Belize- Day Four

Today was probably the most emotional day yet. We saw around 130 patients, which makes for a grand total of around 300! It's amazing how great the needs are. Many people don't have any running water. Many of the villager's water source is from a well or stream. How are you supposed to teach someone how to bathe, clean, and cook safely when they don't have clean water or soap? So many of the illnesses we have seen could easily be prevented if they just had the basics.

The most saddening, I want to take you home so I can help you, I can't believe it can get this bad, what can we do to help moment was when a 15 month old girl came in with a cast that had been cut open on her left arm. We learned from her parents that her upper arm had been run over by a car 3 months previously. They had taken her to a visiting doctor who put a cast on the arm and told the family he'd be back in 4 months and to keep the cast on until he saw her again. Three months has past. The father knew the arm was not healing properly and had taken the girl to 2 or 3 other doctors. Each time the doctors would look at the arm, it would rebreak. When our physician examined the child, the same thing happened. When he barely moved the cast, the arm visibly rebroke causing the arm to bend above the elbow. The physician was finally able to take the cast off. This only revealed large open sores, some as large as 2-inch circles, on her entire arm from having the cast on. Like I said, lack of cleanliness and skin issues are rampant in Belize. The poor child was in excruciating pain. All we had was tylenol and ibuprofen, which wouldn't even touch it. Now let me back up, when we were given a list of meds to bring to the clinic, narcotics were on the definite NO list. Somehow (well we know how....some of us call it "A God Thing") a bottle of tylenol with codeine, in liquid form no less, had been donated with the other medications. We gave it to the child with so relief. The doctor cleaned her wounds the best he could and made a make shift cast and sling. We are already trying to set up a way for the child to come to the US and have surgery, which she desperately needs. Without it, her arm will never heal properly if at all. Being an orthopedic nurse, this hit hard for me. If I was at work, if this little girl was in the U.S., supplies would be readily available, the arm would be healed by now, surgery would have been done within hours of the break. Instead, this child has suffered and the family feels helpless. Please pray that the family will be able to take the child to the U.S. quickly and that her arm can be healed. It could take up to a month for everything to come together. That's a long time, especially if you're 15 months old.

Now after a sad story, I must end with a happy one. The people of Belize are always smiling. It doesn't matter if they had to wait 7 hours to see a doctor or they have scabies and lice, they still smile, are thankful for what they have, and are always loving. They are so Christ like in their own way. It's so easy for us to get wrapped up in our "stuff." Sit back, soak in your blessing, and thank God for them. Then smile.