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!

Day 11- Lord give me Strength

Grandma taking care of her 5 grandkids, no food or water... After carrying Ensure to her house

Diabetic
Woman with Leprosy

Today a woman came to the clinic carrying her child. It took her two hours to get to us. He was running a 103 temp. Once she arrived at the clinic the we soon realized that the mother was also running 103 temp. It was encouraging to see the love this woman had for her child and the strength she had to do everything she could to get him help. It pushed me to a greater level of strength, past the feeling of exhaustion to do everything I could to continue to help those in need. Soon after Jon, Jeanie, Kim and I returend to Sahat with our suticases full of meds and supplies. The first patient I saw for that day was another woman who was having a miscarrage. We set up a spot in the corner where Kim examined her as I held her hand and confirmed. I keep thinking of the mother this morning and praying for the strenght to continue. By day 11 I am feeling emotionally and physically drained, its getting harder and harder for me but I know God will not give me more than I can handle and I dont want God to regret giving me so much to deal with so I keep thinking what I am going through is nothing compared to what the Haitians have and are going through and I can continue on. Next thing I know a translator pulled me to the side and introducing me to this elderly woman. Next to her is a young child who I learn is her grandchild. As I am talking with them I quickly learn that the grandchild's parents died in the quake and her grandmother is now taking care of her. But as we continue to speak I learn she is taking care of 5 granchildren whoes parents were killed in the quake. The grandmother begins to cry as she explains that she no longer has any food or water for her or her grandchildren. She was very distraught so jon and I carried as much pedialight and ensure that we could possibly carry and walked them to her place in the village. She preceeds to tell us her husband was shot and killed years ago and that she had bearly escaped. As we came up to her place after walking through trash and dirty water past pigs and goats we saw her grandchildren who were all malnourished. We set their things down as she began to cry and bless us, we took a picture with her before we left and prayed. I keep thinking to myself "remember God is good" as we walked back to the church clinic. When we finally arrived back we were immideatly faced with a baby who was unresponsive. After checking her over I had no idea what was wrong with her. Jon and I could not get her to wake up, our best guess was that she was severally dehydrated so we started her with fluids. She remained at the clinic for the rest of the day while trying to get fluids through her until she finally came around. Praise God. After we packed up and left Sahat we went back to our main clinic in Blanchard. The second I walked in another woman from our team pulled me into her exam room and asked me to take a look at this woman's foot. I had not put gloves on has I began to exam her, I than called in Kim who did the same. Soon after a Haitian dr. had walked in and told us she came in a week ago and that she has Leprosy. Kim and I immediatly went and scrubbed our hands. Never have I experienced that before. As we were finishing up washing our driver came up to Kim and I and asked if we would go check out the diabetic at his house. I can hardly call it a house because it was completly fallen apart but as we entered we noticed he was still on the cement floor however was awake. His blood sugar was 361 so we gave him some insulin which we are sparing of because its so expensive that alot of times Diabities is just a death sentence and Im afraid soon it will be for this 33 year old man as well. As soon as we are finishing up with this man a woman from another house comes up and asks us to see someone with a fever, we agreed and followed her to a man laying on a matt. I took his temp which was 101, after seeing so many patients with 105 fevers + this temp seemed good to me and so we gave him tylenol and told him if he was any worse to come into the clinic the next day. I felt bad downgrading his problem but after seeing the patients we've had my mind keeps thinking, Ive seen much worse. Once we got back to Blanchard before getting out of the car I was asked to assist an elderly woman back to her place. I thought yea no problem but as Gale was rushing around trying to find me security I was getting a little worried. What do I need security for? She was telling us we needed to hurry and get out of there before dark so I assisted this very malnourished elderly woman into the car literally having to carry her. Kim went along with us as our driver and security guy tells us we need to hurry her in and out. Asking why he than tells us that most of the prisoners who escaped went to this town and this is one of the most violent neighborhood. My heart starts racing as we pull in and you see all the people stop and stare at us as you see all the bullet holes etc. Kim stayed in the car as I jumped out and carryed the woman inside, my heart was pounding. I raced back to the car as we took off out of the neighborhood. We we arrived back at Blanchard where we than gave the mother and son who traveled 2 hours to get to us back home. At this point I am getting frustrated that we are having to take our most critical patients home because the hospitals are shutting down because we only a clinic and are not equipt to handle the situations we are having to face hoping these patients make it through the night. However on a happy note I heard the 7 year old boy we found under the tree came back today, I wasnt told how he was doing but at least he made it another day. As we finally arrive back to our tents we have dinner, rice and our meeting where we are told the 16 year old girl whoes parents were beating her cuz they thought she was pregnat but instead she has a tumor is going to have surgery tomorrow. That is a praise, Now its time for bed as I hear the rain beating against my tent.

