October 2013

STATESIDE
We arrived in the States just before Labor Day, and we are scheduled to return to Ethiopia at the end of this week. Upon our arrival, our son Karl (pictured at left) greeted us in the airport and then he and his family joined us for a week in Idaho. Three of our kids with spouses and four of our grandkids created a recipe for a satisfying homecoming. We enjoyed a bonfire, walks by the lake, playing with grandkids, horses and good food, of course. We have a new grandson, Ezra James Anderson, born Sept. 5 to Lucas and Katherine. During our stay, we have flown to Utah, Iowa, Chicago, and Minnesota. We always thank God for our flight benefits through our pilot son, Karl.

ENCOURAGING REPORTS
Sometimes in the midst of life struggles and disappointments we miss seeing the encouraging steps of progress. As we prepared for St. Lukes Healthcare Foundation annual board meeting in September, we were able to step back and rejoice; there really is improvement! Here are some highlights from Duanes report as field director. The benevolence fund for January to May 2013 assisted 186 patients for a total of $30,611. The WATSI fund (watsi.org) is a global crowd-funding platform for healthcare. People can donate as little as $5 to directly fund medical care for a specific patient. Since we started last April, 15 patients have been funded. Jeremy Gabrysch, now the medical director of the hospital, provided a complete report of human resources, salaries and benefits, and numbers of patients. The overall numbers are increasing, with a 20 percent increase in outpatient visits, double the number of gynecology clinic visits, and double the prenatal clinic visits in the last year. Surgical and orthopedic clinic visits also are increasing. The staff has increased to 250.

The PAACS residency apartment building opened this past month. The CT scanner and digital X-ray building is near completion. Dr. Ayers, pediatrician, and Dr. Hardin, general surgery, joined the staff. Their families add 11 more children. Carolyn Adolph, Dr. Adolphs daughter, has received training in being a Nurse Practitioner; she has joined our long-term OPD staff. Her former partner in Southwest Ethiopia, Ruth Weber, an RN from Germany, also has joined our longterm missionary staff and is working in the ICU. Improvement is already noted. Ongoing projects include a security wall, additional ward space for orthopedic patients and two new operating rooms. We expect three new family doctors to join us in 2014. Their spouses include an electrical engineer, hospital architect and farmer. All those skills can be used on the compound as well as the community! The spiritual department worked on a vision statement and job description this year. Their vision: Excellent spiritual care with compassion and prayer. The biggest change in the spiritual department is the reorganizing of the 18 small groups. The groups are now meeting according to department. The chaplain staff continues to train the leaders of the small groups regularly. Three more TVs have been added to the patient wards and clinics. We are showing the Jesus film daily. We now have the Jesus film in 17 languages of southern Ethiopia, and the Magdalene film and the childrens version of the Jesus film in Amharic, Oromo, and Somalia.

RECENT PATIENT Duane recently treated a homeless man from Addis Ababa, where Duane attended a conference at Black Lion Hospital. The patient sustained extensive hip and leg injuries from a house falling on him. He also was a leg amputee from war injuries. Duane felt compelled to offer care at Soddo Christian Hospital, because the Black Lion presently lacks the capability to perform the needed procedures. We put him in pin traction through his legs and found that he had an open fracture of his left tibia and a closed fracture of his left femur in addition to pelvic injuries. He was in severe pain. He was sullen, suspicious and unfriendly. Over the next two weeks we operated on his injuries. One day I challenged one male nurse, Lucas, and the male chaplain, Leka, to make this man their brother, to treat him like he was family, not a street person. Lucas gave him a bath and began taking him to the coffee shop in a wheelchair. Leka prayed with him daily and told him Bible studies of Jesus life. One day I came into the ward and there had been a transformation. He had a smile on his face a mile long. His attitude had changed. He had become part of our family, the family of God. God changed his heart and he used us, a team of people committed to excellence, love, and the words of Jesus. He continues to hear the messages of Jesus and to be loved by our team of providers.

Unfortunately, he has had a complication on his right hip and will need additional surgery. Please pray for us as we take care of challenging patients who need the LORD and that we will work as a team to share the love of Jesus in practical ways. PRAYER We so appreciate everyone who takes an interest in our newsletters. If you have a snail mail address, please send it to us as well. We know the importance of prayer. Please pray as we prepare to return to Ethiopia soon. It is always hard to say goodbye. Pray for the continued progress in creating an orthopedic residency program. We need another orthopedic surgeon to join Duane. Pray for good health. Pray for strength. You can check out Facebook for Soddo Christian Hospital and the website for more news: www.soddo.org. Serving in His name, Jackie and Duane Anderson