Haiti Part 2

The next few days were miserable because of the flu I caught. I guess it was going around Haiti since half of the people that came into the clinics had flu symptoms. But to have the sickness in the heat was something else. I was out for 2 days lying on a cot under the shade of the trees. But it was ok because the only thing I missed were class days. God is good ;)

Halloween came out of nowhere, and most of us were wishing we could be back home and have fun on this one day. It was also our day off, but there really wasn't anything we could do. Transportation was too expensive and we had to stay together. But here's the thing. We spent Halloween, which is an "evil" holiday with satanic origins in one of the most satanic environments possible! That was weird and a little twisted I thought. The pounding of the drums and chanting during that night made for an interesting night. For some reason, my ear plugs kept falling out and I would wake up in the middle of the night and hear the voodoo ceremonies still going. I'd have to stay a quick prayer to still my beating heart and try to fall back asleep. Without a doubt, spiritual warfare was present.

The next day was another clinic day! So we suited up and dawned our scrubs which made us look legit!

Like i said, LEGIT!

We arrived to the clinic and luckily, it was under some sort of shade, since the sun was beating down on us today. I got put on the diagnosis team today. So this is what I did. I sat there from 10:00-4:00 PM and had people sent to us where we would listen to them talk about their symptoms. We would ask questions and then prescribe them medicine if we thought they needed it. We found a lady with a blood pressure of 270/130! We got her to the hospital ASAP. There were also a lot of STDs that we gave injections to.  I would honestly say that half of the people coming through were lying about their symptoms. What they would do, was talk to others who had gone through and had gotten medicine and ask them what they said to get it. So we got a lot of repeat symptoms. And honestly, I began to get angry a little. I didn't want to waste time on liars while there were people out there who really needed the attention. And it was really easy to be apathetic with the Haitians and harden my heart. But later that night I was talking to my awesome leader Lori about it. And she shone some light on what I was feeling. You see, these people have been through so much more than any person should go through. They have nothing. And whatever drugs that are available in Haiti are too expensive for most of them. They need a win ; something that can bring them up from the brink just a little. And if we can smile at them, show compassion, care, and honestly love them, then perhaps we can give them hope. That hit me hard! And right there I changed my attitude about the entire thing. We weren't just bringing medicine to the sick, we were bringing Christ's unconditional love to the lost and hurting. A smile and human touch can sometimes do much more than any medication can.  

Diagnosing Station

Our 2nd Clinic

The next day, I was able to skip class and go to another clinic close by with just a few of us. We were there for about 5 hours going non stop. We got home and enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the evening. That night we were hit with some interesting news. Lori got us all together and told us that a hurricane was approaching Haiti and would hit right on us. Hurricane Thomas was a category 1 which would consist of 70-90 mile per hour winds. That doesn't seem too bad. But when you think of half the country living in make shift tents and then those winds whipping through the tent cities, you can see the problem. There would also be major flooding which would bring diseases like worms etc. . Many people back home were worried for us, because Leogane was on the news back home as the target for the hurricane. Now don't get me wrong. I didn't want the hurricane to hit because the devastation that it would leave in its wake, but I was really excited to be there during it. I wanted to help. Thankfully the hurricane shifted directions and headed towards Cuba. During those times I was listening to "Hurricane" by NEEDTOBREATHE just to get into the mood. We got hit with a tropical storm instead where it rained hard for two days. We took this opportunity and took nice long showers as lightning streaked across the sky.

The best shower available

We headed out again to another clinic after a day of classes. When we arrived, we were surprised to find that the spot was an orphanage. Unfortunately, we didn't really have any medicine specifically for children. So we had our hands tied on this one. We sat around waiting for the commands of what to do. While we did this, I took my camera out and starting getting the attention of some of the kids. Anywhere you go, kids love cameras! This was no exception. We eventually had all the older kids come through. We did the clinic for a good 5 hours before driving back in the middle of the tropical storm.

