Medical Missions Rock!

This is my first medical mission and I can´t begin to tell you how awesome it is. So, I´m turning today´s blog over to our nurse, Mandy Willmann, so you can have a nurse´s perspective on the difference we´re making:

Hello Westminster Church! Today is the second day of medical clinics and they have been two very long days. We start about 7:30 am and today we are back to the hotel at 5. The clinics have been going much better than we had anticipated. We expected our turnout to be about 50 for the first day and that day we saw 174 patients by last count. Today we topped that and saw 230 patients! Most of our patients are well, with very common parasitic gastrointestinal problems and complications from dehydration. (like headache and dizziness) This is a very hot region and their access to CLEAN water is limited so they tend not to drink enough. As you may expect, they need a lot of education regarding general health and hygeine. We give out a lot of vitamins and ibuprofen. We have limited abilities to diagnose infections but since we can narrow it down for the most part, we do have some antibiotics we can give out if they need it. While the patients are being seen, the long term missionaries are reaching out to the people waiting in the lines by showing them the meaning of the salvation bracelets. The children are all eager to hear the story and have a bracelet. After they give the bracelet they pray with the patients and invite them to the Jesus film they put on some nights. The other night at the showing of the film, they had 200 people come and had 56 children and 17 adults commit their lives to Christ. The children are also entertained by the group with games, crafts and sports. Thanks so much for your prayers and support while we are here. It´s making a difference, we know, we are all still healthy!