Thursday

I would like to spend some time today opening your eyes to the healthcare needs in the Dominican Republic. Rachel and Joan spent the day trying to help meet some of those needs. The day started out with giving antiparasite medicine to the entire school of children at Palo Blanco. The children so regularly drink water that can give them a variety parasites which cause stomach pain, diarrhea, and further compromise their already poor nutrition status. Each child in every grade level was given a pill that they had to chew which by the looks on their faces didn’t taste very good. This is ideally done every few months.

Next Rachel and Joan accompanied Leslie and Christina (the missionary doctor and nurse) on some home visits. A young girl, Rosalina (19 years old), who grew up in the Palo Blanco program had been in a bad motorcycle accident about five months ago. She suffered a broken shoulder, a compound break of her right leg, and an internal brain bleed. Sadly her boyfriend was killed in the accident. She had surgery on her leg and was sent home to her small home to recover. The instructions for follow-up care and surgical site care were written and given to her mom. The problem is that her mom does not know how to read. They missed three follow-up appointments and did not change her dressings a single time. By the time Christina was asked to come assess her, her surgical site had completely opened up, the metal plates that were put in her leg were exposed, and the leg was severely infected. Christina decided that Rosalina needed immediate medical attention. This was however severely complicated by the fact that that path to her car was so narrow and rocky that a car could not drive immediately up to her house. It was also pouring rain so the path to her home and turned into a river – muddy and slick with running water and no lights. Many of the men in the community worked together to carry Rosalina up the path to Christina’s car while Christina held an umbrella over her to try to protect her wound and prayed that the men would not slip and drop her. Rosalina was successfully taken to an orthopedic doctor who treated her as best she could (for free!) but admitted that Rosalina needed more care than he could provide. Rosalina was accepted by Cure, a nonprofit medical group, who ended up performing the needed surgery and saving her leg. There are so many other pieces to this story that are such clear interventions by God that it is too difficult to share here. It is miraculous that Rosalina survived and still has her leg. During our home visit was assessed her, changed her bandages and prayed with her. Rosalina voiced that she knows God allows people to go through difficult things some times and she knows that this may bring her closer to him. She admits that she is not emotionally recovered from the accident and the loss of her boyfriend and still struggles a lot. Rosalina is planning to try to start taking university classes in the next few months. This was already delayed due to the accident. She is experiencing double vision all of the time which will obviously will make reading in school difficult. We ask for prayers for her mental and physical healing, her family, and her education.

More time was spent that day updating the medical records of students, organizing medications, and going on another home visit.

I’m going to end this blog now because I’m out of time to write! More later! Enjoy a few pictures in the meantime!