Amid great loss and devastation, the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital in Myanmar shines as a beacon of hope and healing for victims of the recent catastrophic earthquake.
As early morning sunlight filters through the netted windows of the ward, another busy night shift ends for Jamie, a nurse at the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital in Myanmar. Before she leaves for some much-needed rest, she kneels down and squeezes Sanda’s* hand, one of the numerous patients under her care.
The two bow their heads in prayer, asking God for strength and healing as the stretcher arrives to take Sanda into surgery. Her wounds are too deep, and she needs an above-the-knee amputation of her left leg.
Patients at the Emergency Field Hospital in Myanmar receive personal care from our medical staff.
“You might have lost a lot, but you haven’t lost everything,” Jamie says to Sanda before she lets go of her hand. “You have Jesus, and He’s never going to leave you.”
Sanda’s world forever changed March 28 when one of the strongest earthquakes in Myanmar’s history flattened her three-story home in seconds. A support beam overhead shielded her from the worst of the collapse, but her husband—sitting just beside her—died in the rubble.
With her leg pinned beneath the wreckage for eight hours, Sanda reflected on her husband’s love that was suddenly taken from her.
“He always said that he would take care of me for my whole life,” she said through tears. “He loved me only, and he cared for me only.”
Jamie first met Sanda, 31, when she arrived at our field hospital with three deep gashes in her left leg, and has been by her side ever since—as a nurse and a friend. Through the pain-filled night hours , Jamie tends to Sanda’s every need while reminding the Burmese Christian that nothing could take Jesus from her heart.
“I thank God for each and every one of you. All I need now is prayer.”
“I thank God for each and every one of you,” Sanda said of the Samaritan’s Purse medical staff after her operation. “All I need now is prayer.” She closed her eyes and recited Psalm 23 in Burmese as she lay on her cot.
Providing Treatment, Love, and Care
There are no idle hands at the field hospital in Myanmar. During the sweltering midday hours and throughout the night, doctors in the emergency room oscillate from bed-to-bed to keep up with the constant flow of new patients, while surgeons transition between amputations, skin grafts, and fracture repairs at a rapid pace in the operating rooms. Nurses restock IVs and rebandage wounds as they crisscross the crowded wards.
“We are here to save lives, to reduce suffering, and to share hope—the hope of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,” said Dr. Nottebrock, an emergency and trauma physician with Samaritan’s Purse working in the emergency room. “When you melt the Gospel down to one word, what is it? It’s got to be love. We just have to share love continually and constantly.”
Dr. Nottebrock (right) said, “We are here to save lives, to reduce suffering, and to share hope—the hope of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.”
Samaritan’s Purse responded immediately to the earthquake in Myanmar by sending an Emergency Field Hospital aboard our DC-8 aircraft. The 60-bed hospital is near full capacity as our Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) doctors and nurses treat hundreds of patients every day. Our hospital, on the field of a soccer stadium, is helping relieve the overrun local medical network that was damaged in the quake.
“The bulk of the serious work we are seeing is wound care management, crush injuries, amputations, and amputation revisions,” explained Dr. Nottebrock. “It’s a humid environment and the wounds have had time to fester. Some patients have had their initial surgeries, so we are stepping in and doing wound debridement and tidying up these wounds.”
Minor traumas and simple attention are prevalent in the emergency room, too, Dr. Nottebrock says. Without access to the usual pharmacies or hospitals, some people simply need prescription medicine or basic medical services.
“Without us here, I don’t know what would happen,” he added.
Joy Comes in the Morning
Thousands of Burmese people were going about their day the Friday the earthquake hit. One grandma on the ward explained that she was cooking lunch for her grandkids when she leapt to cover them from the falling debris; another man was taking a nap after lunch when the earthquake startled him awake.
Nyan*, 58, was giving a sermon at his monastery, where he’s been the head monk for three years, when the ground started to shake. The stage collapsed on him only, he recounted, as the crowd fled in fear. He received care at the government hospital nearby on his left leg, but the surgeons didn’t have time to operate on his broken right leg because there were more urgent patients waiting. He arrived to our hospital and our surgeons externally stabilized his lower right leg fracture.
“I am very glad that I am treated here,” Nyan said. “All the people treat me very well and I look forward to recovering very soon.”
Technicians treat a patient.
A few beds down, Aung* sits on his cot with large bandages over both his legs. He was working at a jobsite as a mason when the unfinished building fell on top of him. Rubble crushed both his legs, breaking the left and badly wounding the right. A large slab of concrete lodged six inches from his face, he recalled, nearly killing him.
In the days following, he feared the worst: amputation, the loss of his livelihood, and a life unable to provide for his four young children. But after surgery at the Samaritan’s Purse hospital, including a debridement and skin graft, Aung has hope again that he will walk, work, and provide.
“Thank you for helping me and my country while we are in need after this earthquake,” Aung said.
God Is Greater
Women caregivers don thanaka, a yellowish-white cometic paste, in circular patterns on their cheeks—a symbol of beauty and grace in Myanmar. Family members crouch near the cots, fanning their loved ones in the midday heat, or applying a damp towel to their forehead. Gentle mothers and grandmothers press their hands together in front of them and greet each nurse with a simple bow and a warm smile.
The people of Myanmar exude kindness even among suffering, says Nikki Sitlinger, a nurse on the men’s ward with Nyan, Aung, and many others.
A young girl is checked out by the Emergency Field Hospital staff members.
“There’s so much suffering here, but God is big. He’s bigger than anything we could ever imagine,” Sitlinger said. “I see God in the family members who are caring for their husband or brother . I see God in the fact that Samaritan’s Purse is here. God wanted us to be here.”
Pray for our DART team on the ground in Myanmar and for the thousands still suffering in the wake of the earthquake.
*Name changed for security
