Team 2 made it safely to DR! We saw them through the glass as they got
off the plane. We've just landed in ATL.

Tag

View from our room

Room with a view

We just got up after our last night here in DR. We are very grateful
for the guest house here and our gracious hosts. It continues to be a
huge challenge to move dozens of people in and out of here every week.
Last weekend, we had nearly 80 people staying here. Last night there
were only about 15 or 20, but then another team of that size arrived
in the middle of the night.

The dorms are adequate, but small and a bit warm at night. So, several
of us have been sleeping on the unfinished roof of the larger dorm.
With a great breeze all night, t's much cooler - in fact, I got cold
each night with my simple sleeping bag liner. It's been great - and
the view is nice also. However, we missed one detail. Less than a
mile away is a sugar cane plant. The incredibly loud whistle every few
hours was easy to get used to. But the wind decided to shift and blow
the smoke from the plant right over our dorms. There's clearly no EPA
in the DR - I woke up covered in ash. But, we have great showers here,
which are much appreciated!

About to eat breakfast and pack up to head home. The other team is
about to take off in Memphis.

Thanks for all the prayers!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Saturday

Today was a welcomed day of rest for us all. The five of us were able to spend the day simply relaxing at the beach outside La Romana, DR. Tonight was certainly the best night we've had here. We went to get pizza with Kristy, the missionary down here, Jeremy, a PA who was on our team, and a friend of Kristy's. It was a great time of conversation, lots of laughing and sharing stories. We're really going to miss them.

Friday, our last day in clinic, we saw over 200 patients in the morning before loading the bus and driving back. I think we saw over 1200 for the week. We had no issues on the way back home.

God likes to show us how He is working behind thr scenes in our lives all the time. The Hatian government is starting to respond to criticism that it hasn't done much to aid the relief efforts. So, increased scrutiny is expected from the government for groups going into Haiti. When we passed through the border on Tuesday morning, they wanted some type of paperwork that we didn't have. There was some concern for a while that we would have trouble getting across, but the Lord opened the gates and let us through. But, more of those troubles are expected.

However, when we came back across the border, our leaders went into the customs office to see if they could expedite any paperwork for the next week's team. The head of customs was there, and immediately recognized them. "You had a clinic right next to my house and even treated my son when you had already closed down for the day. Thank you very much for what you are doing in my country. You will never have any trouble crossing again." And be gave us his cell phone number to call if there are ever any problems.

We have a God who is faithful and will see His work done. He promises to be with us, go before us, and guide us in all we do for Him. Opening borders is easy for Him. He is trustworthy - do we trust Him?

Tragedy will always be with us on this earth. When I got up this morning, I saw that there was another huge earthquake in Chile. And then a tsunami. This world is full of pain, and toil, and despair. Where is there hope? What good can we really do? Thank God, there is a hope that it won't always be this way. The Bible says there will be a new heaven and new earth - one where there are no earthquakes, no pain, suffering, despair. It is a real place, and we can have real hope.

Please pray:
-team 2 leaves at 6am
-we fly home in the afternoon
-for Kristy as she takes a few weeks off to travel and speak for support raising. Pray that she will have rest - she works really hard!
-for our team - that all may know the Lord and trust in Him.
-for Haiti - that spiritual renewal will accompany the physical rebuilding.
-for Haiti - that true Hope would be found there. That the people would hope and trust in that which is unable to be touched by earthquakes and destruction.
-for us - that we will never be the same, but that instead we would love the Lord more and more daily, finding our hope and trust in Him.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Caption

Picture below: Patrick, my translator, and me

Border crossing

Note hammocks under thr truck. I guess they plan on being here a while.

Day of rest

Back in La Romana

Made it back safely to La Romana last night about 12:30. We all got a
good night's sleep, and are off for a day at the beach!

Keep praying for:
-health - we've had some minor illnesses go through the group.
-travel safety
-the second team from Memphis which leaves tomorrow morning - we'll
pass in the La Romana airport. Joe, Jeff, Becca, Greg, and Amy.
-Haiti

More stories to come!

