How often do we say to someone, “You’re a lifesaver,” or something similar? This is why we do some of our assistance.
We sometimes say that without hardly thinking about what we are saying. But what happens when that is said when they mean it?
In the last year, we have had two times that it has been a life and death situation.
In December of 2015, Inday got Dengue Fever. She takes care of the children with no pay other than living in the building. We agreed to pay the doctor bill in return for what she does for use without being paid. She got bad enough that the doctor sent her to the hospital in Sindangan. They do not have a lab there and were treating her for a different problem.
3 days later, she was becoming delirious. Babeselle, her daughter, took it upon herself to tell the doctor that whatever they were doing was not working and her mother needed to be sent to someplace that could treat her properly. The hospital knew that she was going to die if something didn’t change, so they allowed this 12-year-old girl to sign a promissory note for half of the amount due if she would pay half.
She did that and then negotiated with the ambulance service to transfer her mother to the Dipolog hospital. She didn’t have money available on her to pay the full amount so she negotiated down to the money she had available.
The Dipolog Hospital ran tests and found the problem and gave Babeselle the prescription. I called to check on things and she told me what she had done and what was needed. I sent the money that the pharmacy needed to start the medicine. The hospital explained that untreated, her mother was 24-48 hours from bleeding to death internally.
To summarize, she spent 7 days in the second hospital before being released.
When she says, “You saved my life,” she really means it because she had no alternatives if we didn’t have the money to send.
In September, Laling was taken to the hospital bleeding from the mouth and nose, also from Dengue Fever. I wrote about it in this blog post, http://hopehomeandschool.com/index.php/2016/09/26/medical-emergency/ When she says, “Daddy, (the children all call me Daddy) you saved my life. She had no options. The medical cost would have taken over 3 months’ total income from her family, and they didn’t have that saved.
These are just two examples of serious problems that have been truly lifesaving.
We do not have funds to help with other less critical needs. The needs are great but funds do not cover other than the most critical needs, and sometimes not even that. If you would feel like supporting us, the best way is regular monthly donations. That is because it allows us to budget better to know how to meet needs. Onetime donations also are a great help.
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