Day 10- A day of Emergencies

Patients waiting outside of the Blanchard clinic cuz there were so many patients packed on the inside waiting as well

After the party ontop of the clinic. Amanda's last day :(

Last Night we had Gun shots yet again, I didnt sleep well and today I needed it. When we arrived at the Blanchard clinic we had emergencies waiting for us. In one room a man was in a coma from a blood sugar of 576. In another room a little girl was unresponsive with 103 fever. a 7lb 2 month old was in another room with 101 feer and others layed on the floor along side these others. We hit the ground running the second we walked in. I immediatly went running back and forth between three patients. We than attempted to take the diabetic (who eventually woke up) to the hospital but after the third rejection we had no choice but to take him home and lay him on the floor of us fallen down house hoping he makes it through the night but doubtful. Eventually three of us were assigned to the satalite clinic in Sahats and had to leave the others with all these other patients. So we packed up our suticases full of medicines and supplies and headed out. We arrived to Sahats pretty late due to helping with the others in Blanchard but once we arrived we had our own emergiences to deal with. We had to make up rooms for our emergency patients as we continued to see less critical patients. My first patient was a woman who was pregnant and had fallen. She was having a miscarrage. With all the Choas and running back and forth it became an emotional and overwhelming day. We had to finally close our doors because we were too packed and was trying to leave in order to make it back to Blanchard on time for Amanda's dinner/party who is leaving tomorrow but once we shut the doors fights and riots started outside. We never leave or go out until they are over so as we wait we begin to pack up. Our translators always go out and try to calm the situation down. Finally we are able to leave and arrive at Blanchard with all the patients gone and food and cake ready! All the workers of PID were invited and before we ate all of us gathered in a circle holding hands while singing How Great Thou Art. It was great to spend that time together in fellowship laughing and playing with the kids from the village. I had a coke! As soon as the party was over we headed back to the tents and it began to rain. I was very emotional today and am ready for bed but my mind continuous to think about the diabetic. I hope he makes it through the night.

Day 9 - Easter

3 month old outside of church

Easter Sunday outside of church

Pics of children outside the church

Today is Easter and the Day of Sabbath, this morning we went back to the church in Alchai. As we were on our way out we past by the Mass Grave and Zompie swamp again. As we past by Zombie swamp we saw a group of men dumping buckets of water in the middle of the field and digging holes. We continued on and headed to the church. I did not enter the small church but listened from underneath a tree with the rest of the church members from outside. I was able to hold a 3 month old during the service until it was time for us to go up front where the pastor prayed over us as we took the bread and wine. After communion and the end of worship I went back to hold the baby again, I asked his mom what his name was and she told me he doesnt have a name they just call him baby. I told her there was a boy in the states named Daniel that really means alot to me and that she should name her baby Daniel. So Jeanie took a picture of me and Daniel before we left however when I tried to give him back to his mom she kept saying "you take Daniel". I kept telling her I cant and she eventually took him back, I wish I could have brought him home but I had seen this on the news and know it didnt turn out well. As everyone continued to visit, Kim and I walked down the road for awhile and saw people taking baths and washing thier clothes in the filthy water. We watched children play and just enjoyed their company taking pics etc. We left around noon and on our way to the beach I was telling Gale about Daniel. She informed me of the ratio that 1 out of 5 kids will die in haiti and in some places 1 out of 2 children die and the average life here is age 50. She was telling us how they continuously throw away their babies and children because they can not afford funerals. We finally got to Wahoo Bay which is a Beautiful resort where we were able to swim in the Ocean for awhile and have lunch. Burger and fries with a coke!!!!! What a Great Easter! I bought a couple of paintings and collected some shells, we spent most of the day there before heading back. As we drove past Zombie swamp again the people were all gone however there were several crosses in the middle of the field. Once we finally arrived back to our place it was pitch black outside and we were all just sitting around talking. A man who was visiting us shared about his experience during the earthquake when we suddenly heard drums and instruments playing down the road and coming our way. We all took off towards the street which was down an extremly dark alley but once we got there we saw hundreds of people marching and dancing in the street. As they past by people were running from all directions to join in the parade. Once we got back to our tents I went straight to bed. My thought is with Daniel tonight as I can still hear the drums playing in the distance.

