Jarretts Ministry

Shreveport Wrap-up
Volume 6, Number 14
September 30, 2005

I wanted to give some final thoughts on my time here in Shreveport. I came with Samaritan’s Purse for the second and third weeks of their disaster relief response to Hurricane Katrina. SP has a great deal of experience with disasters including work in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Indonesia after the tsunami. But this was their first medical relief effort in the United States. It took a little time to find where the need was greatest for their assistance; I suspect that God knew all along.
After the medical team from the first week “passed the baton” to us, we settled into a routine of clinic visits for common medical complaints and prescription renewals interrupted by occasional emergencies. We really didn’t try to manage serious medical emergencies in this facility – just stabilize and assist until people could be transferred to an emergency room. We dialed 911 more than once.
Our goal was to end the relief effort within my first week at this location and move to an area 270 miles to the south across the Mississippi River from the Super Dome in New Orleans. There were still many people there who had not evacuated and needed medical attention. Dr. David Gettle, our advance man on the ground here, had been down to the town of Gretna, met people who wanted us there, and had even taken supplies there. But God seemed to have other plans. When Hurricane Rita appeared our plans were delayed, and the shelters remote from the Gulf got busy again.
Throughout my first week, the other three shelters in the area were closed, and the evacuees were transferred into the Hirsch Coliseum at the Louisiana State Fairgrounds where we had set up a 2-room clinic with four exam tables. This kept the medical clinic busy as we processed those evacuees who had medical needs. For some reason, this often occurred late in the evening or at night when our staffing was lightest. These operational decisions were made by the Red Cross which was really coordinating all of these efforts. By the middle weekend, all the shelters were opened again to even more evacuees.
The Red Cross is, to the best of my knowledge, a secular organization. But many, if not most of the volunteers were committed Christians. Therefore it was comfortable working alongside them under their umbrella and structure. There was no prohibition against sharing our faith or praying with the patients who were open to this. [I didn't encounter anyone who didn't want to be prayed for.] That doesn’t mean that we always agreed with decisions and protocols that were in place, but it was necessary to cooperate in order to maintain a team effort. And we were working alongside other physicians who were not Christians. I believe that this presented both challenges and opportunities.
There were volunteers who came to help that couldn’t stay for one reason or another. Apparently people volunteer for many different reasons, and some are there to meet their own needs as much as to help others. A few seemed to need as much help as the evacuees did. They were asked to leave by the shelter director.
Some brought more baggage than luggage. One nurse had come all the way from Nebraska; she had come with the intention of assisting, but she didn’t feel safe where she was housed. There was no lock on her door. She had to walk through areas where she wasn’t comfortable. She came into the medical clinic the next morning and could best be described as the proverbial “basket case”. She left voluntarily the morning after her arrival.
One local psychiatrist came to assist with seeing the patients who were referred to the Mental Health table. [This was a very busy facility throughout my time here.] Her first night she began changing the patient’s treatment plans; she felt patients were over-medicated or on the wrong drugs. So she took medicines away; some of the patients were quite upset. I observed her spending a lot of time with patients and making very thorough notes. The next morning she returned to work; but the shelter director first needed to have a discussion with her. The psychiatrist then informed me that she wouldn’t be able to stay. The problem seemed to be that she was too inflexible to work within the framework of what was being done for the patients who, more than anything else, needed to maintain stability in a few areas of their lives including their medications. Flexibility is one of the most highly valued attributes in a volunteer.
Our Samaritan’s Purse volunteers came with a desire to serve and minister in the name of Jesus. We quickly blended into a team primarily because we have the common bonds of being brothers and sisters in Jesus, and we have all served in foreign countries. I had already mentioned Dr. Wesley Harris of Georgia who had served many years in Honduras. Ann Marie Treesh is a nurse practitioner from New England. She is currently working for Word of Life’s project Nehemiah in Schroon Lake, NY. She has been in many parts of the world ministering to other missionaries. Susan Sanborn is an RN from Long Island, NY who has been to Rwanda and Saipan. We learned quickly to accept our differences and utilize each other’s strengths in ministering to the needs of the patients.
It helped to have local volunteers and nurses who were familiar with the medical resources in the community. I mentioned in my initial letter how so many people from the local community had come forward. Several of these people stand out in my memory.
Kathy Orea (Or’ee) is a nurse by training, but having been out of nursing for several years, she had taken a job as head of security for a local Christian school; I believe that she had seen a need there and basically created the position herself. When the disaster struck she came to the Hirsch Coliseum to help in anyway that she could. She organized the medical volunteers in the community and began directing the medical and pharmacy areas. She gradually accumulated 5 or 6 communication devices [pagers, phones, and walkie-talkies] that she wore on her belt. I often saw her using more than one at the same time. What a blessing she was to our effort! When we found a patient with a need for special assistance, Kathy was the one we searched for. For example a patient needed a bed higher up off of the floor because her arthritic knees couldn’t get her up and down from the low position; Kathy knew where she had a cot to place under the air mattress. Some patients just needed a more private area because of their emotional stress or illness; Kathy controlled these assignments. Kathy worked 12- 14 hour days the entire time we were here; her husband and children came to the shelter a few times to see her. Yet I never observed her to be cross or irritable. She is a real heroine among many.
Volunteers crossed denominational lines without strife or stress. Several were from local Catholic churches. For example, Sue Borne is a nurse who picked up her stethoscope after a long absence from formal nursing. She left nursing to homeschool a son who had learning disabilities. After he had grown and earned a master’s degree, she began caring for elderly relatives. Last October, she filled in for a month for a nurse on maternity leave from her husband’s Internal Medicine practice. When the shelter opened, she volunteered to help. Sue dispensed needed hugs to volunteers and patients alike on a regular basis. She knew the resources available in the local community. If we needed a lab report, she knew who to call and how to get it. She knew the best places to refer patients who needed hospital assessments; there are many hospitals in the community, but each has strengths and weaknesses to account for. If a patient needed transport, Sue used her car to take them if no other help was available. Overall, she set the tone of love and caring in the clinic. Others rode on the coattails of the good will that she engendered.
In such an environment that was created by a core of dedicated Christians acting in the name of Jesus, even non-believers interacted without the high level of strife that often characterizes a secular workplace. And I don’t mean to imply that non-Christians don’t display love and compassion in their work, because they do. Their intentions are good and their work is effective, but there are often tensions, jealousies, self-aggrandizement, and turf-protecting in a place where Jesus is not the center of everyone’s life.