Sent from my iPhone

John David Williamson
John.David.Williamson@gmail.com

Stylish

Thursday

Today is a day that is difficult to put into words. We drove an hour
to our clinic site in one of the barrios. Our trip took us through the
hardest hit areas. There is no way that words, pictures, or even video
could help you fathom the devastation here. We saw it and are having
trouble understanding it. Mile after mile of rubble that used to be
someone's home or place of business or church or market. We drove by
realizing that thousands of people are still buried under all that
debris.

On the way back, we went by the medical district and palace. No one
was spared - rich and poor alike are digging out. One by one as we
passed certain buildings, our translators would say, "that was my
university," "that was my nursing school," "that's where my aunt
died." Every single person in Haiti was affected by this earthquake.

It's hard to put it in perspective, because we have no perspective for
it. September 11th was devastating. But imagine all of manhatten in
rubble. Or imagine the White House flattened, the dome of the Capital
building slid off the roof like a scoop or ice cream resting on the
front steps, and the Washington monument lying on the ground. IF you
can picture that, then we can start to understand what has happened
here. The medical school is barely a frame of a building. The
government financial building destroyed. The main hospital is
functioning primarily out of tents. It's catastropic.

Clinic as well was hard today, but good. We saw about 530 patients,
with much more varied complaints. We saw another kid with malaria.
Jess had a kid who would likely be grand rounds at a US hospital with
some sort of hemangioma or facial tumor most likely. She then had the
ethical delimma of deciding whether to tell a mom that her 1 year old
isn't walking or talking yet because she has Down syndrome - something
not understood well here. And we saw lots of hunger. Kids saying as
their chief complaint that they had stomach aches just because they
were hungry. It's hard to take it all in emotionally at times.

On a more encouraging note, Harry, my kid with possible JRA, has
almost regained all motion in his elbow overnight with the high dose
of steroids. And, Elias, who was incredibly sick with malaria last
night was smiling and feeling much better today - fever and headache
gone, just feel run down. God is good!! We're very thankful that the
Lord is healing them.

We have a great team here - I hope to talk more about them later. But
it's been really great to see everyone show up from all over the
place, get thrown together in hard conditions, and then meld together
as a group. Again, God is good!

We've decided to have clinic here at home base tomorrow, so it will be
great not having to travel! My back is sore from loading and unloading
trucks 4 times a day! After clinic, we'll pack up and head back to La
Romana, DR, arriving midnight or later.

Please continue to pray for our team, and most importantly for Haiti.
I've said before that we don't know poverty in the West, that you have
to travel across the ocean to see it - but I admit my error now,
seeing incredible poverty here. This country needs the hope and
healing that only Jesus can bring it. Thank you all for your support
and prayers!

Captions for pictures below - not sure what happened to them:

Jason's bird's eye view. Also meant he was the first to block all the
dust, smoke, and exhaust for thr rest of us during the hour drive.
Good thing we have showers.

This tent city didn't exist on Tuesday. We saw the US military and
Samaritan's Purse handing out these tents Tuesday.

This goes on for blocks and blocks, mile after mile.

This used to be a city block.

US military has these few blocks of downtown cordoned off while
demolition and cleanup goes on.

Three stories all pancaked on each other. No way anyone could have
survived there.

Royal palace - disaster doesn't discriminate.

Thursday

Wednesday update

The first photo below is right across the street from us. Note, too, the US Navy helicopter flying by.

Today, we worked at a tent camp on the other side of the airport. In fact, many of the tents use the airport fence as one of their walls. It was a small community, but plenty of work to be done.

We only saw about 300 hundred patients today, but that was in 3 hours. We were setup inside thr courtyard of someone's house, which also serves as the office for a local organization that helps coordinate aid to these communities. Albeit small, we had a good setup with only one single doorway into thr courtyard. That proved very important as the crowd grew after our arrival. Most of us didn't hear the fray outside the walls, but I happened to step out just as Kristy, our fearless leader, was standing up to address the crowd. The second photo below is just before she told them to calm down or we were leaving. 

Kristy's in the blue scrubs in the top right.

Anyway, due to safety concerns, we did have to leave after seeing only 300. We had no incidents and were never in danger, but we also wanted to avoid situations before they got the point of "incidents."