Day 8-God lead us to the sick

The transportation in Haiti called Tap Tap

Today Amanda and I went back to DFO where we saw 130 patients. My kid Emanuel came back and hung out with me for most of the day, sitting beside me while I saw other patients. It was a blessing for me to be able to spend that time with him. I pray for him often. As we finished and began to pack up, allowing the boys to load, we decided to walk around the village when we suddenly came across a 7 year old boy laying under a tree. He was shaking uncontrollably. I had a thermometer on me and checked his temp which climbed to 103. We did not have any of the supplies we needed at DFO so I picked him up and started carrying him a ways until we got to our transportation called the TAP TAP. I did not notice at the time but I had set my water bottle down under the tree and when I went to pick him up and I had left it there, this became a huge problem for me during the next several days. As I sat down on the Tap Tap with this boy in my arms, I start to see his mother running towards us. As she finally jumps on I am able to see that her face is full of worry and fear. It was a long ride over rubble to the Blanchard clinic and I am drenched with sweat from holding this boy with a fever close to me but I too was worried. Once we finally arrived Amanda and I quickly realized we were the only ones there. Amanda started an I.V. as I began with an alcohol bath. We learn that the mother had lost a daughter about his age from a "high fever" unsure of the cause and that no one in that village has clean water. Still unsure of how to tell the difference between Typhoid and Malaria we began treatment for both. We worked on him for awhile until finally we had sent him home with a thermometer, suitcase full of clothes, pedgialight, food, meds, and 101 temp among other things. Tonight I worry if he will make it through the night but we informed her to come back first thing Monday morning. It was only a half day today and with this being a new team we went on another tour of downtown Port-Au-Prince. On our way Kim a PA on our team tells us about her experience at Doctors Without Boarders. As Kim was standing outside of DWB a woman was being rushed in by a wheel-barrel while another woman was running behind the two with a baby in her arms. They were yelling that there was another baby inside of the woman and she had just given birth to the baby that the other woman was holding. I thought only in Haiti would you see something like that. So as we continue through downtown we stop again at the palace as we had done the week before however this time was not a pleasant experience. It makes me think that Haiti is getting worse. The second we stopped and got out we became swarmed with people pulling at us and our clothes. My heart begins to race as I see fights start to break out and our driver starts swinging at people to get off of us with a board. We push our way back onto the Tap tap but people are crowding it and grabbing onto it. Our driver was concerned about our safety peeled away leaving people either chasing us or standing in the middle of the street fighting. Everyone is okay as we get back to our place and although I had no lunch I was able to eat dinner before our meeting and than bed. Tomorrow is Easter and I am looking forward to the break and am excited about going back to church before heading out to the beach.

Day 7- Is this a real country?

This woman thinks her foot is caused by Vodoo and wont let us treat her

Today we worked only 1/2 day. Amanda and I went back to DFO where we faced more vodoo. It starts becoming frustrating when those patients do not allow us to treat them due to fear of repercussions. Today I met a boy named Emanual. Emanual is 13 years old and his parents were killed in the quake. About a year ago Emanual was run over by a car and needs surgery on his back. He is in pain all the time and has no one to advocate for him and take care of him. I really had a heart for Emanual. I gave him some medicine for his pain and told him I would do whatever I could to help him. In the three hours we worked today, Amanda and I saw 90 patients. After we were finished we walked from DFO to Blanchard. It was a long walk but the island is so beautiful that I enjoyed every second of it, even in the blazing heat. That afternoon our new team arrived and we helped them get set up before our evening meal and meeting. At our meeting Gale begins to tell us all about her experience at the U.N. She said first of all she recieved an email saying the meeting was held in a tent and the email continued to say that if she could not find the tent it would be the one unmarked. (All of Haiti is full of unmarked tents haha) Well she was able to find it and as they drove up there were no security or metal detectors so they just went on in. Now in the meeting she says a guy starts it off by holding up this map telling everyone that all of Haiti looks covered medically on the map. So its obvious that no one goes out and really investigates because they would know all of the hospitals are shutting down. When a man in the crowd informs them of the closings of hospitals they tell those in the meeting that they are shutting down because Dr.s are not getting paid which I dont know who paid them before but they said that they need about 300-500 million dollars for Dr.s salaries and they need to be paid a certain percentage before April 12th otherwise the general hospitals will shut down. So she says a guy behind her raises his hand and asks how much Dr.s make and the guy running the meeting states he does not know but if he gets onto this website and finds out could he send him an email letting him know. What? Is this a joke? The meeting was completely unorganized and she said the kicker was as they left they had to go through security and medical detectors in order to get out. The head director of our area was at the meeting and had a magazine that states what needs to be done in order to be a licensed clinic but she had the copy that was from 3 years ago so when she sees a Dr. with the newest copy and askes if she could have a copy of it he states no that it was the last copy so the director doesnt even know what all needs to be done in order to run a licensed clinic. It was a huge laugh for the night and made absolutely no sense. You sadly begin to realize the lack of government and help for the people of Haiti.

