Medical Clinic - Dr. Karen's Team

 

The same day as Tanya and the rest of the Angels to Haiti team arrived in Haiti Dr. Karen McCarthy and her medical team from Jacksonville, Florida also arrived. They held an afternoon clinic on October 2nd. They came from the airport and got right to work!

They brought their medicine with them and the pharmacy was soon set up.

Tanya and Holly along with a Haitian interpretor helped to man the reading glasses station.

Patients came at 8:00am to sit and await the arrival of the team. We told them that they could come back at noon but nobody did. These people were desperate for medical care. They waited for 5 hours until the clinic started.

Amos helped by calling out the patient numbers to come to the registration table.

Our kitchen table also serves as an operating table :) Dr. Karen and one of her team members are preparing to remove a cyst from this young girls neck.

Procedure completed along with a new set of clothes!

The first day Dr. Karen took more time with the patients as some of them were pretty sick.

There was a constant stream of patient traffic at the consulting table.

Another surgery done was lancing a huge abscess under this lady's neck. A rotten tooth created a huge abscess that took over her face and neck. She needed to be hospitalized but the hospital we took her to told us to come back tomorrow. It was an emergency that couldn't wait.

Dr. Karen removed a lot of pus from the abscess and the lady was started on some heavy doses of antibiotics. This lady's life was in danger because the infection was septic.... but there was a happy ending. I will post more pictures of her progress at a later time :)

At the registration table, patient info, blood pressure and temperatures were measured.

This elderly man was given a can from the team and also a pair of glasses.

He was a happy man and left the clinic encouraged by the attention and care that he received.

Jefftay, Amos' younger brother helped out in the pharmacy.

The pharmacy station was busy with a few team members plus haitian translators helping out.

Dr. Karen's team comes to Haiti about once every 3 months and they are all Haiti pros.

Tanya is holding onto this little girl.

Dr. Karen comes with toys for all her younger patients. Sometimes children try to come into the clinic by themselves just to get some toys :)

William is giving the okay sign for the clinic :)

Marlene helped out at the registration table.

Teresa is examining one of the young patients.

I stayed near the gate and helped out as one of the bouncers :) Sometimes people fight to get inside the gates, that is how desperate they are for medical care.

Roseanne is someone I have known since I first came to Haiti. She makes a living selling souvenirs. Teresa bought a crocheted bag from her.

Rudy helped out in the pharmacy too. He is the young man who went to the United States for cancer treatment a few days after the earthquake. It sure is good to see him alive and well! We are sponsoring him for his Rheto (Grade 12) schooling this year. 2 of his younger brothers are part of our Coram Deo school program.

Macdonald is translating for one of the team members. He loves helping out at the medical clinics.

Frandy was helping control the registration table and making sure that people didn't try to sneak to the table ahead of their number.

Jn. Eddy is one of our teachers (Grade 3-4 class) and is starting his 3rd year of university this year. He is studying to become an accountant.

Pastor Pierre came down from Kenscoff to help with evangelizing and crowd control.

That first day the team worked later than usual. They stayed at a guesthouse that just opened up in our neighborhood at the old Notre Maison house. Jim and Debbie Hambrick of "Until the Whole World Knows" started the guesthouse. They are veteran missionaries who formerly were missionaries in Venezuela. It is great that they are in our neighborhood.!

Visitors

 

The Angels for Haiti team came to Haiti on October 2nd and stayed until October 8th. It was a great visit and they helped out a lot. From left to right are Marlene, Sandra, Holly, my sister Tanya and Teresa.

Holly and Tanya came in on a morning flight....

.... and Sandra, Marlene and Teresa came in on the late afternoon flight.

Life here at Coram Deo is fast paced and the visitors got to work unpacking what they brought :)

That same evening we had 2 families from St. Marc stay here for an early morning appointment at Adventist Hospital in Carrefour. This 2-year-old has clubbed feet. Ladies from a seniors citizen group had given the team a bag of hand-made Izzy dolls. Here Marlene is seen giving this child the cloth toy.

Hand-made diapers were also created by the senior citizens group. To all who took the time to make these diapers and Izzy dolls a big thank you!

The baby that Sandra is holding was born clubbed "hip". That is the term I give it. The left leg is casted each week to bring the leg into a normal position. A few weeks previously I posted a photo of this baby with its leg rotated 180 degrees in the other direction. One of the dorm rooms is for parents who come in from the province for medical care.

Here Holly is pictured with 2 of the fathers who came in with their babies from St. Marc.

The visitors got a quick introduction to life in Haiti. Holly works in a respite care home for children with special needs. She helps to look after my nephew John :)

Teresa is holding one of the babies. We give the Lord thanks for those who come and help out here at Coram Deo. Together we strive to help the handicapped here in Haiti.

The first night was a busy night, but a fun night too :)

They slept in the Hotel des Milles Etoiles (1,000 Star Hotel) up on the roof of our house in between the solar panels, generator and water reservoir. It is much cooler on the roof :)

Poor Holly, she reacted badly to her mosquito bites. Tanya's home remedy of tea bag baths helped.

