NCBM #3 Update - Day 6

Team update from Sheryl Cuppy (ER Nurse at Haywood Regional Hospital)

Hello, all is well here. I have so many experiences to share. It is so busy, but I am enjoying it. We are seeing a lot of everything. today we intubated a 1 yr old with pneumonia and shipped him out. Yesterday I had a MVA rollover trauma who was 18 yrs old. He got a chest tube and last night he was shipped to the USS Comfort for ruptured diaphram and a closed head injury.
The x-ray dept is a one room xr machine, and then they have to hand develop the film. NO CT's or anything else. The laboratory is a little room with 2 or 3 microscopes and it is so old fashioned. We have to hand label all the specimens (and that is not many because they can only do certain test) and take them to the lab, and then in a few hours go back to get a hand written report. The lab is being run by the Haitian women who worked here before and today I asked them if they were over whelmed and the answer was a resounding YES. they are not used to this many test. On wednesday we did a cardiac echo with a very old vaginal OB ultrasound. We got to see what we needed to see about the pts heart, and then later some other doctor asked what the pts Ejection Fraction was!!!! I just looked at him. I wanted to say come on buddy, we are in a 3rd world country with machinery that came over on the Mayflower.

Anyway, we are having a good time. We are safe. They take good care of us here. Feeding us well. We are taken by bus right to the front door and picked up and brought back to the Baptist compound. The Haitians ...are very appreciative and very nice. Everyone is so grateful.

My thoughts .....
I think the plane ride home is when the team is going to start reflecting and becoming depressed..... please ask for prayers that they are able to cope with all that they have seen and done and not have been able to do.....

AND I thank God that he put the thought in Brad's mind to take that laptop and for having the friend call him ON THE WAY TO THE AIRPORT to recommend Skype..... and we think we don't see God in action?? Only if we are not paying attention!!