As Christian physician’s and nurses, I think that we have something to offer that non-believers do not – the love and peace of Jesus Christ. For example, a woman came into the clinic to have a bandage replaced from her scraped-up knee. She saw one of the Red Cross volunteer doctors who did a competent job of evaluating and treating the abrasion. But what the patient was most concerned about was a non-medical issue. She was talking about her forced separation from her husband and her inability to contact him. The woman was from Lake Charles, Louisiana where Hurricane Rita had struck so hard. She was evacuated along with most of the local residents. But her husband was in jail. Five days after the hurricane, no information was being given to relatives about the whereabouts and condition of these inmates. She had contacted all levels of law enforcement, government, and Red Cross services in her attempts to notify him that she was safe; she knew that he would become depressed and stop eating as he has done in the past. She even wrote him a letter even though it may be many weeks before postal service is reestablished wherever he is.
After the doctor had dismissed her, I wheeled her outside the clinic and talked with her about the situation. I asked her for the name of her husband; then I thanked God for getting her out safely and the shelter that was provided for her. We prayed for her husband and for God to intervene in her situation. And we prayed for God’s peace for her. So she left the clinic not only with a bandage, but also with peace of mind. I often use Philippians 4:6-7 in such a situation: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” NIV
Early in the second week, another patient had come in late in the evening as part of a busload of other evacuees from New Orleans now moving away from Rita. She had two children and a boyfriend with her. She was depressed and crying. Nearly a month ago, they had lost everything; her house, car, and possessions were gone. She previously had worked as a CNA [nurse assistant], but recently was excelling in mortuary science school. Now the school was destroyed. They had been moved around several times. She was frightened to be in the large arena with a host of displaced people, some of whom are psychotic. She had a cold. She needed something for her long-term depression but had never found an antidepressant that helped her. She hadn’t slept well for several nights. She was a Christian, but had walked away from the Lord in recent years. She wanted to get legally married and start over. There was no pill in our pharmacy or any other that could help this situation.
I asked Kathy Orea to find a place for them that night that was secluded. [The privacy camping tents were removed at the order of the local fire marshal.] Kathy had one such room left in the shelter but for one night only. I gave her some Benadryl to help her get to sleep. [It's an antihistamine used for colds and allergies, but it does have a side-effect of making you sleepy.] And I prayed for her about all her concerns and summarized her repentance that she had voiced. I used the Philippians passage as well as Jeremiah 29:11-13. God gave this verse to our family when our house burned down 15 years ago. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” NIV
Early the next afternoon she came to see me. I hardly recognized her because her face was beaming with a huge smile. But I recognized the boyfriend, so I knew who she was. God had been very busy overnight! Her depression had lifted and she had slept well. The Red Cross had found a house for them to live in. They were getting married and were getting a fresh start. We prayed and thanked God right in the middle of the crowded entryway.
As the second week wore on, the cycle of closing the other shelters and consolidating the evacuees at Hirsch repeated. We got many people from the cities of Orange and Port Arthur, Texas as well as Lake Charles. Those people who could go elsewhere did so, and we began to receive a concentrated remnant of those who simply could not fend for themselves.
There is a pattern of living that seemed common to many of these “poorest of the poor”. Most are heavy smokers and many take narcotic pain medications and psychiatric medications. There general health is poor; their general intelligence and emotional reserves are marginal. Two patients could tell me neither their home towns nor the medications they had been taking.
They are heavy smokers because nicotine is a drug that calms the nerves; however, it is highly addictive and readily available. The side effects of the other toxins in the cigarette smoke lower the body’s resistance to infection. A common cold often moves into a severe sinus infection or bronchitis. A lifetime of abuse leads to cancers and vascular insufficiency causing heart attacks and loss of limbs, particularly if diabetes develops. All have heard the repeated warnings to quit smoking, but most have found it impossible to quit. The same stresses that caused them to find solace in the nicotine remain in addition to the physical addiction.
Many have been given narcotic pain medicines for low back pain or arthritis problems. They are addicted to these medicines as well. So we have requests for prescriptions for codeine derivatives [Vicodin or Lortab], Soma [addictive muscle relaxant], and Xanax [panic attacks and anxiety]. These medicines are sold on the street, so dealers often come in for prescriptions as well. Most have a good story as to why they need them refilled. “I ran out just before we were evacuated”, “They were stolen”, “I spilled them down the drain”, or “The dog ate them”. The only way to deal with this craziness is to refuse to write all prescriptions for these categories of drugs. Unfortunately, many genuinely need them either because of pain or because the withdrawal symptoms are troublesome. We could easily populate a drug rehab unit.
Not only do we have a concentration of people with these disabilities, the longer the situation of displacement and depersonalization exists, the greater the extremes of erratic behavior begin to appear. A person with bipolar [manic-depressive] tendencies will begin to swing to one extreme or the other. The schizophrenics who have either gone off of their medicines or lost the structure in their lives that they so depend on to function begin to exhibit more bizarre behavior. Two people were committed to a psychiatric facility last night – one voluntarily and one physician-ordered.
These are some reasons why the mental health counselors are overwhelmed; in addition they are often impotent to offer the only true cure for such problems – a new birth, a new creation of the individual by the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit that will come into a person who confesses Jesus Christ as his savior. If Christ is in the person’s life, the Holy Spirit has often been quenched by unconfessed sins. A true healer will use the power of God that is available to those who seek it.
The last day for the Samaritan’s Purse team has been one of transition. The Public Health Service has sent two pharmacists, two nurses, and a physician in their full uniforms. We physicians and nurses have been the pharmacists about 75% of the time, so this team should easily handle the workload with the assistance of the Red Cross volunteers who have come in and those who remain. The Louisiana National Guard band was replaced last week by a unit fresh from a year in Iraq.
Yesterday, a mobile rural health van from Idaho rolled in. This van is sponsored by the Children’s Health Fund – one of many throughout the country. A doctor and two nurses flew down and joined two drivers who had come the 2200 miles from Twin Falls, Idaho. The van will stay in the region as personnel rotate every few weeks. [Longer than two weeks of 12-14 hour days is probably not a good idea for anyone!]
As they were directed to this area which is already well served, they questioned if they were going to be utilized to their best potential. From our rank and file soldier’s viewpoint, it seems that volunteer resources are not coordinated to serve in the areas of most need, but rather where area directors are most aggressive about filling their staffing needs, perhaps to the extreme of overstaffing. That is probably an inherent weakness in such a system of reliance on volunteers without a command and control center that has the big picture in view.
On the other hand, we have sought our direction from the one source of power and oversight that has a complete view of the big picture. So we can rest in the knowledge that we are serving in the place that God wants us, at the time He wants us there, and with the tools we need to do His work. Those who serve in the Lord’s Army can have complete trust in the Commander in Chief.
Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement. I had never envisioned being sent to Louisiana as a missionary when I enlisted in this army, but God needs people to be available to go where He is working. Right now he is working in the Gulf Coast region in the hearts and lives of millions of people. Please continue to pray for these people who have been directly affected and for those who need to be available to assist here or wherever else that God begins a work to reach out to a complacent people who have not sought their Creator or who have walked away from Him.
Serving Jesus with you,
Paul, from Shreveport

