Valentines day

Anyone who knows me will knows me will know that valentines day is an unusual subject for me to talk about let along write a blog about it!

The story began back in 2008 at Bethesda when a very young, newly graduated Dr Rodney was leading devotions on valentines day.  The whole time he talked about love, how wonderful it is when people fall in love, how great it is to be married and finished off with the great love which God has for us. 

Ever since that day Dr Rodney developed the nickname Dr Love. From then on Dr Rodney was not only known for his medical consultations he also had some love consultations!

A young Dr Rodney in 2008!

I remember him bringing Amy and I into his room and giving us lots of advice on what we should be doing if we want to get married.  The only thing I remember was that single ladies need to 'open the door' and let men know your interested! He must have done something because just two years later we were both married!! 

Anyway Valentines day is Dr Loves favourite day of the year.  He loves celebrating love, he loves people being in love but most of all he lives out his life in  way that reflects Christs love for us. 

To celebrate valentines day 2020 Bethesda Medal Centre is asking supporters to hold a valentines day event.  The purpose of the event would be to have an opportunity to present the project to build a new Bethesda and raise funds for the new building. 

Here are some ideas: 

- Invite your friends over for a dessert night. 

- Cook a meal for your friends so they don't have to go to a restaurant and look at all the couples! 

- We know restaurants put their prices up on valentines days so why not prepare a meal and invite a few couples over.  Ask the couples to donate, whatever they would normally spend on going out to dinner. 

Another plus Valentines day is a Friday and Friday night is the perfect night to have some people over to your home. 

On Friday 14th February 2020 Dr Love will be on Facebook life to give some relationship advice and then talk more about the project to build a new Bethesda.

If you are willing to hold and event, get in touch with me and I'll make sure you get some information and promotional material.

12th January 2010

A date that everyone in Haiti will remember for a long time.  You don't even need to say the word earthquake, once you say 12th January everyone knows what your talking about.

This year was 10 years since the earthquake in Port au Prince and maybe there is something more poignant about it being ten years but this year felt different.

Ten years feels like it should be enough time do have dealt with what happened, enough time to recover from such a huge disaster but let me tell you for many, it is not.  If anything it felt like this anniversary may have been more difficult than others and it caught me totally off guard.

We went to church on Sunday morning and the sermon was based on 12th January.  Life is fragile, Pastor Guenson said and suddenly overwhelming memories of being in Haiti in 2010 started flooding into my mind.

I was not in port au Prince on 12th January 2010, I was in Greenwood Indiana watching the scenes unfolding.  But three weeks later when there were still reports of people being pulled out from the rubble, alive, I left Indiana for Haiti.  The next day I spent on the back of a truck with supplies and a team from the USA, taking the 9 hour journey down to Port au Prince to help with a mobile medical clinic in an area of Port called Diquini.

I remember the smell as we entered the city, I remember seeing the little 'tents' which were really just bedsheets everywhere.  Everyone was sleeping in the streets too scared to be indoors especially with aftershocks still happening.

The destruction was strange, one building completely intact, the one next door completely destroyed.  In the centre of town many of the government buildings were destroyed and there were official papers all over the ground. I spent about 10 days there (I think) and we saw hundreds of patients. Many people who were injured were being treated at hospitals all over the country as well as the US comfort.  We were seeing a lot of cuts and minor injuries but the big thing everyone was complaining of was they were not able to eat, not able to sleep and was having respiratory problems because of the dust.  I traveled back again to the same place twice over the next year not expecting the situation to be the same but it was.

Then my mind went to Milot hospital where over 300 patients has been helicoptered up from Port au Prince for treatment.  When I first went there was me and one other physiotherapist and everyone needed physiotherapy.

I remember walking from one end of the tent to the other and being stopped over and over again and asked to pray with people, speaking with people who has been in a situation beyond anything I could comprehend but the Lord gave me the words to say to encourage people. 

I remember every afternoon in one of the tents, the girls coming together for a couple of hours to sing and pray for each other, for their friends and family and for their country.  Even given the circumstances, that time of the afternoon was the most peaceful environment I have ever worked in.

There are so many other things I could share with you about my time in Haiti in 2010.  I saw bones healed which should have never healed.  I heard stories from people of how they were trapped for 3 weeks under rubble with a very small drip of water keeping them alive.  I saw two healthy babies born in those tents whose mothers had lost limbs and been buried under rubble yet the babies in the womb were unharmed. I saw Joseph stand on two prosthetic legs for the first time.  I was with Yveline when she rented her new home in Cap Haitian with a small business after losing her husband, her 2 children and her home in Port au Prince.

