We have also been providing financial help for emergency medical care. The insurance here does not cover prescription medicines so we help with the purchase of these medicines. If the people cannot afford to buy the medicine they will either borrow the money or try to find a family member or friend who will help them. Either way they end up in debt. Unfortunately if people cannot afford medicines and or medical care they will ignore the problem and then sooner or later they end up in the emergency room.

These two women are from Mahaplag Leyte which is approximately 1 1/2 hours from where we live; we took them to Sogod Leyte for medical treatment and then purchased the needed medications. We also purchased the needed medications for this new born baby. In order to find the required medications we may have to travel to several towns, some towns are located one to two hour from where we live and then we may have to search numerous pharmacies.

We met this elderly man while we were ministering in a remote Barangay. We could see that he had a severe foot infection in which one of his toes was already dead. We immediately took him to the hospital where they amputated his toe. The doctor recommended that he stay in the hospital for an extended period of time but the man refused. A week later we visited him at his house where we could see that the infection had spread throughout his foot and another toe had died. We convinced him to let us take him back to the hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital and after his examination the doctor recommended that his foot be amputated. The man refused to have his foot amputated.

We continue to minister to young children who are suffering from severe diarrhea and dehydration. It is quite common for these children to be so sick that they require immediate emergency care. The biggest contributor to this situation is the non-availability of clean drinking and bathing water. Numerous people still draw their water supply directly from rivers and creeks which have been contaminated by animal wastes and garbage.

 We were contacted by a fellow Pastor concerning a very sick thirteen year old girl. The doctors thought that this young lady had a severe case of dengue fever so they were performing blood transfusions. Later the doctors discovered that she actually had Leukemia and she needed to be transferred to a hospital on the Island of Cebu. The girl was transferred to Cebu but unfortunately she passed away in April. Her family was looking at enormous medical bills and we thank God that a generous supporter donated the funds to help cover all of the medical bills.

This couple came to our house seeking medical care for the husband. The husband was very weak and you could see that the “whites” of his eyes were no longer white but a dark yellow color. We took him to the hospital where he was diagnosed with Hepatitis. We have seen several cases such as this. Since we cannot fund a lifetime of medicines we try to assist with the teaching of a healthy living lifestyle.