I will be flying home tomorrow from 11:30 am until about 4pm

Dear Friends and Family:
We have weathered the storm here in Shreveport. Fortunately Rita didn’t sit and stall over the area like the weathermen had predicted. So, we had heavy rain and strong winds for a day, but blue skies today. There are quite a few trees down, and power is out in many areas, but this would be nothing for folks from Indiana during tornado season.
There are still many people in shelters [four open in Shreveport]. I am now the only doctor at the Hirsch Coliseum at the Lousiana State Fairgrounds. The other doctors and nurse practitioners are at the other shelters which are holding between 1000 and 2500 people. Everyone is working fairly long hours, but spirits are good.
We are basically doing a lot of long term care issues for people along with acute illness situations. We check blood sugars and give insulin twice a day to our diabetics. We see the schizophrenics each day for one thing or another. Today is foot care morning with lots of bad feet getting soaked and cared for. Ear infections and eye infections and sore throats are producing a steady stream of folks in need of assistance. Many are just discouraged and depressed — they know they can’t go home now and don’t know if they have a home to go home to. It’s definitely a ministry opportunity to comfort and encourage people. Lots of hugs are being dispensed along with the medicine.
There is a music outreach that has set up a stage outside to minister to people. One lady came to see us last night for a medical issue, but she had just accepted Jesus as her savior at the program the night before. Everything shut down when the storm hit, but I expcect that we’ll be hearing the loud music again.
There are patients now lining up to see me, so I’ll sign off. I can’t access internet where I’m staying until the phone lines come back up, but I got online here at the center to send a note to you all to thank you for your prayers. It doesn’t look like we’ll leave here before I come home Oct. 1.
Paul, in Shreveport

Dear Friends and Family:
Please pray for our night tonight and the next few days. We’re expecting 700 new evacuees from southern Louisiana from other shelters. They should begin to arrive about 2AM. We are to meet the busses, and be sure there are no medical issues before bedding people down for the night. We’re to take all that our shelter can hold and then direct people east and north.
We may get very heavy rains from Rita and up to 50 mph winds even though we’re over 200 miles north of New Orleans.
We’ve had good times of ministry and medicine here.
Serving Jesus with you,
Paul in Shreveport

Wednesday Afternoon, Sept 21.
Thanks for your prayers for our work here and for the people caught up in the hurricane. I’m sure that everyone is now riveted to their news channel for the approach of Hurricane Rita. We believe we’ll see a change in strategy for the work here as a result of the approach of another large storm to the Gulf Coast.

First, please accept my apologies for the apparent typos in the last e-mail. Actually, the typos were inserted into the letter by copy/pasting the text out of Microsoft Word instead of Notepad into the website. It eliminated the commas, apostrophes, and substituted a ? for the second “. We won’t do that again.

We have been in the process of “ratcheting down” our work here in Shreveport. People are continually being moved into more permanent living situations. New people are arriving who have been in living situations of their own arrangement that just didn’t work out for the long term. But the overall trend has been fewer numbers of residents and less serious medical issues.

But, again, the situation is changing rapidly. About 100 people arrived at the shelter during the night by bus from Houston. Several more busses are expected today. As Texans are preparing for their own hurricane, apparently they are shifting their current evacuees out of harm’s way.

For now, our medical situation here is fairly stable. All the people who need dialysis every 3 days are either dead or into a new program. And there are programs available for more. That was a battle fought in the first few days. There have been many people with chronic illnesses being cared for quite regularly in our unit which is much like a Med Check.

Since we have had a target of closing by the weekend, these people are now being referred to local doctors who have volunteered to take on more cases. In fact, the local medical community’s support has been fantastic. Many practices and hospitals asked that their names be added to the referral list. Each day different doctors have appeared at our facility. Many are ER doctors from local hospitals who come for a few hours to help out. The volume of patients doesn’t require additional doctors, so most of them leave after an hour or so.

