Ruby Nelson Hospital

I have been volunteering at Ruby Nelson Hospital for 5 days now. Its an Adventist hospital named after a missionary woman killed while serving here in India. Everyone is very nice here and there taking good care of me. I was craving peanut butter and they found it for me and now giving it to me every morning for breakfast. On the campus is the hospital, a school with 1000 kids, as well as a church. The church is very nice and conservative, here in india its a sign of respect to take your shoes off so pretty much everywhere you go you take them off even at church that is something i have had to get use to i dont like walking bare foot in church but its an experience. They speak in Hindi but sometimes they have a translator in english so than i can understand they are a very warm and welcoming people. On sunday we had my first eye camp. We traveled at 8 AM to a village 1 hour away we set up the OPD where we screen the patients if they need surgery, medicines, or refraction. All of the camps are sponsored by an outside representative from the UK, US, etc. The people are so thankful they always give us food, have a ceramony to celebrate its just miraculous. We saw hundreds of people from the surrounding village and it came out 60 people needed cataract surgery where we bring in our bus back to Ruby Nelson to our OT. We were in the village till around 3:30 PM and came back started setting up the OT at 5 where we get all the instrauments together. And started surgery at 6. There are 2 first asisstants, 2 second assistants so he has two patients on the table at a time so he when Dr. Jacobs is working on one patient the second is getting prept for surgery so he can just move over when done. Everyone knows exactly what to do he has a very well oiled OT. We finished at 9:30 it was a very long day for sure but rewarding now 60 more people can see only in a matter of minutes. On Monday we will do refraction for everyone that needs glasses. Keep up your prayers for all the patients.

Basically India is very different from the US in every possible way. Everywhere i go people stare at me its so funny, but i cant look back becuase in this culture only prostitutes look men in the eye. So this is something that i am trying to get use to becuase in the US your taught to look into someones eyes of your weak. Thankfully most of the circles im going with are christian so they dont live by this. Another thing that drives me crazy is that everyone just throws there trash out in the street so there is garabage everywhere, there is no where in india that does not have trash lying around. So when ever i see someone that im with about to throw trash out the window or on the floor i try to stop them first but its built in to them to throw everything on the floor. Spitting and picking your nose is a normal thing here as well every other minute you will hear or see some one spit everywhere. And driving here is an art for sure. you drive at top speeds and pass the horse drawn carts, the rickshaws bicycle or otto, trackters carring rocks or dirt, motorcylces with a family of four on it. The drivers are amazing here with how they drive in these conditions i would never want to drive becuase its a skill of reaction that i dont have for sure. Dr. viraj and i traveled from simla to jalandahar where im going to voulunteer my services indefintaly for a while because we dont have medical camp for a while. We took a very rustic public transportation bus let me give you a picture its a very old bus with ratty seats close together stuffed to the brim with all kinds of different people and when there is no more room inside they sit on top its so scary i always think there going to fly off becuase the drivers drive crazy fast on the twisty moutain roads dodging other vehicles, animals, falling rocks from the landslides. I would never want to drive here it takes alot of skill and good reaction time. I love how everyone in India is so caring they look out forevery one even stangers. If someone needs something they will give what little they have and offer it. These people are so generous and thankful for everything. They also have so much faith and belief, there are so many different types of religions here its amazing how devoute they are in what they believe in. They are always thinking of others and how to help out. We also took a second bus here which was on the opposite spectrum it was the nicest bus i have ever been on much nicer than alot in the US. It was called a deluxe bus only 175 ruppes which is around 4 dollars for an AC, recline seats, and a TV playing movies. This is traveling in style for sure. Im staying in the hospital where they are giving me delicious peanut butter at my meals its hard to find in the north of india and i was craving it and they were so nice to find some for me. Im volunteering in the eye department indefintaly becuase there is no medical camp with shimla right now. Im asissting dr. jacobs and dr. viraj while im here learning all i can about opthamology. We have camps every sunday in surrounding villages where we have sponsors from the US or the UK that pay for all the expenses for these people that would not get any help other wise. I really love it here in india and the people i have met are so amazing i hope that i will always remember the experiences i have here and the lives that have touched me so.

Rekong Peo Medical Camp

Sorry it has taken me so long to post another blog but i get so busy and very little internet connection. We left Monday at 5 AM from shimla to rekong peo and meet up with dr. lagi and his group of med students from New Zeland. We traveled for 12 hrs on twisty mountain roads with boulders in the road still from the land slides and made it safely and than set up the eye and general OT (instead of OR operating room its OT operating theater in India). I asissted dr. viraj he is the opthamologist. In the morning we would run the OPD and screen all the patients. I took the blood pressure for all of the eye surgeries, i took more manual BP during this week than ever in my life, and it was a very old fashioned mercury device boy it was fun. I got to learn how to scrub in basically you wash your hands and arms twice really well untill all of the layers of your skin are off. And i assisted dr. viraj with the surgery giving him the instaments and so fourth, the key is to touch the eye as short as possible to have recovery faster. Than after surgery i would go help out in the ward with all the post op patients from the general surgery. They would do histerectomy, hemroidectomy, choleysistectomy, etc. I learned how to take care of fresh post op and take care of there IV, as well as i gave my first butt shot. In the states we dont usually give them in the but usually the arm because of the siatic nerve but here in india they only give IM injections in the upper portion of the bumm. So i got to give quite alot of them, the poor patients knew the drill and would roll over for me. In this type of situation you become very close with the other nurses and dr i really had a great time with nurseing and bonding. Indian people are so thankful thats something that i love about this country they could be in so much pain from a procedure you did to them and they still pour blessings on you. We worked at the hospital for 6 days straight and completed 60 general surgeries and 61 opthalmic surgeries. So i really know how to asisst in catorac surgeries now since i helped in 61 over 6 days. i have made long time friends at this place. i hope to get a chance to visit again some day.