We treated a couple of interesting patients here in the mission compound. There's a kid who may have JRA (juvenile rhematoid arthritis.) We also have a guy who lives in the mission compound who we think has malaria. He's pretty sick right now, so pray for both of these people.

We continued to treat a lot of primary care issues today. Sometimes we wonder, why exactly are we here? Is this really disaster relief? Where are all the broken bones and disaster related injuries? One of my patients put it in perspective. He has diabetes and high blood pressure. He was seeing a doctor and on medications. When asked if he would return to his doctor, he told me, "I don't know where any doctors are." There simply isn't access to routine medical care. Only a few of the hospitals are even open.

As we drove to the clinic site today, I hurt for these people in a new way. Many have lost everything. Yes, many already lived in exfreme poverty and owned almost nothing - but that makes the loss even harder. Especially when all you do have is family and friends, and that's the very thing you lost. I had one 12 year old child tell me his story about the day the quake hit. He said he wad riding his bike, and after the quake, he ran home, worried about his family. Hid house was destroyed. "But I only lost one sister" he said in a tone of relief. Only one?? What has this boy seen, that he is thankful that he only lost one sister. Now, I'm sure I've told my sisters before that I wanted to trade them in, but the truth is, I would be devastated if I lost either of them tragically. I can't imagine seeing so much death around me.

Pray for Haiti. Pray for the glory of God, love of Jesus, and peace of the Holy Spirit to wash over this country. Thanks to each one of you.

Wednesday update

Clinic checkin

Triage area outside the courtyard where we have clinic setup.

Rooftop view

Lunch break on the roof of the house we setup clinic in today. This is
a very small tent city here. The walls on the back of the tent camp
are for the airport - we are immediately adjacent to it. Back to work!

Consult area Wednesday

Morning devotions

Vital, our translator coordinator, leading morning devotions.

Tuesday update

Winding down the day here in PaP. It's 8:15, and most of our team is
already asleep. I'll be soon to follow. We saw 368 patients today in
what was about a half day by the time we got all our supplies and got
setup. It was pretty exhausting, but worthwhile.

All 15 of us were under a large tarp, so it was pretty tight. But we
had shade! In addition to what medications we prescribed, most every
patient got de-worming treatment, vitamins, and food for their family.
We saw a lot of typical primary care issues like uncontrolled
hypertension, skin rashes, and female problems. Most all our patients
live in the tent city setup just beside our clinic site. There was at
least one moment of heated tensions in the huge line of patients
waiting to be seen, but all ended well.

I did see one 12 year old who had a syncopal episode in line. When we
got to him, he was lethargic, cold, and clammy, and I thought we were
going go have to get him to the hospital (which isn't an easy task.)
But his pulse was normal, and he didn't show other worrying signs, so
we decided to work on him there. We gave him some iv fluids, and he
turned around really quickly. My final diagnosis for him was simply
heat exhaustion due to dehydration and malnutrition. Brent also gave
a liter of iv fluids to another very dehydrated man later. So, a few
urgent care cases to keep us on our toes! We also saw some malaria,
kwashiorkor malnutrition, among other things. We also have three
trauma counselors with us, so they've been incredibly helpful.

There is a huge US military presence here. UN peacekeeping forces are
a close second, and scattered Hatian police here and there. It feels a
lot like a war zone. We were setup pretty close to then airport today,
so military helicopters and planes were almost landing on us all day.
US, UN, and other armed forces are all around, which is clearly a
calming presence to everyone, Hatian or outsider. It really makes you
proud of our country. We saw a food distribution by the UN today in
one of the tent camps, and it was choatic. Later, we saw a well
organized tarp distribution (read: Tarp = home) this afternoon being
run by the US military. There are certainly a lot of people providing
aid down here now.

So, on to another site tomorrow. Please keep praying for this country.
The people of Haiti are incredibly gracious, and certainly in a very
humble place in their existence. May their pain and humility and all
that is happening bring them closer to Jesus - he suffered as well,
that he might know our suffering. And he died and rose again that
Haiti may not be without hope.

Soli Deo Gloria!

On our way to clinic

Food distribution at a tent city

15 consult areas under one tarp

Truck made it!

