Hospital Escuela

Today all of the 5th graders went on a field trip to Hospital Escuela, a public hospital in Tegus. The hospital building was definitely modest - with small, not-extremely well-lit hallways, and older equiptment. It was a great experience, but I'm definitely tired emotionally and physically from it.

The students, who all come from middle to upper-class families, kept on saying they were scared, and that they wanted to go back to the bus. They said they were going to faint. We just encouraged them to stay positive so they could encourage the families and the patients.

We came with about 800 stuffed animals, so that each child at the hospital could receive a Christmas gift. My class first went to the orthopedics. The students each handed out a stuffed animal, and were told to chat with the patients as well.

Then, another teacher and I got to go to the Intensive Care unit. Most volunteer groups do not go to the IC, so it was special that we could go. There were 7 kids in the room, all hooked up to IV's, and ranging in ages from a few days old to 13 or so. All were sleeping, and even one was in a vegetative state. I was told that maybe 2 out of the 7 would survive. It was really sad.

We then went into another IC unit that had more kids. We delivered the gifts to the kids, although the kids, again, were mostly connected to IV's. There was a medical missionary group that was helping. There was a surgery going on right in the room -without any special procautions or safety measures in place. OIH! (Only in Honduras...and other developing countries, I guess).

When I got back to my students, they were all teary-eyed and some students were crying really hard. I guess they had seen a baby with an inflamed head. He or she had to have a needle in his/her brain to drain the fluid. Even the "tough" boys were crying.

The students were really humbled by the trip, and I think it was effective. We came back to the class, shared about some kids we had met and why they were in the hospital, and then we got into groups of 3 or 4 and prayed together. Many of the kids had been in car accidents. I was very impressed with how my teacher handled the "debriefing." She let them do 99% of the talking.

It made me thankful for my own health - which I take for granted every day. I also found out today that a student from Saline just died in a car crash last night - another reason to be thankful for life!