The Facts Of Life

What I've learned about living in Haiti thus far:

1. Sugar cane is used in all Coke products rather than high fructose sugar. It's delightfully smooth here!

2. I once tried to shoo a dog out of a building saying "Get! Get!" then realized it only spoke creole. The correct shooing terms are "Sorti, Sorti".

3. Hot water does not exist in Haiti unless you boil it. Cold water showers all the way!

4. Culturally, men prefer their women thick here. If a Haitian man were to see some of the stick thin women in America they would think they were medically ill. A thicker wife shows a successful husband because it means he is able to provide more than enough food for his family. We run in the mornings and Haitian men will tell us alongside the road to not get too skinny.

5. All food is organic.

6. Direct eye contact is considered rude when talking to someone.

7. Haiti has motorcycles mainly intended for taxi rides.

8. There are white native Haitians.

9. Cockroaches like to hang out in our showers and toilets.

10. Without a horn, your car is nothing. One short honk indicates "I'm here, I'm passing you". One long drug out honk means "MOVE. IF YOU DON'T MOVE YOU'RE GOING TO DIE".

11. EDH= City Electricity. We have no idea what it stands for but we do know it turns on only when it feels like it. A full day of electricity in Haiti is non existent.

12. We don't have AC but we do love our fans (When EDH is on!).

13. There are no traffic laws. No stop signs, no passing lanes, its a free for all.

14. The currency in Haiti is called a gourde. 40 gourdes=$1 American. The Haitians have made a Haitian dollar. It doesn't exist physically. $1 American= 8 Haitian dollars. Don't ask me how they get from gourdes to Haitian dollars.

15. Our water is filtered through a chlorine generator 4 times before it is safe to drink.

16. The water truck plays the Titanic song.

17. After the loss of a loved one Haitians not only deal with the painful loss mentally but also physically. It is not uncommon to see a Haitian throw himself to the ground, roll around, and cause physical pain to help deal with all of the mental pain.


Enjoy intern photos below:

 Alex and Dukenz

 Our latest intern, Crystal

 Steph trying to be Haitian

 Ginette and her beautiful future child.

 Alex and Ginettes child

 Andrea and I

Coloring with Dukenz

 Stephanie and Kerline

 Enjoying the sunset

First project: build a filing cabinet. Took Tipap, Andrea, and I three hours.

One Patient At A Time

This past weekend I had the opportunity to work with the organization Real Hope For Haiti. They are located in Cazale, Haiti which is about an hour and thirty minutes away from our guest  house in Port-au-Prince. I learned the organization is run but a family who moved to Haiti from the States quite some time ago. They operate a Rescue Center where malnourished children gain nutrition through a specialized peanut butter called Medika Mamba. Other services from this organization include operating a clinic during the week days and running a cholera house round clock. I was able to work the night shift at the cholera house the entire weekend...

When I arrived in Cazale last Friday it was around 6:30p.m. I was given a quick tour of where I would be staying, ate supper, and headed to the cholera house on top of the hill. All cholera shelters must be located away from civilization as government ordered to decrease the chances of spreading and contamination. On the way up I was handed an head light, a pen, and marker and was told I would be needed these items. I was also informed there was no electricity,no running water, and no one that spoke English at the facility. I didn't respond because my mind started racing with questions and concerns; I was silently freaking out. I tried to remember what little Creole I knew and none of it was medical related. Fear of failure crossed my mind especially after I walked through the gates of the facility. 

Patients were everywhere, even outside. The facility reached capacity and had started moving patients in one tent located in back and the remainders at the entrance of the house. I was told there were almost 80 patients total and that only two nurses would be on duty that night... and one of them was me. 

Inside the facility it was hard to get around due to numerous cots back to back and wall to wall. I saw 2 and sometimes 3 patients to one cot. It was dark and I started realizing the purpose of the tools I had been handed; the head light to assess patients and start IV's, the permanent marker to label IV bags, the pen to chart. I glanced at the charts and realized it was all in creole. I didn't understand the majority of it and realized the owner had already left before I could ask her what it meant. I calmly panicked in my mind and started praying. I prayed not to be able to get through the night but to take each patient one by one and serve them to the best of my ability. I was fearful to make mistakes but then remembered God is always with us in the darkest of places.

