Adventurous at Heart: March 2017

Waiting for clinic PC: HIS students

One of the big projects that was focused on for OE 2017 was medical and dental clinics. Paige and I were asked to accompany HIS as nurses, both for our students well being as well as to help run clinics for the local people. I've been a part of "bush" or village clinics before in Africa and here in Papua alongside other Indonesian nurses. But this was my first real exposure to independent diagnosing, prescribing, and TRUE holistic care. Sure I've prayed with patients in hospital settings in the States, or learned that emotional/spiritual needs can manifest themselves as physical ailments. Yet, to learn something or go through the motions is completely different than living it and believing it! Every single patient that walked through our door was prayed for and over, and of this several people were lead to Christ. Dr. Di is one of the best doctors I've ever had the privilege of working with. God has blessed her with knowledge and patience. I've learned more practical nursing from her than I ever did in nursing school. And to be honest the entire medical staff here has a passion for teaching which makes them all a complete joy to work with! (ok commercial break over)

For the first few days of OE our clinic was packed. In a space slightly smaller than a Southern (SAU) dorm room we easily crammed 15-20 people.There were 3 examination areas; one for Dr. Di, Paige, and myself. Every small group of HIS students had a rotation through the clinic. It was awesome having the students participating and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching them random medical assessments or explaining a medication;however, it did add to the chaos of the crowded space. I also had to work through 2 translators! I would ask my questions in English, then one of the students would translate into Indonesian, and then another translator would speak the local language. The entire time I was praying that important details wouldn't get lost through all the translations!

By Thursday, Feb. 9, 4 of the small groups were going to hike further interior. Paige was asked to join 1 of those groups (Check out her blog!! writtenpaigesite.wordpress.com/2017/02/28/pushing-the-limits/). So our clinic became less crowded and somewhat less chaotic with half of the high school gone, only 2 examination areas, and the hype of free medical care dying down. Or perhaps I simply became more adjusted to the craziness and didn't notice it quite as much.

Dr. Miguel's dental clinic PC: HIS students

PC: HIS students

Megan's first tooth!

For most of the students and staff this was their first experience with dentistry. Some were excited, while others were thoroughly grossed out! One evening Dr. Miguel came up to Megan Orrin and I asking if we wanted to pull a chief's teeth (It doesn't matter what time of day it is. If the chief asks you do). Of course we were all over it! Megan and CJ (a student) were able to pull and I designated myself as camera woman.

CJ's pull

PC: HIS students

We prayed for every patient PC: HIS students

Prayer with patients happened even outside the clinic walls PC: HIS

PC: HIS students

Paige doing awesome assessments PC: HIS students

Working through 2 translators and 3 languages! PC: HIS students

We saw a lot of the "expected" cases. Painful joints, back aches, worms, scabies, respiratory issues, colds and flu, all lifestyle type illnesses. But there was the occasional oddities. Like walking pneumonia, plural friction rubs, ear infections, neuralgia, fatty tumors, a man with a severely burned hand, and a lady with a tooth pick shoved through her eardrum! All in all I loved being in the clinic, and I enjoyed the autonomy and especially the critical thinking! Perhaps I will pursue nurse practitioner someday ;) ...

On Friday of the first week, Dr. Di had to return to Sentani and we were not getting another doctor until Monday. So with Dr. Di gone, and Paige with the groups that went interior, I was the only medical personnel for a few days. Talk about a lot of nervous prayer. Thankfully though, no one was seriously injured or in need of a medi-evac through out the entire 12 days!

PC: HIS students

Always teaching, always practicing... PC: HIS students

On Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, the small groups (who had hiked interior) returned! Everyone greeted the tired and muddy groups with big hugs and smiles as they came dragging in. We who had stayed behind were eager to hear the stories of the first group's adventures, and they were very excited to share. Paige and some others came up to me and told me there was a man who desperately needed medical attention for his badly burned hand! Paige's small group had seen him in their village but with no medical supplies worthy of his wounds they asked him to hike the 6 hours back to base camp with them. I had no idea what to expect but when I finally saw Wes's hand I was blown away. I knew instantly that he was most likely going to lose most of his fingers and palm if not the entire hand.

