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Haiti mission trip -- lives and souls saved
Nevada Daily Mail
While most of us are heading back to work after the Christmas holidays on Jan. 5, John Murphy and his 14-year-old son Jeremiah will be joining with members of Crowder College's nursing program and the Baptist Student Union for a mission trip to Haiti.
For John, the president of the 2015 nursing class at Crowder College in Nevada, this will be his second mission trip to Haiti, having gone in January 2014. He will again be the only nursing student from the Nevada campus to make the trip and this time will be taking his son.
John said that on the January 2014 trip they were able to help at least 1,200 people through health clinics and the church.
He said that in January the 38 people flew from Dallas, Texas, to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and then on to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Then they had an hour and a half bus ride to Gressier.
John said that while they were in Gressier they went door-to-door to do health clinics.
"I also worked a blood pressure clinic that was in the church next to the Joy House. During the day that I worked we saw106 people, I took 50-70 blood pressures and we potentially saved a dozen or more lives by catching their hypertension and starting them on medication. They say one of the biggest causes of death in the Haitian population are strokes caused by hypertension," he said.
If people were having problems with their eyesight we had a lot of reading glasses of different strengths they could try and see if it helped.
"It was amazing to see the smile on the ones who couldn't read and then with glasses could all of a sudden read their Bibles again," John said.
"We were able to save at least two dozen people's lives by catching their hypertension and starting them on medication. We helped save others by treating infections that would have continued to spread and most likely taken their lives," he said.
"There were 78 people that accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and that's not counting the lives that those individuals will now touch through Christ," he said.
John said that trip has changed his life and this year he wants his son to experience this, saying that "at his age it will have the biggest impact on his life, seeing what it is like in a third world country."
On this trip they will be holding clinics for children and pregnant women, along with providing spiritual counseling.
John said they would distribute wellness packs and birthing kits to pregnant women, which include a garbage bag to put on the dirt floor of the houses to provide as clean a place as possible to give birth, since most of the women do not have access to a hospital. Other items include a second garbage bag for the afterbirth, razor blades, and other helpful item.
They will also distribute wellness packs to others, with things like bandages.
"They have to make do with what they have," he said.
He said that donations from the Knights of Columbus, St. Mary's Church members helped to cover the cost of the trip.
This year John and his family have been working all summer to raise the $3,350 it will cost for John and his son to make the trip. They have held two yard sales and Xtreme Poppin did a benefit for them.
And on Oct. 5, the family will be holding a breakfast fundraiser at St. Mary's parish hall before and after the 10:30 a.m. Mass. They will be serving food from 8 to 9:30 a.m. and again from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., with all proceeds going to the trip. Donations may also be made in the church by placing donation in an envelope labeled "Murphy-Haiti" on the outside and placing it in the collection basket.
The Murphy's have set up a Facebook page, "Haiti-Bound" to let people follow the journey. They have also set up a page at www.youcaring.com where donations can be made.