Typical night?

You may have the perception that as a counselor here at the mission we spend a lot of time sitting behind a desk counseling women. While this is true, there is also the opportunity to be stretched beyond the normal counselor duties when the unexpected arises.

It wasn’t the typical Thursday night in the women’s shelter (yet no two nights are ever the same around here). The night started out in the child care room helping to babysit 14 little ones while their mothers attended the chapel service. Three babysitters to soothe the crying ones, change messy diapers and mediate the scuffles between these little ones. The time passed quickly only to move onto the next task of getting 75 women and children settled in for the night.

With the help of an intern from LBC, breathalyzers were completed, medications handed out and nightly chores had begun.

Things were moving along nicely when we were disrupted by the sound of a fire alarm. Quickly, all 75 women and children escaped safely from the building while the fire department arrived to assess the situation. Fortunately, it was not a fire, but a faulty heat detector.

In the process of evacuating the building several of the women with severe asthma encountered breathing difficulties, so the paramedics were called to aid us as well. One woman was taken to the hospital for further treatment. After everyone calmed down and made their way back upstairs we resumed the normal activities of getting chores done while the mothers helped the children settle in for the night.

In the process of closing up for the night and calling it a day a different sound of alarm came, this time from one of the residents who was assisting another resident who was having a seizure. For those of you who have witnessed this you know how frightening it can be to watch someone have a seizure. Several of the women came to her aid, helped her to a safe, comfortable position and sat with her through the whole ordeal. By 11:00 pm all was peaceful and calm.

I left that night knowing I was not alone and that Jesus walked beside me through every twist and turn of the evening.

-Kim Harris, Women’s Counselor