Maranatha Volunteer Seriously Injured in Costa Rica
15 January 2018 |
On Thursday, January 11, during a SAGE/Maranatha mission trip to Costa Rica, volunteer Dr. Ken Lauren of Kirkland, Washington was injured when a ladder broke in half and collapsed under him. Dr. Lauren was intubated and put on a ventilator before being taken to a hospital in Limon, where a CT scan showed two skull fractures, over his right eye and behind his right ear, and a large hematoma pushing the brain to one side.
Ken’s wife Linda and another team member, nurse Irene Street, along with team leader Elder Bob Grady, and Maranatha area director Manuel Cabrares and the local Adventist pastor, joined in an anointing service for Ken before he was taken by ambulance to a new and very modern hospital in the capital city of San Jose, where he underwent a four-hour surgery to reduce swelling by removing as much of the hematoma as possible, and to repair a tear in the dura surrounding the brain. He is being kept in a coma and current plans are to air-lift him to a trauma hospital in Seattle on Friday.
The group was in Costa Rica to put up three one-day churches and paint four others that were finished, though work has been delayed by a storm night that closed roads with mudslides and downed trees. They were also holding two series of evangelistic meetings and Vacation Bible Schools.