We have deluxe accommodations here at Coram Deo :) The specialty for breakfast is Haitian bananas! They are delicious.

It was sort of an adventurous night up on the roof that first night. Rats were seen scurrying to and fro and we brought out our army cots the next day so that rats won't scurry across the visitors while they slept.

We have fowl in the yard and the roosters make sure to wake up everyone bright and early :) Here is Marlene chasing after one of Marie's roosters with a rolling pin!

Other pests to worry about while sleeping at the Hotel des Milles Etoiles are Haitian cockroaches! They are ugly pests.

Benson is shown here helping to inspect the roof before the visitors went to bed at night. He was searching for lurking cockroaches and rats.

We cook our meals Haitian style on a "rechaud", fueled by charcoal. This is our small rechaud which is used for small pots. Yes, we are contributing to deforestation. Angels to Haiti did some fundraising so that we could become more environmentally friendly.

This is our large rechaud which is used to cook our large pots. With the large rechaud we can cook meals for 100 people!

We excitedly went to Valerio Canez to slelect a gas rechaud. We bought the super deluxe model with 3 large burners!

The only trouble was getting it home. Here are 4 of our strongest guys carrying the new stove across the yard to the outside kitchen.

With the screened gates we can contol access to the propane gas.

The steel rechaud is handmade here in Haiti. Our gatekeeper Yonel checked it out first...

... but the biggest test would be if our cook would approve of this purchase!

Yes! Marie is happy and the next step is to install the rechaud. We called in our Haitian handyman Loutese and he had it connected quickly.

First meal was a giant pot of macaroni and cheese! As you can see the large pot fits onto the burner well.

The next problem we will have to deal with is installing lighting into the outside kitchen. Until then flashlights are used.

Marie loves this stove. Food cooks quickly! Thank you Angels to Haiti for all your efforts!

It sure was great to see my sister Tanya again. So much happened in the week they were here. Never a dull moment! I will tell more in the next post :)

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada! This turkey in Paulna's village was not our thanksgiving dinner but a frozen turkey from Eagle Market was eaten by everyone here thanks to my sister Tanya and the rest of the Angels for Haiti team (Marlene, Teresa C., Holly and Sandra) :)

It has been a busy month with no time to post to the blog A recap of the highlights of the month are:

- preparing for the opening of another school year (around 100 students will be attending our program here at Coram Deo

- sponsoring 15 secondary students and 2university students

- sending 15 pastors and church workers to the Christian Reformed Ministry Centre for a  2-day Strategies of Transformation seminar.

- providing meals to mothers and babies at Bernard Mevs / Project Medishare Hospital for the neurosurgeries that took place for 35 hydrocephalus and spina bifida babies by a neurosurgery team from St. Louis

- setting up a community health program on the grounds of Coram Deo. Ed Amos, a physician's assistant no longer has a clinic over at Adoration Christian School and we jumped at the opportunity to ask him for his skills. As of yesterday, every Monday and Tuesday will be medical clinics, and every Wednesday and Thursday will be dental clinics.

- sending children to the orthopedic clinic run  Cure at the Adventist Hospital in Carrefour

- hosting 2 medical clinics for Dr. Karen and her medical team last week from Jacksonville, Florida

As you can see we have a lot to be thankful for :)

This afternoon I am taking a bit of a break to update everyone on what has been happening. Lots of pictures and an update will follow!

Windy Weather

Haiti Update - September 8, 2012

“... The Lord has his way, in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3)

Hi! Haiti is a country that is susceptible to natural disasters. When I went on the internet on Wednesday the first thing I noticed was a breaking news report of an earthquake of 7.6 that hit Costa Rica and that there was a tsunami alert for the Caribbean. I ran outside to tell the people in our yard about the alert and then went back to the computer. The alert was updated and the Caribbean was not at risk for a tsunami. I then went back outside and told everyone that it was a false alarm! I felt sorry for the people living in Costa Rica and figured there must have been a lot of damage, and loss of life, only to find out later that there was just 1 death due to a heart attack during the earthquake and that buildings were still standing in Costa Rica. I hope and pray that construction in Haiti will improve to the same levels as other developed areas of the world.

Last Sunday morning at around 8:00am there was a 3.7 earthquake in Haiti, which was located 4 km south of Leogane and 33km WSW of Port-au-Prince. We never felt anything here at Coram Deo.

A few weeks ago 100 earthquake experts met in the Dominican Republic. Representatives from Caribbean countries attended. What was stressed is that the islands of the Caribbean are located in a seismic zone that is active and that an earthquake of 8.0 may arrive at any moment along with a tsunami risk. A Haitian seismologist stated that another earthquake for Haiti is imminent and could happen at any time. There is a strong possibility/certainty that Cap Haitien will one day suffer the same fate as Port-au-Prince did. Wednesday’s earthquake in Costa Rica sure is a reminder to be aware!

