Medical Team Visit

Medical Team Blog November 2013

Here is our blog from the recent medical team visit.  Things are going well here and it's been great to see growth in Makarios, the positive impact that Makarios has within the community, and the lives of the children and families that we are changing for the better.  You can also see this blog with some better pictures from the team on the Makarios website   http://www.makariosinternational.org/blog.html

Makarios recently had the opportunity to host a medical team from the states.  This group was comprised of 4 medical providers (2 MDs, PA, NP), an optometrist, RNs and other ancillary staff.  There were 13 people in total from Ohio, Michigan, and Georgia.  They brought a lot of medications and other supplies for the weeklong clinic as well as to keep in the Makarios clinic to use throughout the year (a huge blessing). 

 Makarios has been hosting a medical team since the fall of 2007 when my family and I brought the first team.  We have been bringing a team each year since until this year when we had the pleasure to host them since we are on Makarios staff now! It was great being on this side and hopefully we will continue to improve the health of the Mak kids and their families through us being here and the visits of the medical team.

This was an exciting week.  There is a great need for medical and eye care here in the DR. They saw about 550 patients in the 4 days they had clinic.  They saw all of the kids in the school, their families, the Makarios staff and their families, Chichigua, and many people from the local church (Templo Biblico) and the surrounding community. They had 2 half days to visit one of the villages (Pancho Mateo) to see how and where the kids and their families live.  The cafeteria was transformed into a 4 room hospital treating everything from fungal infections, respiratory illnesses, skin abscesses, foreign body in the ear, urinary problems to hypertension.  Rex (our eye doctor) was a very busy man as well.  He checked all of the kids in the school (115 or so) and hundreds of others.  It was awesome to see some of the elderly come out with glasses and immediately pull out their Bibles to see if they could read.  To see the smiles on their faces when they could see what they were reading was priceless!  They also spent a morning in Chichigua seeing anyone who wanted to be seen there.  The highlight was having one of the student’s moms come to know Christ because of this team.  She was having depression and other problems and with the help of a great translator she lead her to the Lord. 

This week was a huge blessing to the people of Makarios as well as those near or associated with this wonderful organization.  Thank you so much Medical Team 2013!  Start preparing for next year.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  We will be back in the states in December and hope to see a lot of you.  Thanks so much for your support.

Summer!

Hola otra vez!  Hello again from the island of Hispaniola.  We hope this finds you well in all of your summer activities and family time.  I am sure you have all been busy as we have been.  We will try to update you with all that has been going on since our last update.

First of all, the medical side of things at the Makarios school has been going well.  At the end of April I had a chance to do some medical teaching to all of the kids in the school in two separate groups as well as to the teachers.  I covered basic hygiene and some of the most common things that I see medically in the kids (i.e headaches, abdominal pain, dehydration, constipation).  I was going to show them that new movie about constipation but....it's not out yet (sorry, I had to).  When we discussed germs I had some glitter on my hands and shook hands with the kids to show how easily germs can be passed from one person to another.  We really want them to have good hand washing to prevent the spread of illness.  I see various medical problems at the clinic.  I have a decent supply of donated medicine to give when necessary and I also have the ability to purchase antibiotics from the local pharmacies.  The pharmacies are a huge help and even give Makarios a discount.  The last week of school I "dewormed" all of the kids and staff at the school.  This involves giving a medicine called Albendazole to help kill any worms and some parasites in their gastrointestinal tract.  With the living conditions, drinking untreated water, not washing food correctly, and coming into contact with these small creatures all contributes to them getting parasites and worms in their bellies.  Diarrhea is one of the most common complaints especially from groups that are visiting here.  A new study did find that diarrhea is hereditary...it runs in your "genes." (sorry, I had to again).  Anyway, it is important to get rid of these parasites so they can gain weight and get the nutrition that they need since a lot of them don't get three meals a day.  Overall it is going well and getting to love on the kids and treat their physical needs is spiritually rewarding.  

I am also to volunteer at a couple of other clinics to help them which in turn helps me with my Spanish and Dominican medical care.  I volunteer at a place called the Monkey Jungle which is a free clinic that operates on Saturdays.  We can see up to 80 or 90 patients in a 5 hour period.  They have a free dental clinic there also.  This place is a real blessing to the local Dominican and Haitian people who don't have the resources to obtain the care that they need.  And the bonus for my family and I is that we get to go zip lining and hang out with the monkeys for free:)  My daughters love visiting the monkeys!  And I do too! http://www.monkeyjungledr.com/site/
 I also have had the chance to work at a clinic associated with GO MAD ministries.  Their mission is to help fight human exploitation here on the north coast.  In doing that they have a school, medical clinic, and a women's ministry to help get women off the streets and out of prostitution.  I am blessed to be able to help them with their mission and clinic which is past Cabarete (about 45 min. away).  I am trying to use my gifts for His purpose in any way I can.  http://www.gomadministries.org

Family zip-lining time, yes even Audrey went!

