Guanaja Hospital by Mack Heble

Yesterday down here in Guanaja we had a situation we will all remember for the rest of our lives. This week one of our service works was helping get the hospital open, which will be the first ever Medical center on the island. Before hand, if someone got hurt or there was an emergency, you would have to scramble around the island and find someone to take you to Roatan... which is two hours away, only accessible by boat AND has to be during the day. Steve Brown (the owner of fish for change) and a partner of his have funded and built this hospital. So, Today we started cleaning the rooms and organizing all the donated equipment... dusting them off, organizing meds, etc. Then all of a sudden the power shuts off. Which was no big deal and we continued to work in the dark. About 30 minutes had past and then there was a siren and faint yell. That’s when chaos let loose. In comes 3 men carrying another man. We had no idea what was going on. I personally thought they were testing out efficiency in a real emergency. However, Everyone was yelling and we could tell this guy was in extreme pain. The little room started to fill up with locals as everyone was trying to figure out what was happening. I began to take in the smell of burnt rubber and flesh. Once he was on the table shouts from all directions were yelled to get bandages, water, an IV, etc. So all of us sprinted into the pitch black rooms and began scrambling through all the unpacked supplies. After about 30 minutes he was transported to Roatan. He had been electrocuted trying to fix the power outage (thus being one of the only buildings w electricity). God was truly with us & him because if that had happened 2 hours before we got there the doors would have been locked, and he could have lost his life. We have not gotten an update but we suspect him to survive, however loose his right hand, and his right foot. This really showed us how needed this hospital is. We are starting a fundraiser to raise money for a generator. Which is needed to open the doors. The sooner it’s open, the more lives saved. Help us save these people.