January 2017 Update - picture summary

This will be a picture update. 

-Plumbing rough-in is completed.

-Government modifications completed. 

-Electrical rough-in is underway.

-Rebar fabrication is underway.

-Door Headers are underway.

-Main Septic Tank only needs

 coconut husks(yep) and a top.

Water pipes are in place and we will clean away any debris from
the pipes and surround with sand - after all have been pressure tested.
This is in one of the lab rooms where HOT WATER will also be
available. Most sinks will only have cold water - the norm in the DR.

A small bathroom added to the right
of one of the main nursing stations

Doorways for patient access have been widened

Location for a panel box for the "consult" section of the building.

Rough-in boxes for wall switches - these conduits run UP
to above the dropped ceilings where we will run
 the wiring to lighting and panel boxes.

A completed outlet installation - wiring will be added later and
 run below the floor slab. Having these in place will allow
 plasterers to finish the walls, the floors will be done after the wall plaster.

Electrical Rough-in work underway.
Here they are cutting in a slot for an outlet.

Gadget used to bend the rebar

Rebar assemblies ready to go

Rebar "cages" are used to assemble long rebar assemblies
 - these will be used for our "vigas"

A water level is used to set the
bottom heights of the header forms

A carpenter hammering a form in place

      

Forms are in place for the many headers that span doorways.

Looking down the Laboratory hallway
with forms in place for the headers.

Forming a door header

A door header and rebar assembly ready for concrete.

Mixing the concrete for the door headers.

filling the header - one bucket at a time.

The main septic tank is ready for a top once
coconut husks are added that will filter the
water before it leaves the tank.

Many things are underway that don't have the visual impact that 70,000 block do, but we are working on the details that create a functional building. 

Good stuff.

Thanks for your prayers and financial support, please consider helping us with a donation if you have not already done so.

Donate here!

2017 is here, the year of the clinic!

2017 is here, and we are planning and hoping that it is a very productive year. We have much to do here at the project, but after another time period of waiting for further answers from our structural engineer and architect, confirming important design details with other engineers as well as important information from the health department design team we now have all of the information needed in order to push forward. 
It has been a challenge to my patience - wanting to push progress, but this is God's project and we are only completing what we are supposed to be completing according to his timeline. I've often thought about our simple human minds or egos and how we can often even question the reality of something we may have even experienced or witnessed ourselves. The apostles often come to my mind - they witnessed miracles time after time yet would still fall back into a doubting mode. Two thousand years later we do the exact same thing. I've experienced so many really neat coincidences that are in fact God-instances, yet I worry and fret over things not progressing as my ego wants them to. So as I discussed in my last blog, that half-full glass has allowed us to avoid what would have been a mess if my American push-push mentality had resulted in having many door headers in place before our Santo Domingo meeting - we would have had a bunch of rework to do.

It is a new year,  and we have begun work and are getting things rolling. Currently there are workers installing the form work for the door headers and a crew is installing the conduits in the walls that will hold the electrical wiring for the ceiling lights and other electrical devices needing a run up the wall.

Thanks to some wonderfully quick responses from some folks at the Carter Machinery - the CAT dealer in Salem, VA, we have details worked out for the generators and main electrical feeds. I am planning on these being some projects to be completed by the construction teams who will be coming down this winter and spring.
We have also received good news from the government officials allowing us to enclose the strip of land between the two canals - this will let the teams build this east wall and basically get the security walls fully completed.

An optimistic year lies ahead.

We've had to take a very cautious approach so we don't waste the precious funds you have donated, but we are finally at a point to push forward. 

Thanks again to those of you who attended the Revolution meetings and a special thanks to those who have financially committed to helping us reach our new campaign goal. 

This is not just another medical facility for the region, it is the one that will help those with no other real choice. There are people here in need of health care and health education - You might have read about the infant who died in El Cercado and I am thinking of a young boy with disfigured legs our engineer showed me a picture of - this clinic will offer the ability to help these types of situations.  

Time to get to work.