Jehovah's Witnesses Bringing 11,000 Delegates To Fort Smith Convention Center

Tony Russell
UPDATED: 8:00 am CDT June 9, 2011
http://www.4029tv.com/news/28177731/detail.html

FORT SMITH, Ark. -- June is going to be a big month for Fort Smith. Delegates with the Jehovah's Witnesses will come from across the region and meet at the Fort Smith Convention Center. Organizers say Fort Smith is the ideal location.

"This is the third year in a row that we've had Fort Smith on our national convention city list," said Herbert Wight, of the Jehovah's Witnesses group. "A number of reasons: One, geographically it's located well for us because most of the delegates are coming from the state of Arkansas. But also because we have in Fort Smith a very nice convention center. But then you have to have a place to house all the delegates, so we have a variety of lodging accommodations."

The local economy should see a boost with the incoming delegates.

"When you bring 11,00 people over three weekends to a city, there's going to be an uptick in sales hotel-motel accommodations. And you know a lot of the delegates are coming from smaller cities, smaller than Fort Smith, so there will be a bit of shopping that will be done," Wight said.

Operators of the Holiday Inn across from the convention center say they're packed.

"We're sold out for the next three nights and the Thursday, Friday, Saturday for the next three weekends. So during the week we have some availability, but on weekends we don't at this time," said Ramona Moon, who is the Holiday Inn's sales manager.

Moon said money spent in Fort Smith by hotel guests makes a big impact.

"They estimate that every guest spends at least $135 a day when they come into the Arkansas area. Everybody benefits when these large groups come in," Moon said.

Copyright 2011 4029tv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Jehovah's Witnesses convention expected to draw nearly 30,000 visitors, generate more than $14 million

Written by David Young
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20110610/LOVELAND03/306100001

The Budweiser Events Center belongs to the Jehovah's Witnesses for the remainder of this month.

The organization is holding its annual "Let God's Kingdom Come!" convention during the next five weekends and is expected to draw nearly 30,000 visitors and generate more than $14 million for the region.

Jehovah's Witnesses are a religious organization that actively shares information about God, whose name is Jehovah, according to the organization.

The events, open to the public, begin this weekend and continue for the next five weeks. The only other Colorado convention is in Pueblo. It's estimated that 27,000 people will attend the conferences during the combined weekends. The event is part of a larger nationwide effort that includes 381 conventions in 98 cities across the country.

Dave Graalum, the convention service coordinator, said the event, which is the same format each weekend, includes lectures, dramas, demonstrations and re-enactments. Graalum said they selected Loveland for the event based on a combination of hotels, in both Fort Collins and Loveland, which offer "reasonable" accommodations to make the event as easy as possible.

"We have gotten some good cooperation with the Budweiser Center and their staff, and local businessmen have been cooperative," Graalum said. "The economic impact is real and meaningful to the community between hotels and restaurants and fuel."

While Jehovah's Witnesses have tracked the regional economic impact of the event, Graalum declined to disclose those numbers.

Jim Clark, executive director of the Fort Collins Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the Jehovah's Witnesses have organized the biggest ongoing event in the region in terms of how much attendees spend.

In 2009 and 2010, the event drew $11.6 million to the region. This year, the visitors bureau is estimating $14.5 million for all five conventions, which is roughly $2.9 million each weekend they are in town.

Clark said delegates spend an average of $232 per person each day they are in town and typically stay for 2½ days. The majority of the money goes to lodging, food and fuel. Clark noted the group does not do too much retail shopping and remains on site at the event center.

While the event is in Loveland, attendees stay in Fort Collins because the visitors bureau has an agreement with the Jehovah's Witnesses in which they pay a portion of their expenses and, in return, attendees stay in Fort Collins hotels. Clark said virtually every hotel along the Harmony corridor blocks out rooms for the event and typically sells out on those weekends.

The visitors bureau budgeted $46,000 for this year's convention, which covers the rental of the facility and the traffic management around the event center.

"It's traditionally been steady attendance, for one," Clark said about the fiscal impact of the event. "It's pretty... important."

Alan Krcmarik, Loveland executive fiscal adviser, estimates the event will generate $7.5 million for the region and an additional $225,000 in tax revenue.

Krcmarik said he estimates visitors will spend $75 to $100 a day throughout the region.

