January 28 -29, 2008

Before we could post this one we had to get permission from those involved. By the time we got permission we’ve been so busy we haven’t had time to update the blog. We have team of about 25 people here this week. At one o’clock Tuesday morning (or late Monday night depending on how you look at it) we hear a pounding on our door. We jump out of bed and open the door but nobody is there. When we open and hear the emergency siren. We have an emergency alert system here at Faith Home. There is one on every building. A person in the effected building can activate it which causes a siren to sound and a red light to begin flashing indicating the building. The emergency siren is coming from the house where the team is staying. We quickly put on some clothes and run up to the team’s house. When we enter all of the team members are in the main room. Many are crying and all are upset. In one of the bedrooms the doctor on the team is frantically working on a team member – Judy.

Judy is a diabetic, has gone into a diabetic coma, and is having massive seizures. Cindy begins assisting the doctor as they try to get sugar into the patient’s system without having a finger bitten off during a seizure episode. This goes on for about 20 minutes or so. It’s difficult to say the exact timing because you easily lose track of time during such episodes. The lady’s eyes are fixed and dilated and she came very to passing away.

The doctor makes the decision to try and get her to the hospital. We say try because there is no ambulance to call. Four of the men grab the sheet Judy is laying on and use it to take her to the van. All these men, the doctor, the team leader, and Cindy get in the van. Sid (our teammate) drives the van while Brad follows them in the truck. In case something happens with the van we needed a backup vehicle to get Judy to the hospital.

It’s not just a simple drive to the hospital. We must wait for the gate to be opened to leave Faith Home, slow down for 6 speed bumps passing through El Porvenir (they have big speeds bumps here that can do some serious vehicle damage if you don’t slow down). We also had to avoid hitting two dark colored horses standing in the middle of the road. They are not so easy to see at 1:30 in the morning.

It’s about a 20 minute drive to hospital in La Lima. Once we arrive at the hospital we must wait for the guard to open the gate so we can enter the hospital grounds. Most places have fences and gates here for protection. We get to the hospital and they bring out a wheelchair for Judy. We try to explain she can’t sit up we need a gurney but our Spanish and their English are not connecting.

So, we carry Judy into the emergency room ourselves. The doctor and nurses immediately begin trying to diagnose the problem because they just got the patient. Our doctor, Christy Wagner, has been working on Judy for about an 45 minutes now and is trying to explain what has happened and is requesting an IV.

This is a wonderful hospital with a great competent staff who have treated us well in the past and did so again tonight. There are about six North Americans standing around Judy’s bed when the nurse comes in to start the IV. Not much pressure on her. She gets it started on the first stick. This is even more amazing when we find out later that in the States they always have to stick Judy several times to get an IV started.

Brad parked his truck and moved the van from in front of the emergency room door. Then he went inside and sat in the waiting room. There were ladies also in the waiting room with him. Eventually all three left and walked back toward the waiting room. These ladies gathered around Judy’s bed and begin praying for her. Later they said they just knew the situation was serious and so they prayed.

We found out later these ladies were at the hospital because they had brought their pastor’s wife in early and were getting ready to leave when we arrived.

Another lady that was with this group of women was Gezel (?). She too was getting ready to leave when we came into the emergency room. She is also the wife of one of the teachers at the school at Faith Home. No one realized that when she first begin to help us. She is fluent in both English and Spanish. She was such a tremendous help in the emergency room.

Shortly after the IV was started Judy came around and was more coherent than the team leader Pauletta Yarbrough. When Judy came to Sid asked her how many people were in the room. She responded there are six. Pauletta corrected her and said “there are only five you are still out of Judy.” The correct number of people was SIX.

They admitted Judy for overnight observation and Gezel insisted on staying all night with Judy, Christy, and Cindy. So the four of them spent the night in the Judy’s hospital rest. The rest of us got home about 4:00 am.

The next morning the specialists that came to see Judy spoke excellent English. We picked up Judy about 10:30 and everybody returned to Faith Home. Can’t really say that was a restful night’s sleep.

We share this because of the many times God provided: a quality hospital that is close, the ladies that prayed and Gezel who interpreted not leaving before we arrived, not hitting the horses on the road, the nurse being able to start the IV on the first stick, an English speaking specialists, and a doctor on the team.