Archives - 2008 Newsletters/Updates
We had a good trip to Cuba. Thanks for praying and thanks to you who made it possible for Natalie to go. She has a whole new perspective on the ministry now.
We had a chance to visit most of the projects we are doing. Recently we had been thinking that because shipping funds are limited we would only ship high value medical equipment. Almost without exception each place we visited when asked what they needed for beds, chairs, tables, desks etc. It was great having Natalie along as she was able to keep a record of what each site asked for. We have in storage at the LPH pretty well what was asked for.
On November 8th we packed and shipped container #31. It was wonderful to ship a considerable amount of what was asked for by our colleages in Cuba. This will be the last container until warmer weather in the Spring.
While in Cuba the Minister of Health asked us to focus on two projects.
1) To provide furnishings and equipment to the very bleak 12 bed Palliative care unit at the Celestino Hospital in Santa Clara the capital city of Villa Clara province.
2) To provide furnishings to the very needy 80 bed hospital for severely mentally and physically disabled children.
I believe both these ministries to the dying and to the "least of these My children" would be very close to the Lord's heart and we should walk through these open doors of opportunity. Helping this week will be part of doing this.
Armando and Aurora and their kids are well. Life is returning to normal in Cuba after the hurricanes. The part we are working in was not severely affected like other parts. Again during this visit I was impressed by how MEMO is bringing aid and particularly hope to the people of this region in the health care sector as they realize they are not alone in their struggles.
The mammography trailer is waiting for an empty flatbed truck returning to Halifax for shipping. Because it will not fit into a container and with the sagging Canadian dollar it is going to cost around $14,000 to ship to Havana. It should go in the next couple of weeks.
Good to be back "On seat" as they say in Africa.
Thanks for all your support Jerome
It has been some time since I have reported to you. I often find the urgent things seem to keep me from doing the important things. Letting you know what MEMO Cuba is doing is important.
We just completed two medical/surgical/technical team visits to Cuba. Nick Mysko an xray repair person got both xray machines in Placetas running perfectly.
Four kitchen stove installers almost got the new smokeless gas commercial range going in Placetas(As well as blowing themselves up:no serious injuries!)
Laena Maunula completed the field work for a community needs assesment into the Health Care needs of Remedios women. To be used in applying to CIDA again for funds. Her husband Christian as well as providing silicone elastomere for making noses and ears at the maxillo facial clinic in Santa Clara consulted in getting the computerization of admission records at Placetas Hospital functioning.
Kim Joiner an OR nurse and her daughter spent 10 days organizing the OR at Placetas and improving the hospital warehousing.
Two orthopedic surgeons and an OR nurse spend a week teaching Cuban surgeons arthroscopic techniques for knees and shoulders. As well consultations on improving sterile technique were held.
A colonoscope and gastroscope were delivered to the gastroenterologists at Placetas so they now can diagnose early cancer of the intestinal tract.
And on a simpler note a DVD player was donated by the January team to the Maternal home where women with complicated pregnancies wait for delivery. We also delivered layettes made by a MEMO volunteer in Thunder Bay.
An FM amplification system for hearing impaired children was delivered. It was very moving to see a young boy hear his mother's voice for the first time. Dr Trevor Bon a gerentologist spent a week consulting with Cuban doctors about difficult illnesses their elderly patients were experiencing.
And on and on. When I start listing what our teams and volunteers accomplish I get impressed all over again.
But it is so much more than just stuff. We were told that since MEMO began working in Placetas there is a whole new attitude of optimism and purpose among the medical staff. Previously there was no point in trying. Now they know they are not alone in their struggle. The Placetas ICU is now fully staffed by intensivists as they ask to be transferred there because it has state of the art equipment. A local man knelt before a MEMO volunteer thanking him for saving his wife's life. She was a severe asthmatic and medicine we carried to Cuba had restored her ability to breath and be a wife and mother.
And what are our close at hand plans? The mobile mammography trailer is in the final stages of finish carpentry. It will be sent when the Placetas breast screening program is up and running. The ministry of health has finally begun the renovations for this clinic. Dr Bon in his visits to homes for the aged found that many were basically washing all the bedsheets by hand.
Last Sunday at church I was given the money to buy two large new domestic washers to be used in these homes. We are in the process of providing the ICU in Placetas the ability to do blood gases to moniter patients on ventilators. In Canada not having blood gases available for monitoring these patients would be unheard of.
We are working with the provincial cancer centre in Villa Clara province to develope a consultative relationship with a Canadian Cancer Centre.
MEMO volunteers in Alberta have an exellent xray machine ready to ship along with 60 hospital beds and much more.
A great burden I carry is knowing that we have valuable equipment waiting to be shipped to Cuba where it could bring comfort and save lives. Unfortunately we have no money to ship.We have no warehousing space and the highway trailer we bought for temporary storage is already full and we are having to store somethings outside. I remind myself how faithful people have been in helping us in the past. A great joy I have is when the letter carrier arrives each day and there is a donation that reminds me that the suffering people of Cuba are not forgotten.
Thank you Jerome