It was about 9 pm when we got an emergency call from the clinic reporting the arrival of a family with 5 children who had been overcome with fumes from a gas generator.  Apparently the children had been watching TV in a room where a gasoline generator was running.  When they stepped outside to bathe, the 3 and 4 year old girls passed out, and the 11 year fell down, disoriented and confused.  The parents had been working outside, so were not exposed.

When I arrived, there was an 11 year old girl on the examining table, struggling to get her breath, and only intermittently responsive.  A 3 year old girl was asleep, and the others seemed pretty groggy.  The room reeked of gasoline.  As I walked over to the clinic, I was wondering if this was going to be situation of carbon monoxide poisoning, or toxicity from gas fumes, or both.  We quickly got 0xygen saturation readings (Thank you Wisconsin team for the oximeters) on all of them and they ranged from 72% to 84%-for children, these readings should be more like 98%.  We had only one oxygen tank, and only an adult mask, so we played “musical oxygen masks”, giving O2 and holding masks on a child until the saturation came up, and then we would switch to the next child.  We had to go about 3-4 rounds before everyone’s 02 sat was holding above 96%.

Thankfully, nurses and students from the Elim team were present and each one held a groggy child as the oxygen was administered.  Their clothing reeked of gasoline, so we stripped them all down and found a suitcase with mostly kids’ clothing that had been left behind.  They were all quite pleased with their new duds.
We talked with the parents about safety in using a generator in the house, but were not totally confident that they understood the gravity of the situation.  The next day, several of us and a visiting “engineer/can fix anything” man all went to visit them.  The kids were all bright-eyed and playful, with no complaints of headaches or dizziness.  We checked out the generator situation and discovered it would not be possible to vent it to the outdoors.  Leaving it outside was apparently out of the question for fear it would be stolen.  There was a small gasoline leak in one of the hoses that we fixed with some tape.  Truly, the fumes in the room were very strong and the generator had not been run for many hours.  So even though they seemed to understand they should run the generator early in the day with no people in the room, I am still concerned that the room is their sleeping room, and it has no ventilation.
So, we will try to stop by on a “casual” basis now and then, so as not to appear to be prying.  (We will, however, continue to be praying for them!). We walked by yesterday, and the two little girls waved very enthusiastically.

Dave discussing a case with students and a clinic nurse. In this room, we see patients, do procedures such as minor surgeries and IV therapy, and take care of multiple members of a family as in this story.

Que Dios te Bendiga!  Mary Kay

We have enjoyed sharing our knowledge with the Elim Students in the Community Health Tract.  It is clear that there are many people around the world with limited or no access to medical care.  But so much of health is so basic that having such trained people in a deprived area could literally save lives.  Starting with a hish school education I see these future missionaries being able to render first line care and saving lives with sound advice and treatment.  In the past, some have gone on to become nurses and doctors, as God has called them.
We have done some lectures about common health problems.  We have shown some videos.  But most importantly they are shadowing us and then learning to take a history and do an examination, identify the problem and then work toward a solution.  Next weekend we travel to El Mosco where our mountain base for outreach is located.

Classes are held in the Clinic Commodore.

Saul and Lorena, key workers in the Clinic.

Students do the initial intake on the patients in the Clinic.

Next weekend the students will have the opportunity to shadow, to check in patients, to distribute medicines, and to do children’s ministry in the mountains.

Que Dios te Bendiga!  David Ness

It seems as if every outreach has one or more medical themes- maybe diabetes, maybe diarrhea and worms, maybe malnutrition- and this outreach was no exception.  We saw a whole range of vision problems, everything from cataracts to corneal injuries related to prior injuries that were not taken care of, to the need for glasses for near or far vision, to conjunctivitis related to the smoke and dust in their environment. Loss of near vision, which happens as many of us reach 40 or more, is especially critical to the women whose livelihood often depends on weaving and embroidery.  There are no nearby Walmart’s to buy a cheap pair of reading glasses.  Abdela is a 32 year old woman who came in with the chief complaint of greatly diminished vision, both near and far, that had come on quite suddenly.  After a few questions, it was clear that this history was not making sense.  So we asked her exactly what happened the day she lost her vision.  I was not prepared for her answer (I knew I would not be).  She had been standing on their porch with her family, watching as her mother walked down the street to visit them.  It was raining hard, and suddenly, water roared down the street and swept her mother up and carried her away.  Though they were nearby, they were unable to help her.  They found her mother’s body about ¼ mile away. She had seen something so terrible that she “lost her vision”. She was devastated, and as we found out as we talked more, she felt guilty that she had not been able to save her.  She was having dreams where her mother would be calling her to “come to her”, and she wanted to go- creating more guilt for wanting to leave her young family.  She had had prayer for “return of her vision”, but not for release from her tremendous sense of loss and sense of guilt.  She accepted (it seemed) our explanation of why she could not see well, and expressed hope that her vision would return over time as she was able to release her guilt.

We were fortunate to have a dental team with us, but these were too far gone to save.

We have never seen this in our 35 years of practice. Help!

We were hosted by Pastor Eduardo, his family and the members of the church.  Since there were 30 of us, that was no mean feat!  They gave us a spot to erect 5 tents and to keep our vehicles, and housed the rest in 3 different homes.  They served 4 different meals a day to us.  I can’t begin to count the number of tortillas they made, and the soups and stews were simmered in huge washtubs. The women cooked in a communal type kitchen, and served us all with graciousness and generosity.  Sunday evening was their worship service, and our group was asked to do most of it.  It was a pleasure for us to see the worship team (led by a Mixteco man from the base) lead worship, and then to hear one of the young Bible school graduates preach a simple, core message: God is Love.  Subsequently the Mixteco worship team began to play and sing, and the tempo and the decibel level really ratcheted up, and there was a lot of dancing by young and old.  The music, the dancing, the shared smiles dissolved the language barrier.  It was one of the highlights of the outreach.

Two chronologically enriched Mixteco women.

Read on.

He came to the base clinic from 2 hours away.  About a third of his left foot was gone.  He had diabetes, but denied it until gangrene forced him to go to the hospital for this procedure.  He forbade the surgeons from doing the recommended higher amputation. As he lay there, he had a vacant stare.  His sister-in-law spoke for him.  Then we saw his sister-in-law and her husband, the patient’s brother.  The only other relatives have dropped out of the picture, leaving this couple to care for him.  His brother had not worked for a month.  He was holding the patient’s hospital bills in his hand; he had been helping him with the daily necessities.  More than respite care is necessary.  What could we do?  We counseled him to resume work, and try to get a neighboring youth to help in the personal care.  Then it became clear that the patient, with the partially amputated foot (with bones showing and without skin covering) understood the undue toll on his brother and his family.  He was choosing his own way to die.  The church had helped a little, but that was now gone.

Work, a meal, and now relaxing.

It seems as though personnel on the Base are under attack.  Right now respiratory illness is prevalent.  An important worker has been sidelined with kidney stones.  Another leader has been weakened by physical health problems.  Others are facing challenging personal problems.  Some short term teams have cancelled, causing chronic revenue shortfalls (problem began with the crash of the market in the USA and has not corrected).  Please intercede in prayer as the Spirit within you directs that the work being done here will continue through these obstacles, and that we will be strengthened by  His grace to overcome them.  It is after all His work and His battle.

Que Dios les Bendiga!  Dave and Mary Kay Ness