Our supply truck just arrived!

Arrived PaP

Arrived in Port-au-Prince without too many issues. Made it in about
9.5 hours. Thought we were going go get stuck at border - we were told
the border was closed when we got there, so we waited a few minutes
and asked someone else, who responded, "well, you can try to cross."
So, we began driving toward the gate again, and the guard just opened
the gate for us and we smiled and waved. Our supply truck was not as
easy. We're still waiting for it now, though they left before us from
DR. They were still stuck at the border when we came through. Pray
they make it soon. It has our food and most of our medicines/supplies.

Facilities here are adequate. The men are all sleeping in thr church
sanctuary, the women tightly packed into three rooms with bunk beds.
We arrived around 9am here, unloaded, and ate some French Toast for
breakfast. Now waiting for the supply truck and about to head out to
thr clinic site.

They did have an aftershock last night, per the locals, which scared a
lot of folks here. No damage here at home base.

Pray:
For God to be glorified
For our supplies to make it
For health and safety of our team
Against fatigue, dissention, frustration
For team unity
For the Hatian people to be encouraged, blessed, and helped by our
presence here
For all of us, Hatian, American, all the rest to seek the Lord, find
hope in Him, who alone gives lasting hope and peace.
For God to be glorified

We love you all!

Sent from my iPhone

John David Williamson
John.David.Williamson@gmail.com

A toast

A final toast before we head out. The bus should be here around 10, we
leave by 11, arrive in Port-au-Prince around 7 (ideally.) Who knows
what kind of service we'll have in Haiti, so we'll update if we can.
If not, we'll be back late Friday night/Saturday morning. Nervous
excitement settling in now. Hope to update you soon!

Sent from my iPhone

John David Williamson
John.David.Williamson@gmail.com

The soccer ball story

It's Monday about 5pm here in DR. We spent most of the day sorting, counting, and packing medications. Bags are packed now, ready to leave in a few hours. We'll load up on a tour bus and drive through the night to get to Port-au-Prince in the am. Apparently, the school buses they usually use "wouldn't be able to survive te trip." Great! Seriously, it shouldn't be bad - the busus are pretty nice and the drive not that bad. 8 hours drive if all goes well. Pray that we will be able to sleep on the bus and be rested tomorrow. We'll arrive around 7am, set up, and go to work.

So, Jason's precious soccer ball. See photo above. The epic saga of this soccer ball's eventful, yet tragically short life is too much to type with my thumbs on an iPhone. But, the short version is this:

We finished packing bags and had about an hour before supper. So, we decide to walk around, maybe make a trip to Jumbo. In Spanish, this is pronounced "Joom-bó." When I first asked our gate keeper where it was, he said "he's in the back, beside the house." As many of you know, it's not my comprehension of Spanish that's the problem, it's my South Carolina roots affecting my pronounciation! So, after I clarified that I didn't need "Jim-Bo," out gatekeeper proceeded to show us where it was. Expecting him to point it out, instead he walked the 4 or so blocks with us. Very gracious people here in DR - I can understand why so many people fall in love with this country.

So, Jumbo is DR's version of Super WalMart, an unfortunate comparison often used here. Unfortunate, b/c while America is capitalism driven, as represented by Wally World, DR is relationally driven, as represented by Jumbo! So, for those from Norway, it's like Blake's Texaco meets Roses - really big, lots of random stuff, and overpriced like Roses, but still full-service, where who you know and what's going on in the neighborhood is still primary importance.

Anyway, we walk around a while, and Jason decides to get a soccer ball. We're all excited about some entertainment. So, we pick through the small display and find a decent ball. After a few more circles around, we find a pump. We get to the cash register, and it doesn't ring up. Jess and I didn't get anything, so we're watching from a distance. She tries several times to scan it, then yells for another cashier, who also tries. Fail again. So a manager is called. No luck. Now, keep in mind, unlike most of the soccer balls there, this one actually had a barcode and pricetag. But it wouldn't scan, so it couldn't be bought. So, the bag boy goes looking. After a good 5 minutes or so (keep in mind, size of Roses) he returns and shrugs his shoulders. Another cashier tries. Nada. So, our cashier walks off. Another 5 minutes - she returns shaking some maracas (sorry if spelled wrong - the shaky things we all want to buy in Mexico but no one else will let us.) She takes the price tag (which clearly used to be on the shelf) from the same-priced maracas, and tries to scan them. Somehow, that fails to work as well. So, we go to Jason's rescue (yeah, we were just watching the whole time.) The cashier says we can't buy it, because it won't scan. So, since the pump was already bought, Jason and I head back to find another ball. Of course, only two that actually have a price tag and aren't made of Elmers glue and plastic bottles. So, we decide on one and return to the line and an uneventful purchase of our new ball.

