5 hour ride to 12,000 feet

It is late Thursday night and we are discussing how we have only been here for a couple of days, but it seems that we have done so much. Wednesday afternoon, we went to the clinic in Arequipa and Leticia and Sarah assisted with a few patient treatments while Bev and Janie helped organize the large equipment room upstairs. We have hopes of organizing the supply room while we are here in order to make it a more efficient resource. Wednesday evening, we visited the beautiful downtown in Arequippa to exchange some dollars for soles and buy some coffee. Downtown Arequippa is very beautiful and they call it the "white city" because many of the buildings are built out of white lava stone. It is really neat. Today (Thursday) we took a five hour bus ride across the Peruvian countryside to Juliaca which is a city that sits at 12,000 feet. After arriving, we attended a night Bible study at the church where we will be working at tomorrow. Everyone is very welcoming and hospitable. It is quite cold and dry here, but we are adapting well. We also took a "taxi" ride on a motorcycle pulled taxi. It was a first for most of us! Praise the Lord that we have arrived safely and have many supplies to share with people here. We do have a few things that you can be praying for! 1) Tomorrow's clinic (friday); that we may be able to overcome the language barrier and provide PT to many people here. 2) Ministry at the school tomorrow; Janie is teaching a lesson on nutrition to pre-schoolers. 3) Health; we are all fairly healthy right now, but sleep deprivaiton at high-altitude can take a toll quickly. We hope to post pictures soon, but we are problem-solving that right now.

We made it!

Right now, we are sitting in the guesthouse in Arequipa getting cleaned up and awaiting our first full fabulous Peruvian meal. Everything has gone very smoothly, despite 3 of the 4 of us getting the "red light" and getting searched as we went through customs. We had to pay a $15 "tax" to get one of the wheelchairs through there, but we decided it was worth it since all of the equipment had made it here with us intact with no charge until then. So, after lunch we plan to hit the ground running by seeing patients this afternoon and seeing the Plaza de Armes tonight. We are so glad to finally be here and we are ready to get going!

Prepping for Summer 2012 in Peru

Five of the six members of the Peru Summer 2012 team are converging on Bolivar as we speak.  Tonight we will have our packing party to attempt to pack as much of the donated supplies as possible within the airline restrictions.  Dr. Josh Layman has obtained three donated wheelchairs that we will plan to try to take with us.  I say "try" because we need you all (and all of the prayer warriors you know) to pray that we can get them on with us without being charged. We also need people praying for supernatural skrinkage of donated supplies as we pack.  We have a mountain of donations (which is a HUGE blessing from the many people who got them for us) that we could take with us.  We are going to have to prioritize, but I am praying that all of the things we actually need get packed.  It is kind of exciting to pack when you don't know exactly what you need, and pray for packing guidance.  But it is also hard to make some decisions.  We fly out of Springfield tomorrow morning, and we're super excited!

Wrap up of Spring Break in Peru 2012

The last day in the clinic was spent at the Misión del Espíritu Santo. The clinic was situated in the city of Callao, Peru. Many patients came out
and the clinic reached its maximum capacity. Physical therapy saw a broad variety of patients and we were able to see very interesting cases. Two of the most interesting cases were a three year old who has severe hydrocephalus and a teenager with Turner syndrome. After wrapping up the last clinic day we all went out as a group and ate at Papa John’s. We were all very excited to eat pizza again and definitely had a wonderful time unwinding and reflecting on the past week with everyone. On Saturday, we traveled to Cusco to start our side trip to visit Machu Picchu.When we arrived in Cusco, we
visited four Incan ruins before traveling to Aguas Calientes that afternoon
to prepare for our trip to Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes was a beautiful town and we loved being able to walk around andexplore the town. At 5:30am Sunday morning we finally started our bus ride up to Machu Picchu and we were all ecstatic about being able to visit one of theSeven Wonders of the World. It was overcast and raining but we were still ableto see how wondrous the city is and all really enjoyed the opportunity. I can definitely say we all loved the opportunity that we were given and will never forget this amazing
experience!

The Past Two Days

Wednesday
Our mobile clinic moves to Puente Piedra! This site was a bit different than the first as our view is now the mountains whereas on Monday and Tuesday it was thePacific Ocean! The different site proved challenging because of the limited space. The pediatric doctor met with patients in the bus and tents were set upfor the pharmacy, registration, and health education.

The day started off very slow but picked up in the afternoon and really got crazy when 29 children showed up at 1:00 to see the pediatrician. The clinic closes at 4:30 and we only have one pediatrician! Physical therapy only treated 7 patients but it still was a rewarding day. Two wheelchairs were sent home with patients. One wheelchair was given to a postpolio patient. The other wheelchair went home with a patient with Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy.

