Tuesday, March 17, 2009

WHO SAYS DOCTORS DON'T MAKE HOUSE CALLS ?

When I was growing up back back in rural Indiana I can still remember one time when I was so sick that our family doctor came to our house to treat me. Though that was a quite a few years ago it is still a vivid impression of my childhood memory. Maybe it is because even back in my childhood it was no longer a practice for doctors to make housecalls anymore.
Canaan Clinic is very blessed to have a dedicated group of American doctors who still adhere to that timeless practice of coming to see the patient when they can't come to see you. Last evening our second medical team of 2009 arrived. We normally have one or two doctors coming every other month to see patients at our community clinic here in Haiti. This group has 8 medical people out of the 16 team members. We have 4 doctors, 2 nurses, 2 physician assistants and a nurse practitioner who still make house calls here to Canaan.
Doctor Tony Hlavacek who comes down here on a regular basis put together a great group of friends from within and outside of medicine this trip. Tony also brought along his mother Marcia, ( third trip) and one of her friends from Spingfield, Missouri. His med school friends Dr. Ric and Dr. Wendy Bonnell who also consistently come down and their 3 children Elizebeth, Will and Jack.
Though the Bonnell's live in Texas and I only see them here in Haiti and through e-mails and phone calls in the states it's always a real blessing to see and hear from them. That is one of the immediate rewards God grants me for my work here in Haiti over these last 10 years, is through all the friendships I have made. Hopefully in another day I will be remembering all the other team members names and who knows some of them may become a friendship blessing as well.
On another note for the medical teams to come here and be efficient and effective requires a lot of effort and planning before their arrival by Elsie Kornelsin and Bobbie Bender our in country medical people. Until our new clinic is finished it takes a lot of work to see multiple patients out of 2 small buildings . It also requires moving meds, equipment, chairs, water, generator and other things up and down the hill. It is good that God has blessed us with dedicated people here at Canaaan. In God's love, steve at GAP Ministry.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hello, I so glad to have found this blog. One of the members on this team is my daughter Rebecca Smith. She is a P.A. and was so excited about this trip. She has not been able to call me so finding this blog has been a blessing to me. I now know she made it safely. I have been praying for you all and will continue to do so. God bless you and thank you again.