Ryan Young, director of marketing with the Budweiser Center, said the all-day events in the arena typically fill up. In the past, Young said, the Jehovah's Witnesses events drew a good crowd for the center, which prepares for about 6,000 visitors a day for their conferences.

"It's going to be very packed," Young said. "It's been crowded the past couple years we have had them, and they do very well for each day they have it."

Young said in terms of attendance, it is substantial for the event center because it fills the place 15 times as opposed to just once.

He said it is common for venues to host multiple-day conventions such as this, and noted that, with the Colorado Eagles hockey team not playing, it helps fill seats in the summer.

Clark Davis, director of sales for the Embassy Suites Hotel in Loveland, adjacent to the center, said the event is a great opportunity for the community and the hotel, which has coordinated with the Jehovah's Witnesses to block a certain number of rooms each night.

This is the first year the hotel has been able to work with the conference, and Davis said he is not sure how many guests the hotel will draw. He estimated they blocked about 50 rooms per night for Jehovah's Witnesses guests.

"We have a room block for several weekends this month and next, and it is certainly contributing to our occupancy here as well as a number of other hotels in the market," said Davis, who could not speak to the possible economic impact for the hotel.

The $14 million expected locally exceeds other cities' predictions.

According to a report this month by meetingsnet.com, a similar Jehovah's Witnesses event in Tucson, Ariz., will draw nearly 40,000 people throughout the summer, generating about $3 million for that city.

Santa Clara, Calif., signed a five-year convention deal with the Jehovah's Witnesses to host events at its convention center and reports that it will result in $16.9 million for the community, according to ncal.meetingsmags.com.
 

Jehovah Faithful Arrive In Evansville for Conventions

From: The Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau

The Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau is spreading the word to local restaurants, businesses and residents that attendees for the first of two consecutive weekends of the Jehovah's Witness Annual Convention will begin arriving today. Organizers expect 5,000 to 6,000 attendees here each of the two weekends. They travel from Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. Our city will be busy with people and traffic as they fill our hotels, restaurants, attractions and stores generating over $3.7 million in direct expenditures for Evansville and Vanderburgh County. Since this group first chose Evansville in 2004 as the site for their summer conferences, they have contributed almost $30 million to the local economy.

The public is invited to attend their services which are free and open to everyone. Services are at Roberts Stadium beginning Friday, June 10 through Sunday, June 12 and next Friday, June 17 through Sunday, June 19, 2011. Morning sessions begin at 9:20AM with a break for lunch at 12PM. Afternoon sessions begin at 1:20PM and conclude at 4:30PM on Friday and Saturday and at 4PM on Sunday.
The theme of the convention this year is "Let God's Kingdom Come" to study and note the Bible's message to seek God's Kingdom above all else. Music and prayers services will be the focus on Fridays and Saturdays with baptism ceremonies and the Bible Drama highlighted on Sunday. Throughout the continental United States, there will be 381 conventions in 98 cities this year. Worldwide, there are over 7.5 million Witnesses in more than 107,000 congregations.

Jehovah’s Witnesses set Spanish-language session

Published: 6/11/2011
http://www.toledoblade.com/Religion/2011/06/11/Jehovah-s-Witnesses-set-Spanish-language-session.html

¿Que es el Reino de Dios?

Jehovah’s Witnesses are asking that question (translation: “What is the Kingdom of God?”) when inviting people to a Spanish-language convention starting Friday at SeaGate Convention Centre.

It will be the first of the denomination’s six weekend gatherings — and the only one in Spanish — scheduled in downtown Toledo this summer, with the theme of “Let God’s Kingdom Come.”

Lectures on Bible themes will be offered daily; a full-costume drama will be staged each Sunday, and water baptisms will take place on Saturdays.

Lew Ellis and his wife Lu are helping organize the Spanish-language convention, which runs Friday through June 19.

For the Ellises, learning Spanish was a strategic move they undertook for evangelistic purposes.

“The Hispanic population is experiencing tremendous growth, so my wife and I decided six years ago to study Spanish,” said Mr. Ellis, 62, a Toledo native and Libbey High School graduate who headed a local nonprofit housing organization.

Jehovah’s Witnesses from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky will converge on Toledo for the Spanish convention. The English-language meetings, to be held every Friday through Sunday in July, will draw from Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.

Toledo’s first Spanish-language Jehovah’s Witness congregation was founded in 1968, Mr. Ellis said, and today there are two congregations with a total of about 150 members.