Praises: We treated 60 patients and of those 7 came for physical therapy.

Prayers: Giving the wheelchair to the patient with Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy was bittersweet due to the nature of the disease and the family’ssituation. The patient was 9 and had stopped walking at 8. His 5 year old little brother has Duchenne’s as well. He received orthotics. Their young uncle who is 15 also has Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy. Please pray for this family as they have many struggles ahead.

Thursday
We rearranged some things to allow for better patient flow. Physical therapy had several pediatric patients. Due to our rotations, we have been working intriage, pharmacy, dental and optometry as well. It has been a wonderful experience as we are learning so much by assisting in these areas. It is really helping us with our vital signs and gaining more knowledge about medications (weare even filling prescriptions!! ) In addition, our Spanish is definitely improving although it is very difficult sometimes having to communicate with patients and other medical staff who do not speak the same language as you (there are only two translators for the team).

Praises: We treated 98 patients today and of those, 10 came for physical therapy. We measured a wheelchair for a 9 year old cerebral palsy patient who had been carried by her mother since she was born. With a lot of prayer and the support of donations, she will hopefully have a wheelchair by October.

Prayers: We move to a new site on Friday. Please pray that the transition goes smoothly once again.

The Medical Clinic Begins

Monday and Tuesday
The morning routine: Breakfast was served at 6:30 and was wonderful as usual consisting of bread anddifferent jams. We also were served yogurt, juice and tea. Jimmy and Andrea played another worship song. The team then had a quick meeting and devotionaltime. Following the meeting the team boarded a bus and traveled for an hour to the site.

Our service begins: Both Monday and Tuesday were spent serving the local community of Ventanilla. We arrived early and after a quick set-up and prayer, began seeing patients at8:30. The PT students were put on rotations and spread out to serve in different areas. We adapted quickly to the different specialties.

Praises:
On Monday: 1) We delivered a wheelchair to a patient who was seen in November by the fall mission group. He was so excited about it! He could barely contain himself.
2) 102 patients received medical care on Monday and of those 15 were treated with physical therapy.

On Tuesday: 1) Another wheelchair found its owner! The patient was 11 and had cerebral palsy. When we brought the wheelchair to Peru we didn’t have a specificpatient in mind which is okay because the Lord brought one to us! His family was very excited because his father had to carry him everywhere.

2) 100 patients received medical care on Tuesday and of those 20 received physical therapy treatments.


Prayers: 1) Many of the patients come in to the clinic and want back (spinal) braces. We have a very limited number of braces and oftentimes the patients don’t actually need them. This makes treatment difficult because they can be very insistent. Please pray that the patients are understanding and open to using exercises for treatment, in place of just getting a brace.



2) On Wednesday we go to a new site. Please pray for a smooth transition and that God keeps sending us the patients that we can best serve.

Day 3-Sunday

The morning started with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and then introductions and general orientation into how the clinic will be run for the next five days. We are going to be part of a general medical mission so they informed us about how the different specialty areas will work and what other areas in the medical field the students will help with during the upcoming week. There is pediatrics, optometry, dental and general medical all working together with physical therapy to offer medical services to the Peruvian people. Supplies were sorted and packaged into five different sections for the respective days in the clinic. Our group was able to sort vitamins after the physical therapy items were organized and it was a great bonding experience for the students and Dr. Beck. Around 3 p.m. we departed to go to the Anglican Church- Mission San Patricio where we would be having church for the evening as well as dropping off the supplies as this will be our first clinic site. The Mission San Patricio islocated an hour away from where we are staying and the community was extremelywelcoming and thankful that we are going to be offering medical services tothem. Our team led Praise and Worship at the church and a lot more community members started joining the service after the heard us praising God. The sermon by the pastor was translated by Jodee Fortner, and Dr. Townsend Cooper and the pastor expressed how wonderful it is that we are offering our time to do this for them and described us as “angels of love.” After the service, the young children came up to Andrea and asked her what her violin was. She offered themthe chance to play her instrument and they all jumped at this opportunity. Dr. Beck gave treats to the children as well and they were all super happy fortheir Starbursts! Today was definitely a great day and we are all deeply moved and inspired by what we have witnessed in this short time.

Praises:1) Mallory, a pre-med student from Illinois, joined our group during Praise and Worship. She plays the oboe and violin.
2) More of our team members arrived – a nurse, the pediatrician and translators!
3) The lunch was amazing! Jimmy is very thankful for the great food the retreat center is providing us with.

Prayer Requests:1) The clinic goes well tomorrow and we serve many patients!
2) The continued strength and well being of all the volunteers.