Tag Archives: Medical Evacuation

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And the Story Continues…Three Years Later

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It is hard to believe three years have passed since we shared our decision to leave PNG and return to Idaho to be close to family. Life looks very different these days, but we wouldn’t change a thing. We continue to be amazed at how God brought us home and made it possible for us to be here for our parents and children.

Camping in the mountains of Idaho enjoying the beauty God created

These three years have also been a time of healing. We came home carrying the weight of responsibility and the ache of years spent far from family. God has patiently walked with us, giving us room to rest, process, and lay those burdens before Him. Along the way, He has brought us to a place of peace and renewed our capacity to love and serve others. We are grateful for His tender care and for the strength and joy He continues to daily restore.

We still live in the back two bedrooms of our home in Caldwell, Idaho, sharing the house and kitchen with Connie’s parents. It isn’t quite what we imagined for this season in our lives, but we are grateful to provide a home for them after they have spent their lives serving the Lord. Todd’s parents live just over a mile away, and our exercise walks often include a stop to visit on their front porch. Being here to help with doctor appointments and everyday life is a blessing. We are especially thankful that all four parents are currently in good health!

Todd has been serving as Chief Pilot for Owyhee Air Research, located at the opposite end of the runway from MAF US headquarters in Nampa, Idaho, where flying assignments have included spending much of December and into January in Deadhorse, on Alaska’s North Slope, flying polar bear surveys! OAR uses infrared scanners and other specialized cameras to collect wildlife data for various organizations across the US and Canada, as well as mapping fires during the summer fire season from May – Nov, where Todd flies a King Air B350. He is now transitioning to also flying Medical Evacuation flights for Turbo Air/Air St. Luke’s bringing a more consistent schedule and an opportunity to use his flying experience to help save lives.

Connie also works for OAR as the Designated Employer Representative, overseeing the company’s drug and alcohol testing program—doing her part to help keep our skies safe. During fire season, she arranges hotel accommodations for the fire crews every single night and handlesthe follow-up. It is amazing how much time that can take! Alongside that, she works as an independent contractor supporting Keri Smith, Executive Director of Growing Together. With a little paid time and many volunteer hours, she helps with efforts to preserve agricultural land in our community. And to help people understand the importance of Agriculture on the local economy and the global reach of local seed crops.

We miss having people around our dinner table several nights a week, even though it was often a last-minute request over the VHF radio on Todd’s way home with a car load of pilots who got stuck in Hagen overnight due to weather. Sharing our home means that kind of hospitality is not possible at this time, though we have enjoyed hosting a few family gatherings in the backyard during the warmer summer months.

But God continues to give us opportunities to come alongside others. Todd’s bright idea to raise chickens earlier this year has become a way to bless our neighbors with fresh eggs! He has also mowed the difficult parts of neighbors’ lawns, trimmed bushes, and helped sort out sprinkler problems. We are finding that opportunities to minister are abundant when we live with our eyes open to the needs around us.

We could not have pictured all of this three years ago, but we are grateful for God’s leading and for the opportunities He gives us to care for our parents, love our neighbors, and serve through our work.

Thank you for your love, prayers, and friendship through the years. You remain a treasured part of our lives, and we would love to hear how you are doing!

Current News, PNG Updates

A Saturday that We Didn’t Expect – But Saving a Life – It’s “Totally Worth It”

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It was Saturday morning the 19th of March. It had been a long week with many very early mornings and late nights. Connie and I were moving a bit slowly on this particular morning. I had just stepped out of the shower and was headed to the kitchen to make some coffee for the two of us (I try to give Connie a break and handle the weekend coffee.) It’s a ritual we have each morning, sitting together in our chairs in the living room, reading our bibles and spending quiet time with the Lord, gathering the strength for another day.

The ringing of my phone interrupted my thoughts. I glanced at the Caller ID, Dr. Ben Radcliffe from Kudjip Nazarene Hospital. With Dr. Ben calling at this hour on a Saturday morning, I had a fairly strong feeling that this day was going to be quite different from what I was expecting. But then, that is our motto for PNG. The Land of the Unexpected! And that is why we are here…to serve!!!

