Dennis is in the Air - Literally and Figuratively

This week has flown by with so much to do and to leave undone...  I can't remember a busier time here at Mercy.   Anyhow, I can only do what I do... so  let me share some of the things that I remember and are fit for print... Well first a little racy skinshot... and it is still not NSFW.

The water droplets are running down my
slightly modified six pack gut before 6:00 AM

Dennis LeBlanc is on his way down as I write this ..... And believe it or not first wanted to visit Canada when I was not there, so routed himself through Toronto and then T&T and then Georgetown .....   At his age, he is going to be very tired.  He was here last year teaching with me and volunteering at John Bosco Home for Boys in Plaisance - and it looks like he will be doing more of the same this year

This Week's Star at Mercy

Arya "Doc Devi" Karyampudi

Doc with office colleagues
Roshanie and Dainty

Doc again with Tracy

Doc has something to say to everyone.
Here she telling  Georgina something important. 

Doc Devi was one of the first people to greet me when I arrived in 2002 and she was already a veteran staffer then... of almost 20 years. She comes from Southern India, Andhra Pradesh State. A brother and sister still live there, so she keeps up with the news including the latest cyclone. She said she has stayed because Guyana is a beautiful land.

"What do you like best?"
"I love the weather here." I thought I may need to get her a psychiatrist, but she went on to explain, "This is the weather from my home - just sun and moon.  And I like the people here."
"So what is the best part of working at Mercy?"
"I like St. Joseph Mercy Hospital very much; I am happy.  I like to see patients, helping them go through what they must - diabetes, hypertension, HIV; I am a family doctor.  I am from the old school."
"What do you mean by that?"
"My ethics;my principles."
"What are some of your principles?"
"To be truthful,to be kind, to be compassionate.  Now everything is business, but I cope with it."
"Doc, what and where will you be in 10 years?"
"If God permits, I will be here."
"And which God is that?"   (I had assumed she was Hindu as she is a total vegetarian.)
"Any God... I am open to every religion.  My father was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and we grew up with his principles... and I am still a follower of Gandhi. My father taught us how to spin on the wheel.  And he planted every thing that we ate. I never saw meat when I was growing up, so I do not eat it now."

(Blogger's Note: It was such a pleasure and honor to meet someone with whom your soul shared a life's journey, but only met a decade ago.)

An Old Nursing Student Returns - Sort of...

Let me tell you a story.  Even I feel I am making this up, but no:  Gospel or Seven Principles Truth!

Latoya was a first year student nurse at Mercy in 2010…  She was already a single mom and working hard in the true Caribbean kind of family where her mom was a single mom and they lived together ...…  Well, a few months into the semester she developed TB.  We had sent her to Emergency as she was coughing in class all the time.  Yes, diagnosis TB…  so the whole class had to get tested and she had to withdraw from the school.   Dr., Carr (who was teaching with me) and I went out to her home to see how she was doing as she was the brightest student in the class.     She survived!

Well, several days ago, I was sitting on a wall outside the Georgetown Public Hospital when a voice says, “Hello Rev.”   I look up and it is Latoya in a student nurses uniform from the Public Hospital ..…  She had been refused at Mercy when she reapplied – politics.   But she was so determined she got accepted at the Public Nursing School and is in second year.  At the end of first year, she received four or five awards for best student, etc …..

I asked her for her email as my taxi had just showed up and she didn't have email any longer as she had no money for a computer – let alone an internet connection.  She gave me a call and wanted to chat longer and come over to see me at Mercy.   As we arranged the time for today, I asked how she did her research and papers, etc for school… She borrows other  batchmates' computers and uses the one computer in the library…

So I told her that I had a tablet for her and her studies.  (I usually bring a few extra tablets on spec that someone will need one.)   I gave her the tablet at lunch on Tuesday and when I got home after class ..... notice of a donation for a tablet appeared in my email.  

I know what Anne would say, “It is surely a sign.”  And it would be hard to argue with her this time. 

I am not making this up … No Bullsh** here.