But wait, there's more ...

We walk home, elated to kick around the new treasure some before dinner. We sit, Jason works diligently to pump up the ball with the clearly dysfunctional new pump. After a laborious few minutes, it feels about right.  I walk upstairs to get a book. Less than a minute later, when I return, Jason is sitting, looking deflated. The "new" soccer ball got a few good kicks before it, too, became deflated, and was now flat  again.

Jason's on his way back to Jumbo to buy another ball now.

We love all you guys - thanks for praying!

Sent from my iPhon

We finally got a soccer ball! Sort of.

Team photo.

New friends

Nato, who decided not to smile for the first time all day.

Monday

Monday pics

Monday pics

Team update

Hey guys. We just got finished with a litle orientation from Kristy
here on the mission compound and are now packing meds for the week.
I'm trying to keep my blog updated (jessicaandjohndavid@blogspot.com)
when i can (this email should get posted there too.) I'm also sending
texts at times to update facebook. We have wireless Internet here at
the compound in La Romana.

Here's a list of what we need/don't need:

Need:
Vaginal cream, diflucan
Steroid creams
Mvi - adult needed more than Peds
5mg amlodopine
Vaseline - need lots
Baggies - can't get enough
Infant liquid tylenol and mvi
Topicals of just about any type
Tums

Don't need:
Wound care
Bandages
Gauze

What they are seein most of:
Skin dz (scabies, fungal, allergic)
Resp. Illnesses, Uri, AR
Uti, vag infxns, discharge (no concept of normal vs abnormal d/c)

Other random notes:
Grocery store in La Romana just around the corner with gatoraid powder
and lots of other supplies - NO such stores in Haiti. Plenty of time
last night and today to get to it
Clean water in Haiti and DR provided for team
No wound care needed
Pillows, sheet in compound in Haiti
Meds will be divided up (more on that later)
Lots of translators - at least one per provider
Bus to Haiti is VERY cold! Cool at night if you sleep on the roof in
DR like we did. I'd bring a blanket or warm sweater or something.

People to know:
Amelio - head if translators
Moises (Moses) hospital admin
Kristy - Peds NP who's been here 10 years. She's great.

We have about 15 medical professionals this week - the largest group
they've had yet. Cardiologist, internist, ob, Midwife, er doc, 2
pediatricians, pharmacy tech, several nurses, several non-medical
support personel, in addition to local staff and translators. There is
certainly a lot of chaos, but overall much better planned and
controlled than I expected. I feel really good about our team!

I hope to get you more details later, but off to packing up meds now.
We are trying to pre-pack a months worth of most meds (htn, vitamins,
tums.) Talk to you guys soon!

Keep praying.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Sent from my iPhone

John David Williamson

First night

We arrived without incident at the mission complex in La Romana. The
dorms here house about 60 or so, and there are around 70 here tonight.
We've met a pediatrician, cardiologist, ER doc, and 2 nurse
practitioners who will be going into Haiti with us tomorrow. In
addition, there are several folks still around from last week who are
going with us - some logistical, some pharmacy, some I'm not sure yet.

Today was low key - we arrived, sat around for a couple of hours, then
had dinner - pork (I think), potatoes, broccoli, and carrots. (I must
document food for my family's sake. But someone needs to forward this
on to Dad because you know he'll never go to read a blog!) After that,
more visiting with folks. There's even a nurse from Charleston here on
our team.

