Once more unto the Breech...

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,

Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:

Follow your spirit..
[Willie Nelson, I think ..... or was it another Willie?]

First Week at Mercy

I do look forward to returning to Mercy... and I do not like the overnight flight; and now everything stops in Trinidad, so adds another couple of hours.  Initially, I was excited as I had the row to myself and it seemed that everyone had boarded - wrong.   A rather large woman (How large you ask? Well not to make any politically incorrect statements, let me just say that she had her own personal seat belt extender) sat on the aisle seat and the middle seat as well.   The flight was fine except for being held captive for over an hour in Trinidad while they cleaned the plane and changed crews.  Funny, the crew needs to get off and stretch, but the passengers can stay.  

Waja was at the Guyana airport to greet me and I arrived at Mercy with little fanfare, but did receive a warm welcome from everyone I met.  I headed to the flat to meet my new roommate Dr. Edi, a Cuban dermatologist, who is working here at Mercy.  I had even brushed up on my Spanish - which is still atrocious.  However, there was no sign of Edi. He is staying in the Team House. I wasn't disappointed as I do like to be alone much of the time.  I took the bedroom that I had last year.   Then, the first thing I noticed was that there was NO shower downstairs -- until I saw that they had not closed off the second floor as they said they would, so the upstairs bath was still there... and working.

Maintenance fixing the doors, new locks, including the front door,
repairing screens, replacing lights, etc.. Great work

Actually, the whole flat had been painted [including the light switches which were somewhat stuck initially] and two extra bedrooms were now on the first floor.    Not bad: they are a good size and nice new doors and spiffy locks though no one actually checked to see if the doors closed.   Small problems, and the guys from Maintenance fixed almost all of them on Monday:  I was impressed. The flat is very adequate for a slob like me, but I will need to up my game as my niece, Doctor Emilee Flynn, is arriving on early Tuesday Morning.   (More later about Emilee.)  The fridge is the same manic-depressive one there for years - sometimes it freezes everything and sometime it cools nothing.  It seems like home to me, like I belong here.

 Church on Sunday

I decided to get to Calvary Lutheran Church on Sunday as I did not get there last year and they even put me up in their manse several years ago.   They are without a minister and wanted to know if I needed a job, so I wasn't expecting many at church.  However, it was pretty crowded and with lots of young people and lots of people who remembered me.  I remembered them, too, but their names have long since disappeared.  Surprise: it was National Youth Sunday Service... The youth were energetic and involved; it was great to see for the first hour, less so the second hour, and by the third hour I might have faked an injury, but I was warned that they wanted to welcome me in the announcements at the end of the service ......

Do you know how some sermons are memorable - some for the right reasons and some ..... Well, there was a seminarian from Jamaica Seminary here for the youth and he delivered the sermon. When you are beginning your talk in the third hour -- wellm even Billy Graham would have trouble.  

He chose a sermon text from Ephesians 5,3  "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints."  However, he kept referring to it as sexual immorTality, and I do have to admit it made the sermon more interesting.  And when he was describing the woman who had bled for years in Luke 8, he said that the reason she was unknown was that, "she was probably wearing a hoodie."   A smile-filled sermon.  

I started with my first class as if I had just finished the last one the day before.  (I do admit that I sometimes get a little worried that I may have "lost it" over the intervening months and no one told me.  Luckily for me, with friends like mine, they would be lining up to tell me.) 

Here are my bright and eager students.

Changes at the Hospital

There have been lots of changes.  I guess the most important overall is that the "new" CEO Dr. Bridgemohan resigned in order to start a venture with some family members.  He had brought a new enthusiasm to the hospital about patient volumes, new services, etc.  We wish him well in his new venture.  Helen Browman is back as Acting CEO while the Board begins a search for a new CEO.

However, the bigger news from a selfish perspective is that the walkway from my flat to the hospital was raised a good six inches... so maybe I won't need to put my wellies on when it rains.

The Main Entrance walkway is much higher.

The school walkway, Sister Sheila Way,is now elevated a whole 12".
but it does mean that you have to step down and then up...

 There is a nice outdoor patio eating area for the cafeteria and numerous baskets of plants make it an attractive area for eating and chatting.   I will surely come back if the next improvement is a Pub.

