Megan Bollier, RN, and Sally Puleo, LPN, discuss the treatment of the boy who was brought to the HCM clinic with cholera.
Megan Bollier, RN, and Sally Puleo, LPN, discuss the treatment of the boy who was brought to the HCM clinic with cholera.
Shelia Lander, RN, checks a patient’s vitals before she is seen in the HCM clinic.
Shelia Lander, RN, checks a patient’s vitals before she is seen in the HCM clinic.
Crowds of people wait for a chance to be seen at the clinic in the area around Las Cayes.
Crowds of people wait for a chance to be seen at the clinic in the area around Las Cayes.
Evangel University student Michael Pezzillo checks a child’s heartbeat before she is seen in the HCM clinic. EU pre-med and nur
Evangel University student Michael Pezzillo checks a child’s heartbeat before she is seen in the HCM clinic. EU pre-med and nur
May 13

By Carrie Stewart as told by Sally Puleo

The church was small and made just of cement walls where the HealthCare Ministries team began to set up a medical clinic.  They were in a rural mountain village near Las Cayes in the southern peninsula of Haiti, just a year after the devastating earthquake.

Patients came through to be seen for either their medical, dental or optical needs.  A few hours into the outreach, a truck rolled up to the site carrying a frail 12-year-old boy on a mattress in the bed of the truck.  He was in hypovolemic shock, which meant he had lost a lot of fluid and didn't have much hope of surviving within that hour.

Team members rushed everywhere for various supplies to treat him.  They fashioned an IV pole out of a stick and started administering fluids to him while he was still lying in the back of the truck.

The doctor on the team concluded that the boy had cholera, a disease that stemmed from the lack of sanitary water, a common concern since the haunting earthquake.  One of the nurses cared for him most of the day, but toward the end of the day  the missionary asked Sally Puleo, one of the other HCM nurses, if she would take over.  Sally agreed and began to care for the boy, with his family watching every move she made.  He soon became "her boy" as she kept him clean and hydrated.

"My heart was determined to keep him alive," Sally said.

During the time Sally cared for the boy, a man nearby cried out to Sally:

"Madame, madame!  You look like Him!"

Sally came near to tears when she realized the man was talking about Jesus. 

The boy miraculously improved and his family took him home with special instructions on how to keep him healthy.  His life was spared and all the people nearby saw the compassionate touch that represented Jesus Christ in that outreach.