HAITI 2013

Bon Jou! (Good day!!) Heyyyy! (Ahhallloo!) What uppppp..!!

I find myself back on solid ground USA, after a life changing week in Haiti.  From October 4 to October 13, 2013, I was in Haiti, working with a medical mission team providing care to populations living around Bonne Fin, Sud (about 5 hours west of Port-Au-Prince).

There a very few words that can describe the sights, sounds, emotions and lasting memories of this trip.  Words of the late Carols Fuentes appropriately summarize the trip for me....

"culture consists of connections, not of separations..."

Day #1: Arrival to Haiti

Haitian coast / mountains - Landing in PAP

Black (PAP), Blue (final destination) = 4 - 5 hours

Waiting for the bus in PAP - TEMP 103 F +

street side markets

Tent cities on our way through PAP

the streets of Haiti - driving through PAP

The first (of many, many) gorgeous Haitian sunsets !!

Day #2: Church and Volleyball

the local MEBSH church - AMAZING !!

volleyball with the gang

post volleyball piano session...so much fun!!

Day #3: Hospital and Clinic Preparation

Entrance to the "hospital of light"

Reviewing X-Rays

central nursing supply cart

teaching IV therapy to ER nurses

ER room #1 (traditional acute care room)

back up laboratory station (near pediatrics)

Dr. Lee reviewing orders with a Haitian ER nurse

housekeeping

ready for clinic day #1...!!

Day #4: Women's health clinic - La Biche (1 hour from hospital) - 120 patient's seen

screening tools....
acetic acid (vinegar), lugols, lubrication, speculum and, oh, yeah...gloves

table is ready...bring on the patient's!!

the ceiling of the clinic...

half-way through the day FACE
- 75 vaginal exams done and there are more...??! - 

all types...some patients walked as far as 3 hours to see us

nursing students and their "clinical instructor"....
im pretty sure they taught ME more that day, than I taught them...!!

the drive home...gorgeous

a welcome site, after a long day!!
Mona, our cook, totally rocked the Haitian cuisine

Day #5: Women's health clinic - Plaisance (2 hours from hospital) - 110 patient's seen

on our way...!!

 forging rivers to get to clinic...yehhhaaaah

 the Haitian speedbump

 the clinic...at 700 AM

 patient registration

 makeshift exam table (EMS stretcher, stabilized by a chair)

one of my favorite nursing students...Jalean

 lunch...Haitian spaghetti !!

 A much needed lunch break...

 another gang of senior nursing students...AWESOME!!

Storm clouds moving in...lasted about 1/2 hour!

enjoying Haiti from mountainside lookout, after clinic

 Debbie and Bruce with Frantzou, our trusted translator

 Sunset on the drive home

Tour of Frantzou's house!!
Traditional and modern Haitian kitchen

Tour of Frantzou's house!!
the master bedroom

 Day #5 and 6: Hospital, Education, Outpatient clinic - about 70 patient's seen

hospital portico

morning rounds

Rounding on the ER patients...
it almost looks as if I am going bald...NOT YET??!

helping Dr. Sherri suture a wound in ER
no pre-medication and limited local anesthesia

Haitian kids, they love having their picture taken...clearly LOL!

Debbie, APRN, about to do another exam...!!

Radiology

drying X-Rays for review

Entrance to the radiology department

Jimmy, the physical therapist
(high school diploma and a lot of ON THE JOB TRAINING)

 Jimmy's equipment...mostly donated

one of our pediatric patient's...so stinkin' cute!!

Our one NICU patient...doing very well!!

he would scoot around the hospital all day in his wheelchair
 - luv this little guy... -

the 12 lead ECG of a 6 year old patient we ended up shipping out
for a suspected endocarditis and cardiomegaly

the CXR of the same 6 year old patient (AP only)
 - sent to PAP / city hospital for ultrasound / ECHO - 

6 year old patient with endocardial disease
- such a tough little guy -

portable CXR

pretty hard to learn the language....LOL

The entire HL staff...such a great group of people!!

Overview of HL

Day #7 and 8: Rest, Relaxation and Tourism

our cook's daughter, true Haitian beauty
- she wanted to pose with her new hat - 

HAITI through the Cancer Redemption Project
an orphanage for Haitian children!! :)

traditional Haitian taxi

tropic vegetation...hard hat required!
coconuts are dangerous and very heavy (if fallen upon one's head)

Dinner with the hospital administrator

Typical missionary house

Local grocery store produce

AHHHH...finally, at last, our last HAITIAN meal !!

Waiting for flight at PAP, checking emails, voicemails, etc.
Back to reality, begins....NOW!

UNTIL THE VERY NEXT TIME..!!

We will always remember...

The Star Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

God Bless the USA !!

A special update...

Greetings!  The big highlight of the week past....obviously; welcoming Eliza Lou to the family.  Early morning arrival of this little angel brought a thankful end to this turbulent and exhausting pregnancy, but also celebrated the beginning of this new little family!!

Lucky #13 was born in the pre-dawn twilight (sounds so peaceful...) of September 5, after the grand finale and showdown of her intra-uterine experience gave way to extra-uterine life....and what a calming, chill, laissez-faire child she has been since...as it has been reported.  I have not actually seen this little lady yet, but on Thursday I'll be back in CT cuddling, spoiling and delighting in some serious uncle to niece bonding time!!  Pictures, movies and lots of IPhone facetime to satisfy in the meantime... :)  Mom and baby are both doing really well and adjusting to their new lives...

For as much as I have had to say about the violence and disruption of Baltimore City, there are special times in which the city is blanketed by a sense peaceful excitement.  I experienced this Thursday evening.  Keith Urban, a country artist sensation, recently performed a free, live concert on the Inner Harbor to honor the opening of football season, followed by the first Ravens game at nearby M & T Bank stadium.  You could feel the energy.  The Inner Harbor was packed with food trucks, people, street performers and the music could be heard for miles.  Literally.  The city took the time to indulge, and set to musical timing were light shows and fireworks.  In conjunction with gorgeous fall weather, a spectacular sunset and good friends this hands down has to be one my finest memories of Charm City!!  totally phenomenal.

A few days ago, on one of my many drives from Connecticut back to Maryland, I texted my Mom a picture of my scenic surroundings....stuck on the asphalt of 95 South, with the rest of America.  I have to say, there is nothing more annoying than sitting in traffic with brief and relieving moments of stop and go.  It is usually at these moments that I become very heated and irritated, which then prompts me to send a vented text message to release some serious aggression.... however, my mother, the kind soul that she is, simply texted me back with the picture below...reporting "our traffic situation in Vermont" !!! gotta luv your parents....grrrrrrrrrrrr

me...stewing in anger on 95 S

my parents...driving through Vermont....agggghhhh

Just a little inspiration for the week ahead...LET'S DO THIS!!

Until the next time....