E-mail from Kristy Engel to Bob Beck.

Kristy is an American Baptist missionary nurse who is based out of the Good Samaritan Hospital in La Romana, Dominican Republic.

Bob Beck founded the Good Samaritan Mission Council and has coordinated the past trips to La Romana in which our church has participated.  If you're familiar with this mission, you may recognize the names of those mentioned in this letter.

If interested in donations, go to LaRomana.org

Bob,

thanks for asking!

Right now, it seems like the greatest need is for primary care services, much like what we provide in the batey clinics.  There really aren't the traumas that we saw in the first few weeks but rather maintenance of diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma.  We are using a lot of food, vitamins and baby formula as many are malnourished or hungry.  We are also seeing a lot of dehydration so need pedialyte and other rehydration salts for patients.  We see a lot of skin problems related to sleeping outside and problems from mosquitoes, including malaria.  We have quite a few antibiotics but seem to continue to need vitamins (pre-natal, childrens and adult) and money for food.  People can bring or send tents as there are many who still need those.  It seems like the majority of our patients are dealing with trauma (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) although there are few opportunities for them to talk about that or to receive counseling.  We  are offering that care to patients but it will be reduced only because some of the people that have been traveling with us will not be returning for awhile (Ketley and Vital are really on Home Assignment and will be traveling in the US soon).  We can do the counseling through translators and it's been mostly a matter of listening to patients and praying with them.

Many of the NGO's that have been in Haiti since the beginning are pulling out or have already pulled out.  You still see Red Cross and Compassion along with International Medical Corps and Doctors Without Borders but most others are gone.  Few, if any other groups, are doing mobile clinics like we do so our presence there is VERY important.  We have started working with the Haitian Baptist Convention and are trying to help them with their projects/plans although they are just now coming up with those.  I heard Moises talking about building a school and orphanage but don't really know much about that.  Money for our continued work is always needed (as you know) and we need to all remember that this work won't end for a very long time although our participation may be limited in the future.

I hope this helps!
Blessings,
Kristy

If interested in donations, go to LaRomana.org