Prisoners Grateful for Medical Care

Few doctors receive thank-you notes after examining their patients, but then not many doctors make house calls to prisoners.  Earlier this year a team of doctors and medical professionals treated 662 prisoners in four of Suriname‘s prisons through PFI‘s Global Assistance Programme.  During a time of praise and worship following the medical project, one of the prisoners presented colourful, hand stencilled notes to each of the 12 medical volunteers, in appreciation for their visit.  “God Bless You!” the notes said the inscription on a red painted heart.

“The prisoners were thankful for more than just the medical treatment the doctors provided,” says Suzanne Fisher, of PFI.  “Many [prisoners] had a critical need to be cared for and listened to.” Prisoners often develop a poor sense of self-worth and they come to believe that no one is concerned for them.  To receive personal care and medical attention can be extremely meaningful for these men and women who feel cast aside by society.

“The patients seem so downcast,” observed one of the volunteer doctors, “they won‘t even look us in the eye until we engage them further.”

Volunteers participating in the project made special connections with many of the foreign prisoners.  Guyanese prisoners were especially touched by the opportunity of speaking with Colin Caeser, a volunteer from PF Guyana who, and a number of prisoners from the Netherlands were grateful for the opportunity of speaking with the nursing students from Holland who were involved in the project.

All of the volunteer medical professionals paid their own travel expenses to Suriname and took time out of their busy work schedules, but none of them regretted the opportunity of being able to serve the prisoners.  “As we talked with each prisoner we could see their countenance begin to change,” said Dr. Michelle Hawkins, “it was clear we were making a difference.”