We are excited to accept applications for our new project site in Nicaragua. Join us this December for a ten day medical mission trip to Viejo and outlying areas. Help us provide quality medical care during outreach clinic site visits.  Feel free to email info@palmettomedical.org with any additional questions.

If you are interested in applying, please download the application from the website, fill it out and mail it in to: PMI, PO Box 542, Charleston, SC 29402. We will be in touch with all applicants roughly two weeks after the application period closes. We look forward to having you on the team!

Newman Addresses May Medical Team

Sunday, April 29 was an exciting day for the staff at Masindi-Kitara Medical Centre as we had a dinner to welcome Newman Lawrence and wife Trish to Masindi. It was a fun-filled evening with lots of food, music, drinks, dancing and chatting. The staff was exceptionally excited when we were told that Trish is a nurse and will be working with us. It’s really great to be part of the PMI family. Newman and Trish already feel at home.

It was wonderful to have the PMI medical team in Uganda from May 6-12. Through the outreach carried out in different villages, over 1500 people were treated for various ailments for free. This trip has made the medical centre more popular because the number of patients has increased since then, and our new patient’s appreciation is evident. Thank you PMI team for helping the under-privileged people in Masindi.

Bridget

Lab technician

Twenty-seven teams came out to participate in yesterday’s Commonwealth Cares Classic Golf Tournament, put on by Commonwealth Cares Foundation.  PMI was the grateful recipient of this year’s tournament proceeds.  The warm sunshine and cool breeze welcomed golfers to the course and allowed for a beautiful day, enjoyed by all.  Teams competed for prizes such as golf clubs, a guitar signed by members of the band NEEDTOBREATHE, and bragging rights for the year.  There are no words to adequately express our thanks to our friends at Commonwealth Cares Foundation for the hard work they put into making this event a success and for allowing us to be a part of this amazing day.

Today was a day full of adventure, highlighted by a three-hour safari trek launched from Paraa Lodge.  We relocated here this morning after a full week of service.  Our team has spent the day relaxing, fellowshipping, and enjoying our last several hours together.  This week really has flown by!

Today I looked out over the open expanse of land.  The horizon felt as though it was in reach, colored by beautiful hues that lit the animals that roamed below.  Warthogs, giraffes, water buffalo, hippos and many more such creatures peered at our jeeps as we advanced on our journey.  I was in awe of God’s creation before my eyes.  What creativity and uniqueness!  The God of the universe fashioned each physical feature of these marvelous animals.  They each had specific personality, behaviors, and characteristics, all fitting together into the animal kingdom.

It made me think of how we are created.  If God took such care with the animals on the earth, how much more care did he take with his sons and daughters.  Even in His sovereignty and magnificence, He is so personal that He knit each one of us together in our mothers’ wombs.  He knows our birthmarks on our skin, the number of hairs on our heads, our quirky behaviors, and what makes us tick.  He created our hearts.

We may be in a far away land on another continent, but we have encountered and served people just like us.  They may have a different culture and way of life, but their bodies are the same, their physical needs are the same, the longings of the human heart are the same.

We have had the immense honor and privilege to serve here this past week.  We haven’t seen the difference in the color of skin or the strange language that the people speak here.  We have served our neighbors.  We have served our friends.  We have served our family.  And, God’s Kingdom has been expanded!

Grier Cash & Erin Cothran

Today was our last day working at the clinic in Uganda.  We went to Kyatiri, which was a 45 minutes drive from Masinidi.  The weather was amazing and, as always, it was a beautiful, cool morning with gorgeous blue skies.  When we arrived at the clinic the people greeted us with joy, as they have everyday.  It was a bittersweet day though, knowing that this was going to be our last day working in the clinic with these loving people.

