Couldn't believe the difference.

Not a week goes by without a story about how important Visitation Clinic is to our people.  Here is what happened last Friday.  The day was busy and long.  Our volunteers from Indiana were invaluable in getting 63 patients treated and everyone was packing to return to Port-au-Prince.  Then, an emergency.  A nearby traffic accident leaves a woman with a severally injured foot.  It is beyond what we can treat, so our new vehicle becomes an ambulance and Dr. JF and our visitors drive her to the department's only hospital.  Then the ordeal begins.  They have no pain meds, so we provide them.  The x-ray tech has left and doesn't want to come back in, until Dr. JF makes numerous phone calls.  It is late that night before our patient is stabilized and a reluctant agreement is made to use the government ambulance to take her to Port-au-Prince.  Our visitors couldn't believe the difference between the caring and compassion they had seen all week at Visitation Clinic, and what they saw at the hospital. 

Our guests returned home yesterday with numerous stories about the teamwork and competence they had observed at our clinic.  They saw first hand how badly it is needed and how important it is to support it.  Each one had taken valuable leave from their work, bought their own plane tickets and even reimbursed us for our room, board and transportation costs.  They told me that they can't wait to return.