Our team arrived home safely on Saturday evening. The Lord blessed us with a profitable week, and we have many good things to report.
Thank you to all for your generous gifts. We have stopped charging for services for 2 weeks and will extend that an additional 30 days to those with earthquake related injuries; we will reevaluate as we approach the 45-day mark and extend if needed. Monthly operating costs are between $50,000-60,000. I expect actual cost will be higher during this time due to the length of stay needed for the healing of these types of injuries. Our staff are paid a monthly salary and our desire is to give bonuses to those who have put in extra hours and days.
We also want to thank those who simply showed up. I’m told that within minutes of the earthquake, people started arriving at the hospital to offer their help. They knew we were going to have great need, so they came – other missionaries, local doctors, even those on our construction crew. It is amazing to see God’s providing care in all circumstances and we give Him the glory.
We finished our week concentrating on the most urgent cases. Our surgery staff and the team from Springfield worked long and hard. Even though much was accomplished, we still have a long way to go. It’s difficult to see people with lower priority injuries having to wait their turn – some have been at the hospital for over a week. We believe the injured from the outlying areas will continue to come. Infection will also become a major issue as time goes by, bringing another set of issues to deal with.
Samaritan’s Purse set up their mobile field hospital in Les Cayes and we met with their staff early in the week to discuss how we could work together. We decided that CSL would take the major trauma orthopedic cases as Dr. Dylan Nugent and Dr. Huges Lamy specialize in this area and that Samaritan’s Purse would concentrate on the other injures. We started transferring patients between the hospitals and hope to be able to continue this for the duration of the earthquake relief.
Our trips to Haiti always have a little drama which sometimes becomes an adventure – and this trip was no exception. For the last couple of years, we’ve been flying to Les Cayes from Port Au Prince on small planes because the road has become very dangerous. A new airline recently started servicing Les Cayes with 3 daily flights; we used them on the last trip for the first time and were excited to be able coordinate these flights with our flights back to America. On Tuesday we were notified that our flight to Port Au Prince was cancelled and that all other flights were full – it seemed that a plane or helicopter was constantly overhead delivering something or someone somewhere. After some debate, discussion, and phone calls, we decided to hire a driver to take us back to Port. Turns out the gangs who control the road had agreed to stand down for 30 days because of the earthquake and we made the 5-hour trip back on Friday without any trouble.
Looking back, we are grateful for the foundation that Dr. Bill put in place and the vision he had for a self-sustaining hospital and staff equipped to manage these situations. They do a wonderful job, and their testimony is strong. Looking ahead, the staff is tired. They have worked hard under trying circumstances and need a break. We have at least 6 employees whose homes were destroyed or suffered damage. We still need to discuss what assistance we will be able to provide.
Duane and his team of mighty men have put in many hours preparing a container of building supplies, solar panels, equipment, and medical supplies to be shipped out this week and have had to repack and reconfigure due to changing needs. Their work is essential – thanks men!
Being at CSL last week with the disaster aftermath has reinforced the need to have reliable electric service. We continue to work on getting our system up and running with January 2022 as our target. We are still about $50 thousand short of our goal.
God has blessed us with your trust and continued support as we strive to provide for the needs of the Haitians, working in the name of Christ. Please pray for healing of those injured; for strength and wisdom for the CSL staff; for the chaplains as they share the good news of Christs’ love; and for ongoing support of the planned projects.
Dan Boerman