Today we were short a pilot who was out of town so only 2 planes could fly. This afternoon both of them were out in the mountains making the rounds (dropping off doctors and nurses, food and medicine, moving missionaries from village to village, etc.) when a call came in for an emergency medical evacuation. A young pregnant woman was having severe complications. One of the pilots flew to her village to pick her up and bring her to Maseru while another pilot picked up Dr. Jen Furin with Partners In Health (our family's primary source of funding). Dr. Jen was at a different village in the mountains and returned to the airport first.
When the plane landed with the patient she was immediately unloaded by two of our MAF pilots and taken to a small clinic room we have. Dr. Jen began to work on her and it was determined the baby had died and was essentially stuck inside the mother who was bleeding to death. An ambulance had arrived at the hangar and was able to transport her and Dr. Jen to the hospital here in Maseru where she had surgery.
I don't know her current status but without the MAF planes here she would have died in her village in the mountains. Even before the ambulance left the planes were refueled and headed back to work, as there were plenty of flights left in the schedule. In the picture below you can see the MAF plane taking off in the background before the ambulance has even left for the hospital.
I talked with pilot Tim Vennell for a while about how frequently this happens and he was choked up telling me about times when the patients have died in flight because they don't have enough planes or pilots or other workers here to effectively meet the medical needs. It was a good reminder to me of why we are here in Lesotho and again I was overwhelmed by the dedication this MAF team has to helping the Basotho people.
Traig
3 comments:
Hello, we are very proud of what you are doing for the people over there. Glad to hear that you and the family made it safe and are getting along well. Thanks for the blog and keep us informed. God bless each and everyone of you. Dan VH
What an amazing opportunity to be involved in and observe such ministries of Jesus' love. We are praying for your family and work. Blessings
~The Kennedys
It is so interesting reading about your lives in Lesotho. Even though we've visited your neighbors, the Vennells on 4 separate occasions, your writings make it all come back to life again.
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