Macas

I know that Joe is late on offering hospital news, and believe you me, I keep reminding him he needs to update ya'll. But in the mean time, I will fill you in the best I can. One of our family practice doctors, Becky Brice will be leaving this week. She is with HCJB through Samaritans Purse and has been here for 2 years. She will be leaving this week to get married in Quito and then returning to the states for a few years to work and raise support to return to mission service. With Becky leaving, Joe becomes the senior family practice doctor after only 7 months here. Fortunately we just had one new family practice doctor who started right after Christmas and will have 3 new family practice doctors coming this summer. It will be wonderful to have a fully staffed hospital, and maybe the kids and I will get to see Joe more often.
This past Friday, we took the day and ventured out east toward the jungle. Many of Joe's patients live out towards a town called Macas which is about 130 kilometers away. The road to Macas has kilometer markers and his patients use these markers as their address. So, if you get off of the bus at kilometer marker 15 and then walk to your house, your address is "Macas Road Kilometer 15." The drive to Macas was amazingly beautiful and we truly enjoyed our day. No day would be complete without Joe seeing a patient he knows, and sure enough he saw more than one either walking along the road in rubber boots wielding machetes or getting off the bus heading home. It was wonderful to hear his stories about who each person was, who they were related to, and what he had seen them for. I hope you enjoy some pictures from our day.
This picture is of a family doing their laundry!