Hot and happy in Haiti.
It's Friday afternoon and as always my time here is so busy and it just flies by. Lynn and I just finished a staff training for all the Haitian PID staff on sexually transmitted infections. It was lively and informative, and they had so many questions. We probably could have gone on for 2 more hours. This morning we worked in the clinic- she saw all the pregnant ladies and GYN issues and I saw everybody else. We put in some stitches, took some out, saw a lot of sick children. Dr Paul, the new Haitian doctor is really fun and smiling all the time, and generally great to work with. Everyone seems to love him a lot.
Yesterday was a Haitian holiday so the clinic was closed. We went to a village called Molea where we have never served before to do a mobile clinic. Mr Genois heard they have a lot of need and many sick people with no access to healthcare. I was told I would see about 30 people, so I packed up a bag of medicine and supplies accordingly. But when we got there to the little makeshift church, it was FULL of people waiting to see me. There must have been over a hundred. The chaos of trying to sort through who would be seen and who wouldn't went on for a long time, with everyone yelling and pushing and wanting to get up front. I ended up seeing 47 people, and we said we would come back on Saturday with Lynn to see the rest of them, as well as the pregnant women. It was a good day, and we brought back one tiny newborn baby who was really poor- his mother was young, had no breast milk, and was feeding him crackers and water. I fear he was headed for death. We took them with us to PID and gave her formula and taught her how to feed the little one. I said to Samuel that even just saving one life at a time is a great day. Then we sat around the yard with Pouchon and his machete, cutting down coconuts, drinking the milk, eating coconuts and listening to music. I am content and happy to be here.
We have a huge class coming up next week of over 20 midwives in training, we would take more if we had enough manuals. It's really exciting to see how this program is taking off and so many people are asking for the classes.
It has been raining so hard, torrential rain, every evening, and because of this the mosquitoes are really bad. The first night I had a hole in my mosquito net and I got chomped all night. I woke up in the morning with my eye huge and swollen shut from a bite on my eyelid. Saintilia and Rosemary changed the net and burned mosquito smoke all the next day to keep them away. So far so good!
Tomorrow I have some appointments for followup with our midwifery graduates- I hope they can come, and then the afternoon we do another mobile clinic at Molea. They say the people there are especially sick because they live close to the dump and their water is dirty. I hope we can continue to provide services and healthcare to them in the future.
Avocadoes are in season and the coffee as always is strong and delicious. Showty, Pouchon and I will go visit the Pierres tomorrow. Can't wait to see my ti cher Alison!
Hope everyone is well. Come to Haiti!
It's Friday afternoon and as always my time here is so busy and it just flies by. Lynn and I just finished a staff training for all the Haitian PID staff on sexually transmitted infections. It was lively and informative, and they had so many questions. We probably could have gone on for 2 more hours. This morning we worked in the clinic- she saw all the pregnant ladies and GYN issues and I saw everybody else. We put in some stitches, took some out, saw a lot of sick children. Dr Paul, the new Haitian doctor is really fun and smiling all the time, and generally great to work with. Everyone seems to love him a lot.
Yesterday was a Haitian holiday so the clinic was closed. We went to a village called Molea where we have never served before to do a mobile clinic. Mr Genois heard they have a lot of need and many sick people with no access to healthcare. I was told I would see about 30 people, so I packed up a bag of medicine and supplies accordingly. But when we got there to the little makeshift church, it was FULL of people waiting to see me. There must have been over a hundred. The chaos of trying to sort through who would be seen and who wouldn't went on for a long time, with everyone yelling and pushing and wanting to get up front. I ended up seeing 47 people, and we said we would come back on Saturday with Lynn to see the rest of them, as well as the pregnant women. It was a good day, and we brought back one tiny newborn baby who was really poor- his mother was young, had no breast milk, and was feeding him crackers and water. I fear he was headed for death. We took them with us to PID and gave her formula and taught her how to feed the little one. I said to Samuel that even just saving one life at a time is a great day. Then we sat around the yard with Pouchon and his machete, cutting down coconuts, drinking the milk, eating coconuts and listening to music. I am content and happy to be here.
We have a huge class coming up next week of over 20 midwives in training, we would take more if we had enough manuals. It's really exciting to see how this program is taking off and so many people are asking for the classes.
It has been raining so hard, torrential rain, every evening, and because of this the mosquitoes are really bad. The first night I had a hole in my mosquito net and I got chomped all night. I woke up in the morning with my eye huge and swollen shut from a bite on my eyelid. Saintilia and Rosemary changed the net and burned mosquito smoke all the next day to keep them away. So far so good!
Tomorrow I have some appointments for followup with our midwifery graduates- I hope they can come, and then the afternoon we do another mobile clinic at Molea. They say the people there are especially sick because they live close to the dump and their water is dirty. I hope we can continue to provide services and healthcare to them in the future.
Avocadoes are in season and the coffee as always is strong and delicious. Showty, Pouchon and I will go visit the Pierres tomorrow. Can't wait to see my ti cher Alison!
Hope everyone is well. Come to Haiti!