Becky and Audrey feeding the monkeys

We are still working away at our spanish language learning.  I go to class 2 to 3 times a week and our friend does lessons for Jenna, Becky, and I about 2 to 4 times a week.  We are making progress and I feel we are in a good place for only being here 6 months.  It is still one of our main goals to be able to speak spanish well, so we will continue with lessons and practice for months to come if not the entire time we are here.  Becky is doing well and we are even getting Audrey involved with some spanish.  Please continue to pray for us that we will have the time and mental strength to continue our learning.  It does make our lives busy with work and then spanish but we feel it is necessary for our mission here.

  

Summer!!! At the Mak school it is a little different here in the summer.  School is shorter and we don't have classes on Fridays but we have teams from the states here every other week if not more.  They come and do projects at the school (i.e. building a shed, painting the walls around the school, helping with recess and soccer camp, among other things).  It is a real blessing to have these teams here working to help make the school a better place and getting to know the kids.  I am  also responsible for their medical care so I have had several "on call" moments to provide the needed care.  We appreciate all of the teams and their hard work.

Becky is busy at home with the kids, transporting kids, learning spanish, and keeping our family in line (not an easy task!).  She does a great job and we thank her so much for doing this much needed part in our lives.  She is practicing her spanish by talking with and getting to know some of the local women.  She is also going to be joining a ladies bible study/cook book study with both Dominicans and Americans.

Becky getting some Mother's Day love from her two best girls

Jenna is attending the Mak school this summer to help her with her spanish and to make some friends.  She also had a chance to make some friends at a summer surf camp.  The campers would surf and then do some other activity (i.e. snorkel, games, crafts, trapeze).  She made some new friends (from the DR and Bermuda).  She had a very good time.  I have even had a chance to learn to surf also and hope to do some surfing with Jenna.  We also like to snorkel in Sosua.  There is a reef just off the beach so we can go whenever we want.  We have seen a lot of fish, tons of sea urchins, a spotted eagle ray, coral and even an eel.  We love learning about the underworld there.  Still waiting to see a shark though. 

Darren and his girls enjoying the beach on Father's Day

Jenna snorkeling, one of her favorite things to do here

 Audrey has adjusted well and seems to love living here.  Her favorite things are the beach and the monkeys at the Monkey Jungle.  She is understanding quite a bit of spanish and is even starting to speak in spanish!  She also loves going to the school during recess to play with the students and staff, who also love playing with her!  She also enjoys visiting with the teams that are here and is always ready to greet everyone with a big smile.

Audrey taking a moment to smile for the camera while enjoying a sucker

Overall, we feel like we are finally settled in and are having an impact here in the DR.  One of the highlights was the last day of school where all of the parents came and the kids did some activities for their parents and our pastor delivered a gospel message.  It is great to be a small part of these kids and their families lives and try to make the most of every opportunity.  Please continue to pray for continued relationships and opportunities to help them.  Check out the Makarios website to see what else is going on!  http://makariosinternational.org

The last day of school presentation

Hola, It's been a while.

Hello to all of our friends and family from the DR!  We pray that you are all well.  We thank and praise God for each of you!  We apologize for the lack of updates from our end.  We have been very busy getting settled into our new house and into our new culture.  It has been amazing to see how God fills our needs and gives us even more when we depend on Him.  One such blessing is our house.  We found a wonderful house that is just right for our family.  It is about 10 minutes from the Makarios school.  We are getting settled in here and it feels like home now.  The girls are enjoying having their own space to play.  We also now have a puppy named Macy.  Macy found us and after attempting to find her a new home, came back to us.  So...Jenna talked Mom and Dad into keeping the puppy!

Our house

Macy (about 8 weeks old) and Jenna 

The month of February was a busy one for us, not only were we getting settled into our new house, but Darren had the opportunity to have a medical student work with him for four weeks.  Brad and his wife Brittany were so much fun to have around and were such a blessing to us and to the kids a the school.  Darren, Brad and Brittany had an opportunity to go to Haiti to help with a medical clinic for several days.  Darren and Brad worked with a Haitian doctor while Brittany helped to translate, she knows Creole!  They were able to help a lot of people as well as enjoy the Haitian culture.

