Diary of a Trauma Nurse

Sunday, June 11, 2006

SAN FELIX CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

I arrive in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela in South America, January 1991 and don't have a clue what my life is going to be like for the next 4 years. I've just lost a baby on my WAY to Venezuela during a layover in Miami, don't know anyone in Venezuela, I'm scared, excited and feeling adventurous. Company functions, holiday parties, social gatherings, then it happens....... I meet my very best friend Debbie from Australia who very soon thereafter introduces me to the nuns at Mother Teresa's home for children in San Felix where she has volunteered for the previous year. Debbie also quickly hooks me up with a Woman's group that collects money for charities........

Fastforward to December.......................

So this is the plan I'm told: We have tons of donated gifts delivered to my house then Debbie and I spend 14 hours STRAIGHT wrapping these presents that we will deliver to a Children's Hospital. "How cool" I think to myself. "Sick kids will get gifts at Christmas." We were to have a Santa, a Mrs. Claus, and two elves. (I was an elf) I thought about including pictures, we'll see.......

So, the next day we practice our spanish Christmas Carols and head to the hospital. When we enter, I'm a little surprised at the condition of the hospital and then remind myself that we are in a 3rd world country........

The first room we stop at is a precious little girl who has leukemia and is in her last days of life. We are singing Christmas carols and the little girl's Mom's face lights up. Although the little girl is too weak to lift her head, you can see a hint of a smile. Well worth it. We move on down the hall, only to see a nurse walking down the hall with a newborn baby wrapped in a pillowcase. We shudder and go on..............

Next stops are infected children, burned children with skin accumulating on the floor next to their beds, torsos of children with missing extremities, etc. Even the ones that were non-responsive got presents. Then we come to the door of a little girl who is lying in a baby crib with her arms contracted (unable to move) under her chin and her knees bent and contracted over her chest and looks to be about 3 or 4 years old. But there is a strange look about her...................... as we go in we start talking to the nurse. The little girl is 11 years old, discovered only by dental records. She had just been found a few days before. The little girl was born mentally challenged, deaf and mute and her parents were embarassed by this. They proceeded to dig a hole in their backyard. Then they built a wooden box about the size of a puppy crate. This is where the child was kept and fed 24 hours a day. The little girl eventually went blind. Imagine living in a dark hole, never seeing the sunlight, never playing in the sunlight...... how horrifying. A neighbor actually watched the horror unfold one evening and called the police. The little girl was 11 years old when they pulled her out of her tomb. I wish I could say it was fiction but it is not. Although it's a story that noone in their right mind wants to think about, imagine.... that was the best Christmas that little girl ever had..........................

CoryTraumaRN posted today at 4:44 AM

Comments:

omg! that's horrible. how sad to live a life like that.

<3 ashley

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:09 PM

Wow Cory. You've seen firsthand so much that I have only read about, mostly in fiction novels!!! Hat's off to you. When do we get to meet in person??

Your friend,
Kathy from Myspace

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:19 AM

How horrible for a child to live in such horrific surroundings and because they have no control over their own situation. Children don't ask to be born and then be abused...

# posted by

Unknown : 9:34 AM

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