Right now, it's pretty chaotic here, but there seem to be a good core
of people who have been on other trips into Haiti in the past weeks
who are bringing some order. We've yet to meet Kristy, who is the
missionary who has lived down here for years, is a nurse practitioner,
and is leading the team. We'll meet her tomorrow as we spend the day
preparing for the week.

Jason and I are currently camped out on the roof of the dorms. It's a
little crowded inside, and the weather is great out for camping under
the stars. It's a little loud now, but that's life in the developing
world!

So far so good, that's the summary!

Oh, some have asked who we are down here with. It's interesting to
hear all the different connections people have. We came through World
Medical Mission, the medical end of Samaritan's Purse. They have an
affiliate hospital here in DR, Good Samaritan Hospital, which is
connected to the American Baptist denomination. Though the media has
often called the ten Americans arrested for trying to take children
across the border "American Baptists," they are in no way associated
with this denomination or organization - it's sort of a misnomer
(leave it to the media!)

In response to questions about what exactly we'll be doing, it seems
that we will be setting up mobile clinics in and around Port-au-
Prince; mostly in church courtyards and other areas that can be
someone secured and controlled. We hope to see around 300-350 people a
day. Now that the acute traumas have settled down some, it sounds like
we'll be doing a lot of general primary care things. The WHO as of
last week was not reporting any infectious disease outbreaks (yet,) so
I don't know how much we'll see of that. There are certainly a lot of
post-operative patients that are now 4-6 weeks out from surgery, so
that could be possible.

Ok, bedtime now. Thanks again for all your prayers. Jessica, Jason,
Ellisa, Brent, and I all thank you and send our love.

Soli Deo Gloria!!

Sent from my iPhone

John David Williamson
John.David.Williamson@gmail.com

Leaving ATL

Sitting on the plane in Atlanta about to leave. Uneventful trip so
far, PTL! Thanks to everyone who helped get us off safely and quickly!
All 6 boxes of supplies were checked without problems. Security went
better than it ever has in Memphis, and our connection went smoothly
in atl. I (jd) even had time for a biscuit and hash browns in the
airport. Plane is full, and the doors are closing, so I'm done! Hope
to update again Before we head into Haiti on Monday night. Thanks for
the prayers!

Sent from my iPhone

John David Williamson
John.David.Williamson@gmail.com

Packing up

I'm taking a break from packing up rubbermaid containers full of medications and supplies.  Jessica and I are preparing to leave for Haiti on Sunday, and our house looks like a small pharmacy right now.  We're going through World Medical Mission (the medical branch of Samaritan's Purse) to work with a mission hospital out of the Dominican Republic called Good Samaritan Hospital.  It's in the town of La Romana.  They've been taking teams weekly into Haiti to work in the tent camps in and around Port-au-Prince.  Also going with us from Memphis are Jason (Jessica's brother as our logistics coordinator and media guy), Ellisa (we did our FP residency together in Charleston) and Brent (another FP.)  We'll return next Sunday, and another team of 5 MDs and FNPs from Memphis will go for a week.

We're really thankful for the opportunity to go with an organization like Samaritan's Purse.  AT&T may make it easier for us to keep you updated while we're there - they're giving free data and phone service to anyone working in Haiti right now.  Christ Community Health Services (whom we all work for) has graciously paid for our plane tickets and donated lots of medications and supplies.

Please pray for our travels and work in Haiti.  We just found out about this hospital's need for MDs and FNPs a little over a week ago, so we've been scrambling around trying to get things together.  I (JD) have been on call all week, so that adds a little bit of extra stress too!  Thankfully, I have a very patient and forgiving wife!  Pray for energy, wisdom, teamwork, and most importantly, that God would be glorified in it all.

Our schedule for the week looks sort of like this:
Sun: arrive in DR, drive to La Romana, meet our team (2 other docs, lots of other staff.)
Mon: pack up, prep, and leave in the evening to drive 8hrs through the night
Tues: arrive Port-au-Prince around 7am, setup clinics, see 300+ pts/day
Wed - Fri: clinics in tent city
Sat: bus back to La Romana early in am
Sun: fly home

Thanks for all the prayers - we'll keep you updated!  Oh, and don't worry - Tsavo will be getting a vacation at a farm outside Memphis that boards dogs.  I'm not sure he'll want to come home!