Jalandhar

After our dental camp John, Jim, Sue, Anna, Joyce, and I traveled to Jalandhar with Ashish because this is where his dental practice is located at the Ruby Nelson Hospital. This is such a nice, well equiped hospital in memory of a missionary that was killed while leaving India. There main emphasis is the eye and dental wards. Dr. Jacobs is a doctor here that is the fastest in the area with catorac surgery, he can complete one surgery in 2 minutes and i witnessed it. He can do 100 + surgeries in one night, he is very humble and explaines everything in detail. I was able to watch him preform 8 of these in a mere couple of minutes. This is a very rewarding surgery becuase they can instantly see in a few minutes. We visited the Golden Temple where hindus come from all over to visit and worship here. You have to have your head covered to go in with no shoes. Before you walk in there are pools of water that everyone washes there feet, i was nervous and thought i was going to get a fungus but so far i have not thankfully. When you walk in its a big pool of water and the temple is in the middle with a bridge out to it. It is an amazing beautiful site all in real gold. You walk around the temple and people are bathing in the holy water because they believe they will be healed. When you walk in everyone is shoulder to shoulder there are so many people. They have priests there singing and drumming a chant the whole day. People sit around meditating and reading there little prayer book for hours on end. They are very devoute touching every step they walk up as well as walk out backwards from the temple for respect. I enjoyed myself greatly. On our way out of the city we all took our first rickshaw ride it was so great. Anna and i shared one and the driver was hallarious he told us that he was the safest rickshaw driver and not to be scared, and ashish baught us all ice cream that was delicious im very much spoiled since i have been in india. I have meet alot of nice people at this adventist hospital, dilpreet just graduated from dental school working with ashish in there newly built with updated equipment, dennyl the only general doctor on staff that can eat anything, and praveen the finance for both this hospital and simla sanitarium, as well as the nurses mrs. smith and mrs. saloman.

Rekong Peo 2nd attempt & Kaza

We left at 5 AM with 2 dentists, 4 nurses, 2 teachers, dr. bazliel, and 2 handyman on our second adventure up the himalayans for a 12 hr trip. India is so beautiful i cant get over the mt and the rivers. The towns that we pass are all different, some small others big but they all have in common are cows everywhere and the woman carring big loads of hay, sticks, or water jugs on there backs or heads. The indian woman deserve an award with all the work they do while it seems the men just sit around but i bet they work when im not looking. We had to traverse over some small landslides but all in all the roads were better with all of our prayers. We stayed in a guest house right by the hospital where four of us shared a room, bathroom, and had no hot water to take a bath so we had to get it from another room. Rekong Peo has the 5 star hospital in the state and this clinic was a sore sight nothing was very clean and most equipment did not work but we made it through with hard work. Our dentists Dr. John and Dr. Ashish worked around the clock doing restorations and extractions as well as root canals. They saw patient after patient never taking a break while us nurses could at least sit down every once in a while. Anna and Jim both got to extract teeth and were very excited while doing it and there not dentists, i did not want to pull for sure. I would assist the dr. with what ever they needed by getting them gauze or holding there teeth. The power would go out freaquently so i sacrificed my personal torch (flash light) to the cause and had it stuck in quite a few mouths. We had alot of fun and hard work and helped alot of people. We stayed there for three days and saw hundreds of school kids. Our next stop is kaza another 12 hours up in the mt. We traveled up to kaza leaving at 5 AM and started working the next day in the hospital. This hospital again was not up to the US standards at all but we had willing hard workers and again God blessed us in helping alot of needy people. I have seen so many teeth that are rotten i am sure i wont ever need to see again. People here dont brush there teeth everyday, there is a branch from a tree that the people use to scrap the fuz off there teeth maybe once a week so alot of them are rotten away to just stumps. The people are so thankful here they always bow there head to us after we just yanked out 4 of there teeth. I got so much out of this trip that has made me a better person i will be always greatful to the people of india, as well as the others on this trip with me. I have made lifelong friends with: Anna, she was a trooper she is pregnant and came through all the tough hikes and long days with out complaining, Janet she is so hallarious the girl from canada who is staying till january with me, John a rare kind of guy but found the laughter in everything, sue my adopted mother who always looked out for me and gave me comfort, jim my adopted dad all the time was joking and made us laugh when we were dead tired and always made a jib about jersey when ever he could, ashish a great dentist can do anything with just the simple things and has a great faith in God, joyce the life long traveler that has been in any situation as a nurse and loves to share her stories, nater my favorite driver he would always be laughing and smiling and i never knew he could understand and speak english untill the end of the third week, khyali an amazing cook a guy that never complains when put in the uncomfortable seat, and dr. bazliel he would always be paying attention when we talked about wanting somting and he would try his best to get it for us with out our knowing. This was a great group to spend three weeks with and i will have a place in my heart the "chello, chello, bus gang."