More Logic in Guyana

The students have been having trouble accessing the internet for their studies.  They cannot log on because there is limited bandwidth, or so I was told.  I have been complaining since I got here 7 weeks ago.   But before October, I had offered to pay for doubling the bandwidth for October and November; this had been recommended to me by the IT Department staff.   This was not altruistic ..... The students couldn't (and still can't) do their research.    I had then offered it to the "powers that be" to follow-up...  I'll tell you if I get a final decision before I leave...

Sylvia has been using modern inspiring people to get the students to think about their own dreams and aspirations.  One of her heroes was Anne Frank.  The students had never heard of her,  So as I wasn't teaching I went down to the library to see if they had a copy of The Diary of a Young Girl.   Sister Catherine did not think that they had it, so I thanked her and left.   In Guyana, people want to be helpful.   Sister came by the classroom and had a book for me,  a biography of Marie Curie.   She wanted to k now if that would do.  Now Sister Catherine knew that it was not what I was looking for and that they were entirely different people, but she wanted to be helpful.  Bless you Sister Catherine.

3rd Bedroom is Usable

Well, it seems I just don't have enough faith.  The room got built and almost done by today - with one day to go .....  Sylvia suggested that I should sleep in this new room.   Her logic -- similar to Guyanese logic -- was that I am up early (5 or 5:30 am) and would disturb Dennis in the mornings ..... And since I can sleep through almost anything, when I went to bed early, I would not be disturbed.   As well, she promised me points in the great beyond!   How could I refuse, eh?   And though she didn't even mention my snoring ..... I am a little suspicious.   I think she has worn out her ear plugs.   After all, Sylvia took the bedroom with two sided ventilation and now I am giving up my cooler upstairs one for this.   All I have to say is that I hope there is an afterlife and these points count.

Paulina and Ashley happily waiting to eat.

Canadian Thanksgiving

Sylvia getting the stuffing

I don’t usually celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving here, as Canadians are scarce like turkey’s teeth...  However, this year there is an abundance of Canadians, thanks to the Scarboro Fathers.  I got invited as a Canadian (as well as adding an ecumenical flavour) and brought some wine.  The others slaved to prepare a wonderful Canadian meal.   No turkeys in Georgetown, so Sylvia prepared two large chickens and the kitchen at Mercy cooked them in their ovens.  Ovens, Sylvia tells me, that are without any thermostats!  She did excellently.   So there were the old timers like Sylvia, Bev and Donna along with the two young ones Paulina and Ashley, Deacon Luis and Father Mike who came in from New Amsterdam. 

As a small aside:  Father Mike knows John Ahearn, who is with Maryknoll in Hong Kong.  I was in John's class at Maryknoll, as well we both started seminary high school together at Cathedral in Brooklyn, which is celebrating its 100^th birthday soon.  I guess that is less than 6 degrees of separation.

All of us at our small Thanksgiving meal were especially grateful for all those of our families and friends who support us throughout the year.  

Father Mike celebrated Mass before Dinner!

The three "older" women - Bev, Sylvia and Donna

Annual "Massive Prayer" Service 

The day before the Seniors write their final RN exams, the whole school gathers in prayers for their success.  I hope God's prayer line is faster than this internet connection!

I am having lots of internet problems today, so I hope I can post... I doubt that I will be able to load the Slide Show, but I'll try...  Thanks for reading

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

I may have sunk to a new low...

Hello Blogees  [If I am the blogger, then that makes you the ee's.]:

You can't say that I don't try...  After my somewhat limited success in raising funds by begging, I have decided on a new tact.   I have been a photographer for many more years than the students that I teach at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital School of Nursing.  I have never wanted to make being a photographer a business - besides the fact that I am way too sloppy to be a business person.    However, many persons have suggested that I sell my pictures.   So I have combined the needs of the school with my pleasure in taking photographs.   I have been putting some at: RedBubble.

All [or any] profits that I make I will use to support my work in Guyana.   This does seem like a decent compromise.    If you need some unique greeting cards or a framed print for a special gift to a special friend...  Then, please check out my offerings.

I think that I have arranged the advertizing schlock to appear on the blog [x2] - to make spending your money even easier.   So.... Take a peek!