I hope I never forget those experiences so I can continue to pray for the names and faces that come to mind when I think of 12th January 2010 and so I can remember how God worked through the most terrible circumstances. 

So please take a moment with me to remember.  Remember those who lost their families, remember those who lost their friends, remember those who lost their limbs, remember those who lost their homes.  Remember those today who are still suffering from the trauma of living through such a huge natural disaster.  And as we remember lets pray for Haiti, lets pray for God to be working in Haiti to transform lives and bring people unto himself.

Pastor Guenson finished his sermon with 'Are you ready?'.  On 12th January 2010, over 300,000 people lost their lives in less than 30 seconds.  None of us know what will happen tomorrow and we need to be ready.  God has sent Jesus into the world to die on the cross to take the punishment which we deserve so we can be forgiven and have hope that only Jesus can bring.

So this is what I pray for Haiti, that her people will put their faith and trust in the one who can give hope and assurance of heaven.  I pray the same thing for unreached people groups, for Northern Ireland and for my friends who don't yet know Jesus. 

Life is fragile and the spiritual needs across the world are urgent so I encourage you to share the gospel to those you come into contact with everyday so they can have the same hope which you do.

Matthew 28 v 19 

GO therefore and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

Some good news

We were just talking last night about how these past couple of years in Haiti have been so difficult, from property issues, to political instability, to fuel shortages and rising prices to name but a few.  Some of the things which have happened I don't even think about anymore, just sort of blocked them out and its only when we start talking I realise how hard things have been.  It would be so easy to focus on all the difficulties and get stuck and give up hope.  But now I have some good news about Bethesda and how were moving forward.

Just over 6 weeks ago Bethesda made a down payment on a piece of property! The land is about 3 miles from our current location, right on the main road and is much bigger than what we have now.  We have paid approx 40% of the total cost of the property and have until May to pay the rest.  However we are praying that we will be able to pay of the remainder of the property by the end of the year.

We have a great team working on property including two architects who are working on building plans and EMI (engineering missions international). We are so thankful for these people and how God has provided them to join our team.

We have two fundraising teams going, one in the US and one in Canada.  Somehow I have managed to be on both of them! We are planning events, Christmas mailings, trips for Dr Rodney and lots more on social media.  We do need some more personnel on these teams if your interested in getting involved please email me (julieedler@hotmail.co.uk). Or if you could hold an event for us to raise awareness and support for Bethesda and the project to move please get in touch.  We will give you all the information you need to hold an event. 

We are sending out monthly prayer updates, this is such a big project and needs to happen in a very short time period that we want to make sure the whole project is covered in prayer.  If you would like to be added to the monthly prayer updates, again please send me your email address.  Once a month we will be having a special day of prayer and will be asking people to sign up for 30 minute intervals so we can make sure the whole day is dedicated to praying for the project to build a new bethesda. This first day will be on 18th December.  Keep checking our facebook page for details of how to sign up. https://web.facebook.com/BethesdaMedicalCenterHaiti/

Finally we completed our first video, explaining the work of Bethesda and our plans moving forward.

So were moving forward and its all good. 

Potential

I am very aware that most of what I have shared recently is heavy, not very encouraging and hard to read (that's not just because of my lack of writing skills!).  But I am afraid it's just the way things are right now.  We see glimpses of God working and we know he is but we are also trusting in him for the future of Haiti.

Thankfully the political situation where we are seems to be improving, there are many more cars on the roads and more people out and about. Just last week I drove past our local petrol station full of cars ready to be filled up.  It’s the first time I have seen fuel there since the beginning of September although I do believe they have had it once before now.  I have heard of a few schools opening last  week and talks of others thinking about opening soon.  We hear less and less talk of protests in Cap Haitian, so either they are not happening or everyone I talk to is fed up talking about that. 

It feels like things are returning to a sense of normality.  Unfortunately, normal is just not that great.  The knock off effect of weeks of political instability has increased the price of food by a lot.  I think I read last week the inflation rate is more than 20%.  This means the little money people did have before is now buying less food.  Leaving less money for things like transport, clothes and medical care.  Just the other day I had a patient in the clinic who told me that she probably couldn’t come next week because she didn’t have any money.  Its 100 gourdes to come for physio.  That is just under $1 or 80p.  

