"Friends and Family,
Joel will be departing on a medical mission to Haiti tomorrow morning at 10 am. This whole trip got thrown together in the past 48 hours...to God be the glory. On Thursday night we got invited to a teleconference at Hill Country Bible Church here in Austin with 3 docs on the ground there working out of a mission home. They were exhausted to say the least and desperate for more aid and supplies. That night Joel agreed to take on the task of medical leader of this team. 2 chartered jets (9 persons each) and their pilots were donated. We had to come up with the money for the gas.
That night we thought, "Maybe we'll be able to get a team big enough to fill one plane." At that point I was signed up to go with Joel as nurses were said to be of huge need there. We made some phone calls, set some emails, and posted on Facebook ;) for interest in helping serve or get supplies. In less than 24 hours we had both planes full (18 people) and had begun to take names for a second trip down there. We had never imagined.
Donations and supplies were another huge surprise. Thursday I had two boxes delivered to the house of antibiotics. I was impressed by the 100+ vials sitting in our bedroom. When I showed up to HCBC on Friday afternoon to help sort through the donations I was shocked by the out pouring of aid delivered from the city of Austin. Truly I could not wrap my mind around it. Hallways full of medical supplies, an ultrasound machine, IV fluids, narcotics (hello those are sooo hard to get!!), antibiotics tons of them! There was so much donated that we estimated we would be able to take a 10th of what was given on this trip. Flash back 24 hours, we were thinking I wonder if we could get enough stuff to fill one plane!! The gas for this first flight was fully paid for by donors. Thank you thank you thank you.
This whole process has been truly divine in nature. God has clearly had his hand through it all. I'm amazing and in awe of the God we serve. He is mighty to be praised!
So, please pray. Pray for the team. 3 RN's, 2 Sugicial Techs, 1 Chaplain, 12 surgeons and physicians.
Pray for safe travel. They will be departing from ABIA at 10am and land 4 hours from Port au Prince, the airport there has since be closed off to us as of this afternoon. Trucks from the mission home will meet them at the airport, load up the teams and supplies, and drive the 4 hours back to the mission house. We are uncertain of the return flight as of now. Looking like Thursday or Friday of next week.
Pray for God to use them in an effective way to help the Haitians. They will be working out of a private hospital. 3 OR's running. Hundreds of people to be treated. People currently are getting surgeries but dying post op of infections and lack of wound care and antibiotic treatment. Such advance supplies were donated that our team could set up their own OR and function out of it. Pray this all goes smoothly and that people are being helped quickly.
Pray for safety. We have been told that Jamaican and Haitian military are manning the hospital and at present there are no safety issues.
Pray for the emotional and mental health/stress on the teams. The 3 doctors told us you couldn't possible prepare for what you're about to see. It's gruesome and the hospital permeates of gangrene. People are dying daily if not hourly. That's a lot to handle day after day. Pray for strength in spite of this tragedy.
Pray for the hearts of the unsaved both on the team and in Haiti. May God be glorified through their work. May they truly be the hands and feet of Jesus. Not only healing physical ailments but much greater, the spiritual.
So excited and anxious for them to get there! Thank you for all your love and prayers!
In Him,
Ashley "
There is a link to Texas Orthopedics on the right hand side of this page for updates, pictures and more about the goings on in Haiti.
Here are a few pics from the team forwarded from Ashley.
Pic 1: The team turned this destroyed laboratory into an OR. They are truly serving the Haitian people
Pic 2: Little girl with infected, depressed skull fracture. Still smiling-Amazing!
Pic 3: Running a nebulizer off a bicycle foot pump
Pic 4: Roof fallen on top of home - near mission complex
(pic 2-4 courtesy of Tim Guermay, Tracey Haas' husband)
Pic 5: Dr Michael Loeb and Dr Scott Smith fixing a tib-fib fracture that happened 13 days ago!
Pic 6 and 7: Teams unloading the planes yesterday..
