Tuesday, July 18, 2006

A Neighbor with Hemophilia

Recently, a member from the Jordan Pal team had the opportunity to go to a National Hemophilia Conference which drew interested health care providers and persons experiencing this bleeding disorder from all over the country and surrounding areas. An invitation was extended by a local physician specializing in diseases that involve bleeding and clotting disorders. Since the team member had been working closely with some friends who have an eight year old boy with the same disorder, she was able to go to the conference with them. A guest physician and other team members from the Canadian Hemophilia Foundation spoke, and a visiting Canadian nurse held a mini workshop on intravenous training for parents to prepare them in how to handle bleeding emergencies. All persons experiencing bleeding disorders along with one or both parents had to have their blood drawn and examined. This event turned out to be quite a cultural experience. Now please know that the conference itself was very good, but as customary in this culture, there was too much going on at any one time which considerably increased the noise level in the room making it difficult to focus on and hear the speaker. For example…lab technicians were set up in the same room where the speaker was delivering his prepared message and in another corner of the room, a very loud puppet show was being presented all at the same time. You can only imagine the confusion which took place. Also the lab technician had a problem drawing our little boy’s blood as he was very loud and not very happy or cooperative. However, the physician would not let us leave without his blood being drawn, and of course he wanted the member of our team to do it. PTL, our Heavenly Father guided her needle without any problem. The evening concluded with a nice buffet supper where everyone tried to get their food at the same time with some pushing and shoving...again, quite cultural…even humorous. Please continue to remember this precious little boy and his family.
Posted by AF

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