Diana and JJ sterilize instruments and set them up in trays for surgery, starting as early as 6 a.m. and finishing as late as 2 a.m. the next morning! Ruby, our dentist in residence, sees several patients a day. One patient had mouth cancer, so she removed his teeth and hopfully most of the cancer.

Lack of health care is a major problem in Haiti. The mission has an extensive medical program that provides many different and much needed medical services.

Visiting surgeons typically perform dozens of minor and major operations in just a few days Barb fills out charts and arranges appointments for all of the surgery patients Max, a nursing student who joined his instructor on this trip, gave several presentations on STDS/AIDS in area schools as well as helped out in the OR

We have a clinic, pediatric clinic, lab and pharmacy that are open five days a week. We have a birthing centerTender Lambs Birthing Center) that opened in January of 2000. It is open 24 hours a day and hundreds of babies are born there every year. These facilities are overseen by American missionaries and staffed by Haitian doctors and nurses. Some are hired by the mission; some are provided by the Haitian government.

We have recently been approved to be the HIV/AIDS center for our area of Haiti and are working on developing that program.

We are in the process of building an eye clinic and also have a dental office used several times a year by visiting American dentists and hygienists.

In addition to these services we have a surgery center and have teams that travel to Haiti several times a year that provide general surgery, orthopedic surgery, eye surgery, etc. For most of the people in the area, these teams are their only option for surgery and it is a blessing to be able to provide this for the community, as well as all of our other medical services.

Items that can be collected for this program are tylenol/ibuprofen/aspirin, multi-vitamins (adult, children’s and pre-natal), antibiotics, antacids, antibiotic cream, antifungal cream, anti-histamines, 4 x 4 gauze pads, exam gloves.

For a list of specific lab items contact Maureen Moore at maureennwmissionlabtech@yahoo.com.