I Have Arrived - Well and as Sound as I Get

Georgetown, Guyana, South America


"Last night I dreamed 1,000 new paths, and this morning I woke and took the old one.” The last time that I preached this it was my sermon text. [I couldn’t find it in the Bible, but it must be here somewhere.] Anyhow, I was more confident when applying it to others… [I guess that is what preachers do.] We all have so many dreams of who and what we might become and yet so often we fall away from them in the tyranny of the routine and familiar. I can’t remember too much about the sermon, but I do remember saying that we all needed to pray for courage to live our dreams.

I have returned to Guyana for the 8th time to do mostly the familiar – teach student nurses at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Yet with Tony Carr’s involvement and expertise [he is an English physician, so what more needs to be said, eh?] I have embarked on a new path. We are going to try to conduct our courses using a Problem Based Learning (PBA) model, i.e., a student/small group directed approach to learning. It is at the polar pedagogical opposite to the expert lecturer filling up he empty students’ heads with the correct thoughts [which by a unusual coincidence are the same as the lecturer’s].

As soon as we arrived, I realized that it was going to be near to impossible to do this, even if everything fell into place. And if you have journeyed with me before, you know nothing in Guyana ever falls into place…

The fire at Mercy destroyed many of the non-patient services, but not the school areas, so I assumed that we would proceed as before ….. However, the library where all our students will do their research is now the home of Medical Records and their whole staff is wedged in between the stacks of books. And the librarian is on leave!

The Computer Café which housed six mostly-working computers for our students to access health literature on line now has two computers – one of which can be used only by Nursing Services. The others have been confiscated to replace those lost in the fire. So one computer for all the staff and students at the hospital to use… And students have the same “status” here as in the North… Ugh.

Our class-time schedule that we negotiated by a contract back in January was revised as we arrived. Several hours were eliminated… I was ready to pack and head home; however, Tony convinced me to see if we could negotiate. Well, he did a much better job than me. And by the end of our meeting we had only lost one hour; we can live with that though it doesn’t solve the two above problems, nor the following one:

Within the last two weeks the Guyana Nursing Council has distributed a new curriculum for psychology and sociology that is the typical intro. that one would find in the north and totally irrelevant for nursing. It does include required texts -- which are not available – interesting.

This has been done because reviewers from the Pan American Health Organization are coming to accredit Guyana Nursing. Amazing! I can compare it to the preparation of hospitals for their accreditation especially in the generation of “CYA” documentation. So everyone here is now in a state of panic to make sure that they do everything right. Now PBL doesn’t come close to fitting the requirements.

Let me give you one example before I overwhelmingly bore you… Tony and I were told that we need to provide copies of all student assignments and exams for the Guyana Nursing Council ....… "snow them with documentation". A useless task only complicated by the fact that he only copier is broken.

There is more… Tony remains his optimistic self [I need to find out what drugs he uses.] so far that is enough for me. Monday we will start our classes, I hope.

Right now I want to go back and retract my sermon; God -- please just let me be content with the familiar! But I can’t because it wasn’t in the best interests of the students and nursing in Guyana. I do not know how all this will turn out and I guess that is a good definition for an adventure.

My living at the Calvary parsonage is different for me this year.

I have secured a bicycle and so far have not had any major damage to my body or my pride…though as I write this I have only made one trip!

It will take 15 days to get a legal internet connection here. I did discover that if I hold my laptop over my head near the kitchen window, I can pick up someone’s wireless signal. Except not on this Saturday morning ....… ugh.

My accommodations are quite excellent and everyone here at the church has been very welcoming. The shower here is a little slow ...… though as cold as usual. So that I am not accused of exaggerating, it takes over 45 seconds to fill a litre container. And the two guard dogs and I have worked out an arrangement .....

I cannot say enough wonderful things about my colleague and friend, a real missionary, Rev. Richard Young. He picked up Tony and me at the airport on Thursday at 6 am and spent his morning getting us settled, groceries brought, etc… He could give Sister Sheila a run for the hospitality award. Thanks Dick.

I cannot end this post without a personal reflection on my life. As I write this my wife is at home alone in the middle of hurricane Earl. She is more than a competent woman and will do all the best things through the storm. However, my thoughts are with her now and I deeply wish that I was there with her. [Not that I really could do anything… as most of you know that I read the directions before changing a light bulb.]