We do have a fund for people that can’t pay called the indigent care fund.  It's one of the things which makes us different from other clinics, we will not turn anyone away.  Ms Ketlye, our nurse who runs the high blood pressure clinic noticed the numbers were low in her clinic and she became concerned.  If a patient's blood pressure is not controlled they are at huge risk of a heart attack or stroke.  So she phoned the patients to ask why they had missed their appointments.  The same answer came up over and over again….no money, no money, no money.  Its costs 700 gourdes for this clinic…. £5.50 or $7.  Knowing our vision, Ms Ketlye told them to come anyway and that we would still treat them.  We now have over 60 of these patients in our indigent care program, where we treat them regardless if they have any money or not.

I debated whether or not to share what I am going to share next...but I decided I will.  I thinks its important to understand the real state of the healthcare system in Haiti. 

A few weeks ago now, on a Monday morning, Ms Ketlye called me in on a patient.  A one day old baby girl, born at home with omphalocele.  If you don't know what that is, it is when a baby is born with some of their organs on the outside of their body.  These organs are covered with a thin, transparent sac.  Ms Ketlye called me in because maybe I knew somebody, somewhere, who knew what to do. 

I am part of a medical aid facebook group so I wrote on there to see where we could send this little baby. Knowing we could not treat her at Bethesda we sent her straight to what is well known to be the best hospital here in the North. 

With the help of people on the fb group, by Tuesday evening I was able to arrange for the baby to be flown to Port au Prince, where an ambulance could pick her up and take her to a hospital for the life saving surgery she needed.

Ms Prudence phoned the family and they were at Bethesda first thing on Wednesday morning ready to go.  I was just waiting to hear back from someone as to what time they should be at the airport.  But the little baby was very sick, dehydrated and her little belly already infected.

While we were waiting to find out what time to go to the airport, the little girl died in our clinic and there was nothing we could do about it.

It was heart breaking to say the least.  An injustice. A sin. A tragedy. 

There are so many things wrong with this story I don't even know where to start.  A simple ultrasound at 20 weeks would have picked up the problem. Then the mum could have been prepared, maybe even traveled to Port au Prince before the baby was born. I don't know, anything would have been better than what actually happened. 

Can you imagine, giving birth to your first baby at home and not knowing there was anything wrong? Can you imagine the shock of seeing some of her organs on the outside of her body?  Then going to the best hospital in the north of Haiti to be sent home and told there is nothing they can do? 

The staff at this hospital didn't even ask for the baby to stay so they could monitor her, they didn't even put a dressing on the omphalocle to prevent infection!  And this is is the best hospital in the area!!

The other tragedy is this family were told to go for an ultrasound but they didn't go.  I don't know if it was a lack of money or education which made them not go.  But I am sure that both those things are big issues here.

I don't need to go on.

I talked to a relative of the family the other day to see how the mum was doing.  She's there, I was told, but now everyone is saying she has some sort of evil spirit which made her baby ill and die. So now she is being told this was her fault. Can you imagine how that feels?

The only consolation I can get from this situation is the baby is now in heaven completely healed....knowing a life much greater than anything she would have experienced on this earth.

I was upset, then it got me thinking.  We are in the middle of planning to build a brand new clinic.  A chance to bring our facilitates into the 21st century and an opportunity to do things really well.  We don't just want to replicate what we have, we want to do it better.  If we do this properly and do it well Bethesda Medical Center has the potential to be the best clinic in the North of Haiti.

 And yes, we won't be able to provide pediatric life saving surgery but we could provide high quality antenatal care.  We could provide education for pregnant moms.  The thing is the culture around antenatal and indeed post-natal care needs to change and big change comes with education and trust. Can we build up enough trust in our patients to change years and years of beliefs?  Can we speak the gospel to people and teach them the truth so when a baby is born with a genetic problem our patients don't blame something satanic?

What if in ten or twenty years time we do have the facilities, staff, equipment and personnel to provide life saving treatment or surgery?  Is this too big a vision? I don't know.  What I do know and hear stories of is that what Haiti has now is not good enough.  Not one more little baby deserves to die because Haiti doesn't have good healthcare or because their family do not have enough money to go to the doctor.

So please pray with us that God will provide all we need to build a new Bethesda.  Pray that God will send us the right personnel to help us with fundraising, with property and medical personnel to train our staff and improve our quality of care.

Light in the darkness

Today while I was at Bethesda, Ms Prudence came to see me and we were talking about the situation in Haiti, which is really all anyone can talk about right now.  While walking round the clinic this morning Ms Prudence pulled aside 9 children who had come to see the doctor about something else but looked like they were suffering from malnutrition, we have never had that many children in one day. It was a hard heavy morning.