Just me and My Boys

We woke up the next morning, greeted by the rain and the flood that it brought. Luckily for us guys, we moved into the house to escape the deluge of water that would have surrounded us in our tent. We were told that the clinic wasn't happening today. I was tired. So I was ok with that. And then for some reason, our bus driver appeared for no reason. And then the clinic was back on. So we packed up and headed out. We arrived at a developing church in the middle of a tent city. Thank God we would be under shelter! This clinic was like many others. We got asked if we did abortions which was just weird. Again, we got a lady with a blood pressure of 283/120! Their diets are terrible and full of sodium. 

At one point, I had a guy that complained of morning nausea everyday. Jokingly I said, "Well sir, I think you might be pregnant." My translator didn't translate it but instead burst out laughing. Unfortunately for me, I was sitting next to my leader. After the patient left, I apologized for being out of line. I put my foot in my mouth a lot because humor is a way that I cope with certain situations like these. 

Later that night after falling asleep, I had a weird dream. And I'm glad I wrote it down. But in the dream, there was a pastor who told me of this man named Jorge who was under voodoo and demon possessed. He said I was divinely appointed and wanted me to pray and rebuke the demon. So I started. And as I began, my chest tightened, and in the dream I screamed, "I rebuke you in Jesus' name!" Unfortunately, that scream didn't stay in the dream, and I woke up to me screaming it our loud at 2 AM. I remember having trouble breathing in the midst of that. I never met a man named Jorge, but it was just another reminder of how much spiritual warfare is going on in Haiti. I asked the next morning, and most of my team said they heard me scream in the middle of the night. I laughed.

We had one more clinic in Leogane. I'll skip the details. But afterwards, we got the tour of downtown Leogane after the tropical storm. I felt like I was in Venice, Italy...well maybe a post apocalyptic Venice. The streets were no longer roads but rivers. The water was probably a foot high and like rivers. It was insane. All the tents around there were flooded. It was just pure crazy!

Leogane or Venice?

Haiti Part 1

We headed out of San Fran towards Miami. Once we were there, we met the 2nd half of our team that we had never met. All in all, we had 14 people on our team. There were 4 nurses, 6 EMTs, 1 First Responder, 1 Physical Trainer, and 2 from the Red Cross. We were more diverse in age than most teams I had been on. At first I thought it would be tough coming into a team where more than not, people didn't know each other. But it really wasn't at all! I can honestly say that there wasn't one case of drama or anything else that usually permeated mission teams. So we became close quite fast considering how our surroundings forced it.

The Team

We eventually arrived into Port Au Prince airport. It was more like a metal crate rather than an airport. The heat and humidity hit us instantly, permeating our shirts with sweat. We had brought about 10-12 crates and suitcases of medicine with us. Weirdly, customs in Haiti were about to block us from bringing it in. The only reason we got it through was the fast tongue of our leader Lori exclaiming, "For cholera, for cholera!" That did the trick even though we didn't have anything exactly for it since the cholera outbreak hit Haiti a few days before we left. We all packed into our team bus and headed to the city of Leogane which is 20 miles south of Port Au Prince. There has definitely been some clean up efforts, yet it almost seems like a hopeless situation with all the crumbling houses that still remain.

We arrived at our house which a lady named Sister Ruth rented out to medical teams to use. It was like a compound with 12 foot walls laden with barb wire. Most of the girls got to sleep inside the house. Us 3 guys got the tent. This was fine by me. When in Haiti. There was no electricity save a generator. We also had a cistern for the water and showers. All in all though, it was nicer than I thought it'd be. We unpacked and laid out how the week would look. We were all spent. So it was a short day and we headed to bed. Word of advice. If you ever come to Haiti, bring ear plugs!!! I woke up over 8 times that night due to the roosters crowing every hour, the 5+ dogs barking and fighting outside the walls, the cows having mooing contests, the neighbor's island music, the demonic pigs from hell squealing, and voodoo ceremonies that filled the night air. The unfortunate thing about the house was the not being allowed to go outside the walls unless as a team. Thus we were left to scrounge up whatever fun we could with our imaginations since no one brought any sports balls or anything of the sort.

