In December I had the opportunity to work a few more nights in a cholera treatment center in Haut Limbe (see
previous posting). Above is 15-year-old Juan. He was very ill, and you can see that he has two IVs running. But when one of the volunteers was making balloons for the kids, he was well enough to ask for a cat to be drawn on his!
Here I am at 5 am with a volunteer named Travis, a fabulous ICU/ED nurse. The first night we worked together he put in an IV in the scalp of a little girl for whom they just hadn't been able to keep IVs going the day before. Scalp veins are really tiny, so only small amounts of fluid can pass through them, and this girl was very sick. So he and I stayed at the bedside to push fluids via syringe into the catheter. While we were doing this dawn broke, and the family members throughout the center started a worship service from the bedside. They sang hymns, recited psalms, and prayed out loud. What a beautiful accompaniment to our work, to be reminding of the One who is always working in and through and around us to bring healing!
Rehydration is the key to curing cholera. Here a girl is receiving oral rehydration solution from a family member in addition to her IV fluids.
This picture was taken the day this boy arrived. I met him the next day, and although he was still quite sick he was sitting up at the end of his bed drinking oral rehydration solution from a pop bottle, a little cutie-pie.
In December I had the opportunity to work a few more nights in a cholera treatment center in Haut Limbe (see previous posting). Above is 15-year-old Juan. He was very ill, and you can see that he has two IVs running. But when one of the volunteers was making balloons for the kids, he was well enough to ask for a cat to be drawn on his!
Here I am at 5 am with a volunteer named Travis, a fabulous ICU/ED nurse. The first night we worked together he put in an IV in the scalp of a little girl for whom they just hadn't been able to keep IVs going the day before. Scalp veins are really tiny, so only small amounts of fluid can pass through them, and this girl was very sick. So he and I stayed at the bedside to push fluids via syringe into the catheter. While we were doing this dawn broke, and the family members throughout the center started a worship service from the bedside. They sang hymns, recited psalms, and prayed out loud. What a beautiful accompaniment to our work, to be reminding of the One who is always working in and through and around us to bring healing!
Rehydration is the key to curing cholera. Here a girl is receiving oral rehydration solution from a family member in addition to her IV fluids.
This picture was taken the day this boy arrived. I met him the next day, and although he was still quite sick he was sitting up at the end of his bed drinking oral rehydration solution from a pop bottle, a little cutie-pie.
