up and running

This week saw the start of surgery in the hospital, the start of eye screenings and eye patients being seen and the first full week for the dentists. Screening was done in the North of the country before the ship arrived and a few hundred people were scheduled for surgery and a few hundred more on a waiting list, so while the next local screening is being planned we still have plenty of work to get us started here in Sierra Leone. The dentists had a very busy week, seeing over 400 patients and extracting about 1100 teeth! The dental and eye screenings are going to be weekly, so although they are busy they are much smaller than the mass screening that took place at the stadium and there has not been any trouble. There is a lot of need here, I was out a lot last week and every time I walked backwards and forwards to the hospital just 10 minutes walk away I was stopped by at least one, usually a couple of people to ask about screening and sharing details of their health problems. We are planning another screening event soon, please specifically pray that the people who come will be those who we can help. There are so many conditions that sadly we are unable to help with and we don't want these people to come hopeful that we can help, just to go away disappointed. The local radio stations will be giving the details of the screening along with some details of what the ship is and is not able to help, so pray that people will take this on board.