Life in Calapan

We are feeling much more settled in these days and have our clinic room painted and tiled. It is off the back of our house which is nice as patients don't need to wait in our house now. We have already encountered a few really sad situations here as one of our patients had chicken pox and her baby died a few days after birth. Also when we went to Manila last, another patient miscarried and went to the provincial hospital were there was no doctor as it was Sunday. She then went to the private hospital but got stuck there as she could not afford to pay the bill. When you can't afford the bill you are often not aloud to leave. So she was stuck at the hospital until they could find some money from somewhere, while her husband walked home as he didn't even have the 50 cents to take a trycicle home. Our friend Pauline often goes to the provincial hospital, and when she has about 75 dollars she can buy meds for any one of the dying meningitis children there. She will ask the doctor there and she lets her know what the needs are. There are also times when the doctor calls Pauline to let her know of children who need medication to save their lives and if she has some money set aside, she will buy it. If any of you would like to be invloved in helping some of these families please let us know.