Male Ward Bed Five- "Another must needs go through Jamaica experience"

Revised from Linn County News a Kansas weekly newspaper
Male Ward-Bed 5

I would never compare myself to the Apostle Paul’s infirmities,’ nor dare to measure up to old Job and his attack by the devil. The last fifteen years on the Jamaican mission field I have on occasion expressed to DocMike & my wife Lynn I would never want to spend a night in a Jamaican hospital.

But, I became ill in Jamaica and was admitted into the public hospital in Mandeville. I spent three nights and four days recovering. Bed-five was assigned to me. It had a broken frame (made for a lop-sided bed) and like Bed-two across the ward it would do no good to complain for it remains as is in Jamaica. The crank which raises the head of Bed-five the nurse said: It is broken too!

The bed sheets & pillow for the mattress had to be supplied by the patient. In Jamaica you supply much of the necessities such as; towels, wash-cloths, bathing soap & tub for sponge-bath.  Even a roll of toilet paper should you use the one toilet I recall that was down the hall.  

Nothing but Jamaican men surrounded bed-five some of them barely alive.  A young twenty-something lad was sick exhibiting bad behavior, but not quite as violent as a lunatic. He roamed the hallways ignoring the harsh calls from the nurses to return to his bed; Curiosity  seemed to get the best of him as he rummaged through my personal belongings. He seemed harmless, but I slept with one open, hoping I would not encounter him in the darkness of the night.    

When the IV & medicine restored my strength and I was made aware of my surroundings; the nights were filled with a calendar of daunting noises. I woke to agonizing screams of men in pain; insane cries I wanna die! Howling pleas of Lord help me!  I remember thinking while bed-fast “have I been cast in a supporting role in a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller.

Notwithstanding, I did find some comfort from my distress. An old gentleman with snowy white hair suffering from dementia moaning in bed-three, suddenly, bellows out praise the Lord “Let’s all sing” leading us in the male ward in “Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine! O’ what a foretaste of glory divine! I joined in with a grin and then quietly his mind slips back in time to his childhood days.   

In spite of my surroundings I cannot complain about the nurses or the doctors; they were all professional, knowledgeable, very gracious, genuinely concerned about my welfare and with prayers I received exceptional care on the male ward bed-five in the Mandeville Public Hospital.

When I checked out of the hospital to my surprise I learned I had no bill; nil (you owe nothing) replied the hospital billing clerk. 

However, my only regret, if I was a millionaire I would buy a new frame for Bed-five and a wheel-chair for the Male Ward.