Darren at the clinic in Haiti

Darren is working hard at the school taking care of minor as well as a few major health issues of the kids in the school.  He also provides medical care for the Dominican staff and people in the village when he can.  He is currently working on developing health education for the students and staff.  While Darren is at school working, Becky is at home with the girls.  Her day consists of many things, but a large part is homeschooling Jenna while trying to keep Audrey and Macy from getting into too much trouble!  We are both working hard on improving our spanish by taking classes four days a week.  It is helping but neither of us feel we have a handle on the language by any stretch of the imagination!  Please pray that we will continue to persevere in our language studies and have opportunities to practice it.

A few weeks ago for semana santa (spring break) we took a couple days to visit Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.  It was a wonderful family vacation and we all enjoyed our time.  There is a lot of history around Christopher Columbus and the Spanish settlers in Santo Domingo.  Were you aware that the Dominican Republic was the first island in Western Hemisphere that had a European settlement (first on the north coast near our house and then Santo Domingo)?  And according to our guide on the train, Christopher Columbus claimed the DR was the most beautiful island he had ever seen!  After learning about the history of the DR, we enjoyed hiking around Los Tres Ojos (the three eyes), visiting the national aquarium, walking around a very large mall in which there was a small amusement park, riding fair type rides at the mall, and finally enjoying a yummy meal at Johnny Rockets complete with a big milkshake!  Tasted a lot better after months of not eating that type of food.

Los Tres Ojos

The Columbus Grave

Darren and Jenna enjoying Jonny Rockets

Thank you all for your love and support of our family during our time here.  We have been studying the book of Ephesians in our bible study here.  Our prayer for you is this "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).  We love and appreciate each and everyone of you!  Until next time...

Adjusting to Our New Life in the DR (January)

We made it to the DR!  It has been an eventful month and we are adjusting as well as can be expected.  We arrived on Dec. 30th and spent the new years at our friend's house (The Menolds).  Our first day was spent trying to get cell phones, groceries, and other necessary items for living here.  We ended up eating our lunch out of our grocery cart while in waiting in line to get our phones.  It is hard not to say things are weird here, they are just different. We don't want to have an ethnocentric view of things and are really trying to understand and enjoy this culture.

I started Spanish lessons the first week and was going 3 hours every day for a few weeks.  Now I am doing 2 hours 2 days a week and Becky is doing the same on alternating days.  Our teacher is Dominican and her husband is from the Ukraine.  One night we learned how to make sancocho (a Dominican stew) it was very tasty.

The Makarios school started on Jan. 8th, which means I have been at my job as the Health Care Administrator for several weeks.  I have a one room clinic/office and I see kids throughout the day.  They have a lot of abdominal pain, headaches and other various injuries and illnesses...sometimes they have neither and just want to come visit because they think they "need" some medicine.  Makarios has had two teams visit for one week each since we have been here.  The first was a group of college students from Austin Stone Church in Austin, TX.  They worked at the school building shelves, doing a drama/Bible story, and spending time with the students.  The second group was a dental team also from Austin.  I was responsible for triaging all of the kids and then make a schedule for them to see the dentist and hygienist. The team did great and they saw all of the kids at the school (about 96) and the staff.  They pulled, cleaned, and fixed a lot of teeth.  A much needed thing here in the land of sugar cane and coke.

We are currently still living at the Mak house but have a good lead on a house and hope to be there soon.  It has been challenging looking for housing.  We've looked at a lot of different options.  Our top priority is location and safety.  We've seen houses that have been owned by a Swiss, a Belgian, and Dominican of course.  Some of the houses were shown to us by a German realtor.  We really like the variety of ethnic groups here on the north coast, especially in Sosua and Cabarete.  Thanks for all of the prayers and support during this time.  We will keep you posted.

We were able to find a good reliable (sort of) vehicle in our price range also.  So, we have an SUV (that is very beneficial on the roads here) in addition to my moto.  When they are both working properly it's great:)

We have a busy time coming up in the next couple of months with different people and teams visiting, as well as a staff retreat in Jarabacoa next week.  A couple from our church is coming next week for about a month to help at the school.  He is a 4th year medical student doing a rotation here with me. We are looking forward to them being here with us!

Thanks so much for the thoughts and prayers.  Hasta luego.  Si Dios quiere.  Until next time...