian therapists. The afternoon of one-on-one mentoring with Altidor was an answered prayer on Day 1.
3. Today is my birthday. It was a huge highlight to have “Happy Birthday” sung to me in Creole not once, not twice, but three times.

Wick-

1. After praying for one of my patients this morning, she asked if she could pray for me. This is the third time I’ve been to Haiti and I’ve never had that experience before. It was so wonderful and humbling to experience this woman’s heart for Jesus as it poured out into her prayers and interactions with me. Her energy was contagious and I look forward to seeing her again next week!
2. Celebrating Bev’s birthday with her and our Haitian friends.

First Wave on the Ground

The first wave of team members (Bev and Wick) made it to Haiti safe and sound. The travel was smooth and relatively uneventful. We start in the clinic tomorrow morning and are eager to hit the ground running. We pray for a restful night’s sleep and for the Lord to bless those we come in contact with. Please hold us up in prayer.

Wrapping up Peru 2018

The 2018 SBU DPT Peru team landed as scheduled back home today. They looked a bit roughed over, but were in good health and good spirits. From everyone involved with getting the team to Peru and back, thanks for your support. Here are a few pictures from a magnificent misty Machu Picchu visit that wrapped up the trip.

Machu Picchu and Other Travels

 As we sit here in the Lima airport during our 7 hour layover, we decided that this would be the best time to fill you all in on our travels this weekend and to give you this last blog post for our Peru trip. Last time you heard from us we were just about to board our flight to Cusco. We arrived safely and had just enough time to drop off our luggage at the hostel and grab some food to eat before our taxi ride to Ollantaytambo where we met our train that took us to Aguas Callientes. We stayed the night there and then took a bus ride to Machu Picchu the next day. We are so thankful for this opportunity to see this beautiful place. It was amazing to learn about some of the Incan history as well as see the natural beauty that God created in this place. We had a great tour guide that not only gave us the history of this place, but also took some great pictures for us that you will see in this blog. We were also able to hike to the top of Waynapicchu which was well worth the difficult hike. After a rewarding, but exhausting day of hiking, we took the train back to Cusco where we stayed the night. We were able to sleep in a little bit and then we spent some time shopping and relaxing in Cusco before we traveled to the airport. After arriving there, we found out our flight had been delayed by an hour so we had plenty of time to relax in the airport before our flight to Lima. It’s sad to leave, but we are very excited to be back home again in the States! See you all soon!

Pictures from the end of the clinic week

Saturday, November 24, 2018

We are currently sitting in the Lima airport, waiting for our flight to Cusco. We ended our week at a clinic/school for disabled children in Callao, a district about 20 minutes outside the heart of Lima. We were able to see an array of children, all with different diagnoses, similar to our previous days in the clinics. The school had a scheduled earthquake drill that we had the opportunity to a part of. This consisted of everyone standing in a circle outside the building, singing songs.

We saw a total of 16 adults and 135 children this week. We gave out 60 orthotic braces, 2 canes, 2 crutches, 1 stroller, 5 walkers, 27 wheelchairs, 1 knee sleeve, 2 bathroom chairs, 4 pairs of shoes, 1 physio tape, 2 standers, 9 orthotic shoe inserts, and 1 cushion. We were the first MMI group, serving the area of Lima, that was able to distribute ALL of the wheelchairs we brought. How cool is that?? Over the course of this week we had the opportunity to love on children who have been made to feel second class, give hope to families that have felt hopeless, provide a new means of mobility for children who have relied completely on their parents, but most importantly we were able to pray into the lives of these families who so desperately need to know the love, support, and hope that Jesus freely gives to them.

We ended Friday by taking motor taxis to the mall. We attempted to Black Friday shop, however, they don’t have large discounts like we do in America. We then indulged, for the third time this week, in some delicious Peruvian ice cream before heading back to the hostel.

It’s hard to say goodbye to people we have spent the entire week with and have developed friendships with. However, we are looking forward to the next couple days as we travel to Machu Picchu and then back home! See you all soon 😊