There is one patient being seen twice a day for foot care. His foot was punctured with a nail when he was evacuated from a roof top by helicopter. Many people with chronic lung disease are receiving breathing treatments daily. Diabetics come in for their insulin each morning; we keep the supplies for them since refrigeration is required. And there are people who are “frequent flyers” who have a new complaint each morning.

There are 15 patients who are on methadone. They formerly were heroin addicts, but they are now on a drug treatment that substitutes this medication for the illegal drug. They’re still dependant on the methadone. There is a center here in Shreveport who can care for them, but getting the paperwork done took some time to organize.

And there are true emergencies. Yesterday morning there was a man with some kind of drug overdose. He was evacuated to a local hospital. A woman with some kind of inner ear problem causing persistent vomiting had been evaluated at a hospital, but she wasn’t responding to the prescribed treatment. She needs further evaluation and treatment. Two days ago a man slipped and fell in the cafeteria and sustained a head laceration. Today he is dizzy and needs further tests. Another man has chest pain and dizziness that is probably a reaction to medicine prescribed earlier. This is pretty standard emergency room fare.

I’ve seen several people who just need to talk with someone. They’ve got a medical problem, but they’re not coping with it very well. Some are frightened to be coming into the shelter. Maybe they’ve seen too much television. Or maybe they’ve seen too much of life. They know there are dangers in such situations.

It’s been fun watching American nurses in action once again. I guess that I’ve gotten used to foreign nurses who have different training, work ethic, or priorities. Whenever there is a break in the flow of patients, the nurses set about reorganization of the treatment area. Even though it has been functioning over a week, they make it to function better. Chart systems are overhauled to solve the problems that have been frustrating us all week. Treatment tables are sorted, consolidated, and cleaned. If you set something down where it shouldn’t be, it won’t be there for long.

All of the activities of the day are logged, and infection issues are faxed to the Center for Disease Control. A night nurse had faxed in a summary report including some cases of fever and diarrhea – I’m not really sure where she got the totals from, since none of us remember treating any cases like this. But the CDC was on the phone a few hours later making inquiries. It’s comforting to know that someone is coordinating the monitoring of potential epidemics.

Since the situation is changing, I may be staying in Shreveport for a longer period of time. Dave Gettle is still evaluating the situation in Gretna, but we have not heard of any decision there. So, I would appreciate your continuing prayers for wisdom for the Samaritan’s Purse and Red Cross leadership. And pray for people in the Gulf area, especially now in Galveston, Baytown, and Houston.

Paul, from Louisiana

Jarrett’s Prayer Letter
Volume 6, Number 13
September 18, 2005
Response to paulejr@aol.com

Dear Friends and Family:

I am settled in Shreveport, Louisiana, probably for a week. It’s likely that we will be redeployed further south next weekend. I’ll try to report some of my initial impressions and experiences.

It was difficult to know exactly what to pack for the trip. I wasn’t sure whether I would be in a “survival” mode or in a location with lots of facilities. Therefore, I knew I had to pack enough clothes for the two weeks with no guarantee of laundry facilities. The mosquito tent and the air mattress were the next must-take items for Louisiana. With only 100 lbs of luggage allowance, I chose some light weight suitcases, some books, and some medical equipment, and I was finished. There just wasn’t room for anything else.

I had bought my airline tickets online directly from Northwest Airlines; that was the first time I’d ever tried that. The next week, they filed for bankruptcy, but they sent me an e-mail saying “not to worry”. I printed my own boarding pass at home the night before the flight; it seemed like they were still expecting me. I got up at 4AM for the 7AM flight; Marty slept all the way to the airport. I hoped she would be able to wake up to drive back home. I checked in my own bags. My first human interaction with the airline occurred when an agent handed me the luggage routing tags to apply to my bags; she only wanted to see my ID. If they could have identified me with an eyeball screen or fingerprint, even that human contact wouldn’t have been needed. They say the bankruptcy is because of fuel costs; it certainly didn’t appear to be from labor costs.

I had a sense of God’s presence as I came into Shreveport. I knew God had some special assignment for me; I just didn’t know what it was going to be yet. In fact, I didn’t know much of anything about this trip. I knew that someone would pick me up at the airport, but I didn’t know who it would be. I collected my bags, and sat down to wait, but within minutes, a lady appeared with a sign saying “Samaritan’s Purse”. Traci Woods was to be the hostess for this week for me and another physician, Wes Harris, who was driving in from Georgia.

As we pulled in to the Woods driveway, it was very apparent that I wouldn’t be in survival mode this week. This is a beautiful home in a wooded setting. The home is bordered in the back by a small green lake lined with cypress trees. Egrets and herons competed for the fish while a flock of swifts went after the bugs. Like many church families in the area, the Woods family has opened their home to volunteers or evacuees. I put my survival bag in the closet.

After I got acquainted with Traci, Wes Harris arrived. I recognized him as someone I had met before. Wes has just finished a family practice residency in Rome, Georgia, but his medical history goes farther back then that. Wes and his family had been missionaries in Honduras for 21 years. Early in his mission career, he felt the call to medical missions, but took the unusual route of going to medical school in Honduras. After learning the story of his background and work near La Ceiba, Honduras, I realized that I had been introduced to him in a restaurant there in 2002 when I went on the medical brigade. As his children grew up and went to university, the family decided to return home to Georgia where he was required to take a residency in order to practice in the US. He has just now gotten his license after finishing in June; this disaster relief effort with Samaritan’s Purse is his first work before he starts a practice in the Chattanooga area. He hopes to go on regular mission trips that he can integrate into a part-time ER practice.