Day 6 - Bon Repo

My exam room where I saw patients...

Our Pharmacy at the Bon Repo Clinic

The 2nd floor was our clinic.. I Spent alot of time looking through those bars watching kids play in the trash piles below

Today I was extremly tired and dehydrated. I was not completly over yesterdays emergencies, my mind was still on the children wondering how they were but I knew that we had to move on with hundreds of more patients waiting to be seen today. Jeanie and I were at Bon Repo, which is starting to become my favorite clinical site. My first patient for the day was a woman who came in with stomach pain. As she began to tell me her problems it suddenly became clear to me that she may be having a miscarriage. My heart became heavy for her as I had to tell her this was what I believe was going on however as she continued to tell me her problems she decided to let me know that she took a "morning after" pill a month after her pregnancy. I have started experiencing several woman who have attempted or are looking to have abortions because they simply can not afford to feed another mouth. I worry whats going to happen to these woman and thier bodies if they attempt these procedures themselves and I worry about the children and their futures if they dont or if it doenst work. As I called in my next patient I had hoped it was going to be easier but as I saw this woman carrying her 28 day old baby with her I knew it was only going to get worse. This baby weighed 9lbs and was running a fever of 103. I could not think of one medicine we had that I would have been able to give her because of dosage. I immidatly stripped off all her clothes and began with an alcohol bath using guaze pads. The only other thing I could think of was trying to get liquids down her so I ran and got pedialight and an eye dropper. As I was going back for another pedialight I was stopped by a translator who grabbed me telling me this 12 yr old girl is shaking and running a 102 fever. Im still trying to take care of the baby so I ran into our pharmacy and grabbed another pedialight and a couple of tylenol for her to take as she waited. I went in to give Jeanie a heads up about the 12 year old and to let her know that we still had a bunch more patients waiting to be seen. I was finally able to get back to the baby but had to instruct the mother to continue to push liquids down as I sat them in a corner praying she got better. As I called the 12 year old back in and rechecked her temp it had now jumped to 105. I knew I needed to start an IV but have never done so before so I grabbed Jeanie to help me and I had a translator run to get ice while I began to soak her with alcohol. I noticed she was shaking exactly like the girl from DFO and wondered if it was Typhoid. As Jeanie was trying to take care of her thankfully the babies temp went down and I was able to send them home as I had to continue seeing other patients. We were way past the time we were suppose to close and I had finally got to the last patient. As she came in I had asked her what the problem was, she than proceded to lift up her skirt showing me a bit that was completly swollen and necrotic. I knew she needed to get to the hospital and asked her to wait because we were planning to send the 12 year old girl to the hospital as well because by now shes had a 105 fever for the last three hours. So as I go in to help Jeanie with her and continue to soak her down with ice and alcohol I guess the 20 yr old with the bite decided she no longer wanted to wait and next thing I knew when I turned back around she had left. I do not know if she is ok or what ended up happening to her but as for the 12 year old girl we were finally able to get her temp down by treating her for Malaria and Typhoid. Unsure of which often times we would just have to treat for both. It was very late by this time dark however when we got home we were greeted with a blessing of ice and coke! Tonight we stayed up late, infact I feel asleep during our nightly meeting. The new team arrives tomorrow as some of our old team leaves. It will be a bitter sweet day saying goodbye to some while getting to meet others. I am ready for bed and will have no trouble falling asleep tonight.