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Central Asia ’16 – The Hug

The Hug

While working in the eye clinic I was asked to come to the hallway to help with an injury since I am an RN. A boy about 10 years old had been riding his bike and somehow deeply cut the back of his leg, right above the heel. There was a wide path of blood from the doorway to the bench where he had been seated. His shoe was full of the blood that was pouring from the injury. I put pressure on the wound, but the blood didn’t stop. Someone brought one of the Wound Care Kits we had taken to distribute. We used the gauze from the kit to bandage the wound but it still required pressure. Since the eye clinic was still seeing people, we needed to clear the hallway. We decided to take him to his house.…I showed the mother how to hold pressure a number of times. I held my hand tight over hers until she was able to control the bleeding. Later, close to time to leave for the day, the boy and his mother came to show us that the bleeding had stopped. The mother gave me a hug.

I was so happy that she had accepted our help and wanted to thank us…On our last day to work at the Hope Center it was dark when we left for the night. Just as I was getting into the car the boy came to tell me he was doing very well and gave me a hug. I’ll never forget that hug. – Joan THP team member