I took him to the clinic (with quite an audience in toe) and working through a student translator we found out his story. Last November (2016), he became very sick. He passed out one night and his hand fell into the fire. We couldn't quite figure out how long he remained in the fire but at this late in the game it wasn't something that I pushed for. For 4 months Wes had zero medical treatment for his burn. Thus, infection had set in. How he was not gone septic is a miracle from the Lord! His right hand was double in size, and it was obvious that his index finger was nothing but bone and necrotic skin. At the time, I was fighting a head cold and thankfully couldn't smell a thing, but all the students vouched that it reeked. Flies were all over Wes's hand and I had to make a student be my full time fly-shooer as I worked. On the plus side, he still had a radial pulse. It was weak, but it was there.

Over and over I and the translator told him he had get to a hospital that same day. We pushed that he would lose his life if he did not go. Wes agreed with us and swore he was going down to Wamena. I cleaned the wound and debrided as much as I felt comfortable. He never flinched or grimaced as I cleaned, which made me think he had lost almost most nerve sensations in the hand (which deep burns can cause). But then again the people here have such an amazingly high pain tolerance! I coated the fleshy wound bed with antibiotic cream with Doxycycline, and the other burned areas I generously applied Silver Sulfadiazine (burn cream). Lastly, we prayed over Wes. And I still pray because after I wrapped his hand up he left. I didn't see him again so I desperately hope he went down to Wamena like he said he would, but non-patient compliance is a constant battle here.

PC: Paige Cosgrove

Sorry to drag this out but there's still more to tell!! Part III coming soon... hopefully :)

Every year HIS takes the entire high school to an interior village for 12 days. This means organizing a trip for roughly 80 high school students, 8 adult group leaders, kitchen master (Aunt Joan), speaker (Uncle Dan), and a medical team including Dr. Di M.D., Dr. Miguel D.D.S., Ika (Dental Assistant), Paige R.N., and myself (R.N.). Then add on the cooking supplies for 80+ people, food, medical equipment for running village clinics, medications for both locals and students, and everyone’s personal bags. We would call it a massive undertaking! They simply call it Outdoor Education, OE. I’m not sure how they pull it together year after year, but HIS has done these trips for over 20 years so they know what they are doing.

This year's destination was Ibele, a remote village in the highlands of Papua. The students were split into small groups with adult leaders. On Feb. 6, half went up to Wamena on the first flight, while the other half waited for the second flight. I was in the second group. In true Indonesian fashion we were delayed… by 2 hours! Once we reached our first stop in Wamena, we then had to drive to the trail head and hike the rest of the way into Ibele. I knew we would be pushing it to make it in before dark but on the bright side we didn’t have to carry in our luggage. All the supplies had been flown into Ibele via small bush planes. It nice when almost every student’s father here is a pilot for some organization ;).

Looking out onto the runway PC: HIS students

Once at the trail head we were waiting on our guides who were supposed to meet us. After a good 15 minutes we decided we better just start walking and maybe meet them on the trail. We were already 2 hours late and did not want to be hiking in the dark. The trail itself was actually a “road”. Granted, only motorbikes or 4-wheel drive vehicles could forge the thick mud and deep pot holes. Overall the hike was enjoyable, some down hills but mostly up as we climbed from Wamena's 5,000ft to Ibele's 6,200ft.

First group hiking in PC: HIS students

Looking out toward Wamena valley PC: HIS students

It continued to grow darker and darker as we trudged along. Nervous about making camp in time we pushed hard. Just as the sky was losing all light and the stars began to peak out we saw the run way and knew we had made it!

Ibele is a gorgeous mountainous village! It sits high on one of the many ridges overlooking the Wamena valley. It’s a dry and windy place and actually gets chilly enough for long sleeves, and pants! It was a much welcomed change from our muggy tropical weather here in Sentani.

PC: HIS students

Blue shed was the girls bath house PC: HIS students

PC: HIS students

The Adams are a mission family that have been living and working in and around Ibele for many years. The missionaries before them had built a lovely wood house, and the Adams have been making great improvements to the surrounding area. They invited and hosted HIS in order to minister to the local people through medical clinics (including dental care), painting buildings, running VBS type clubs, digging drainage ditches, and simply being with the people.

The general schedule went like this:Breakfast by a different group each day (under the guidance of Aunt Joan). Then came personal devotional time, and then morning meetings (Uncle Dan was our speaker for the trip). Then morning work assignments. At 12 came lunch (again prepared by another small group), and afternoon work assignments. The students had several major projects they had to complete, like their anthropology and photojournalism projects, so they were given time in the evening to talk and mingle with the people. Then came supper and evening meetings. There wasn’t much time for goofing off and to be honest by the end of the day everyone was too tired to get into too much trouble.