All told, there are 17 Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations, each with up to 100 members, that meet in seven kingdom halls.

Mark Smith, a local spokesman for the denomination, said that there is also a sign-language congregation in the area and that plans are under way to start Arabic and Chinese congregations, and possibly one in French.

Jehovah’s Witnesses were listed among the fastest-growing religious groups in the 2011 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, reporting a 2 percent increase from 2010 to 1,092,169 members.

This is the seventh consecutive year the denomination has held conventions in Toledo.

The total of about 36,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses expected to attend will contribute between $11 million and $12 million to the local economy, according to a 2005 study.

Jehovah’s Witness conventions are held simultaneously in 98 U.S. cities and around the world.

— David Yonke

Annual convention will draw thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses to Evansville

By Max Roll
Posted June 3, 2011 at 3:07 p.m., updated June 3, 2011 at 3:07 p.m.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jun/03/no-headline---04jehovah/

An estimated 11,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses from Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana are expected to come to Evansville over the weekends of June 10-12 and 17-19 for the ninth annual convention at Roberts Municipal Stadium. It is similar to 381 other conventions taking place in 98 cities across the United States.

The convention will cover a specialized program dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses practice and serves as a reminder to the followers of the religion to apply the principles of the Bible in their everyday lives.

“Worship of God and religion is not something we feel is a once-a-week situation, where you go to church on Sunday morning and kind of forget about it next week,” said the Rev. Michael Bowman, minister of the Terre Haute South Congregation. “It’s 24-7.”

Bowman said information will be handed out throughout the two weekends to help family members apply Bible practices and cope with everyday problems. He said they will be making the Bible “live.”

“We’ll be going over scriptures and principles that most cases people have heard before,” said Bowman. “It’s a reminder of how to apply the principles every day.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses have other reasons for attending the convention aside from brushing up on scripture and applying religious practices, he said.

“Our primary purpose for coming into Evansville is for the convention and for the instruction, taking notes,” said Bowman. “But at the same time, we get to see people we haven’t seen for maybe a year or longer, and once the programs are over on Friday and Saturday we get with friends and go out and have dinner together.

Bowman said Evansville is a nice location, and everyone he talks to likes the city saying it’s easy to get around, has good restaurants and hotels, nice people working there and “it’s just a nice place to come to.”

Local restaurateur Doros Hadjisavva, who owns Acropolis Greek Restaurant, welcomes the Jehovah’s Witnesses every time they come to town for the convention.

“I have to tell you, they are very polite and they tip good,” Hadjisavva said.

He said his restaurant is packed from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. starting Thursday and running through Saturday while the convention is in town.

Organizers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses convention will decide the next location for the convention around the beginning of January. Bowman said he hopes the convention will continue to be in Evansville.

© 2011 Evansville Courier & Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Jehovah's Witnesses' Conventions Bring More Than Economic Benefit

 

http://meetingsnet.com/religiousconferencemanager/news/jehovahs-witness-convention-0607/
Jun 7, 2011 3:27 PM

Beginning in May and continuing through the summer, the Jehovah’s Witnesses will hold 381 District Conventions in 98 cities around the country. These three-day regional assemblies are estimated to involve some 1.7 million attendees this year. For many of the host cities, the conventions provide an economic boost as well as help with facility maintenance.

For instance, in Tucson, Ariz., a total of nearly 40,000 people will attend Jehovah’s Witnesses weekend conventions throughout the summer. The city’s convention and visitor’s bureau estimates each weekend convention will mean a $3 million economic impact for the city—especially welcome during the slow summer tourist season.

The convention brings another benefit: Each year the group cleans the Tucson Convention Center Arena as part of its arrangement with the city. This year a group of volunteers also painted the TCC arena steps to make it easier to see them.

Other cities around the country benefit in a similar way. In San Diego in May, for example, more than 6,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses volunteers showed up to clean Qualcomm Stadium in preparation for the group’s annual convention in the city, according to a news report in Voice of San Diego. It’s a tradition that goes back nearly three decades. The arrangement keeps costs low for both the city and the convention organizers.