Our home/prison

This is what our schedule would look like. We had 2 major things on the agenda. Our leader brought a man from the Salvation Army named Major David who was going to teach "Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)" classes for six days. The rest of the days would be filled up with clinics that we would put on. Unfortunately, I've already taken CISM classes at my college. So this was tough for me to sit in on them since I wanted to be out in the city helping. So the classes would be about 6 hours a day inside the house where we had a generator power the computer, projector, and fan. Sitting for that long in the humidity and heat inside was the biggest challenge! I missed 2 of the days when I got struck with the flu. 

The Classroom/Our House

Our first day of clinics finally came about! I was excited to get out and help. We split our team into 3 different groups for clinics. One group would be doing vitals on the patient (Blood pressure, temperature, pulse, respirations, etc). From there, they would send the patient to the blood station where the patient's hemoglobin would be checked to look for iron deficiency which is rampant in these areas because of dietary reasons. From there they would be sent to the diagnosing station. There were usually at least 3 groups of 2 people with a translator. The patient would come and we would ask them questions on why they're here and what they're feeling. It could be long or short depending on the symptoms. Once we diagnosed them, we would administer the correct drugs and dose and give it to the patient. 

So we arrived at the first clinic which wasn't too far from our house. This was the only one that wasn't under shelter which would come back to bite us in the end. This was the trial run. And we performed it all under a big tree.

Our First Clinic Sight!

I volunteered to do the blood station. If you don't know this about me, I love blood! But don't even think I like all the vampire garbage that's going on. But I get so excited when I see blood!! So being able to poke people seemed like a fun way to start out. This clinic and every other clinic afterwards went anywhere from 6-8 hours! So for this first one, we found a few interesting medical cases. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. Blood pressure is the force that is exerted on the blood vessels as the blood passes through them. Anyways, high blood pressure here in the states is like 150-160. We found a lady with a BP of 252/150!!! That's a walking time bomb. I don't understand how her vessels just don't pop! With that high of blood pressure, there's a big chance of a brain aneurysm which would cause death. So we gave her blood pressure medication and got people to take her to the hospital. There was also an infant of 15 days who wasn't doing too well. He was lethargic and had cyanosis in the lips. This coupled with some other signs caused us to suspect cardiac issues. We made the mom take the infant to the hospital. I can honestly say, that in a few more days, the child would have died. Around 4:00 the storms came in and chased us off back home.

Final Scenario and then.....Haiti here we come!

I'm writing this exhausted and worn. Last night was our final scenario for RescueNet. And boy oh boy was it something. Our team of 14 people (some emts, nurse, and others with no medical experience) teamed up and split into groups to get ready for this scenario. This was it. This is where we put into practice what we learned over the past 2 weeks. 

So we all had our last class at the fire department in Santa Rosa. We were doing studies on calling helicopters in and setting up a landing zone. Crazy aigh? We finished our written final and then geared up for the scenario. I was put onto one of the medical teams after saying no to leading the entire operation. I like hands on and not staying on the radio the entire time. More and more now, I'm thinking I should have led it. 

This was the scenario. There was an 8.3 magnitude earthquake. We were called to a town where we didn't know how many victims there were. We arrived at a training facility where they train EMTs and Paramedics. We got out of the vans and hit the ground running.....kinda. There were a lot of people there! And our commander wasn't sure of himself. So it started out slow. I really had to control myself with not taking control and telling people what to do (I should have been the commander). We sent the search & rescue people out to triage. After they were finished, the medical teams were dispatched. We came up to a house that was tagged with two critical patients. The first one was a girl curled up in the closet. She was unresponsive and obviously in shock. So my partner Jared and I got her out fast to the medical zone where we treated her and passed her off to the nurses. We went back and found the other patient lying down in a tight room and breathing rapidly (40+). I did the assessment while others did vitals and held c-spine. We were in there for about 20 seconds when three onlookers came in and started messing with us and trying to get to the patient as well as the media asking us questions and taking pictures. Let me remind you that everyone, including the media, was part of the scenario. And boy did they get in the way. It was over the top, but the scenario was putting us in the WORST possible situation and forcing us to adapt and work with what we have. 

