Day 12

24 year old man with 106 fever

Today on the way to the clinic a woman was hit by a car while riding on a motorcycle. Both the car and motorcycle took off and left her lying in the middle of the road. We had loaded her into our Tap Tap and drove her off to the hospital where she was rejected so off to the next hospital. Finally we found a hospital that took her in, she obviously at least a dislocated her hip. Jon, Jeanie, Evita (our counselor) and I go back out to Bon Repo today and the second we opened the gates people began pushing and shoving to the entrance of the door. I was trapped outside. I yelled up to Evita who helped pull me over the edge as I climbed up to the second floor of our clinic. It was going to be another busy day. Once we were inside we suddenly realized only 2 of our translators were there! So until 11 we spoke all the choppy Kreyol we knew. It was very frustrating at times but I thankfully have been learning how to write alot of words in Kreyol and was able to write out all the medication instructions. Later that night learning more than 50% of Haitians do not know how to read and those that do graduate from a university graduate at a 5th or 6th grade level. So we opened our doors and the first patient came up to Jon and I in the pharmacy as I was trying to label all the meds in Kreyol and she suddenly came in and collapsed. We immediately started with an assessment quickly realizing her BP was extremely LOW. Her systolic was 80 and we couldnt even get a diastolic. She was 19 years old. So Jeanie immediately starts an I.V. She was there for almost the entire day as we set up a place in the back of the pharmacy for her to lay. Than soon after a woman in labor came in, she was pre-eclamptic and so we sent her into the hospital. The last thing I need to do in Haiti is try to deliver a baby. Soon after we had an elderly woman who had fallen trying to get away during the quake and hurt both knees. So we had her use crutches as we took her outside in front of a huge crowd to teach her how to use them. She tried and tried until she was finally getting it and everyone around started clapping and cheering for her. It was great to finally see the Haitian community uplifting each other instead of one man for himself survival mode. Today was a very busy day seeing 80 patients and as soon as we begin to close a man 24 years old suddenly comes in running 106 fever. We started packing him with ice and giving him an alcohol bath treating him with typhoid and malaria. We were closed at this time and it was getting dark, with no electricity we only had a limited amount of time left before we would be standing in the pitch black. All the sudden down stairs at the gate a family is carrying this woman in who is 20 something and a month pregnant. However they would not let anyone examine her. She came in with stomach pain and told us it was vodoo. So we asked the family why did you even bring her in if you wont let us check her out our treat her and they told us that they wanted us to just administer first aid. What? We told them that she needed to be taken to the hospital and there was nothing more we could do since they wont let us assist her medically so they left carrying her the way the came in. The man soon after left with a fever of 101, it was now pitch black outside. We get back to our tents and have our nightly meeting learning that the girl who has the stomach tumor was ready and packed to have the surgery when they rejected her saying the surgery was too complicated and she would need to get it done in the states. I dont know if she will ever have surgery....... Late into the night at about 1 am we had our strongest aftershock since being here and my heart raced! I have the glimpse of fear not being in control of my own body. Mangos from the tree above came crashing down onto my tent and put holes through it as I had to repair it the next day with Duct Tape. Duct Tape in Haiti is amazing and has been a huge blessing. They can fix almost anything, alot of tent repairs and shoe repairs, I took two rolls (Due to Chelle's advice) and used it all up before leaving. I had to be sparing and choosy because I had not brought enough. Next time I go to Haiti :) I will have to bring more!