ORTIE
Saving Lives!
ORTIE! ORTIE! ORTIE!
It’s a huge part of our Community
Healthcare Education ministry.
[You’re thinking... what
in the world is ORTIE?]
Ready???!!!
~~ORTIE Briefing~~
-ORTIE stands for Oral Rehydration
Therapy Implementation and Education.
[artwork by Lori Bajkiewicz]
-When somebody is dehydrated, they
immediately need to be given Oral Rehydration Therapy.
-The basis of Oral Rehydration
Therapy is Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS). Safe water + electrolytes and
citric acid = ORS. Commercial Pedialyte® is a form of ORS. In Latin America,
ORS is called ‘Suero Oral’. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls the packets
they distribute ‘Oral Rehydration Salts’.
-The ORTIE campaign is the 2019
ramp-up and revision-launch of our old effort ‘ORT’... this has been a major
project Lori and I have worked on as missionaries since 1991.
-The ORTIE effort, in short, is teaching
moms and kids how to make ‘home-made Pedialyte®’ in resource-poor areas of the
world, especially with our beloved Mexican villagers.
-ORTIE is SO needed world-wide: over
3,000 sick children world-wide will die today
from Dehydration, which most of those children can be
treated... and survive... by drinking ORS.
-Dehydration, the condition that ORS
treats, is also behind the illnesses of an estimated 50,000 children
world-wide today... huge!
-Teaching and How-To materials we’ve
developed have made it to 52 countries around the world since 1991 via
missionaries and health-care workers on short-term outreach... every continent
except Australia and the South Pole (hmmm...)...
~~How To Make a Cup of Oral Rehydration Solution~~
[Illustration by Lori]
Simple (basic
recipe):
-assemble materials
-wash hands
-ONE CUP of drinkable (potable)
water
-add a three-finger pinch of TABLE
SALT
-TASTE-TEST the solution and adjust
to make it SALTY AS TEARS (too salty, add more water; not salty enough, add
more salt)
-add one level teaspoon of SUGAR to
the drink
-IF AVAILABLE, squeeze in juice from
a slice of citrus fruit (lime, lemon, orange, etc). IF citrus not available, go
with just the water-sugar-salt.
-GIVE to the sick child/person until
they are making/giving urine every 2 hours.
-MAKE MORE ORS and give liberally.
That’s it! SIMPLE!
Except for ‘profound humanitarian
crisis’ areas (war, earthquake, typhoon, etc), many dwellings around the world
have the water-sugar-salt ingredients easily available to them.
~~Teaching Strategies~~
-We teach anyone age 5 and up how to
make ORS [Demo and Return-Demo].
- Our ORTIE Save-A-Life-Stations
utilize graphic charts (wordless AND with local language/dialect), pictures,
posters, colouring sheets (sight), hand-outs, puppets, music, simple how-to
promo talk (sound), AND actual hands-on (taste, smell, touch)... engage all
styles of learning and memory
-We make sure everyone at a ORTIE
Save-A-Life-Station tastes and drinks the ORS... that way, a young child will
be familiar with it when they are sick and encouraged to drink! Drink! Drink!
-We strongly encourage that, when
available, use of WHO Oral Rehydration Salts packets, such as those available
from government clinics and stores, OR buy-able Pedialyte®... although such
products can cost >400% more than soda-drink products, and difficult to find
in most villages.
~~Ramp-Up~~
After a hiatus, the ORTIE arm of our
ministry is up-and-running:
-live ORTIE Save-A-Life-Stations in
villages are up-and-running; 2 held in April 2019
-pre-work and professional
literature review for a major re-write of the ORS curriculum is under way (we
published a nursing journal article in 1999; an updated version is in the
works).
-all the previous ORS education was
built and deployed in the pre-on-line world. With the revision, all education
will be built for digital platforms and use on digital devices (it’s amazing
how tekk is available and used world-wide, even in the middle of the most remote
places you could imagine...)
-ORTIE is being built as an on-line
COURSE that students will be able to enroll, learn all the finer points,
receive a certificate (yes, we are investigating college on-line platforms and college
credit availability) and will give alumni long-term access to all the tools and
resources.
~~ORS and the Water of Life~~
Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with
water"; so they filled them to the brim. [John 2:7]
37 On the last day, the climax of the
festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures
declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” 39 (When he said
“living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit,
who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet
been given, because Jesus had not yet entered
into his glory.) [John 7:37-39]
14 but
whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I
give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
[Jesus, John 4:14]
<<>>
-So many people in the world...
especially Mexicans... have been told that God is very angry with them, wants to
punish them and their children, and that they are living under a curse that He
put on them [the Hispanic concept is known as
‘El
castigo
de los Dioses’ ]
-ORTIE is such a perfect and real
demonstration of the Love of the Father, and a powerful platform to break these
oppressive curses over people and their children. The healing waters of ORS are
a parable of the Living Water that Jesus gives, and leads people to a God who
wants to rescue lives and peoples, especially women and children. We’ve ‘shared
Christ’ with SO many people while standing in their dirt-floor homes, making ORS
for their sick child and ministering life to them through prayer and practical
rehydration.
ORTIE points to Jesus, and we let
everyone know!
ORTIE! ORTIE! ORTIE!
Your bro, Chris
All
Scripture references from New International Version unless otherwise indicated.
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