Late in the evening, we were invited for dinner to meet the local medical host for the disaster teams, Dr. Phillip Rozeman and the departing medical team, which was leaving in the morning. I already knew Dr. Dave Gettle of Zionsville who is part of Samaritan’s Purse advance team. And I knew neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Cheatham from Prescription for Renewal. His family will be visiting Tenwek in December and probably will be staying in our house. I met Dr. Greg Adams and his wife from Boone, NC, but I already knew his brother, Dr. Bill Adams, an endodontist and long-term Zionsville resident. A dentist, Dr. Larry Cook, was also leaving after a great week of ministry. Everyone was very upbeat; each had “stories” from the disaster victims to relate.

We learned that we were to run the medical clinic in the remaining functional shelter at the Louisiana State Fairgrounds coliseum. Our shifts are scheduled from 9-12 in the morning and 5-8 in the evening. Otherwise, some nurses keep the place going in between. Initially, there were four shelters in the Shreveport area. The first at the fieldhouse of the Shreveport branch of LSU received those who “drove out” of New Orleans. Those who were evacuated late in the rescue came to this coliseum.

We heard the story of the Berlin brothers who had organized much of the effort here. The pastor of an Assembly of God church here in town told his congregation that he didn’t want to see them at the church. He wanted them to be out in the community serving the evacuees. The Berlin brothers left and came to the coliseum. They saw how badly the operation needed organization, so they began the effort which they have helped to coordinate since that time. Now the Red Cross is here, and things are actually very well organized. There is someone from FEMA here. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Rapid Response Team is here. The US Post Office is here. The local police are around as is the Sheriff’s office. And the National Guard is everywhere around.

When the National Guard unit showed up with M-16 rifles slung over their shoulders, the nursing staff thanked them profusely for coming. “We’re so glad that you’re here”, they said. A sergeant replied, “Why?” She said that they felt more secure with them around. The sergeant returned, “You don’t know who we are. We’re the Louisiana National Guard Band.” But they’re here functioning as guards and MPs.

We heard their favorite “war stories”, some of which I hadn’t heard from the news. Like the first busload of evacuees that arrived at the Astrodome in Houston came in before it was expected. That’s because it was driven by an “unauthorized” 16-year-old driver who had hot-wired the bus and headed out of town, picking up people as he went until he had a full load of people. He had done what the local authorities had failed to do.

Another man had “woken up” in Shreveport. He remembers floating in the street until he grabbed on to a tree. Then a rattlesnake that was hiding in the tree bit him on the arm. He had passed out from the toxic bite, but was rescued and evacuated.

Another man had swum into a tree to await rescue. As time went on, he realized his danger would be falling asleep and out of the tree. At first he grabbed some branches that floated by. Then he grabbed a bottle of drinking water and an unopened bottle of Maalox. “I really needed that Maalox”, he said. Finally, a rope floated by and he grabbed that; he tied himself into the tree nest that he built and remained there without additional supplies for five days.

There were sad stories too. Like some boys who were forced higher and higher into their house until they were in the attic; then the water began to seep into it as well. The family dogs were with them until the plaster ceiling gave way, dumping the dogs into the water as if they had broken through the ice of a pond. They couldn’t rescue them as they felt them struggling underneath them in the house. Finally they climbed out the attic vent and got on the roof where they were eventually rescued.

This morning we got our first view of the shelter. It is set up much like the Pepsi Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Yellow “Police Line” tape restricts entry to only one entrance, so that everyone comes to the proper location. There they are triaged by nurses and other volunteer personnel. Those who are actually housed at the shelter have beds set up in aisles on the floor of the arena. Some tents have been erected for privacy. The aisles are labeled with street names so that people have an “address” so they can be located. Some families have one of a few private rooms. Most of these people were the poorest of the poor.

When they first had arrived, they were greeted on the bus by a nurse to see if anyone needed immediate medical assistance. Everyone else was sent to the shower building for a bath; they were told to take off their dirty clothes and they were to be issued new ones. Rich and poor alike were treated the same – a level playing field for a moment. There are common laundry facilities; trade in the dirty clothes and find new ones in the donated clothing room. You won’t get the first set back again necessarily. The Red Cross gives people $250.

There’s a message board and access to the internet for the website for missing friends and relatives. There are planned activities for the residents as well as a dining hall. Shuttle busses to the dental clinic run twice a day. Local pastors come and offer to take people to church.

The medical clinic is set up with a well-stocked pharmacy. Much of the stock is sample packets of the newest medications. And it is needed. Many people came with some of their medicines, but most had none. They knew what they had been taking, so the doctors have been writing a lot of prescriptions. If it isn’t in the pharmacy, someone makes a run to a local CVS pharmacy which fills it for free. I think there is hope they may be reimbursed by the government, but it’s great to see the support given with no guarantee of a payback.

There are volunteer physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, paramedics, and just general volunteers from all over. Some are displaced from the south themselves; most are from the local community. And there are the long-distance volunteers like the part-time paramedic whose day job is a mechanical engineer. He came from Maine after calling around enough to cut through red tape and got an invitation from someone here at the shelter to “come on down”. He stayed at a Holiday Inn before someone took him in. He says it has been the greatest experience of his life. There’s a nurse from Long Island who finally got hooked up with Samaritan’s Purse. There’s a doctor from Cleveland who came with the Red Cross. Likewise is Margarita, a Colombian-born colorectal surgeon who is now from Michigan.

Perhaps one of the more poignant stories was Eric. He is in the 3rd year of his 4-year Air Force service obligation after going through medical school and a family practice residency at the expense of the military. He was stationed at Biloxi; the military ordered him to evacuate, so he came home to Shreveport with his two dogs. His house and much of the air base were destroyed. I asked him if he were married or single, and he said “yes”. The divorce papers were in the courthouse when it was destroyed. He’s still making house payments on a house that doesn’t exist. At least he still has a job.

