Vernon chats with nurses and patient

This is the second of several guest posts from the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s disaster relief team in Haiti. The 10-member medical team arrived in Port-au-Prince Monday and began ministering through a makeshift hospital on the edge of a tent city today. In this post, Butch Vernon, pastor of Thoroughbred Community Church in Nicholasville and the chaplain for the group, shares about the group’s first day of work.

Just wanted to update you on the first day of the clinic. When you pray for this trip, take the time to thank God for the team that He put together. These doctors and nurses and Glenn Hickey, our leader (called a Blue Hat in Disaster Relief terms) are amazing! They each have a truly Christlike attitude.

Glenn Hickey with members of the security team

We were in the heart of the city today and saw incredible devastation. For those who have been to Haiti before you will be even more surprised at the amount of incredible collapse that is everywhere. We were sent to a mountain tent city adjacent to a Catholic church and on the way you could look up the mountain and see where one house fell and took out eight or nine more. There were patches where you couldn’t tell anything had happened, but then you would hit a place where the devastation was all around you.

Our clinic today was really busy but we were seeing folks who were suffering from the aftermath and not from the actual earthquake devastation. We saw about 250 patients. There are a lot of signs of tuberculosis. Be praying that there might not be a huge outbreak.

A medical team member sutures a head wound

People here are scared. There is a fear that permeates everything. However, the pastors are excited. They believe that God is going to do something tremendous. We talked to a number of pastors who didn’t know each other at all and they all had the same message. May God allow it to be so.

Many people were frightened about us coming here. Honestly, I have felt extremely safe in Haiti on this trip. One reason is that we are only out during the day. Another is that we are being guarded by the Haitian president’s personal security team. (All three of our officers asked if they could go with us again tomorrow. Be praying for them that we might reach them with the Gospel.) They were each one thrilled to be a part of helping their people.

Finally, we have felt safe because we are doing what God has called us to do. Safety is not the issue, obedience is.

We are finding out through trial and error many things that will help the next groups to follow. Pray that we can find a methodology to allow some form of continuation for the teams.

Be gearing up. I believe God wants to use us here. Check out the Buckets of Hope for Haiti at the Kentucky Baptist Convention Web site.