From Sherry's Journal

Jesus Healing Center – Still Healing the Sick and Saving Lives

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

— Ephesians  4:12

We are thankful to our partners who sponsored the building of our Jesus Healing Center and we are thankful to Joyce Meyer Ministries – Hand of Hope, who sponsors the operating costs each month. This includes paying for medicines, all doctors, nurses, and employees salaries, and much more. Because of help from Joyce Meyer Ministries – Hand of Hope, we can offer the best possible care to the poorest of the poor. Thank you Joyce Meyer Ministries – Hand of Hope!

We are so blessed to have Barbara MacMannis leading the professional medical team at the Jesus Healing Center. She does a great job and demands excellence from the entire staff at the center. Here is an update from Barbara about the Jesus Healing Center.

barbara-with-baby-wellness-check

 

I was recently in the States and had the great opportunity to visit a doctor. For the people who are reading this, you might not think of a doctor’s visit as a “great” opportunity at all, probably more like a burden. But to the people of Haiti, it is a blessing to be cared for by any medical personnel, especially when you are gravely ill.

For the people of developing nations such as Haiti, receiving medical care while a disease progression is in its early stages is almost nonexistent, the reason being the high cost of medical care. When you make less than $2 a day on average, having to spend a week’s pay for a clinic visit is out of the question. The poor pray the illness will go away, or they seek the attention of the local witch doctor, but the truth is the diseases and illnesses brought on by the conditions of Haiti whether it is malnutrition, accidents, poor hygiene, or poor working conditions, are ever present.

The staff and the patients of the Jesus Healing Center are so aware of the blessings of this clinic. It meets the needs of the patients, respects them as people of God, and hopefully shines a light for the love of the Lord in everything we do and say.

Each morning the staff and patients come together and pray before we start the day. The staff is thanking the Lord for His faithfulness in this blessing of a clinic for the people, and for the patients, these devotions are a sign they will be treated with grace and mercy as they enter our care.

 

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” — 1Corinthians 13:13

morning-devotion

 

Relying On The Lord For Healing And Guidance

The majority of our mornings start off with the usual type of patients, but there are mornings when the unexpected can and will happen. Whether it is the birth of a baby or a seriously ill patient we are ready and strengthened by our faith. A faith that helps us to know that the Lord will guide us in each and every step and decision we make.

This sweet little one could not wait for the ambulance to pull out of the driveway as he made his way into the world. I still feel there is no better way to start the day than with the birth of a baby.

new-baby-boy

What joy we have in watching life arrive right before our eyes! It is an amazing reminder of an amazing God and His perfection in all of creation.

 

Local Hospitals on Strike Increases Patient Load

Along with those moments of sheer excitement in the birth of a baby comes the gravity of a patient entering our care in a critical or terminal state. Many patients will go to local clinics for help, and trust in the care they are given, even though many times it is sub-standard. It is usually after many trips to these clinics do the people finally make the trip to Fond Parisien to the Jesus Healing Center. The patients come from Port-au-Prince and the coastal regions to receive the high quality of care we offer. We give this type of care because the Lord calls us to be faithful servants of the people He loves no matter their race or belief.

This woman had been under the care of her local clinic for one month. Instead of finding out the source of the problem she was given a written prescription, which they could not afford to purchase after paying for the clinic appointment. By the time she got to our clinic she was in heart failure and possibly kidney failure due to severe anemia. This slow and insidious disease process could have been avoided with the right care. It was the suggestion of a relative who lives near the Jesus Healing Center for the husband to bring his 31-year-old wife and the mother of his two children here.

woman-suffering-heart-failure

 

The woman was suffering from anemia because of a simple gynecological problem. Our highly qualified GYN doctors would have quickly diagnosed this condition, and the medications would have been given to her as part of our complete care at the Jesus Healing Center.

The hospitals are now on strike, and so many patients like this woman are showing up at our door. We are caught in the dilemma of treating patients beyond our licensed level of medical care.

 

Keeping Up With Demands for Better Care

The state of Maryland, in the U.S., is often used to give a comparison to the size of Haiti. Maryland has a population of five million, and Haiti has a population of ten million people. Maryland has countless clinics and prestigious hospitals, but Haiti can only boast about a handful of adequate hospitals and clinics. As word spreads about the excellent care patients receive at the Jesus Healing Center, we find ourselves bursting at the seams. Our four doctors, two residents and eleven nurses have been able to increase our patient load from 100 to 150 a day to keep up with the need, but our problem was where we would put all the added patients. Without the funds to add on to our current building we have looked into our extra spaces for storage, and re-configured to increase our maximum use of the existing building.

exam-room-before

 

We needed to increase our space to keep up with the demands of emergency care.

exam-room-after

 

We were able to enlarge our emergency room from three beds to six beds by utilizing a porch entrance, and our inside waiting area from twelve to twenty-five by decreasing our front registration office.

JHC-remodeling

 

Increasing our inside waiting area means patients are close by to get lab results, pharmacy pick-up, and doctor’s diagnosis after their test, and therefore decreases the amount of wait time in the clinic.

This child suffered accidental burns.

Child-with-burns2

 

This is a case of severe infant malnutrition.

malnurished-child

 

Infant diarrhea caused by drinking and cooking with unclean water.

sick-child-with-mother

 

It has been a busy first quarter for the Jesus Healing Center, but the results have been phenomenal. We feel with the help of God we can see many of the patients who come to our gate each morning. Very few are turned away, and many who are in need of a higher level of care are resourced to other facilities; from amputees to cardiac, to plastic surgery, to complicated orthopedics, we are standing in the gap for the poorest of the poor.

 

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2

Numbers Speak For Themselves

1st quarter 2015 Jesus Healing Center – 8,322
1st quarter 2016 Jesus Healing Center – 9,235

This means at the end of the year we have the potential of seeing the equivalent of two months of extra patients—what a blessing!

waiting-room

 

We give all the glory to the Lord who we believe is showing us His favor when we work toward building His Kingdom in the way we were gifted. On behalf of the staff of the Jesus Healing Center, we want to thank Joyce Meyer Ministries—Hand of Hope for the chance to do the will of God within us all.

In His love,
Barbara MacMannis, RN; Medical Administor
Jesus Healing Center at Love A Child, Inc. Fond Parisien, Haiti

 

The Jesus Healing Center reaches out to care for the whole family through Consultation, Community Health and our well-planned Referral System for those who need extended care.

First Quarter Numbers at the Jesus Healing Center

Population seen in the clinic……………9,235

Diagnosis

Anemia………………………………………………..80

Asthma…………………………………………………….7

Conjunctivitis………………………………………….77

Diabetes………………………………………………….74

Diarrhea………………………………………………….31

Hypertension………………………………………..480

Upper Respiratory Infection…………………..504

Kwashiorkor/Marasmus…………………………22

Malaria………………………………………………….1

Parasites………………………………………………25

Vaginitis………………………………………………96

Pneumonia………………………………………….16

HIV…………………..(Tested Positive)……….14

Syphilis……………..(Tested Positive)……….53

TB……………………..(Tested Positive)………..0

Typhoid……………..(Tested Positive)………55

 

 

 

BARBARA-with-malnurished-child

 We thank Joyce Meyer Ministries—Hand of Hope
for sponsoring the monthly operating budget.

Posted in Sherry's Journal