Initially, I’m told there were more than 800 people in the various shelters. The goal has been to get people out and into more stable situations as quickly as possible. Some have been set up in apartments or houses. Consequently, they have tried to close down the other 3 shelters to consolidate the efforts. As soon as the 150 “drive-in” residents at LSU learned that, 30 of them immediately found other situations. Others joined the residents here who remained while alternative situations have been found for their neighbors. It’s not really clear how many people are here. People just disappear without letting officials know. Even some of the apartments have been vacated without notice. Some of the abandoned vehicles in the parking lot here are reported as having been stolen in New Orleans.

Yet people here are grateful for the help they’re receiving. I talked with one man who was working through a lot of his anger feelings. He was one of the last to be evacuated from the convention center in New Orleans. He was bussed to Houston and then San Antonio, but no room was left either place. Then the bus went to a military facility where they were rejected again. After another rejection somewhere else that I can’t remember, the bus headed for Ft. Smith Arkansas. He got so angry that he got off and hitchhiked to Texarkana. A pastor gave him money to go to Shreveport where he has an aunt. He said that he has been HIV positive for 22 years. He was on regular medicines and he needed prescriptions, but he was afraid to stay in shelters where he might catch something that would be dangerous for his weakened immune system. The aunt’s house turned into a bad situation when he saw that his cousins were dealing and using drugs. The last thing he needed was to be arrested in a drug bust. He left to get processed by officials here, but thanked me for talking with him.

The medical load today at the clinic has been very light. There has been a small stream of patients and the doctors have been taking numbers to see who gets to see them. Well, almost. I expect it will pick up tomorrow. The goal is to close the shelter by the end of the week and get these patients referred to local doctors who are volunteering. Many of them are here assisting us. They report having worked 8-12 hours days the first two weeks, but have noticed the demand dropping off. One problem has been weeding out local residents who have tried to obtain services at the clinics by trading drugs for ID bracelets that will get them into the clinic.

Dave Gettle has been continuing to investigate service opportunities. With many doctors from New Orleans having relocated, there is not a medical manpower shortage between here and New Orleans. So, we may deploy to Gretna next week which is across the Mississippi River from the Superdome. That would be a MUCH different situation — maybe living in tents and eating MREs . I’ve already had gumbo twice and fried okra once, and what concerns me most about that is that I like it. I’ll gain too much weight at the rate I’ve been over fed so far, so a week on MREs may help me to average out.

Wes and I believe it likely that we may just go around and talk to people while the clinic is quiet. He found a family from Honduras, and, of course, he’s fluent in Spanish. Maybe I’ll find a Swahili speaker.

Please pray that we’ll be sensitive to our opportunities for spiritual witness. And pray for the safety of the residents here at the shelters and elsewhere. Reportedly, there were 130 child registered molesters turned out of New Orleans for parts unknown. Already, unbelievable incidents are reported to have occurred. People are beginning to worry about the 3 new hurricanes that are developing. There’s no doubt in my mind that there has been a spiritual stronghold of evil in New Orleans. The dissemination of the people to the four winds may mean the spread of spiritual warfare to other areas.

Serving Jesus with you,
Paul, from Shreveport

Dear Friends and Family:

Thanks for your prayers for this past week. Both speaking engagements went very well. We encountered no obvious spiritual warfare, although Marty’s stomach started bothering her immediately after we left Michigan. It was probably “just something she ate”. She is fine now.

I will leave for the South this Saturday at 7AM. I am flying to Shreveport to arrive 10:30AM. But I’ve just received word that the need in Shreveport is terminating this week as the local medical community has stepped up their support.Now we have learned that we are greatly needed in Baton Rouge. The fluid nature of the situation in the flood areas [no pun intended] requires some flexibility. Samaritan’s Purse is now reexploring the needs and facilities. Baton Rouge is the closest major city to New Orleans. There are no hotel rooms or places to stay there that have thus far been located. SP has indicated that they will fly us from Shreveport to Baton Rouge on a Samaritan’s Purse plane. There are four of us coming in to Shreveport this weekend.

Please pray for the Samaritan’s Purse logistics people as they attempt to make arrangements. Pray that they will be able to advise us on the things that we will need to take for the location where we’ll be; the limited baggage allottment from the domestic carriers makes it important to be selective. I have lists from disaster relief organizations for general things to take, but some specifics would be very helpful. Again, thanks for your prayers. It makes a great difference!
Paul, for the Jarretts

Jarrett’s Prayer Letter
Volume 6, Number 12
August 23, 2005

Dear Friends and Family:

No, the Jarretts haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. Three months between letters seems like a long time relative to the frequent updates that I’m accustomed to giving. And it isn’t as if there has been nothing going on to communicate, but the opportunity hasn’t presented itself until now. But I’ll try to give reports on both Kenya and Ukraine as well as activities on the home front.

Since we left Kenya in May, our family has been traveling extensively. Other than the trip to Ukraine with Laura, Amy, and Alicia, most of the travel has been visiting family. Three trips by family members were made to Harrisburg, PA to visit Beth where she works with the AA Harrisburg Senators baseball club as athletic trainer. She has a few weeks remaining of her season. Please pray for wisdom for her for her future plans. I went to Morgantown, WV to give a lecture at the Tropical Medicine Course. We went to Muskegon, MI for half a week at Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference after returning from Ukraine. And we attended a family reunion in Hilton Head with eight of the ten children, spouses, and all thirteen grandchildren. Now we’re in Charlotte, NC once again visiting Jon and his family.

While I was at home, I replaced the roof over our porch and sun rooms with the assistance of Frank Sallee and his family. I’m not sure that I want to add roofing to my resume or not, but I’ve now done it. I’ve refinished the deck at Jon’s house this week; I’m feeling fairly expert at that job having done it a few times at home. My garden has produced a fairly large crop without being harvested by the local raccoons – I deported most of them as a pre-emptive measure. The deer and rabbits also seemed intimidated although a 6 foot fence was the only deterrent they faced – maybe they heard from the raccoons. I hated to be gone when the Silver Queen began to ripen, but hopefully others have reaped the benefit. If I could have sent tomato or zucchini by e-mail, you would have received an attachment or two with this letter.