What most bothers me is that my new path is not different than my old one. I thought that I had changed [matured is too strong a word] in my retirement. Throughout my years as pastor and chaplain, I realized that I sacrificed my loved ones to my ideals and practice. I would head into the hospital for an “unknown” person or family at any time even on Christmas morning…

My family has accepted my craziness easier than I have and though I had tried to change and be more aware of family, this morning I am a failure. Except I have failed better… several thousands of miles away!

As I have said to others before me – “we are [I am] condemned by our personalities”. AND I am blessed by the personalities of my wife and children.

Without their acceptance and support of my craziness, I would have had no ministry at MUMC nor one here in Guyana. Anne bears the burdens of my adventures; I give thanks for her support… and the support of my 5 children and my friends.

I have not gotten my camera in gear, so the picture buffs will have o wait. I’ll send out one with pics soon.

Thank you all for being with me. John JSPS

Planing to Head Back to Mercy Hospital and Guyana

A flower from Anne's Garden... and Kristin's favourite flower

"Time goes... that's it." I think that this is the wisdom of a New York City cabbie. Hard to believe that it is almost time to head back to Guyana. It does seem soon, though I last left in March 2009. Maybe I am just getting older? As with most of life [at least, most of my life] it is a time of ambivalence:
I am saddened to leave a good life, a good wife, a beautiful and peaceful place, and a golf game that will always be better the "next" day; AND, I am excited to be returning to my second home for over 7 years.

I want/need to do something with my living in addition to the pleasures of retirement and the fulfillment of grandchildren [Oh yes, the "kids" too.]. Funny how I have long given up ideas of the kingdom - or a kin-dom [gender neutral paradise] - where the criteria for entrance are known in advance.

Yet, I seem restless to give of myself and my talents. I am just not content to be... Never did buy into that "it is not what you do, just be" stuff; of course, you are what "you do"... at least, I am.   Everyone knows that you are only as good as your last game.

An early morning fire in May 2010 destroyed a big part of Mercy Hospital.

There will be many changes this year at Mercy. I am sure many of you know that the hospital suffered from a big fire. While the patient areas and school were spared; however, doctor's offices, surgery suites, medical records and Dr. Devi's flat were destroyed... Now this is very sad, but what is really tragic is that Dr. Devi got moved to "my" executive volunteer flat!

The CEO, Helen, graciously gave Tony and me a very nice flat - together. This is when I discovered how much of an old fart I am...I really like being alone [Only when I am in Guyana, Dear.] and I will be working with Tony every day in the same courses. As I told Tony, it is not him... It is me; I need quiet.  

I guess that I was grumping out loud because a friend and colleague - and a real missionary - Richard Young came through with a win-win situation. He suggested that I might stay in the empty parsonage at Calvary Lutheran Church in exchange for a security presence [?] there. Canadian Pastoral Team of Jack and Val Fredericks finished a term pastorate there in the Spring... And Calgary's resident caretaker just died... I didn't ask how. As Dick mentioned in his email, there were many benefits including, You get to be Lutheran and be called "pastor". Whata deal!

I thought I'd get some of the other benefits, so I wrote Jack and Val... and they wrote back in part: "The kitchen has a stove (gas), an electric fridge and a wash machine. The stove will scare the crap out of you when the oven heats up and expands with a bang...  The front entrance has a framed glass door that I could only lock from the outside."  [I can see Val climbing through a second story window after she locked the door from the outside!]  However, these inconveniences seemed quite manageable as they continued, "The bakery, Yhips, which is next door to you sells beer also."


I'll have more expenses than if I had shared at Mercy [Hint: and I'll try not to drink them all.], but I do need to preserve what little I have of my sanity and Tony's as well.     

Tony and John working to understand cultural nuances.

Tony and I have decided to really have an adventure this year.  We are going to combine our courses -Psychology. Sociology, Ethics, Mental Health and Neurology into one Problem-Based Learning Programme.   We have spent most of 2010 writing our cases and trying to integrate the major areas in our curriculum into our paper problems.    I am sure we both thought it was a good idea at the time; as it gets closer...    I am sure you will hear more about our attempts throughout our time there.