Doing it in Reverse

When I go home after three months here, I almost always get a respiratory infection.  This year I decided not to wait and got one right away.  I even went to Emergency here at 3 am on Friday morning.  I got great care, an xray and some medication, and I was back in the flat by 4 am.   I have not been feeling up to par and the doc said "Don't go spreading your germs around!" so I didn't get to a big meeting on Thursday nor to my girls at St Ann's ..... I have been in my flat all the time, except walking over for meals.   But I am well looked after as everyone from the Board Chair to some of my old Bosco boys who volunteer here knew I was in Emergency.  And my neighbour, Dr. Devi keeps checking up on me, including bringing me her honey and  lime syrup to sooth my throat as well as a few mangoes.   I think I am getting better and have Sunday to recover before the big event on Monday night.  You will have to come back next week to discover what or who the big event is.

Have a good week and thanks for reading.

I Was Trying Not to Talk About This

Well... I lasted to the 4th Week

You may not believe this, but I try for some variety in my blog.   I try and think of something new to write about every week.  However, this last week has been really, really, frickin' HOT!   I think for all of the previous decade, I have started my blog with the word HOT somewhere in the first sentence ..... but this is a new level!   It seems so hot that the air warms your breath and makes you chest boil. [Okay, this is a small exaggeration.]    And if there is a breeze, it just seems to increase your perspiration..  I need a deodorant I can paint on - in several coats like painting a wall.

This year we are living in Doc Daniel's old flat which is spacious but the living quarters are a floor lower -- and in the back of the Bank House, where half the breezes come from the opposite side of the ocean -- and behind the home on the East side from where the other half of the breezes come.   We got moved so that the boxes from Materials Management can enjoy the old flat with the Ocean and East facing windows...   I know there was probably a strategic decision for this; however, it does give you a sense of your worth ..... I guess it is like that for volunteers no matter where, eh?
 

And because the Bank House now contains something valuable, the hospital has added huge outdoor security lights to keep away any thieves at night.  I know this because when I sit in my chair in the living room I stare directly at it...   I have now started a Novena that the neighbour right next door will be so annoyed with how bright it is he will tear down his house and move... and we will get some breeze!

Celebrations of Commitment  

Sister Julie Matthews, RSM

Sister Julie is really the poster "girl" for the Sisters of Mercy in Guyana.  She is Guyanese and has over her career been involved with, and mainly led, almost every activity that the Sisters of Mercy are involved with:  John Bosco Boys Home, Mercy Wings, Board of  Mercy Hospital, and she is now the head of the Sisters of Mercy in Guyana.   In addition, she is an accomplished fund raiser and has taught in University Guyana.

Last Saturday her Sister colleagues, the larger Catholic Community, boys from Bosco (present and former), and people who have been touched by her ministry and energy, all gathered for a Special Mass (it was very special because the congregation actually sang) to honour her 25 years of Consecration as as a Sister of Mercy.    Believe me, with so much sadness and tiredness in Guyana, it was an event of joy and hope for the future.

Sister Julie offering the Blessing

Scarboro Volunteers [r-l Sylvia, Ashley, Bev,
Paulina, Donna]  blocking the Mercy Volunteers
Jess and Matthew

I was fourth in line

Long(Suffering) Service Awards on Mercy Day

Also, this week the hospital took time out - and cancelled my class too - to honour the employees who have given service for the past 5 to 30 years.  I do think that this group should have received Purple Hearts for surviving the struggles in the hospital - 2010 fire, layoffs, deficits, etc.   It was a small, low key celebration but the congratulations to the awardees and supporters were enthusiastic.  It is a small community, so everyone knows everyone else .....  The CEO Bridgemohan and COO Browman presented the pins and awards to each of the employees.    And Nutrition Services served piwari and cassava.   Dr Bridgemohan gave an optimistic talk about many positive developments for the future and the atmosphere was noticeably hopeful.  And my colleague and co-leader of the Problem Based Learning Course, Elsie Asabere, received a five year pin for her time at Mercy.
 

Elsie and I: the photographer thought I looked better
with my bald head cropped and in my Elsie shirt.

    

The Mercy Star of the Week ..... Drumroll please!

Patricia Benjamin “Benji”

Benji was born in Georgetown -- lived on Regent Street and now lives in East Penitence, still in Georgetown.   In between she had 6 "amazing” children – Denise, Sherman, Colleen, Onika, Rushell and Wendy – who have blessed her with 20 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. 