SO... this patient's vitals were badly trending. This told us something else was going on that we missed. We decided to get her out. So using a door, we rolled her onto it and strapped her down. This was tough, especially with all the other people getting in our way and us constantly having to get them out of the room. We FINALLY got the patient to the medical zone and went over her one more time. I found what I had missed earlier. She had a flail segment in her ribs which impeded her breathing. I should have caught it in the beginning! So that was frustrating for me no doubt. All in all, that was a frustrating patient and my team and I had to stop and take a deep breath before moving on. 

We went to the far house where we found a new room blocked by a deaf and mute girl trying to protect her brother who was unconscious and had a bad head wound. This one was tough! Whenever we tried to start helping the brother, the girl would get in the way, take our equipment, bounce on the bed, get in our face, hit us, etc etc etc!!! But my team and I worked together so well! We wrapped the wound, got him on the board, and carried him down two flights of stairs to his horror. HA. We rocked it in the face of just pure pandamonia. The scenario was truly stretching, and I learned a lot about myself and how to work with others. We all messed up somewhere, but we excelled in other places. 

I'm leaving to Haiti in about 4 hours. I'm excited to see what's going to happen! Thank you for all your prayers. If I can't keep this updated down there, then I'll definitely do it when I get back. Promise!

With Love,
Paul

We're Almost There!

Sorry about not updating this lately. But I didn't want to bore you with excessive blog updates on how my classes are going. So I'll probably break it up into two updates for these two weeks of classes.

There is a lot to learn in these 2 weeks! This is how a typical day is for me here at the RescueNet training. I wake up at 6:30 AM and take a shower, making sure not to touch anything, especially the ground with my bare feet, since the YWAM base opens up the showers to the homeless to use. Ick. We eat breakfast together at 7:00 and just hang out. Then classes start out with team/leadership training and worship for an hour. We then have different subjects for different days. And these classes go from about 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM with a few short breaks here and there! So it's just non-stop learning.

While we're here, there's a Discipleship training school going on as well. So it's nice to be able to go from hanging with people from RescueNet to people from the DTS who are more my age. So definitely a blessing!

So far, these are the subjects that we have gone over:
1. What is RescueNet
2. Christian Response to Crisis
3. Disaster Preparedness
4. Radio Communication
5. First Response Medicine (2 days)
6. Search & Rescue
7. Fire Suppression

Coming up:
Disaster Psychology
Disaster Child Care
Field awareness, Landmine awareness, Hostage Conduct
Team Organisation (Field Command)
Guidelines

So as you can see, there's a lot to cover in 2 weeks! As I write this, we have the nominated best fire chief in California talking to us about fire suppression!

Personally, I'm really tired. Not getting enough sleep plus all this learning just adds up. I think all the team is feeling the effects as well. The past few days we have started going into scenarios. These are supposed to put us into real life situations and force us to work as a team and put into practice what we have learned. For example, we had a bunch of the DTS kids volunteer to become victims. The proctors do all the make up and tell them what's wrong with them and pretty much create a multiple casualty incident (MCI). I was the leader on this last one for my team of 6. So we put into practice what we learned from search and rescue, to radio communications, and first response medicine. And it gets intense! But I love it! I love being overwhelmed in these situations and realizing what we can do better to make it all work. Out of everyone here, I'm one of the most learned in these areas. And I've found that I like to take control and do a very good job with telling others what to do in these situations and teaching them.

I have less than a week before we pack up and head off to Haiti! Then the good stuff will happen. I've talked with my leader, and asked if I could spend extra time in the clinics while I'm down there so that I can get as much experience as possible. I'll update this one more time before I leave. Pray for me and my team.

Thanks y'all,
Paul

And So it Begins!

I've been to San Francisco many many times, but each time I come back, I can't get over the sheer vastness of it. Walking down the street, you get marauded by different characters or homeless looking for a fast buck. All I know, is that I am no longer in Salem.