I have finally found an opportunity to use my medical skills while here in the US rather than exclusively using my construction skills. I will be a volunteer with Genessaret Free Clinics in homeless shelters and other downtown Indianapolis facilities ministering to the homeless and working poor. An organization called Volunteers in Medicine is picking up the malpractice insurance policy which is the limiting factor for a retired physician. Before we left last week, I worked at the Salvation Army rehab center for several hours one night. Seeing men instead of women is a bit of a switch for an OBGYN, but my practice in Kenya is broader that it was in the US, so I don’t feel as intimidated as I might have 5 years ago.

I’ll continue to serve as a substitute teacher with the Zionsville Public Schools. Marty will work several days each week at the Yogurt Emporium. I will give my testimony at a church in Brooklyn, Michigan [near Jackson] on September 11th. Why does that date seem familiar? We also will attend Prescription for Renewal in Asheville, NC October 6-9, but will visit with Jon and Sharon while we’re in the neighborhood of Charlotte.

The reports from Kenya concerning our orphans are encouraging. Several visitors have come from Tenwek and work teams; they have seen the work and offered support. With many churches having done the Serengeti Adventure theme for VBS this summer, there were a few that gave support to the orphanages in addition to our home church, Castleview. I’ve not heard anything from Umoja, but I have updates from the other three projects.

Alice from Kitoben Vision Children’s Home sends her greeting and her thanks. She now has 34 children living at the small home. Such numbers are difficult to imagine given the size of the facility, and the increase has produced some problems, hopefully of the transient nature. First of all, the outhouse, which was being overwhelmed already, ceased to function entirely [read: full]. The Ministry of Health visited and gave the ultimatum to repair it or close down. A visitor gave the funds for the construction while the children “visited the bush”. Rains gave problems during the new construction with the walls of the hole caving in. Finally, the walls were shored up and, at last report, the construction was nearing completion. A new water tank was also donated and installed. Please pray that we will be able to solve such infrastructure issues before they become emergencies.

Money was donated in May for the chicken project at Kitoben. It took more than two months for the check that we sent by courier to Kenya to clear the banking system. By that time the NGO that supplies the additional 75% of the project was getting nervous and gave a deadline for the construction to begin, or they would withdraw their support. Construction workers from Tenwek began the work on faith and did the necessary building. Please pray that everything will proceed according to the promises that have been made that the chickens will come.

Additional land adjoining the property had been made available for purchase, and a donation was received that should cover it. This should aid immensely to relieve some of the overcrowding issues as it gives room for the construction of more buildings as funds become available. The dining room/school room is to be expanded as it was pitifully small to begin with – about the size of the dining room of an average home, but for use by more than 25 children. Additional garden space will also be a great asset. If the home is ever to be self sustaining, the gardens and chickens need to be successful. In the meanwhile, we have tried to encourage Alice to budget her expenses carefully. There is a need for continuing monthly support for food, firewood, and other expenses. None of the workers who assist at Kitoben get a salary. In fact, Alice has used her small salary from her hospital job to support the children. Her sisters have worked for food and a roof over their heads. When we left in May, the mentally ill sister had been missing for several months, although Alice knew where she had been staying at one time. Please continue to pray for Alice and her family, as well as the children whom she views as her children.

One of the six-year-old children at the home, Chepkemoi, was born with a heart defect that has seriously stunted her growth. She has a fairly short life expectancy. We have been able to have her evaluated in Nairobi at Mater Hospital, and corrective surgery is possible. Mater’s recommendation that she be sent to India and surgery done for $8,000 is not realistic given the financial situation. We will continue to pursue arrangements with Samaritan’s Purse Children’s Heart Project, so please pray that something will work out for this precious little one.

The Kenduiwa Children’s Home news has been encouraging as well. They have been offered some adjacent land for purchase as well, and funds were available at just the right moment. Please pray for this transaction to go forward smoothly. The project was definitely limited by space and the additional 3/10ths of an acre will help a great deal. They had also received a donkey to carry water from the river. A school in Indianapolis has adopted this orphanage as a support project for this year. Please pray that this will be a blessing not only to the children in Kenya, but to those children in Indianapolis as well.

The Bosto Children’s Home is now scheduled to open October 2, 2005. Forty children will be living there. Please pray for Pastor David Kilel and the director, Elkanah Rotich, as they continue to work towards this goal. There is a meeting September 10th that will be important in this process. David Kilel has asked that you pray for this meeting. He also sends his thanks for your prayers and support which has brought them to this point. He is really praising God for what He is doing for these children with no parents.

We are very thankful for fellow missionaries at Tenwek, Dr. Chuck and Amy Bemm. They have been assisting in many ways including the communications with Kitoben and Kenduiwa and Pastor Kilel as well. We have been able to direct some money to the Bemm’s ministry account with World Gospel Mission in Marion, Indiana which they have then withdrawn in Kenya and given to the children’s homes. This has enabled us to give a more timely response to the urgent financial and decisions making needs as they have arisen.

Our trip to Ukraine was very good from several viewpoints. As I mentioned in brief e-mail updates, several disabled children and parents repented and received Jesus personally as Savior. The Bible says that the angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner repents, and we shared in that rejoicing. To have even a small part in that decision process is humbling and thrilling. One woman in particular, Tanya, needs your continuing prayers. Her husband was not excited about her coming to the camp and even less excited about her decision for Christ. His politically sensitive job makes him very wary and cautious, yet he was curious and not overtly hostile. Please pray for his salvation as well.

All of the families face great challenges, but it was encouraging to hear the testimonies of some of the returning campers. Many had seen such changes and peace in their lives having given their hearts to Jesus during the preceding year. The camp was a great blessing to these people as is Mission to Ukraine’s ongoing involvement with them during the rest of the year.