Benji has been working at Mercy for over 20 years.  She started as a maid and then went to the laundry for many years.   She liked the laundry (I did have to question her sanity, as the heat from the dryers actually makes it hotter than it is already) because you had to stay on your toes with everything throughout the day requiring precise timing to keep the loads moving along.

Then she was promoted to “Office Assistant”.  Benji is on her bicycle twice a day - morning and afternoon, delivering and picking up mail and packages for the hospital.   One can see her all over Georgetown; Benji said she has limits but it really is almost all of GT.   I have trouble walking on the busy streets of the city where everyone drives like it is a Friday and they're going home for the weekend, but she has had only one accident that left her with scraped and bruised knees.

Benji said she loves this job because she gets exposed so many interesting people and places that she would never otherwise go to or see, such as the Embassies and the Ministry Buildings.

Her wisdom for my hordes of readers: “Try to be obedient and honest and truthful all the time…..  or you will end up drifting; no one can recommend you and no one can count on you.”    Well, with that advice, I had to truthfully confess that my “hordes” may not mean the same thing to her.

And in 10 years?   "I don’t really know, you know?  I hope the Good Lord leaves me around to enjoy life for many more good years."
 

STOP THE PRESSES!
 

A few days after this interview, Benji received an outstanding service award from the hospital on Mercy Day.   

St Ann's, Jerries All-Nite Bar and Traditional Blindfold Walk.

I continue "leading" the senior girls' course "Bodies, Boys, Boundaries, Beliefs" at St. Ann's; I love their enthusiasm to learn ..... Motivation is pretty easy in a sex course for teenagers!
 

I have two cameras this year which I hoped would cut down on the constant pestering for whose turn is it for the camera.  It has just made it worse, I think. Again the pictures are in the Slide Show above. Just Double Click.
 

Jerry and his wife Paula have been great supporters of the girls at St. Ann's and he has had them for meals often at his restaurant. (They actually own four or five restaurants in Georgetown area.) Well, it was their 22nd year anniversary of starting.  Jerry actually started with a push cart on the streets - a Guyanese self-made man.  Sylvia and I went to the celebration to support their commitment to the girls and while we were there we had a few beers.
 

Sylvia and Father Chris
w/o Beer Bottles

Bev and Sylvia with their Beer Bottles

As usual, the students had an experience with Disability.  They paired up and one of the students was blindfolded.  I gave them a slip of paper that had a staff member's name written on it and it said they were blind and had an appointment with that person to collect a package. The "sighted" person was there just to keep them safe from steps and cars... They had to ask strangers what the note said as well as see if any one knew where the staff member was. Some of my choices were a little sadistic, like the security guard at the front gate whose first day it was.  Well, the staff person had a package with cookies for them, but first could ask them a nursing question that they had to get right ..... and say the magic words - Please and Thank You.   This exercise always causes lots of chatter among the whole hospital.

That's it.. I will try and do less this week so I won't have to type so much... Thanks for reading.  And please keep me and my family in your prayers this week.  John

An Unexpected Visit to Guyana - Sublime to Ridiculous

Michael Pryse, Bishop of Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, gave me the opportunity to be the Canadian representative to the convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Guyana.  So in a hurry I arranged a visit [with Nellie Follings of Golinger's Travel doing most of the work] to New Amsterdam and, of course, some time at "my"  Mercy Hospital in Georgetown.

With the New President, ELCG
Moses Prashad 

Looking Official 

It did take me some time to find my clergy robes and to practice looking ministerial.   As you may have guessed, finding the robe was easier.      I was excited about going to the convention, amazing as I have provided some unique excuses for not attending the Canadian one for many years.   However, from my ten years of volunteering at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and doing the occasional preaching at some of the Lutheran Churches, I knew most of the pastors and leaders by name, and now had the opportunity to get to know them better.  Also, my long-term Guyana friend was there, Erv Janssen, a child psychiatrist from Tulsa, Oklahoma  who has had an ongoing relationship with the people of Guyana for 18 years.   He has led medical and construction teams; recently, he has concentrated his efforts on resurrecting the National Music Festival and the opening of the Lutheran Music Academy in New Amsterdam.

The "New" Reverend Kampta Karran
who was one the four ordinands.