So I arrived at the San Francisco YWAM base as the Blue Angels flew above me. It was actually quite the welcome. I was further welcomed by some familiar faces: Rick Homeyer (Second dad), Rhoda, and Dave Mansfield. All people that I have crossed in my many outings. I got the run down of what this YWAM base is about and what they focus on. Even without being told, I could tell that they focus on the homeless. I got the grand tour and then found out what the next two weeks would look like. If you couldn't tell exactly what I was doing from the last post, I am doing a two week school here with RescueNet which is a first responder medical team. With this training and little bit more in the future, I'll be able to mobilize with them when a disaster happens in the world and go out and give mercy medical services.


Medical + Traveling + People = What I've always wanted to do!!!


So I'll be here for two weeks training. It'll be 10+ hour days of just lectures, studying, hands on, balls to the wall learning. It'll be more of a focus on urban disasters and what we will do. Example: If you were to come upon a house partially destroyed by an earthquake and you suspected people possibly trapped, you would proceed through the house staying to the left the entire time until you came back to the entrance etc etc etc. We'll then have final scenarios in the end and put what we learned into practice. And then Haiti will happen right after that.

Coming into this kind of thing is never exactly easy when everyone is new and you can't get too much interaction because of constant lectures. So it's all about throwing yourself out there and hoping you can get close to some people. It will come with time. And it's a fight to push away an overwhelming sense of loneliness in the midst of people. But that won't last for long.

First night is always the hardest.

PS. I'm going to say that God is amazing, and all the support that came my way made me tear up more than a few times. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me and praying for me! I'll do you all proud and go all out! With love.

Paul

It's All Coming Together

As I sit here and type, the non refundable tickets that finalize my decision to go to Haiti are now bought. I'm going!

So a little background on why this is happening. First off, I'm a born and bred missionary kid. Traveling and being part of different cultures is in my blood. It's like food to me, and I begin to get antsy if I haven't been out of the country in over a year. When I was on my DTS in 2008, I was in Indonesia for 2 months doing the missionary thing, like speaking in churches and helping out in slums. One day, my team was in a bus driving to another church. While we were driving, I happened to look across the street right as a lady on a motorcycle collided with a car, sending her over the car, and landing on the street with a tremendous thud! She automatically went into convulsions and shock. Everyone in my bus wanted to stop, yet no one knew what to do. So we kept going and prayed for her. I can honestly say that that was the pivotal change in my life where I knew that the medical field was where I wanted be. Praying is awesome, and I believe God can heal, but I also know that he gives us the tools to help others with our hands. And I wanted to help not only in the spiritual, but the physical realm as well. Thus I pursued the field of paramedics and I am now licensed by the state as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).

This is now the present. I have two more terms before my paramedic training starts, yet I only need one more term to finish all the classes that I need to apply for it. This left a good couple of months of me just twirling my thumbs. Ever since the earthquake in Haiti happened, I have longed to go and help with relief work. Then three weeks ago, I got a newsletter from a lady that my parents know talking about a medical team that she would be leading down to Haiti. I mentioned that I would love to do that. Weirdly, that next week, my parents met the lady, named Lori, who was leading and mentioned me. She called me up two days later and invited me to join them on the trip! I almost immediately said yes!

So this is how it is going to look. I'm going to travel down to San Francisco to go train with a relief program called RescueNet. They specialize in first response relief to catastrophes. They were one of the first first teams into Haiti and ended up finding a man under the rubble ten days after the quake! If I train with them, then I'll have numerous opportunities to travel with them in the future. I'll be there in San Francisco from October 9th to the 23rd. Then I'll travel with the team of 13 people to Haiti. And we'll be there till mid November. Unfortunately, I'll have to come back home a week early so I get back in time for paramedic interviews which are on the 12th of November.

While we are down in Haiti, we'll be doing clinics in different cities and neighborhoods. We will be bringing down supplies like vitamins that are sorely needed etc. We will also be putting on schools and teaching the Haitians about all things medical. I guess the best way to describe it would be that we will be loving on the people down there. And that's more than enough for me.

I'm going to try try try to keep this blog up to date! But the internet is, well, as you could probably guess, not the best down there. But you have my solemn promise that I'll do my best!