And so it was. Dr. Ben quickly relayed to me the situation, that of a national team member suffering a life-threatening emergency during the night, necessitating a medical evacuation to the capital city as quickly as possible. There are no roads between Mt. Hagen and the Capital City. It is a one hour jet ride or two hour flight by MAF aircraft across the tropical rainforest of this rugged island nation.

And so…plans were put in motion! I would like to now transition to a post by our PNG National Pilot, Joseph Tua (Initials JET), and let him describe the day…

TuaFlyingForLife: Woke up at 7am and had a cup of coffee and the weather was absolutely beautiful outside and we thought “What a nice day to fly!”😍

And then the phone rings and it’s our Country Director… “Joseph, are you checked out on the Hagen – Moresby Route?”

“Yes sir, I am”

“How soon can you get the plane ready? We have a medevac patient who suffered a heart attack at Kudjip hospital and needs to go to Moresby right away”

“I’ll have the plane ready to go by 8.30am sir”

“Good. They’ll be here at 9am”

And boom! We scrabble into the shower, grab our overnight gear just incase… Headset… Water… EFB… Phone… Etc etc and off we went to the airport! 🏃‍♂️

We were ready to go by 8.30am…Patient and Doctor arrived at around 9am. Loaded them all up, strapped the patient down as comfortable as we could. And off to Moresby we went. It’s a 2-hour flight and the weather was great the whole way😍

PIH ambulance was already there waiting. We transferred the patient from the plane onto the stretcher/bed that PIH had brought and basically handed over everything to them. We returned to Hagen with no issues. Weather was absolutely beautiful! Thank you to whoever was praying for this flight! ❤️

Totally Worth It!!

JET

We got a message just around 6.30pm that the patient received whatever care and attention he needed and was stabilized at the PIH ICU in Moresby. Totally worth it! 🤩

Thank you for the continued prayer and support fam! Have a great weekend! 🤩🤙

This was an awesome day. I had the opportunity to fly with Joseph on this flight and work side-by-side with this incredibly capable and competent young pilot. It’s hard for me to explain how proud I am of this young man who willingly forgoes the lure of greater money and fame to pursue the the call of the Lord to serve his people here in Papua New Guinea, flying with MAF.

JET (as we affectionately call him) is also a great writer and frequently posts of his experiences “Flying for Life” here in PNG. If you would like to live life through the eyes of one of our pilots, I would encourage you to follow him on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/tuaflyingforlife/

Current News, PNG Updates

It's Why we do what we do…

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It was just after 2 o’clock in the afternoon on the 24th of April 2019, when the call came in.  In the remote village of Kol, a small girl had stumbled into a cooking pot of boiling water outside the haus kuk (separate bush house for cooking).  Pilot Luke Newell immediately launched from Mt. Hagen in one of our new C208s, P2-MAJ.  Arriving at Kol, he was met by the father who had been carrying his small daughter for two days through the jungle to the nearest air strip.  After only one hour forty minutes from the time the call was received, Luke, the child, and her father were landing at Mt. Hagen.  The child was rushed to Kudjip Nazarene Hospital.  How tremendous it was to receive the news that although skin grafts would be needed, the child would survive.

This Saturday morning ,7 December 2019, as I find myself in the office at the airport, capitalizing on the tranquility of an early morning to get a backlog of work accomplished , yet another medical evacuation is underway.  This time Pilot Mathias Glass will launch in just minutes to fly to Maramuni to rescue a man caught in a crossfire hail of bullets. The man’s life hangs in the balance of whether or not MAF can make the flight.

Yesterday I received a photo and story from MAF pilot Paul Woodington.  He is training MAF Pilot Ryan Cole on the new Cessna 208 Caravans.  Flying into Huya at the foot of the O’Malley Peaks, they retrieved a small boy who, the day before, had fallen from a tree breaking his arm.  Paul reports that in this first week of training, Ryan has flown five medical evacuation flights.  That’s just one airplane in one area.  In Papua New Guinea, MAF has nine of the Cessna Caravans flying some 40 flights per day!