The "Old" Doctor Erv Janssen
with the sign proof that I was there.

One of the benefits of attending the convention is that I celebrate my 40th Anniversary of my ordination.  In the pictures above the cross that I am wearing was given to me at my ordination by another "old" best friend, Dennis LeBlanc.   However,  my form fitting robes of 1973 had to be replaced by a more forgiving one-size-fits-all.   And my stole is a custom made one by Rev. Gloria Sampson.  I was at Mt. Zion, Sand Hills, and was fascinated by her making a rag floor mat... I said, "Can you make me a stole like that?"  After a few minutes of bewilderment and laughter, she agreed to make me one.   I like the servant symbolism of the stole, plus I no longer have to check what the liturgical colour is for the day.

June 10,1973 St James Lutheran Church, Hespeler, Cambridge, Ontario.  l-r: Sister Margaret Kreller; My Dad, John; my Mother, Jane; Sister Florence Weicker; Me; my Daughter, Kristin Margaret; Sister Anna Ebert; my Wife, Joan Bauer.
John Aaron hadn't made the scene yet.  Joan was a Deaconess with the others before she had to leave to marry me.
[*Kristin pointed out that everyone in the picture is dead except the two of us. Guess it has been awhile, eh?]

Another bonus of my surprise visit is that I got to connect with many at Mercy Hospital.  Helen Browman, CEO, and her team, found a flat for me to stay for the days that I wasn't in New Amsterdam.   *** Advisory Note to all Prospective Volunteers ***  I stayed in Doctor Daniel's old flat and there was no fridge, no stove and I showered like an "almost" Indian; I stood up rather than sat while I pored a bucket on my head; it did have screens in the bedroom.    I was quite fine with the accommodation as it was only a few days.  Everyone was amazed that I didn't complain, but I did tell them that I was saving all my gripes up for my usual three month stay in September.    

I got to do some In-service Education with  the nurses about Palliative Care and End of Life Care, especially Do Not Resuscitate Orders.   I realized that I have been talking about DNR's for over 30 years.   I really don't think the conversation has changed in all those years.  Doctors and other health professionals don't like to have conversations with people/patients who are probably not going to do well.   So this ongoing  avoidance creates havoc when a resuscitation attempt might be called... And then - the DNR Order gets blamed... Give me a break!   Enough of that rant...

It was also International Nurses' Week and my last day, Friday, was the Nurses' Appreciation Event at Mercy.   Each of the groups of nurses and students got to put on a show:  some sang, some read poetry, a few danced and my group "tried to dance"...   the 2011 first year asked if I could do the Harlem Shake.  Well, I haven't done that since I used to play handball in Harlem and win some coin, so I had to flee to the subway!    That wasn't what they were talking about but it was too late.   I ended up as the lead dancer too.  Evidence below:  

Roberta can really dance

Alicia belting out a tune

My biggest surprise and joy was being able to present the "Most Outstanding Student" award to Lexann.   While I probably wouldn't have guessed her last... she is a tribute to the resiliency of the human spirit and hers in particular.   She was one of the few students who I have had as a student in my classes. A wonderful and unexpected daughter presented herself in 2007.  Even though she had passed my courses, the rules were that she had to take the "whole" year over again.   When she began again in 2010 our PBL programme, her world was very exhausting, so she sometimes slept through Tony presentations [Hey, it's my blog and that's my version.]  She will be an excellent nurse and I am honoured to have been a small part of her success. 

What an accomplishment.. Congratulations Lexann.

First Year Prison Shot

Before I go... I did get to St. Ann's to say hello to my girls,  I gave my camera to Olivia and she took pictures of Olivia!

Olivia with her [ and almost all the girls'] idol... who still hasn't sent them any "stuff".
They can't understand as he lives near Father John.

I do have to share a story:  When I left Guyana in November 2011, a young girl had been found with no relatives, spoke an Amerindian dialect no one understood, didn't know where she came from, and wouldn't say a word.    She was there to greet me this week and say hello, her name was Niom and would not stop talking and following me and playing games with me, including my "slap hands" which she says she remembers me teaching her.  She is such a success story for the hard working Sisters and Matrons at St. Ann's.   Amazing.

Niomi [in pink] with another girl [who will "kill me" for forgetting her name]

Way more than enough for now. Thanks for coming.  John