SHIC

4. Plans for 2006

It appears the classroom concerns we spoke about last week have been straightened out. The teaching is going very well now and the doctors are enjoying the classes very much.

Last Thursday evening the doctors received a free lecture on how to write an academic paper. Because of this training, the English corner was canceled. We are really happy that they are getting this great training, however we were a little disappointed that we could not have English corner with them. It is so fun. We love being with them.

The special activity this past Saturday went quite well. If you remember, we had a birthday party for the doctors and also had a talent show. About 20 of the doctors participated. The birthday cake was a pleasant surprise for them. They felt much loved and remembered. Some of our staff and some of our special volunteers from local clubs also took part in the talent show, singing several of our favorite songs. Friendship and mutual trust between SHIC and these doctors continues to grow deeper and deeper.

Yesterday, Paula, Shelley and Janet (one of our newer doctors) went to the cooperating hospitals and signed the contracts for our doctors to do their practicums in their hospitals. The signing went well and we continued to see the very good relationships established with those hospitals. We are thankful.

Shang Xiuxia (6 year old girl) from Henan had surgery this week. The president of the hospital is conducted the surgery. Two of our staff went to Henan to be with the family as the surgery proceeded. They went on to Linzhou to deliver and help set up a portable dental x-ray machine to the Linzhou Central Hospital. This x-ray unit was donated by one of our dear friends, a retired dentist from Oregon.

Her family had been fairly nervous when after the surgery she continued to be in sleep. When she finally awoke from the surgery, her family was so joyous.

We are happy to report that the hospital move is completed. We are all moved in, equipment, employees, babies--everything! We are so thankful that this is completed and the hospital work continues. There have been inconveniences but we have provided continued loving care for the precious little entrusted to our care through this whole process.

We have added to our count of nine patients. Our tenth patient is a fifteen year old girl with club feet, needing surgery for their correction. Recently she (Li Shuang) has had extensive surgery for decubitus ulcers and has been recuperating the past two months. We are in the process of evaluating her at this time. Tomorrow we will probably be adding an eleventh patient to our growing list.

Although the new hospital had already been renovated there were several things that we needed to do. We need to install a heavy glass door at the end of the hallway to stop drafts from the rest of the hospital and give us a way to insure the security of our floor, especially at night. We need lots of cabinets and we need to install two washing machines and two dryers and a shower unit and one more sink. That all goes in one medium sized room! We need lots of shelves and one storage room painted. With all of this work to do, we have had one contractor offer to do this work at no charge to us!

We are continuing to make our 2006 project schedule. We have heard back from some groups/individuals who have confirmed that they would like to come and some have confirmed the month of their coming. However, a few have yet to answer. We hope that we can have a good idea of what our plans are for next year so that we can do budgeting as well. Plans are always changing and we need to be flexible but having some basic foundation is sound and efficient. Thank you for all of your help and support.

Julia Zhu, our office assistant, has left us this week to make a trip to the US for a couple of months with her American fiancee. We are thinking about her at this time as she meets her fiance's family and spends the holidays with them in American style.

We await Becky Johnson's return from her two weeks of traveling and relationship building with a her fiancée and his family. She returned on Wednesday.

Please continue to call in the replacement staff. We need a cracker jack administrator and I need an English speaking administrative assistant who can help me with proposal writing. Valerie as you know has been our administrator and Becky has been our administrative assistant to me, helping me in the area of proposal writing. I sure hate to lose them but if they have to go at least it is on the best of terms. I sure love and respect them.

We found that although the delivery of the unit went smoothly and the installation went smoothly, no one could figure out how to use it. We just got a call from the donor saying that there was another part that didn’t make it into the box, the on-off switch. We are also looking on-line for an operation manual to assist them in using this machine.

Right now I am working on getting the presentation written for the funding agents. I will then modify it for the local government. Also, the Multimedia Director is working on the stationary and the brochure which is suitably sized so that presentation/proposal may be inserted into it comfortably.

The multimedia Director is working on a video program that will contain the design of the stadium. With this design we can compile a list of requests for the production company. They will then bring the design to life, so to speak, so that the stadium has an atmostphere, which will enhance the experience for the audience.

Yesterday the staff gathered and as a group we chose the character principle of "Enthusiasm" to study and concentrate on for the next month. We currently have character bulletins for twelve of the character principles and will study one each month for the next year. We hope that we can gather each week to discuss each character and practice commending each other and encouraging each other to develop these great character traits. We really want to become a Character First! Organization.

This month, November, we are focusing on “Enthusiasm”. This is a great trait. It blesses everyone you share it with. Enthusiasm is expressing joy in each task as you give it your best effort. When someone asked Walter Chrysler to explain the secret of his success, he affirmed the value of ability, capacity and energy but he went on to say that enthusiasm was in his estimation the key.

A team of psychologists conducted a study. Actors were asked to make facial expressions unrelated to your actual feelings. During the test, the actor’s heart rates rose and fell according to their expressions drawing experts to conclude that expressions do more than show feelings, they also generate feelings.

So if you’re happy and you know it let your face show it. But if you’re sad and feeling blue make a smile shine through and change your rain to gain.

MPH