Ryan and Paul Medevacing the boy with the broken arm

Each year in Papua New Guinea, MAF airplanes bring, hope, healing, physical and spiritual transformation through compassionate medical evacuation flights that serve the individuals and communities who live around the more than 210 airstrips served.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most geopolitical diverse nations in the world, with some 830 different languages spoken (20% of the world’s languages), hundreds of ethnic groups indigenous to PNG, and many remote Papuan tribes that still have very little contact with the outside world. Thirty percent of the population still lives below the international poverty line of $1.25USD per day.  Most people live on subsistence-based agriculture. The country has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific and meets the criteria for a generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic.

As in the cases above, many of the medevac patients are flown to mission hospitals such as Kudjip Nazarene Hospital.   Around three quarters of the medevacs are for women experiencing child birth issues. The rest are a wide range of medical needs; serious accidents, victims of violent physical abuse, serious tropical illnesses, etc.

And so…this is just one of the many reasons we do what we do, providing live-saving flights to some of the most isolated people in the world. Physical and Spiritual transformation in Christ’s name.

Thanks for helping us to keep doing what we do! We couldn’t be here without you there!

Current News

A Medical Evacuation Every Day…and Then This One!

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When I received this message from one of our pilots, Paul Woodington, who serves along with his wife Clare in Wewak, one of our 6 MAF bases, situated on the N. Coast of Papua New Guinea, I had to share it with you!  Be sure to read to the end…you will be blessed!

I send you this email about yesterday’s drama for me and the Wewak team. The Pryors are a very thankful family for the help we provide for their family and ministry…yesterday it was extra special.

Jesse Pryor is a second generation missionary in PNG. They have built a clinic and many times we have helped MEDEVAC seriously ill patients.

Yesterday I received a request to MEDEVAC Jesse’s son out of Samban. It was one of the most difficult and complex decision making tasks I have undertaken. But, we did our utmost to help.

It was late. I was already flying a MEDEVAC from Edwaki to Wewak, a man with a broken leg lying down in the plane in considerable pain. The Caravan was over half full and heavy. Yet, the task was to divert for an hour late in the day. Land in Samban. Pick up the family of four, three of which are large. Think about the weight and tail-wind for takeoff. Factor in a draggy surface penalty and recent rain. How low was the fuel? What reserves did I have?  How close to last light? Could the man with the broken leg manage another hour in the plane?

On the surface, it seems I would not be ticking many boxes so I declined. After a rethink, I found I could tick all the boxes if I diverted direct to Samban not via Wewak. Jacob (base agent) was invaluable acting as intermediary between myself on the radio and the very concerned father.

So, we lifted 10 people out of Samban, one a small baby. The Caravan with a four knot tailwind became airborne half way along the strip passing 200 ft over the fence.

It made me realise how fantastic this plane is and to thank God for His wonderful provision of the Cessna Caravan for the SEPIK area of Papua New Guinea. As I engaged the autopilot and looked back at the load, I felt a pang, a tear jerking sensation. I experienced a real community feeling on board.  Elijah, the Pryor’s son with a burst appendix, was throwing up in a bag comforted by his big sister. Another woman was attending to the man with a broken leg, which was badly swollen. Katie, Jesse’s wife, was showing another lady their newly adopted PNG baby. I shared what was left of my lunch and passed around water, and gave pain killers to the stretcher patient.

I want to share this with you because this plane makes a real difference to people’s lives. The Pryor family needed us for their own family this time. We were able to help in the most difficult of circumstances. Not many planes would have fuel for an hour diversion or the capacity to lift this load out of a marginal airstrip.

When the plane landed at Wewak, it was near dark due to the overcast. When I got home it was dark.

This week I have done a MEDEVAC every day. Despite the difficult times we are all living, the mission community here is pulling together!

Here in Papua New Guinea, on average, we fly 41 flights each day, visit more than 200 airstrips (communities) each month, and provide more than 500 medical evacuations each years.  For many of those living in these communities, we are their only connection to the outside world, short of a several days walk…a walk that in this case… for this missionary family… would have been impossible with a ruptured appendix.

This is only possible because of the MAF Family.  This family is a united team across multiple countries and cultures.  You are part of this team – and we thank you so very much.  Thank you for your continued prayers, partnership (encouragement and financial) and for your commitment to impacting the isolated people of the world with the transformative message of hope and healing through Christ.

Yours and His for the harvest,

Todd & Connie Lou

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