I stayed busy and started gaining more confidence with each patient I cared for. Before I left the states I had always had trouble starting IV's where I worked but the first night at the clinic I didn't miss one stick. I had no experience starting IV's on children due to restrictions in my State but I quickly learned it's not much different from starting one on an adult. The first child I stuck was an angel and didn't flinch or cry. I knew this had to be rare but was grateful my first experience was smooth.

We had four admissions that night. I have been told people will walk 6 hours or more to reach this facility. The minute they feel bad they start walking and by the time they get to the facility some are near the brink of death. The pattern of admissions was very much like the States; they all come at once or they don't come at all. The first 2 admits weren't severe and were put on oral rehydration solution with no IV required. The third admission was so severe she had to be carried in. She was so frail and continuously vomited while I tried to start her IV. I finally got the IV started and set her up to fluids then laid her to rest. 

By the end of the shift I felt as though I had done good work but not as good as I wanted. I felt bad about neglecting the charts and wished I had knew more creole. I walked down the hill and thought of all the things I could've done better. When I got to the guest house I passed out immediately. When I woke the owners had informed me the Haitian nurse was very impressed with me the night before. This was a surprise because I personally felt I didn't meet their expectations. It made me feel really good and excited to work the next two nights. Before work the next night I wrote down and memorized all the creole phrases that I needed the night before. Work that night went so smooth and I was able to chart and communicate with all the patients. I felt much better coming out of that shift than I did with the first shift. As I look back on this experience I can't believe I made it out okay when faced with so many challenges. Despite the challenges it always felt right being there. I never felt out of place or desired to go home. I hope to work there again before I head back home.

I will warn you the pictures of the cholera house are not my best. I felt rude taking pictures in this environment. Sorry for the blurriness, darkness, etc. Here is a link to Real Hope For Haiti's blog. They have taken many photos of the facility in the daytime. http://www.realhopeforhaiti.org/

Also if anyone is interested in using my photos please credit them back to my blog. My main goal in sharing my blog is to educate others through my stories and photos. I appreciate you all helping me spread the word. Thank you!

Cazale. This was taken outside of the guest house gates.

View from the front porch of the guest house.

 4 babies to a cot. These babies were all from the Rescue Center.

One of the rooms.

The facility had 4 large rooms for patients, one room for staff, and two rooms for storage and waste.

The front of the facility. Family and patients wait for care.

Another room.

 The waste management room. The majority of these buckets were filled with waste. Each bucket is treated to kill the cholera before it is dumped in the back of the facility.

"Pyxsis" station. All IV supplies and medications located here.

I took this one morning outside of the guest house. There is a tent set up in the front of guest house for critical babies. They are placed closer to home to keep a close eye on their care. So cute.

This is Dagenor. I fell in love with him! He is from the tent but has gotten better over the weeks. Now he mainly hangs out at the house with the staff. He was so smart.

This is a photo of one of the toddlers from the Rescue Center. 

 Rescue Center toddler.

Rescue Center: This was the babies room. It's bath time!!

Feeding area. I wish I could've seen it in action.

My little friend, Dage.

Numbers and New Adventures

Yesterday was our last day at Camp Kid. We treated 200 patients, handed out TOMS Shoes, and distributed 4,970 pounds of rice. I will let the photos speak for themselves. Also, I am excited to share that this week we treated around 500 patients at Soline and 350 at Camp Kid. It was a lot of hard work, sweat, and dedication but definitely worth it in the end. It's hard to believe we treated almost 1,000 patients in four days with only 14 medical personnel, 7 translators, and a few staff members.

 We were able to work alongside a Haitian physician

 Shelly hard at work.

Colton loading up the clinic with rice.

More rice...

 Such a beautiful baby. I wish my camera would've focused on her rather than the hand in the background :(.

Women of Camp Kid standing in line waiting to get rice.

 Ginette translating for Rob, the physician, before the distribution.

