“Did you know there was someone who gave blood for you 2,000 years ago?”
The nurse’s question intrigued the Ecuadorian, who was in the middle of giving blood himself so his mother hopefully could survive an operation. His mother had been in a motorcycle accident, and doctors with Samaritan’s Purse were working diligently to save her life and her leg while chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team prayed fervently.
All this was taking place in the field hospital Samaritan’s Purse set up in response to the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that shook Ecuador in mid-April. This collection of tents—think about the television show M*A*S*H—has really become the main trauma center for the Chone area since the earthquake badly damaged the nearby medical center. As a result, the fully functional pop-up hospital receives all kinds of trauma. They receive everything from residual earthquake injuries to gunshot and machete wounds. Some, like this woman, were injured in a motorcycle accident.
And while she was in surgery, her son was asking the nurse what she meant. Who gave blood for him? The nurse introduced him to Carolin and Desi Perez, crisis-trained chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team.
“We shared with him about how Jesus gave His blood and died on the cross for him 2,000 years ago to cover his sins, and how he could have a relationship with Him,” Carolin said. “He was ready.”
Carolin remembered joy flooding the man’s face, and he shared the Good News with his mother between her surgeries. The woman ultimately lost her leg, but she never lost focus on the Lord.
“She was telling people she recognized the Lord had spared her life,” Carolin said. “It was amazing just to see her testimony and to see what faith and your belief in the Lord can do and how it can carry you through the most difficult time.”
This story of faith is one of many Carolin has seen during the Perezes’ deployment to Ecuador. The chaplains have served in trauma situations before—shootings like the one in Newtown, Connecticut, and natural disasters like the typhoon in the Philippines. On this particular deployment, the seasoned chaplains are embedded with the Samaritan’s Purse medical team at the field hospital. In addition to providing emotional and spiritual care there, they also have delivered a death notification to one family and escorted another patient to her husband’s funeral. In the community, the chaplains joined Samaritan’s Purse to hand out tarps to people rendered homeless by the earthquake. The tarps help provide some overhead relief from the 100-plus degree humid heat of the day.
The field hospital isn’t exempt from the heat, either. Doctors and nurses work in tents that have been clocked with a 109-degree heat index. The chaplains are right there, holding hands with patients, praying in waiting rooms and greeting the ambulance to help medical personnel converse with the local, Spanish-speaking population.
The chaplains have a corner of an overflow tent where the hospital administrator often will bring over patients and families in need of crisis and grief counseling. Many openly discuss their faith with the Spanish-speaking chaplains and Carolin happily recalled one day where a family of eight chose to accept Christ.
Even now, people with lingering or infected injuries from the April 16 earthquake are showing up at the field hospital. Carolin noted an element of fear as survivors share their memories. Young children remember how the floors of their houses just opened up and then clamped shut on their tiny feet. An elderly woman recalled being on the third floor of her home when the quake shook the foundation and dropped her to the first floor. She broke both hips.
The uncertainty extends beyond the memories and into daily living. It was windy one recent afternoon when Carolin was sitting in one of the tents visiting with two other ladies. A huge gust came up and shook the entire structure.
“Both of them grabbed each one of my hands and held onto me like they were clinging for their lives,” said Carolin, who tried to reassure them it was just the wind. “They were horrified for about a five-minute period until they indeed realized it was just the wind. They kind of live anticipating that something like the earthquake could happen again.”
Prayer is needed for this community coming out of such a horrific experience and also for the medical staff, which comprise two shifts to keep the field hospital a 24-hour operation. Carolin said it’s been remarkable to watch God line up His staff.
“For instance, we had a trauma surgeon that arrived, and during the next two days, we received two complicated trauma cases,” Carolin said. “God had him here and had him in place for such a time as this. We’ve seen this over and over. The right doctor came in right at the right time. God has a plan, and He’s putting the people in place to provide for those patients who are coming.”
So it was no surprise that when a doctor specializing in pediatrics showed up, the hospital received a couple of complicated cases involving children.
“Lives are being changed forever,” Carolin said. “We’re meeting the medical need, but through that process and seeing Jesus’ hands and feet, they’re making decisions to accept Him as their Lord and Savior, and that has eternal consequences.”