Please pray for the leadership of Mission to Ukraine. We will have a board meeting in Indianapolis, as early as this Thursday evening. While I was in Ukraine, I became aware of several issues that must be resolved for the ministry to continue to function at the high level that it heretofore has done. I am optimistic, but I recognize that Satan will attack in many ways to derail any ministry that is saving babies from abortion and bringing souls into God’s kingdom on a regular basis.

Also, during this week the final camp of the season is taking place near Lugansk, Ukraine on the eastern border near Russia. Two of the Lugansk center leaders were with us at our camp, and many of the Zhitomir staff made the long journey to Lugansk by van this week to participate in this camp. This will be the first camp in the region, and all the families with their disabled children are new to everyone in the ministry; please pray for many to come to salvation as the camp winds up this weekend. Also pray for the ongoing ministry of the Lugansk center as it begins operation in earnest with this new group of clients.

Our ministry team worked together very well. When we gathered at the airport for departure, we were surprised that the team leader, Dr. Ken Ney, had suddenly cancelled his plans to accompany us because of family health issues. Dr. Joe Fraiz, who had been on the trips before, was appointed leader. I helped to organize the luggage as this was my designated area of responsibility. I used the experience with traveling with our family to develop the lists and procedures to account for 20 bags, some of which I hadn’t seen before. Others were old friends.

Our flights were fine. While we were in the Indianapolis airport awaiting departure, I noticed a young black couple getting on our flight. The man was carrying a wedding dress and the girl looked vaguely familiar – like from Kenya. Amy and Laura sat near enough to them to say hello as they got off the plane in Detroit. They were flying to Kenya and the girls told them that we lived there half the year. “Where are you from?” the girls asked. “Kericho” she answered. That’s the town an hour north of Tenwek. When they told her “we’re from Bomet”, she asked if we knew her sister, Emily Koech. We knew her very well, in fact. That’s why she looked so familiar to me. I knew that Emily had a sister in Purdue’s pharmacy school. So, I greeted her in Kipsigis “eeya monay” when I entered the conversation. It took her a few seconds before she responded “aye chamugay”. Apparently she hadn’t used much Kipsigis the last four years at Purdue. Then it was the groom’s turn to surprise us. He asked if I were Susanna’s dad. She had picked him out as a Kenyan in a Starbucks two years ago and struck up a conversation. It’s a small world, indeed.

When we arrived in Kiev the next day, 12 of our 20 bags decided not to make the trip with us from Amsterdam. Actually, the plane was overweight, so KLM didn’t load them. It took three hours to get through the lost and found process with the Russian speaking agents. Fortunately, I was able to give descriptions of the bags and their contents which was necessary in facilitating their clearance through customs in our absence. I knew our forwarding address in Zhitomir by heart and had a few phone numbers. Unfortunately, there were 100 bags that didn’t make the trip, so the line was long.

One woman was there on a mission trip and unexpectedly alone; now she was without her luggage. Her traveling partner was told correctly by the Ukrainian Embassy in the US, that Ukraine had recently amended its law, and she didn’t need a visa, so they wouldn’t issue one. However, KLM didn’t have that information, and they refused to let her board the flight to Kiev since she didn’t have a visa. Catch 22, as they say. Hence this woman flew on alone and now had no luggage. We prayed for her.

Our problems seemed a minor inconvenience by comparison. It worked out well for us; as it turned out, the bags with the time-sensitive crafts and materials made it, some personal clothing and orphan clothes trailed along over the next three days until we were all reunited. Nevertheless, we were happy to see our personal things knowing how difficult it is to replace things with the small allowance that one would receive for a lost bag and belongings.

International travel isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and it’s getting worse. British Air, our favorite carrier for our trips to Kenya, was hit by wildcat strikes this past month stranding 70,000 people in Terminal 4 of London’s Heathrow. Having been there many times, we suffered only vicariously with those people. There is still uncertainty clouding the future of the skies as the issues remain unresolved that caused the work stoppage. Northwest/KLM has a strike of mechanics currently that is causing troubles which can only worsen. Northwest\KLM have already cut the baggage allowance to 50 lbs instead of 70 lbs beginning in September. As a family that takes three 69.75 lb bags per person for our ministry, we are concerned if these allowances become the industry standard. Rising fuel prices will undoubtedly be translated into fare hikes as well.

We have two grandchildren scheduled to be born near Christmas. Pat and Lisa are looking for number 9, whose gender remains a surprise. Jon and Sharon are expecting a 5th son. We will likely return to Kenya a week later than usual, around the 15th of January, which should give us a chance to get acquainted. We’ll likely stay till the end of June. Debbye’s wedding is scheduled for August 5th, but she and Marty have completed most of the planning already. “Who will return with us” is a big question; Marty, Rachel and I are signed up, but Laura, and our oldest granddaughter, Elissa, are both possibilities. Amy needs to receive an education grant to continue school this year at Indiana Wesleyan. An entry on the Financial Aid Form has put this in jeopardy; this matter is currently under review. Please pray for God’s intervention and provision for Amy, and for wisdom for all of us as we plan our return to Kenya.

We appreciate so much your prayers on behalf of our family and the ministry that God has placed us in. Pray that God will expand His work; there are so many orphans needing assistance. I would like to see Him start other homes; it takes a church or group of people to decide in their hearts that God is calling them to go forward. Pray that God will send more workers into the harvest.

Serving Jesus with you,

Paul, for all the Jarretts

Support for the Jarretts can be sent to World Medical Mission, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607. Be sure to include our account #2355 on the check.

AGC Tenwek Area Education Fund [sending orphans to school or specific orphanage] contributions: Checks payable to and send to: Christian Foundation of Indiana, 8445 Keystone Crossing Blvd, Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN 46240. Indicate for Tenwek on a separate piece of paper as well as any specific project designation.

Castleview Baptist Church
Castleview is our home church.