The little baby with just the nappy on is the size of a 1 month old baby
but she is actually 10 months old and the youngest of 7 children.

But then she began to tell me a wonderful story of transformation about a patient of hers. With everyday bringing with it more stories of protests, road blocks, hunger and suffering it was so good to hear what God is doing at Bethesda. The patient actually happened to be at Bethesda today and told me her story.

'I started to get sick a few months ago and initially decided to go to a witch doctor.  I spent one month at the witch doctors house where he made me drink different teas and take herbal baths.  I continued to get sicker and sicker and got to the point where I was so weak I couldn't walk anymore and I had developed some big cysts on my neck which were weeping.  My family took me to my aunts house in a different village and there I met a pastor who told me to come to Bethesda and Ms Prudence would take care of me.

I came and my family carried me in to Ms Prudence's office.  She did some tests for me, I was very anemic and was diagnosed with TB.  Ms Prudence told me she could not treat me at Bethesda as I was too sick.  I need a blood transfusion and to be hospitalised.  But I did not want to go anywhere else.  We went home and came back again the next day.  Again Ms Prudence told me I was too sick, I needed to go to hospital.  She did not want me to travel back and forward to Bethesda especially as it took me almost an hour to get there and I was so sick I could not walk. She advised me to go to hospital.  I went home again as I really wanted to be treated at Bethesda.  The next time I returned with some more family and we begged Ms Prudence to treat me, my mum even told her that if I died it would be on her head. Ms Prudence saw that I would not go to any other hospital even though I needed more than Bethesda could provide.

I began my treatment for TB, Ms Prudence worked on the cysts on my neck and slowly I began to get better.  Even though I should have got a blood transfusion and did not get one I still got better.  Today I have all of my strength back, my neck is better, there are no more cysts and I feel completely better.  Today was my last appointment for TB and I no longer need to take the medicine.  I gave my life to God as I see how he saved my life.  I give all the glory to God for how he saved me. '

This is exactly why Bethesda exists : to treat the sick and to share the gospel. 

We are praising God for how he is working through Bethesda.

Mustard seed faith and a crazy idea

Bethesda has been through and is going through a very difficult time.  The past 18 months have been hard and full of uncertainty regarding the future of Bethesda.  In March of this year our newly formed board made the decision to move forward with buying a piece of property, and making plans to build a new Bethesda.

Once the decision was made, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders, we finally had a firm decision and it was exactly what I thought the decision should be.  Not only were we having property issues (the property is rented from another organisation) but our buildings are old, dirty and not fit for purpose.  Not anywhere near the standard they should be to provide good quality care.

Ms Ketlye's office still looks like the 1960's to me rather than 2019!

But finding property has been very hard.  Property in Haiti is extremely expensive.  Given the size of our clinic now and allowing room for expansion property can range from $200,000 to $800,000 (US)!!  We are now very close to having a piece of property but it has been slow because of the political crisis we are experiencing right now.  It is difficult to get anything done with road blocks, protests and many banks and businesses shut.  Please continue to pray we will be able to secure a piece of property soon.

As I mentioned Haiti is right in the middle of a political crisis. Our patient numbers are very low and because 80% of our income comes from patient fees our in-country income is down.  As the political crisis continues, the price of everything also continues to rise.  What that means for Bethesda is all our medical supplies, medicine and office supplies are getting more and more expensive each week.

A few months ago this box of small bags (which we use to dispense medicine in) cost 600 gourdes.  Today it is 3000 gourdes.

This roll of gauze used to cost 1000 gourdes.  

Today it is 2000 gourdes. 

 I could give you many many more examples but you get the picture.

Our patients are suffering more and more, we have even had patients who cannot afford to come for therapy, which only costs 100 gourdes (80p or $1 US) because of the increased cost of transportation.
Before this past 6 weeks spending the money to come to Bethesda was already a sacrifice.  Today I don't know how anyone is doing it.

I've been pretty discouraged about the whole situation, things are moving slower than I thought with the new building.  Our income is down, our expenses are up and there doesn't seem to be any end to the current political situation.

But then I reminded myself of a conversation I had with Ms. Prudence a few weeks ago.  She had so many stories of patients she had helped she didn't know where to start.  Let me just share a couple with you.

Recently, an elderly lady came to Bethesda with her son.  When they arrived, he was looking around like he was searching for someone.  Ms. Prudence noticed them and went over to ask if she could help.  The man told her his mother had been ill for over a year with bleeding from her womb.  They had been to many different doctors but one time after another she was told she had an infection and given antibiotics but was not getting any better.