Jehovah’s Witnesses to hold ‘Let God’s Kingdom Come!’ convention

POSTED: May 29, 2011
http://www.cape-coral-daily-breeze.com/page/content.detail/id/524666.html?nav=5006

Jehovah's Witnesses are inviting all in the area to attend a program focusing on a government that millions, perhaps billions, pray for. God's Kingdom government, which is requested in the world-famous model prayer taught by Jesus Christ, will be the focus of the 2011 "Let God's Kingdom Come!" District Con-vention to be held at Germain Arena.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the request for God's Kingdom in the model prayer, recorded in the Bible at Matthew 6:10 (also known as the Lord's Prayer or the Our Father), has profound meaning. They also believe that the answer to that prayer will bring significant changes to the earth and mankind.

The Witnesses' convention program promises intriguing details from the Bible's explanation of such developments.

The first of three-day events to be held in Estero will begin Friday, June 10, at 9:20 a.m. The daily themes are based on passages of Scripture including Matthew 4:17, Matthew 6:33 and 2 Peter 1:11. Strengthening one's faith in the reality of that Kingdom will be the focus of the program. There is no admission fee. Con-ventions of Jehovah's Witnesses are supported entirely by voluntary donations.

Locally, all of the area's 106 congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses will be supporting the activity of distributing printed invitations to the convention. An estimated 17,700 will come to Germain Arena over three successive weekends for the Bible-based programs. The first two weekends will be delivered in English, and the third weekend in Spanish.

Throughout the U.S., there will be 381 conventions in 98 cities. Worldwide, there are over 7,500,000 Witnesses in more than 107,000 congregations.

Hundreds expected at Jehovah's Witness Convention

Posted: Jun 10, 2011 10:26 AM
By Katie Nilsson - bio | email
http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=14881952


DEKALB (WREX) - The Jehovah's Witness Convention is now underway at the NIU Convocation Center in DeKalb.

It lasts all weekend and it's open to the public. This year's topic is 2011 "Let God's Kingdom Come!". All of the conventions are supported entirely by voluntary donations. Members invite the community to stop in to learn more about the Jehovah's religion and their beliefs. Hundreds of people are expected to be in DeKalb this weekend for the convention.

Jehovah's Witnesses convention in Wichita

http://www.dodgeglobe.com/newsnow/x1841756322/Jehovahs-Witnesses-convention-in-Wichita

WICHITA —

The Jehovah Witness 2011 district convention will be held in at the Century II Convention Center Hall in Wichita. The three-day event starts at 9:20 a.m. Friday, June 17 in English. The Spanish event is slated for July 1.

"The Witnesses' convention program promises intriguing details from the Bible's explanation of such developments," Jehovah Witness local media contact John Harris said in a press release. "Starting this weekend, and continuing for the next few weeks, Jehovah's Witnesses will put forth extra effort to extend a personal invitation to everyone from our area to attend the convention with them."

There is no admissioin fee. Conventions of Jehovah's Witnesses are supported entirely by voluntary donations.

Harris estimated 9,000 people will attend during the two weekends.

Copyright 2011 Dodge City Daily Globe. Some rights reserved

Religious convention packs Fort Smith hotels, restaurants

http://www.thecitywire.com/?q=node/16282
Submitted by The City Wire staff on Sat, 06/11/2011 - 10:41am.

Thousands of people traveled to Fort Smith this weekend for the annual Jehovah’s Witnesses convention. The three day event kicked off Friday morning, according to this report from KFSM 5 News.
The religious convention has been held at the Fort Smith Convention Center since 2009, and may return in 2012.

“We’re one of the fastest growing religions in the world,” said Herbert Wight, a speaker at the convention.

By the thousands Jehovah’s Witnesses packed the Fort Smith Convention Center Friday. Organizers expect close to 4,000 people this weekend. Next weekend they will do it all over again, and then the following weekend the program is all in Spanish. The convention will continue through Sunday.

“We’ll have 11,000 different folks that will have come to Fort Smith for these conventions,” said Wight.
Participants pack parking lots, restaurants, and local hotels.“Really good business for us,” said Scott Meyer, general manager at the Holiday Inn in downtown Fort Smith, “Definitely good business for the hotel and for the city.
”Meyer says all 255 of their rooms are booked. He brought on extra staff to handle the crowd.

“We have everybody on standby ready to go,” said Meyer.Workers at the La Huerta restaurant on Garrison Avenue say business picked up Friday night an hour earlier than normal.

“We notice more people, more families, a bunch of kids,” said Hector Torres, manager at La Huerta.Jehovah’s Witnesses from Oklahoma, Missouri, and other parts of Arkansas attend the event.

