I'm totally serving on a mission

Roderick Nővér (a.k.a. Sister Roderick.. formally known as Kim) would like to invite whoever feels so inclined to visit her mission blog/web site. Stories and pictures galore :)

http://www.missionsite.net/siskimroderick/main

She has been serving in the Hungary Budapest mission since March of 2010 (hence the lack of blog posts here at nursingerkim). She is scheduled to return home September 2011. Talpra Magyar!!!

Coming Home

Kim has told me her tentative travel plans. She will be arriving back in Salt Lake sometime Thursday evening! Keep her in your prayers that she will arrive back home safely.

Special Fast For Gardy Mardy

Kim would like to ask her friends and family to join her in a fast this fast Sunday for Gardy Mardy who has been kidnapped and is being held ransom somewhere in Port-au-Prince. Bishop Mardy, Gardy's father, has suffered many losses since the earthquake, and cannot afford to pay the ransom that the kidnappers are requesting.

Haiti - Day 8

The volunteer efforts are both physically and emotionally draining on the members of the Utah Hospital Task Force. Many of the group are fighting flu symptoms as an unknown illness is making its way around the camp. Two doctors were flown back to Miami with symptoms of meningitis. Luckily, Kim has yet to be affected, which means she has been busy playing nurse to her own teammates. She expressed some of the personal struggles that she faces as some patients are turned away because demand exceeds the supply of medical personnel, and the conditions that she is often faced with. Malnutritioned children wasting away, and patients suffering through the final stages of HIV infection. Their bodies, much like the buildings in Port-au-Prince, are failing, crashing, and are for the most part, destroyed. Unlike the structures that were used for home and work by many, there is no hope of their bodies being rebuilt, but yet they stay positive. Despite the adversity, the Haitians are constantly praising Jesus, God, and rarely ever complain. Like the Haitians, the group tries to remain positive.

Haiti - Day 6

Our conversation was cut short last night as Kim was asked to sing with the Haitian band that has been visiting the camp nightly since they have been there. The musical group is trying to raise money for new equipment and has found the area to be a hot spot. The volunteers work hard during the hot humid days and spend hours each evenings singing, dancing, and fellowshipping with one another. Group leaders have asked the volunteers to turn in earlier because fatigue has affected performance, but it's good to see that work and play can go hand in hand, even in Haiti. :)

Haiti - Day 5

Kim's group, assisted by the Ohio Disaster Medical Assessment Team (DMAT), went to the campus of a Catholic private school today. The "father" at the school turned down the small group because the security personnel traveling with them refused to disarm before entering the facility. There had been rumors of unrest at the school's campus which was the cause of the armed men's refusal to cooperate. It is good to hear that the safety of the volunteers is such a high priority to those involved in the rescue efforts.

They then visited another tent city which is exactly as it sounds. Kim made mention of a tent school, tent barber shop, and other "tent merchants". After mingling with the people in the tents, the volunteers went back to the hospital that they assisted at yesterday. The translator discovered that the reason the hospital lacked adequate nursing personnel was because the earthquake had destroyed a nurse training center next door. When the first earthquake hit, the building completely collapsed crushing and killing over 500 nursing students. Survivors were few and far between, but included a few Latter-Day saint women that had decided to skip class and fortunately preserved their lives by avoiding the crushing rubble. While at the hospital the group tended to wounds, and made due with the limited resources that they had. Corrections were made at the hospital when it was discovered that not having a night shift meant that patients were left in painful agony, packed like sardines and covered in flies, during the hours that the local medical staff were no where to be found.

Back at camp, the group was treated to Haitian food instead of the standard MREs that they were growing accustomed to. At the time Kim got off the phone she was understandably exhausted and a little worried about the safety of the meal. Hopefully her first taste of the foreign food will remain an enjoyable one.

Haiti - Day 4

The group spent some time providing healthcare to patients in a hospital today. Kim helped treat a woman with a fractured pelvis and a shattered leg. Resetting bone, and tearing off bandages that should have been removed days before were prime example of the pain tolerance that the people in Haiti have. The woman clenched the hospital bed sheets and barely grimaced at procedures that would have sent most Americans over the edge in agony. The translator told Kim that the suffering woman liked gospel music, which inspired Kim to sing some spiritual well-knowns such as "Amazing Grace". The woman raised one hand in the air and swayed it back and forth to the melodious tone of her nurse's voice. After the procedure, and after the much needed pain killers had kicked in, the woman pointed at Kim and the translator, then pointed at the sky and exclaimed "mèsi Sister Kim", meaning "thank you".

At the end of the day, many of the volunteers were able to enjoy a "fantastic" cold shower. The days in Haiti are hot and humid, and missing a shower for several days had resulted in the layering of "sun screen, bug spray, sweat, dirt, sun screen, bug spray, sweat, dirt . . . " described Kim. It was very refreshing for her to wash off the four days worth of "layers" in preparation for the many more to come.