As many of you know from following HG Haiti workers on Facebook, or the blog of one of our January team members, Lisa, little Ezekiel – one of the two new kids in the orphanage – was hospitalized early last week after a diagnosis of Sickle Cell Anemia.
Throughout the week, he has been getting better. He looks better, walks better, isn’t crying out in pain all night, and while peering out the hospital window, is itching to go outside. This morning, however, the doctors have asked for a blood transfusion, hoping that it will give his system the final boost needed to be released.
The problem: This is Haiti, not the U.S.
If we were in the States, this would be a simple matter. The doctor would say, he needs blood. The nurses would carry the doctors order down to the hospital blood bank and get the right type, and within a couple of hours it would be completed.
In Haiti, however, we are learning the process is a lot more complicated than that. We were under the impression that the blood transfusion would happen at 8am today. Instead, the doctor came at 8 to order the transfusion. This requires us gathering 6 people willing to donate to Ezekiel. (We aren’t sure if they have to be the same type, or if these people will only be replacing what he uses.) These 6 people have to go downtown to the Red Cross and donate there (an hour or more drive depending on traffic). Once that is completed, then they will release the blood for Ezekiel, which we will have to carry back to the hospital ourselves for him. Then, and only then, can the transfusion take place.
Erin is currently working to get contact with Ezekiel’s family made to find people willing to donate, but we aren’t sure of how long this is all going to take.
Please pray for this need. Pray for Ezekiel. And pray for Erin as this is the first ‘situation’ she is dealing with here in Haiti. (I have stepped back and left it mostly to her to coordinate, so that when I leave on Friday, she will already be the one that people go to.)
Praying, Scott.