When we arrived at the clinic one of the first things I and many other people noticed was one of the first men in line, a middle-aged man in a makeshift wheelchair.  It was made from a plastic lawn chair and assorted wheelchair parts.  I later found out that he has polio and has had that chair for the past 30 years.  I was able to observe other students and providers work with him.  When we brought him into the room, he independently transferred himself from his wheelchair onto the table. We tried to make some repairs to his chair, but we didn’t have the proper tools and parts to do everything that we wanted.  The students were able to put a new cushion on his wheelchair to accommodate to his body, helping to make him more comfortable.  He was so grateful and a joy to work with. He is such a joyful person, and I was blessed and encouraged to be able to serve him in a small way.  I was also privileged to be able to provide 2 pairs of crutches to individuals who really needed them.  One was a woman who came in with a fracture that was bothering her. She had borrowed a crutch from her daughter to be able to walk to the clinic this morning.  She has not been working because she was unable to walk into town, so I know this made a huge impact on her life.  Another patient I had the honor to work with was a young boy who came in with knee and hip pain.  During the examination we discovered that he had a fairly large leg length discrepancy.  We fitted him with shoes that Lauren, one of the OT students, literally took off her feet.  We also fabricated a lift for his shoe and hopefully helped make a difference in his daily life.

We were able to observe one of the unsung heroes of this trip, Win, the dentist.  Many of the patients suffered from severe tooth decay and broken teeth, and the only remedy that we could offer was extraction.  Win did an amazing job, single handedly bringing relief to these hurting people with grace and compassion.  The patients endured the procedures under less than perfect conditions, without a complaint.  One woman even bowed down in gratitude for his work.  The dentist worked on the toughest patient he had ever seen.  She endured the toughest extraction and was gracious during the whole event.

We were blessed to have a shorter workday and were able to return to Masindi Hotel in the daylight and enjoy the beautiful hotel scenery.  Local artists had presented some of their crafts that we were all anxious to purchase.  One of the most awaited arrivals were some quilts made by local tailors from an organization called Peace for Piece.  Local tailors were encouraged by Maggie, a Peace Corps volunteer, to use their skills and make quilts from scraps that they used to burn as trash.  The results are incredibly beautiful African quilts.  They were a hit tonight, and I was able to purchase one of these treasures and meet the tailor who made it.  I am pleased that our purchases are going to support the local tailors.

Tomorrow we get rewarded for the hard work we put in by going on a Safari! I hope to see many wild animals and am excited to come home and share my stories with everyone!

Tim and Lia

PS.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who will be missing their children this year on Mother’s Day.  We love you all.

Today was an exciting day. We woke up at the Masindi Hotel, eager to see what was in store for the day ahead. We loaded up the vans and made the hour and a half drive to Biiso, another village that PMI has never visited. When we finally arrived, we were astounded by the group of 800 people who had come to see us and receive treatment. We worked long, hard hours and were able to see 300 of the patients who had come. At this point we were pretty tired, but we were so encouraged by many positive encounters throughout the day. I mean, you can only be happy after seeing this little angel (below).

You're smiling now, aren't you?

On another note everyone is really excited about serving through our last day of clinic tomorrow! We can’t believe it’s already here! Thank you for your love, prayers, and support throughout this trip. Your love and support is being felt, and your prayers are being answered!

(L-R) Sarah Doobrow and Priya Singh meet with patients

Today was interesting in the fact that we saw many tribes in one area. This meant we experienced many different languages and utilized our translators to the max. Some of the translators knew over five languages.  We saw over 300 patients in the clinic today, some of which were very interesting cases. I had a rewarding experience today working with the providers. One of our guard’s fathers came in and said he could not hear very well anymore. Upon examination I found a severe cerumen impaction. I was able to remove the impaction, and he was thrilled that he was able to hear again. He even called his son later to tell us “thank you” one more time for giving him back his ability to hear. It was nice to see immediate results, which is rare for the providers to see, since we are constantly prescribing medication without knowing how the patient responds. Another interesting case I saw was a woman who had liver cancer and an abscess on her head. I attempted to drain her abscess (a Sarah first), and we were able to relieve some pain for this patient as she battled through cancer, for which she was grateful. I had the pleasure of working with a pre-medical student, Tori, teaching her how to take a good history for patients. She is going to do great in medical school; she has already seen so much and is so willing to learn.

In OT, a nine year old patient came in who was born without a sternum and her heart was only covered by skin (you could literally see her heart beating outside of her chest). OTs made two shields out of splinting material to cover her breast bone and protect her heart. They also gave shoes for more protection. Her most favorite part was decorating her new shield with stickers. As if we hadn’t seen enough exciting patients, we got to make a chair for a child with cerebral palsy so he could sit up on his own. He was elated, smiling so brightly, sitting in this chair made of swimming noodles, PVC pipe, and a chest strap from a different wheelchair.

