Sacramento, Klamath Falls, Newark, Washington D.C. British Columbia, Florida, New York, Portland, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and on it goes to list cities gather the 74 participants. At dinner it was clear that a great number of us were functioning on less than three hours sleep and traveling all day. We all have our booklets, bottles, Shirts, assignments and after meeting briefly after dinner and a good nights sleep we were out into the field with a song and devotion in the beautiful outdoors at our breakfast table overlooking the Caribbean bay.
The Construction Team had all their materials in place and had begun to frame the outside walls by noon. They are still making great progress as we write. This family is in great need of decent housing and would not be able to see this happen without the help of free labor and donated materials brought by the team.
The Dental Team of three was concerned that they might not have patients on the first day, but when they arrived at 8:30 there were ten patients already and by day’s end there are still two to finish up by five P.M. They were gratified to have a very nice facility to work in along with a welcoming and professional clinic staff at the Patchakan Presbyterian Clinic.
The Surgery Team split to two hospitals forty five minutes apart to gather patients from two northern districts of over 45,000 each in order to fill their four upcoming surgery days. There was concern for a low turn out at one hospital, but the other hospital more than made up the difference in numbers of potential patients.
The Village Team counted medicine if they were support team members or pharmacy members along with some logistics people. The Village Team doctors and nurses split into two groups to go to the hospitals and help triage patients who might be referred for surgery.