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