Posted 4/18/01
Hundreds benefit from mission trip:
Rush City Nurse Practitioner and son work in El Salvador
By Danielle Strenke
The day that Jan Bennett brought home information on a medical mission to El Salvador, she asked her 16-year-old son, Chris, if he would be interested in joining her on the trip.
ìHe jumped at the chance to go with me,î Bennett said. ìHe was so excited to go.î
Bennett, who lives in Sturgeon Lake, works as a nurse practitioner at the Fairview Lakes clinic in Rush City. Chris is a junior at Moose Lake High School.
The mother and son went on a week-long missionary trip in March to El Salvador, through the Volunteers in Medical Missions organization.
After arriving, Bennett worked with several other mission volunteers to travel to remote areas of the countryside in El Salvador, where they set up one-day medical clinics.
Chris worked on a crew of workers helping to demolish and clear away debris from homes destroyed or crumbling following two devastating earthquakes in El Salvador.
The volunteers working at the clinic included three nurse practitioners, one physician, and three dentists. The missionaries working in the clinic and on the demolition crew came mostly from Georgia and South Carolina. Jan and Chris, along with Kendall Lundahl from Braham, were the only three Minnesotans on the journey.
Clinics set up during the week centered around the capital of San Salvador. One part of the trip was spent helping people in the northern area of El Salvador, the other half spent in the southern region.
They traveled about two hours in both directions from San Salvador, to those areas closest to the epicenters of the two earthquakes.
Bennett said some of the clinics were set up in churches, and others were outside. When there wasnít a shelter for the group to use, they simply erected a tent with bamboo poles, and set up folding tables and plastic chairs underneath. Within minutes of their arrival, Bennett said, the clinics were up and accepting patients.
ìWe would get set up, and there would be a huge line of people already,î she said.
Jan and the rest of the medical volunteers treated everything from rashes to coughs to plugged ears, and more serious medical conditions. With inadequate sanitation and no running water, many of the people had worms, Bennett said.
ìA lot of people would say they shake inside, and since the earthquake they were too afraid to sleep in their homes.î
While the mission was there, they felt small aftershocks several times a day, she said, so it was very likely the people felt as though they were always shaking inside.
They saw one little girl who had a broken arm, which she had broken at least a week before. Without the necessary supplies for treating the break, the medical team arranged for transportation and money so she could be treated at the nearest hospital.
Most memorable case
The most memorable case for Jan was a little boy who was paralyzed after a boulder fell on him during one of the earthquakes. He had been rushing to get his two younger sisters out of harmís way, when the boulder hit him.
When they arrived, 13-year-old Moises was bedridden, because there are not any wheelchairs available in El Salvador. The group brought him a wheelchair, which allowed him to get up and move around for the first time since the accident.
Bennett said the future for Moises is not a bright one. Typically, children attend school through third grade, and then quit to go and work to earn money for their families.
Moises is not enrolled in school, and now will not be able to work either. Any type of rehabilitation or physical therapy is non-existent there, so Moises will be prone to bedsores and a rapid decrease in muscle mass and strength.
Even getting to his routine doctor visits will be difficult, Jan said. ìIt costs $15 just for the ride to the hospital, and Moisesí stepfather only makes $30 a month,î she said.
She said a missionary family is working with Moises so he can learn to read better. What would help him, she said, would be if he could receive letters from the U.S., written in either Spanish or English. Any words of support or encouragement he can receive would mean so much, she said.
ìIf there are any parapalegics or quadrapalegics who want to write, or it would be great for a Spanish class to write,î Bennett said. Anyone wishing to send a letter to Moises can contact Bennett at the Rush City clinic.
More joyous moments
But there were joyous moments during the mission as well. Like the elderly lady who could read, but needed eyeglasses to see the words. After they gave her a pair, she looked up from the Bible placed in front of her with a big smile. ìWe knew she could read the words,î Bennett said.
And there was the little boy who came in with his mother, who said he couldnít hear and shouted all the time. After cleaning wax out of his ears, the boy was all smiles when Bennett and the interpreter spoke to him.
When the week was over, Bennett and the other medical volunteers had treated more than 1,700 people in seven days. A quick calculation divides that into more than 240 people each day coming to one of their clinics.
Chris repaired homes
As Bennett was tending to the sick, Chris was working on repairing their homes. He and the demolition crew worked to tear down and clear one house each day of the mission, to prepare the site for construction of a new house.
The population of El Salvador is poor. Most of the homes consist of metal roofing and wood used for the sides of the structure; many do not have roofs. The floor of the one-room shelter is dirt, with a concrete commode in one corner to serve as a bathroom. Most people have to walk several miles to get water for drinking and bathing.
Bennet said with a population of 790 people per square mile, El Salvador is the most populated country in Central America. The crime rate is also high there; she did not see a store or gas station without an armed guard patrolling outside.
Bennett said it was difficult to treat the patients with the language barrier, despite the use of an interpreter. ìIt takes a while to realize they have different meanings behind some phrases. I would like to go back, because now I understand that so much more.î
She said the trip would not have been possible without the emotional and financial support of so many people, including staff and patients at Fairview Lakes Rush City Clinic. At the clinic, staff members Dr. Michael Thompson and registered nurse Mary Johnson have worked with Volunteers in Medical Missions, and were able to offer their support to Jan.
The Rush City Womenís Club also donated two boxes of toothpaste for her to take along. She says she would bring other things for the people next time, now that she has seen what they need. ìThe sun is so bright, they all have sore eyes ñ I would bring a case of sunglasses along too,î she said.
Bennett said her husband offered a tremendous amount of support as well, and would have liked to go along, but stayed at home to care for the coupleís other children.
Although she didnít particularly care for the long, bumpy bus rides and the large bats, she said Chris had the time of his life. ìWhatever we were doing, he had a smile on his face,î she said.
Chris loved the food in El Salvador, which was a little too spicy for Bennett, but meeting the people there was what Chris will remember the most, she said. ìI asked him what he liked the best, he said what impressed him was that everyone was so grateful for everything the missionaries did for them. Heís ready to go again.î Bennett wholeheartedly agrees with the sentiment. ìItís the kind of work, where youíre so tired, but youíre so appreciated so itís worth it,î she said.