Saturday August 7

Saturday: High 35.3 Low 28.3 Church this morning was at 7:30 am. It was only that…just a church service. At 8:30 I went with some friends to the French church down the street which was already in progress. We stayed until the end of the section of the program that was on, then left with some of the translators for a hike up, up, up the streets between some of the houses and shops we can see not far from the Hospital. We climbed up these goat trails, which people obviously climb up with sacks of cement, groceries, etc., which was exhausting without carrying anything. I don’t know how they do it. There are many people building new dwellings and shops on terrace after terrace, side by side on these steep hillsides with no road access. Near the top we got onto a road that came up the backside of the hill and lead to what we were told was a priest’s house surrounded by a gated fence. All about this enclosure was a crowded tent community clinging to the edges of the summit and out in the scorching sun. The only trees up there big enough for shade were by the gate and inside the fence. The local children were it seems to play on the large shaded lawn inside. We spent a half hour under the trees by the gate before grinding our way back down. A very frustrating story unfolded today. We were made aware of the case of a two month old girl in a neighboring hospital that was in respiratory distress. Her parents were very concerned and several people from our hospital went over to see her at the request of her parents. What they saw alarmed them. The parents wanted to transfer her to our hospital but the doctor there said she was fine and besides there was a bill owed now and she couldn’t leave without it being paid. Her condition became so grave that when her oxygen tank ran out she appeared as if she was dying. People came back to the hospital and began to franticly try to raise money to get her out. At first it was thought that 2 to 3 hundred dollars would be needed. After that was secured it was discovered that they wanted $3200.00. With a lot of negotiating and maybe a little intimidation from there being several medical professionals present, the doctor backed down and released the baby to her parents. A vehicle was dispatched from here with oxygen and the little patient was transferred successfully. She rallied under the care of our staff but was found to have a collapsed lung with the other very congested so it was decided to transfer her to the Miami Field Hospital about half an hour away. Several of our staff accompanied her on this night trip which paid off. Reports are that she is doing fine. On a sad note, there were two sick babies at that hospital. The other one didn’t make it.