Expanding Our Reach: Mobile Medical Clinics

While our hospital staff continues to meet the growing daily need for health care at Peredo Community Hospital, HCO was able expand our reach by hosting three mobile medical outreaches with medical professionals serving on short-term teams.

In February, medical team members from Lebanon CC (IN) saw 124 patients in nearby Meyer, using a former clinic building that is no longer in operation. In March, a medical team from North Terrace CoC (OH) held clinics in both Anse a Boeuf and Belle Anse, treating over 400 patients in total.

PCH has been seeing over 500 patients per month so far in 2018. What a blessing it is to have medical teams come and help us provide care to the equivalent of another month’s worth of patients – over 525 patients – who might not otherwise receive care and for some who are in quite remote areas!

We are grateful for the impact of short-term teams of all talents! They truly help the mission expand its efforts. And, of course, trips impact those who serve as well. Megan Schreiber, the Business Administrator of Northpointe Surgical Suites, served with North Terrace CoC (OH), and shares a testimony below about her experience.

Speaking for our medical team, this week was fish and loaves, all week! Prior to leaving for Haiti, I had a goal of collecting enough supplies to make 500 hygiene kits (bar of soap, wash cloth, toothbrush, toothpaste). When we left, we only had 150 completed kits. While I was disappointed we hadn’t reached the goal, I was thankful we had some to give out (along with a lot of medical supplies).

Upon arrival to Peredo, we were weary from travel and the long ride from Port-au-Prince. We were grateful for the amazing meal awaiting us and a soft place to lay our heads. Little did we know that the rooster who makes his home behind the dorms did not know the meaning of dawn! Of course, as the week went on, I began to think the Haitian definition of dawn was 3:00 a.m.!

Sunday morning brought a beautiful view – the church, the school buildings, the dorms, the clinic, and the partially finished surgery center. All of these paled in comparison to the mountains, sky, and beautiful scenery God created as the backdrop of the HCO campus. During Sunday morning worship two people from the Peredo community gave their lives to Christ!

After church, Marcus guided us through the village to the beach. Along the way, we were caught in a downpour! After standing under a large tree for approximately ten minutes, a family graciously invited us to take shelter on their covered porch. They brought out every chair in their home for us to sit on! Once the rain slowed, we finished our trek to the beach. What a beautiful view!

For three of us, our medical mission started late Monday night as we packed the Land Cruiser with supplies. Mike, Alana, and I rode three hours through the mountains to Belle Anse and arrived at the Cocky Hotel around midnight. The next morning, we had breakfast at the home where RoRo was invited to start the Belle Anse church! Madam Dede and her family were very welcoming and provided us with a full belly and full hearts!

We met up with the rest of the team in Anse a Boeuf after a beautiful boat ride! Once on the island, the children assisted us with our bags to the church where the clinic was to be held. We started by arranging the stations in the way we had planned prior to leaving for Haiti. Our Plan A quickly turned to Plan B, Plan B to Plan C, and Plan C to Plan D! The flexibility of the team was an essential part of the success of this clinic. Finally, around 3:00 p.m, we took inventory of our pharmacy supply and finished clinic after seeing almost 150 patients.

That evening, as we evaluated our day, it was decided we would package the meds in individual doses to make the most of what we had left. We had one suitcase of medication, not including a bag of pre-packaged vitamins. Judging by the one suitcase of medication, I predicated we would be out of meds no later than noon.

Next, we decided we would put together as many hygiene kits as possible from what was left over from earlier in the day. We had no more than 30 complete kits left. And when all those were gone (which we didn’t think would take but an hour), we would pass out single toothbrushes. I started opening the suitcases we inventoried the day before and laying supplies on the table as the team stuffed bags.

After a few minutes, I realized we had several more complete hygiene kits – each with a wash cloth, bar of soap, toothbrush and toothpaste. Each time I moved supplies around in a different bag, I found more supplies to make complete kits! Where did the soap and toothpaste come from? Where did the “extra” bags come from? Didn’t we go through all these bags? These were my thoughts as I watched two entire suitcases being filled with complete hygiene kits. By the time we quit for the evening, we had close to 300 hygiene kits ready to dispense!

Arriving at the site of the newly-planted Emmanuel Christian Church in Belle Anse, we started clinic around 9:30 a.m., still expecting to be finished by 12:00 p.m. at the latest. The idea to pre-package the medications had a significant benefit to the efficiency of the flow. Before we knew it, we were passing out the second and third round of numbers 1-100!

It was around 4:00 p.m. when I looked into the suitcase of medication and realized we had leftovers and all patients had been seen! All patients were given necessary medication, or at least vitamins, and a hygiene kit for each person in the family! And there were leftovers! Loaves and fish! Loaves and fish!

It wasn’t until we returned to Peredo and started to sort through the assessment cards that we found we were able to see over 400 patients in those two days (150+ in Anse a Boeuf and 250+ in Belle Anse)! And there were leftovers!

This is a photo of part of the medical team from North Terrace CoC (OH). The other part of their team stayed in Peredo to serve. We will be sharing another testimony from them about a big project they completed in the coming weeks!