Ms. Prudence took this lady into our treatment room, took a history and did a physical examination where she realised this lady had cancer.  As she had been ill for a long time and cancer treatment is very difficult to find in Haiti, Ms. Prudence knew the only thing we could do medically was make her comfortable...but there was something better we could do.  Ms. Prudence explained to the lady she was very ill and unlikely to get better, that there was no medical solution for her illness but there was a solution that could be found in Jesus.  Ms. Prudence had the opportunity to share the gospel with this lady.  She then went to see Dr Rodney where he continued to talk about the gospel and what that meant for her life, that very day this lady accepted Jesus as her Saviour. 

Ms. Prudence told the lady's son what was wrong with his mother and that she would not get any better.  The man, who is already a Christian, explained that, that very morning when he arrived at the gate of Bethesda he prayed ‘Please God help me find someone who knows exactly what is wrong with my mother so I can have an answer.’

This man was overjoyed to see that God not only answered his prayer but also saved his mother. Even though she will continue to get sicker here on this earth they now have hope in Christ that one day she will go to a place where there will be no more sickness, no more suffering and no more death. 

The next story is about a young man who had been ill for a while with a cough and generally feeling very unwell.  His family told him it was Satan making him sick and he really should go to a witch doctor. 

This young man had heard the name Jesus but didn't know anything about Jesus, he really didn't believe in the witch doctor but felt so much pressure from his family that he visited three times.  Each time he continued to get sicker and sicker.  Then he decided to come to Bethesda. 

During his inital consultation he tested positive for TB, he was assured if he took his medicine he could be cured from TB.  He was also told who Jesus was and what He had done for him.  A few weeks later he came back for his follow up appointment, feeling much much better and that day decided to make a decision to follow Jesus.

He told us he hoped that his decision to follow Christ would show his family that Satan was not making him sick and that following Jesus is the only way. 

Despite all the problems facing Bethesda God continues to work through our staff on a daily basis.  We exist to share the truth of the gospel and the love of Christ by helping the sick in a country where it is difficult to find good, quality, affordable healthcare.

I would like to end this post with a crazy idea that came to me today after lying awake half the night last night thinking about the problems facing Bethesda.  I'm not sure if this is from me or maybe the Lord gave it to me.  But here it is: what if we had so many monthly donors that we could actually lower our patient fees?  What if Bethesda was the ONLY place in Haiti lowering prices? What a testimony that would be to the gospel!  We would have a huge opportunity to show people that we REALLY care and that we are there to share the love of Christ.  We can show the people of Haiti that Bethesda is for them especially when it feels like everything else is against them.  The beauty of this crazy idea is that we serve a God who can do it.

Perhaps God is asking you to be part of what he is already doing and going to do in Bethesda.  If you feel led to give once or a monthly donation you can do so online 

In the US / UK https://donorbox.org/bethesda

In Canada https://www.omscanada.org/bmc-operating-expenses-70547.html

Dr Rodney is a man of great faith, I mean who else do you know that does an entrance exam into medical school in a language he doesn't know, passes the exam, and then goes to medical school without a penny to his name trusting in God to provide? 

I hope that I have even a fraction of the faith Dr Rodney has and that God will take my little tiny mustard seed faith and make it move mountains. 

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”  Matthew 17 v 20

Hebrews 11 v 1 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

We need your help

This last week has been a crazy week, there has been ongoing political instability, more road blocks, no school, some fuel but crazy waiting times to get some. 

Then this day last week we found out our neighbours, for various reasons, were leaving on Saturday.  With only a few days notice Emmaus has been unable to prepare someone to step into their roles. 

So we need your help, we are looking for someone with skills in any of the following areas 

Campus network manager 

Information technology maintaince

Electrical systems manager 

Maintaince manager and / or maintaince help especially with running generators

Teaching English as a second language, English tutoring and grading 

If you have any of these skills and are willing to come or if you more questions about anything please get in touch with us.  You can send an email to hr@emmaus.edu.ht 

There is no minimum commitment, you can come for a couple or weeks, a couple of months or longer and you get to live next door to us (don't let put you off!!). 

In order for Emmaus university to run smoothly we really need an IT manager and right now all of that responsibility is falling to Matt, the president of Emmaus who already has a million things on his plate.  

If you don't have any of these skills please join us in praying for God to send someone to help us here at Emmaus.