NEWSPAPER

We made the Columbus Telegram's Sunday morning paper. Front page.  Newspaper Article

PACKING DAY

We met at Dave's in Omaha to pack most of the totes/suitcases.  The CMMT turned out in force and we got a lot done.  We met some wonderful fellow missionaries and learned more about what we'll do in Haiti.  I'll post some photos of the day.  We finished off with pizza and planning.  Very good day.

Dave's garage.

We lined up all the donated large suitcases.  They say the customs agents don't search suitcases as much as totes that we have used in the past.  Joe seems to be friends with all the airline folks anyway so we hope it will be hastle free.

John by the piles of suitcases.

A suitcase full of ENT stuff.

The garage.

The garage.

We distributed the nursing books to spread out the weight. Then put the books in the bottom so when you stand the suitcase up, it will balance.

Weighing the suitcase.  Joe steps on the scale, then picks up each suitcase.  We got VERY VERY close to the 50 lb mark on all of them.

More garage

Mary and Molly.  

CMMT members with Joe and Dave by all the boxes, but then we saw that we covered up the suitcases.

We lined up behind some of the nursing books that we have donated. Teaching is going to be our primary goal.

So we ducked down.  Then entire wall behind us is covered with stacked suitcases. 

TEAM T-SHIRTS

Linda Carlson designed and ordered our team t-shirts.  They came in today.  We'll wear them while traveling so we can find each other in the airports and crowds.  We got one each for the Haitian ENT, Dr. Jovin, Dr. Gardy, the Haitian team leader and Dr. Joe Miller, the leader for Grace 4 Haiti.
Laci picked hers up at the office today. The first picture is the back, the second is Laci modeling the front.  NN

MALARIA

We start our malaria medicine tomorrow.  The area were we'll be in Haiti is a low malaria area, but we need to be careful.  We only take the medicine once a week.

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS

The University of Alberta nurses sent their used French nursing textbooks to us so we can take them to Haiti.  They arrived today, thanks to Cheryl Reddekopp, who lives there and is also a nurse, I believe. We received around $2000 worth of books from Canada just today and received more from the Amazon wish which also arrived at the office today.  They make quite a sight out on my kitchen counter.  We even ended up with 2 French/English medical dictionaries so one can go to the nursing school and one can stay at the hospital or clinic.

Our enthusiasm for education has spilled over to the entire larger group of Grace 4 Haiti.  We now are planning seminars each afternoon.  Our nurses will cover for some of the Haitian nurses so they can attend class instead of working.  We'll be sending our team to the nursing school each afternoon as well. 

I'm preparing a talk on ENT.  It was originally made for the mission field by Dr. Merry Sebelik, from the University of Tennessee.  I've befriended a number of ENT humanitarian medical workers who travel all over the world.  Some of these are academicians and have a lot of experience with this, so it seems silly to reinvent the wheel.  I'm updating some of the pictures of the exam with some of my own, and a friend (so it turns out) can read and speak French.  She's and English teacher here, but offered to translate the slides into French for me.  Good luck with that, Michele! I'm also enlisting one of the nurses to update the photos for me, so it's all coming together really well.  

Our list of courses to present in Haiti include: Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Women's Heath - infections, Colostomy/ Appendectomy Care, Post-op wound and drain care, Strokes, PT/OT, ENT, Splinting and Casting, Urology, TURP, Prostatectomy, Audiology, Diabetes, New medications, Pre-op evaluation and recovery.  We have people on the team specializing in all these areas.  The team has grown to 40+ people.  

MORE PACKING

We're expecting a big box of books tomorrow, so John rearranged totes again today.  One example of the full tote below. You see we have different versions (1 and 6) of the same book.  Hopefully there isn't a lot of difference in the information.

GETTING READY

We've been packing and organizing almost daily now.  We've had our book drive and have had a wonderful response, not only from Federated Church, here in Columbus, but also the Methodist Church in David City and a Lutheran Church in Fremont.  We've bought French language nursing textbooks for the nursing school in St. Marc, Haiti and as a team we are planning on daily teaching seminars on a variety of topics.  I'm presenting on on ENT, but there are others by the other physicians, OB/GYN and Urology, as well as Pharmacy, PT, and nursing topics.  We're expecting a box of French nursing texts being sent from the University of Alberta by way of Judy Douglass, a Canadian nurse who spend a lot of time in Haiti.  The eventual goal of our mission is to make the clinic and hospital self sustaining so as to put us missionaries out of business.  It will still take years.
I'm going to be posting more as the days get closer to our trip and will try to link it to FB, but won't always get that done.