“Personally I hope that we’ll continue to be able to bring conventions here,” said Wight, “We have found Fort Smith to be a warm welcoming place.”

If the convention center is open, summer 2012 may be even busier.

Officials with the Southern Bowling Congress have said they will bring their March/April 2012 national tournament and more than 5,200 participants to Fort Smith. The tournament will result in an estimated economic impact of more than $4.25 million, according to the Fort Smith Convention & Visitors Bureau.

If the Jehovah’s Witness convention returns in 2012, the city’s hotels and Fort Smith Convention Center would be busy, and possibly booked for 10 consecutive weekends.The Southern Bowling Congress is a member of the United States Bowling Congress, and is comprised of a confederation of nine southern states that manage and host an annual tournament. The group, which works to fund youth scholarships, has been active since 1920 with a short break during World War II.

2010 for a five-week period in March and April. With an average per day expense of a tourism calculated at $271 (figure from the Arkansas Parks & Tourism Department), the direct economic impact is estimated to be $1.419 million.

Estudio de profesia del lecho de muerte de Jacob

Analiza la profecía que dio Jacob en su lecho de muerte. Nombra que hará cada uno de sus hijos y lo que le espera para el futuro. Eso incluye profecías relacionada con el mesías.

Es un estudio muy profundo y amplio.

Espero le saquen el jugo, porque ya no salen estudios de esta clase.

Como aun presenta algunos errores tipográficos propios de los programas de reconocimiento de caracteres, lo iré actualizando en cuanto pueda. 

Escaneado por Kapapri.blogspot.com

Estudio de profecía del lecho de muerte de Jacob

Hispanic Jehovah's Witnesses on the rise in Arizona

Published June 13, 2011| Fox News Latino

Yuma's thriving community of Spanish-speaking Jehovah's Witnesses all began with the work of five women and has grown to a dozen congregations of 1,300 Jehovah's Witnesses.

I cry at conventions when I see so much growth," Garcia said, her voice breaking. Today there are 12 Spanish and four English congregations in Yuma County.

But back when Garcia arrived from Mexico in 1953, there wasn't even an official Spanish congregation in the county.

Soon after arriving in town as a young lady, Garcia, now 77, started studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses.

However, she didn't set out to become a Witness. Upon her arrival, she found her mother already studying with them. Having been born and raised a Catholic, the 20-year-old became concerned with what the Witnesses were teaching her mother.

"At first I only wanted to know what my mom was learning. Maybe they're deceiving her. Then I started to read the magazines (Watchtower and Awake) and I liked them. I thought, this is very nice," Garcia said in Spanish.

In 1954 she and her mother got baptized, making them official Jehovah's Witnesses. They became two of five women who were part of an emerging Spanish group.

The women ran the group, conducting meetings and handling all duties, from accounting to organizing the house-to-house preaching, the work Witnesses are most known for.

The group met in a small Kingdom Hall, as their meeting places are called, on 10th Street and 6th Avenue, where an English congregation already met.

When a new Kingdom Hall was built on Avenue A in the early `70s to accommodate the English congregation, the little group moved with them. This hall still houses several congregations, both English and Spanish.

The Spanish group then received needed help when Pedro Rojas arrived from California in 1968. He would become the first elder when the group became an official congregation.

By the time Rojas arrived, the congregation had grown to 40 people. That congregation grew until it became two, and the congregations continued to multiply.

"We went through the roof," said Ricardo Rodriguez, who arrived in Yuma in 1974 when there was only one congregation. "Pioneers of the work here in Yuma include Pedro Rojas, Enrique Ramos, Eleuterio Ceniceros and Wilfredo Ponce."

"Their wives supported the arrangement. Women like Jessie DeAnda and the late Lidia Ponce were founding women who dedicated their lives to this work," said Jaime Medina, a congregation elder.

Today there are five Kingdom Halls: three in Yuma, one in Somerton and one in Wellton. In the Yuma and Wellton area, some 700 Spanish-speaking Witnesses and interested ones meet in six congregations.

Jehovah Witness convention draws thousands to Sacramento

Published: Sunday, Jun. 12, 2011 - 2:07 pm
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/12/3695014/jehovah-witness-convention-draws.html

More than 6,000 Jehovah Witnesses flocked to downtown Sacramento today.