After clinic we visited Tree of Life to assess the children in the Medika Mamba program. We had 2 boys graduate; Dukenz and Smit. The other 3 girls are still in the program and continue to gain weight. They look GREAT! I always look forward to Thursdays because I know it means a trip to Tree of Life. I am getting to know all the children and staff well and really enjoy the atmosphere.

Natalie: Before

Natalie: After 3 weeks

Elemnia: Before

Elemnia: After 3 weeks

Before

After 3 weeks

Smit: Before

Smit: After 3 weeks he graduated from the program

Dukenz: Before

Dukenz: After 3 weeks he graduated from the program.

A couple of nights ago I was asked by Randy if I would be interested in working at a cholera clinic in up in the mountains. I instantly said yes and am currently waiting for my ride to pick me up. I will be going alone for the weekend but will be in good hands. I was informed the facility has around 75 patients and only one nurse has been caring for all of them at night. Hopefully when I arrive I can help take half of her load. The program that I will be helping is called Real Hope For Haiti. They also have a rescue center where malnourished children are rescued through Medika Mamba. Randy has told me these children are in much worse condition than the children you see above. I'm hoping to spend some time there too.

Have a good weekend and talk to you all Monday!

Medical Missions

This week has been full of new people, places, and challenges. We started medical work on Sunday at the childrens home which I previously blogged about. On Monday we traveled to Soline, Nazon in Port-au-Prince to work at a clinic that has been shut down for quite sometime. When we arrived there were dozens of people lined all around the building waiting for medical care. We were told many of them had been waiting in line for more than two hours. It was a challenge to bring in all the suit cases full of medical supplies due to the mass amounts of people but we eventually got set up and started our work.

 Interesting case. This man claimed after he had received a vaccination his shoulder resulted in this. The doctor thought it could be a tumor. Unfortunately we couldn't do anything for him but refer him to a surgeon and offer him pain medication.

 These are the 3 medical students from West Virginia. Carly, Eric,  and Rebecca.

 Rebecca working triage with me.

 Beautiful little girl and her mother.

 She's only 1 and already knows how to be ornery. That is our doctor Rob from West Virginia.

We were lucky enough to have our team equipped with a dentist and dental assistant. It was painful to watch the extraction.

 Alex got to experience being a nurse for a day. I think he liked it.

 The interns.

 Headed home after a hard day of work.

We all discussed the night before to have a triage type of care system. It ended up working really well. We had two triages, one in front and one in back. Our nurses and medical students assessed the patients, patients were sent to the doctor, then sent to the pharmacy for medications. Each room had 1 to 2 translators. We actually had 7 translators on site and ended up treating over 250 patients. The patients came to us with a variety of issues; earthquake victims, acid reflux, vaginal infections, STD's, congestion, malaria, diarrhea, vomiting, abscesses, tumors, arthritis, you name it. We worked from 9am- 4pm both Monday and Tuesday. They were long hot days but completely worth it in the end.

Today we traveled to Camp Kid, a tent city consisting of 5,000 people, which is located 10 minutes from Soline, Nazon. It's a tightly packed community without roads to travel in on. Our team had to transport all medical supplies by hand to the clinic located inside the tent city. It was interesting walking through the community to see how the people have adjusted 18 months after the earthquake. Many of them have adapted to their surroundings and are able to find food, water, and start their own businesses. I even saw a TV set up and working in front of a tent home. I found this quite surprising. Anyway we treated 150 patients today and plan on treating 200 or more people tomorrow.

Walking into the Camp Kid.

 The view from the clinic at the tent city.

 Small portion of our pharmacy.

 Injecting antibiotics.

Colton assessing one of our translators, Elinoel.

All of the teeth extractions for the day!

We are headed back this morning to run the clinic, distribute TOMS Shoes, and hand out rice to the community of Camp Kid. I hope to bring home many new photos and stories to share with all of you. Have a great day!

One more thing: I just wanted to thank Joey, Karissa, and Andrea from Minnesota for all of their hard work and dedication during their two week stay in Haiti (and their team who stayed for one week). We loved finding the surprise at our new house and miss you all very much! It was great meeting you and I hope we can all work side by side in Haiti again some day! Keep in touch!