GSMDM Blog: Story thus far 8.3.10

The History Team

Tuesday, August 3, 2010. 10:09am

I am sitting in a large auditorium right now filled with patients and Good Samaritans. This morning I uploaded a quick update via a self-video that I posted giving an update of the team so far. Today, we are set up in the most peculiar of places: a city multipurpose room. Looking around, I see many scarlet banners praising the Party. Underneath these banners, the Good Samaritans continue to spread their love through their servant hearts.

Under the large hammer and sickle logo is where the doctors are sitting. The majority of our patients for the past two weeks have been elderly ladies. What the team has been surprised about is that these elderly ladies have been coming to the clinic by themselves. They have walked many kilometers with their hunched backs to come and get medical care. On their faces, we can see fatigue—but we also see hope. Hope for medical condition. Hope for their families. Hope for their last few years on this Earth. The Good Samaritans’ hearts have been cut the past two weeks from many power encounters, and we have personally poured out a great deal of personal money out of our pockets to help our patients. Many tears have been shed on both sides of the examination desk.

I gave money on behalf of the mission to one lady this morning. She was very sick and did not have any money for medications. She said she was just waiting to die in peace. When our volunteers saw this, they could not hold in their emotions. We laid hands on her, and said the we, the Good Samaritans, want to shower the love of God on to you. With this, we gave her $300.000 VND and prayed for her. She was so moved, that she couldn’t get words out of her mouth. Stories like these happen everyday. Our own team members have been opening their wallets and their hearts for our patients, and lives are being changed.

When patients first come in, they reach the History Team. This is where their vitals are taken, and their chief complaints are recorded. The History Team is well-trained to take a comprehensive medical history to better help the physician diagnose their problems. Next the patients would move into the doctor’s room, where we have a team of primary care physicians from both the United States and Vietnam examining the patients. Everyday, we have a variety of cases. Some of them have illness that span from mild lower lumbar pain, from working in the rice fields, to patients that actually experience epileptic seizures in the examination room. The Medical Assistant team works with the American doctors to aid in the translation and medical procedures.

If our doctors need to order lab tests, our Lab team meets this need by utilizing a vast repertoire of laboratory equipment. With our handy Piccolo Machine, the doctors’ could get such tests done as lipids, triglycerides, liver enzymes, electrolytes, creatinine, etc, done in just 30 minutes. You couldn’t even get results this fast in the states!

Next the patients either go to the optometry room or the dental room—or both. Our optometry room features a high-tech piece of equipment called the auto-refractor. This equipment can find what prescription the patient’s eye needs, and match the patient up with one of our hundreds of eyeglasses. Many lives have been changed in the optometry room alone. Years of blurred vision have been relieved. One man was so overjoyed, because he hadn’t read his bible in many years because of his eyes. Now, God’s word can once again be accessible to him.

The Dental Team specializes in the pulling of teeth that have cause pain for our patients for many years. We are fully equipped with many dental surgical instruments, and even two portable autoclaves for sterilizations. Dr. David Le has been a great dentist and a leader in our dental ministry.

At the end of the day, all the patients visit our pharmacy, which is fully equipped with an extensive repertoire of drugs. Also, the pharmacy utilizes an electronic database that automatically updates us on how much medication we have left, and what we need to buy. This allows us to dispense over 1000 prescriptions a day. This year we only have one pharmacist, Co Thuỷ, and she has been doing a phenomenal job alongside the pharmacy team.
Last, but definitely not least, we have the reception team. The reception team is the glue that holds the clinic together. They are responsible for leading patients from room to room, setting up and maintaining our electrical generators, and setting up our toilets. Imagine if you will, two beautiful girls holding a trash bag full of the team’s restroom waste and finding a place to dispose of it. That is the dedication of the reception team.

The Good Samaritans have logged many hours and have seen 2,000 patients so far, and have operated on about a dozen. I was fortunate enough to have spent some time in operating room and seen many lives being changed after surgery. One woman had a 10 cm ovarian cyst in her body for many years. We were able to take that cyst out, with the help of our OB/GYN surgeon, Dr. Steve Hordinsky.

Although our adventure is ending in a few days, we hope our love for Vietnam and our patients do not. We also hope that you do not forget Vietnam. God still has more in store; we hope that you can join in the vision. I see it as a privilege to be serving here. This is because I can see healing right before my eyes. Healing from illnesses, healing from emotional scars, healing between the church and the government and healing for my own self. We invite you to be a part of this great undertaking. Currently, we are running out of money for surgeries. If you feel moved, we invite you to also be a part of this vision by donating to GSMDM. You can pay directly at http://www.gsmedicalministry.org/donate. These funds will be sent directly to us on the field. Thank you all for your kind hearts.

Ben Khuc

“Changing Lives One at a Time”