They are here for their annual convention, the second in a five-year contract with the Sacramento Convention Center. Believers from Modesto to Sparks, Nev. attended the event.

"People are really excited about what's going on here," said Salvatore Jimenez, a volunteer in the news media department for the group. "They are really into the message."

The theme this year is "Let God's Kingdom Come."

This weekend's convention was the fourth of seven conferences the Jehovah Witnesses will hold at the convention center through September.

An estimated 50,000 worshipers are expected to attend the meetings, which will be held in English and Spanish.

Otro trasplante a testigo de Jehová sin tranfusión

http://www.diariojornada.com.ar/17410/Sociedad/Otro_trasplante_a_testigo_de_Jehova_sin_tranfusion

12/06/2011 2:00 AM

La intervención se hizo por primera en el Hospital Zonal de Trelew. Recuperado. Tello, tras la operación, vuelve a caminar. Y a los pocos días participó de un encuentro religioso. Guillermo Tello tiene 65 años, es testigo de Jehová, el jueves abandonó el Hospital Zonal de Trelew tras ser operado de la columna sin recibir dadores de sangre. El hombre práctica esa religión que de acuerdo a los principios bíblicos, no permite las transfusiones, es por eso que en la intervención quirúrgica se dispuso un mecanismo que recupera el plasma del paciente para su reutilización. Es la primera operación de estas características que se realiza en el nosocomio local. En Trelew ya existe un antecedente: el 27 de febrero Jorge Antelaf, también testigo de Jehová, fue intervenido quirúrgicamente del corazón sin recibir transfusión de sangre. La operación, hecha en el Instituto Cardiovascular “Pueblo de Luis”, duró 5 horas. A los pocos días, el paciente participó de una asamblea religiosa (ver aparte). Tello ingresó al Hospital el 2 de junio. La operación, a cargo de los traumatólogos Polini y García, se extendió por 2 horas. El jueves 9, después del post operatorio y de recuperarse de otras enfermedades, el hombre volvió al hogar. “La operación fue un éxito total”, dijo el hijo, Martín Tello. Tello tuvo que soportar el dolor de columna durante 2 años. Es que “hubo que manifestarle de la operación”, poco común, “a directivos del hospital, del PROSATE, PAMI; pero cuando se logró hacer todo, se unificaron criterios” y se avanzó en la intervención. Para la práctica quirúrgica “se trajo un perfusionista de Buenos Aires”. Ya en el quirófano Polini y García, acompañados de la anestesista Palacios, avanzaron con la operación. Y “el perfusionista, que es un técnico hematólogo, comenzó a trabajar con la máquina que recupera la sangre del campo quirúrgico; que ante cualquier pérdida, en vez de transfundir linfa ajena, se utiliza la misma sangre que pierde el paciente y se vuelve a infundir en su propio circuito”, explicó Tello hijo. “El paciente padecía un estrechamiento del canal lumbar a nivel de columna. La operación consistió en liberar el nervio ciático y de esta forma se le liberaron los dolores que tenía”, comentó Tello y detalló: “La columna es hueca por dentro, como un tubo estructural, y al estar estrecho este canal, estaba oprimiendo el nervio ciático. Y eso le impedía caminar con normalidad y le dolía muchísimo”. Antes de que el paciente entre al quirófano, existe un protocolo preintervención. “Se prepara como hacemos con otros pacientes, con eritopoyetino, con hierro endovenoso y otros medicamentos que ayudan a la eritropoyesis, es decir, obligar al cuerpo a fabricar más sangre y de esa forma estamos cubiertos ante un eventual sangrado. Es sencillo, económico y factible”, dijo Tello. Para realizar la operación, “se trajo al técnico de Buenos Aires; nos costó alrededor de 7.500 pesos. Tuvimos que pagar a este señor, aunque después se vuelve a cobrar por medio de PAMI. Es importante que todo testigo de Jehová lo sepa, también la comunidad”. Además “es oportuno señalar que antes, cuando se realizaban estas prácticas, el paciente se derivaba a Buenos Aires, ahora se están haciendo estas operaciones en la zona”. Tello indicó que ante estas operaciones, “tenemos la libertad como ciudadanos argentinos de no aceptar sangre”. Asimismo “queremos agradecer al hospital, inclusive a los médicos que accedieron a la operación. Tam,bién desmitificar la creencia de los testigos de Jehová, queremos que respeten nuestros derechos”.#