When we came back to the hotel, there were too many shout outs to count, highlighting special people of the day and the amazing things they had done. Marianne gave a shout out to everyone for seeing so many patients and brought up one special story about a girl that had come to the clinic last year by herself with a lot of burns. Her hut had burned down, killing both of her parents, while she and her sister escaped. She was treated for her burns last year and brought to the prayer team. This year she came back and told Marianne that when she was with the prayer team last year she found the Lord and forgave the people that burned her hut. Now, she feels as though a large weight has been lifted from her, and she is a changed woman.

Tomorrow we are visiting a new site, which we are very excited about. There is a great need for healthcare there, so I am interested to meet all of the wonderful people to whom we can bring joy and health. I cannot believe we are half way done with our trip already. It has been an amazing journey, and I have never felt so welcomed anywhere in my life. The Ugandan people are so grateful for the help we are giving, and they remind us of this all the time. One night, when I was on the bus on the way back to the hotel, one of the guards was telling me about the health care in Uganda. He was telling me how federal government hospital doctors will open their own practices and take medicine from the government hospital and bring it to their practice, where they sell it for a higher price. Therefore, when patients go to the government hospitals, there is no medicine to treat the them. He was telling me this is one of the many reasons so many people come to see the PMI team every time we come to Uganda, because they know they are going to get the best quality care possible. This made me know I am here for an amazing purpose. We are needed here, welcomed here, and loved here by all of the people, which is the most rewarding gift of them all.

Sarah Doobrow

Today was our second day of clinic and we were all excited to know the drill. Kitonozi is about 35 minutes from Masindi, and it was the first time PMI had ever been to the site.  As our five vans drove in, we saw the line of over 500 people, and we were all humbled by a worship team with two African drummers singing in appreciation as we arrived.  An elderly lady stepped to the front (pictured below) and sang, “I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Registration/Pharmacy: Megan Huffman, Water Missions International, Charleston, SC

Lauren Wengerd and I started with registration immediately, working our way down the line asking names and ages to give each patient a medical form and their number in line.  Our wonderful translator, Julius, taught us, “God Bless You” in Ruyonyo, and we were able to bless each person in their own language.  It is life changing to look into their eyes as you say their name and for them to smile back at you, saying “Amen” in appreciation.

The balance of the day I worked in the pharmacy, delivering prescriptions to the patients and working with a translator to explain their use and dosage.  Even after waiting for more than 8 hours to be seen and receive treatment, the same beautiful and grateful eyes peered back at me as they said, “Webale” or “Thank You”.

Triage: Chris Kundrock, EMT, Chattanooga, TN

After a conversation with my triage partners last night most of the kinks and learning pains of triage were worked out. With 5 triage stations and a vital signs station we kept the line of patients to see the providers stocked with eager patrons. After talking with more people wanting to be seen by the doctor than I could count, one thing was very apparent to me. The people of Uganda, and especially Kitonozi, are a loving and welcoming people. They welcomed us with open arms and were so grateful that we even showed up in their town.

Around lunchtime we had taken a break to eat lunch and let the providers get caught up before we started triaging more patients.  Right as my translator Phillip and I got up to go and eat lunch a little boy (pictured above) was peering eagerly through my window. He had a grin on his face and I quickly snapped a photo of him. Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we immediately had a connection. I can only imagine the many thoughts that were running through this little boy’s head. He seemed curious and intrigued by these strange people that have come into his small community. Even though our encounter was short and no words were said, a thousand unspoken thoughts were exchanged.

Provider: Matt Huffman, Cardiology Fellow, Charleston, SC

My team today consisted of an outstanding student, Alec Kitch, nurse, Trish Lawrence, and myself.  We were able to see close to 50 patients, contributing to our entire group total of 375.  We saw a diverse spectrum of diseases, ranging from common ailments such as arthritis and hypertension to malaria and osteomyelitis.  Although we were able to treat many things on the spot, it was fulfilling to be able to refer patients to follow up in the permanent PMI clinic in Masindi.  Again today, I was completely humbled by how appreciative and loving these people with very little are.