A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN FMS MISSIONER AT ST. FRANCIS CARE CENTRE

First, a bit of physical background.  Our workplaces consist of two five-acre walled and gated compounds in what was until recently, a rural area. 
   
    The first compound contains:
    1) St. Francis Guest House, the original old farmhouse, where long-term volunteers and other guests live. 
    2) House of Mercy, an inpatient treatment center for drug & alcohol addiction.
    3) Outpatient clinic and two satellites (where Cecilia works).
    4) a sheep pasture for twenty or so sheep that we keep.
    5) a large recreational field for soccer, volleyball, etc.
    6) a house for some staff people.

    The second compound houses the following:
    1) St. Francis Care Centre (the hospice where Tim works) which consists of two wings with a roofed patio between them; maximum capacity = about 50 patients.
    2) Rainbow Cottage for children with HIV/AIDS (about half), or orphaned by AIDS; maximum bed capacity = about 25.
    3) about thirty other buildings (administration, chapel, chaplain’s office, laundry, morgue, large community room (@ 350-400 capacity), nursery school, training room, handyman’s office and shop, etc.
    4) three playgrounds, open grassy areas, many flower beds, three fruit and vegetable gardens, and a large pasture for 3 donkeys, many rabbits, and many geese.

Second, a bit of background about the patients.  Technically, we are a hospice offering palliative care for patients who are terminally ill.  In reality, we do much more.  We serve about 300 to 500 patients per year, giving them full medical, physical, emotional, and spiritual care until they leave, either through death (166 last year), becoming healthy and strong enough to live out a relatively normal life (106 last year), or because they either develop conditions which we don’t have the capability to treat, or they decide to leave for personal reasons (35 last year).  All of our patients have HIV/AIDS, and most of them have other diseases or infirmities.  The majority have TB, and most who die here do so because of TB or related disease.  Our youngest patient was 14, and the oldest was 84.

A (more or less) TYPICAL DAY IN MY DAY

    7:00 a.m.  Arise from our suite in the guest house, eat, say morning prayer, and walk the quarter mile to the hospice -- a nice walk with sheep on both sides, palm and fir and deciduous trees, many flowers, and nice grassy areas.
    8:00 a.m.  Say “good morning” to each patient individually, and to each staff member, and help collect breakfast trays from bedridden patients and return them to the kitchen.  Read night shift’s “patient’s report” and/or make rounds with doctor and nurse.
Pass meds, treat sores, change bandages.  Help patients to move outside: help them dress, change “nappies,” lift from bed to wheelchairs, “drive” wheelchairs to outside place of patient’s choice,
    9:00 a.m.  Tea time.  Prepare and serve tea and sandwiches (egg, tuna, peanut butter, jelly), and partake thereof myself.
    9:30 a.m. Make beds, give massages, cut nails, and (some days) prepare for mass and help move patients and children from rainbow cottage to chapel.
          10:00 a.m. Mass (some days) or personal time with patients (individually or in small informal groups): talking, praying, playing games, doing crafts, etc.
          11:30 a.m. Lunchtime.  Serve patients, clean up, and eat lunch myself.
             1:00 p.m. Personal time with patients: visit, sit with dying, walk with some.
    2:30 p.m. Begin to move some patients inside and into beds.
    3:00 p.m. Tea time.  Help prepare and serve tea and snacks (cheese crackers, bread and jelly, cookies, biscuits, candy -- whatever is available).
    3:45 p.m. Say individual “good-bye” to each patient and staff person.
    4:00 p.m. Leave.  Perhaps walk to store and buy some food.  Walk home,

    8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Do miscellaneous jobs as needed: charting, intakes of new patients (5-page examination and interview), prepare dead bodies and take to morgue, check oxygen or IV, change position every 2 hours of bedridden patients, prepare electrolyte solutions, clean patients’ cups and water jugs, fill water jugs, etc.

    6:00 p.m. Supper time at home.
    7:00 p.m. Watch evening news.
    7:30 p.m. Personal time: Read, study, prepare class or homily, talk with Cecilia and/or other residents of the guest house, E-mail, evening prayer, etc.
          11:00 p.m. Bedtime.