We are in the middle of hurricane season and Haiti was visited by Tropical Storm Isaac almost 2 weeks ago. We monitor the National Hurricane Centre’s website daily to monitor the progress of storms. There was a possibility that Isaac would form into a Category 1 Hurricane before passing through Haiti. The storm slowed down as it neared Haiti. We thought we would see effects in the afternoon but it wasn’t until late in the evening that Isaac showed its’ effects.

The winds started and soon my cell phone rang. Someone we know that lives in a refuge camp called to say that the winds were causing problems and that the people were scared and praying. Isaac never reached hurricane strength when it hit Haiti and everyone is thankful for that, but even as a tropical storm a lot of damage was caused by flooding and the winds. We never had flying projectiles of coconuts going through the yard but the flying projectiles of almonds falling off the tree and hitting the tin roof of the kitchen shelter sure made a lot of noise! A window screen fell onto my bed and I decided that I didn’t want to lie in bed anymore and checked out the house instead. The winds eventually died down and then there was just the rain.

In the morning we checked out how Port-au-Prince weathered the storm and in some places there were large tree branches that had fallen. The government had work crews out removing debris from the storm. Some tents in the refuge camps were destroyed. We saw the Grise River was full with storm runoff and flooding its’ banks in some places. The bridge in Croix-des-Missions was closed to vehicular traffic due to the flooding river. In the Gressier region the Momanse River was enlarged by 50 meters by the flooding waters.

The most damage was done in the South-East and West (Port-au-Prince) departments of the country. 165 camps were affected by Isaac. 18 refuge camps were evacuated by civil protection officials. 15,812 families were evacuated from the camps, 24 people lost their lives either in landslides, drowning or electrocution, and 42 people were injured. Tents were ripped by the winds as well as tin roofs being ripped off of homes. It wasn’t just the refuge camps where the storms effects were felt. In one government report it was stated that 1,144 homes were flooded, 1,005 homes destroyed and 6,040 homes damaged. 8,189 families are now homeless after the storm.

Vanessa (a hydrocephalus girl) and her family live in Fond Verette, a mountain region near the Dominican border. Their home was destroyed by the winds of Isaac. When Vanessa’s mother called me I could hear hammering in the background as the family was putting together a shelter to live in. We had a large tarp that we gave to the family. The road was blocked until a landslide and a large boulder was cleared from the mountain road. Her sister picked up the tarp a couple of days later.

Pastor Pierre’s church and some of the church member’s homes suffered some damage due to the windy conditions. Some homes were lost to landslides and others by having their roofs ripped off by the winds.

Floridalaine is a young girl who was born with congenital cataracts. The last couple of weeks we have been bringing her for tests and appointments to General Hospital in the hopes of getting cataract surgery for her. Her family lives in the mountains of Kenscoff. Her father told me that they lost their crop to the storm. He had planted beans and potatoes and harvest time would have been in October. Now many families have lost their crops in addition to their homes. Selling of their harvest creates an income for paying for school for their children and for seed for the next planting season. Many families in the Kenscoff area lost their crops and a few people lost their lives in the landslides.

Agriculture took a big hit during the storm. Before Isaac appeared agricultural production was already affected by a 40% loss in crop yields due to the dry season. Banana plantations, coffee, avocado, and rice crops were almost totally destroyed in certain regions by Isaac. Fruit was affected as well. Thousands of animals were carried away by flooding rivers. It is estimated that agriculture suffered $242 million US$ in damage. The irrigation system in the South-East and the Cul-de-Sac plain is severely damaged. Pray for families who live in the farming areas. Hunger could become a problem in the next few months due to the effects of losing their crops. Pray that those who lost their homes will be able to rebuild or find other shelter for their families, especially since hurricane season isn’t over until the end of November.

Internet and cell phone service was affected by the storm. The Digicel and Voila cell phone companies had service interruptions that took some time to restore. Our internet service was out of order for 4 days. We found out that Natcom, which is the state/private Vietnamese telephone/cell/internet provider maintained services after Isaacs’ passage. We purchased a jump stick to be able to pay a daily rate for internet service. The government used the Natcom building as a communications hub due to the damage to the other company sites. After the storm the government sent out financial assistance to some families by transferring mobile money to their cell phones that they could use to purchase food. It is great to see how technology can help during disasters.

Electricity was off throughout the city during the storm. 30 of the 32 electrical circuits were knocked out of service by Isaac. After a couple of days we had electricity again. Other areas of the city took longer to restore to service. The invertor and generator came in handy to supply us with power during the city-wide black-out. All EDH electrical circuits are now in service again. Isaac caused 336 million gourds ($8 million US$) damage to the electrical system of Port-au-Prince. Isaac destroyed 230 transformers, 2,200 electric poles and damaged 120 km of circuits. EDH did a good job at making repairs with the limited resources that they have in the last couple of weeks.

The European Community has given $3 million Euros to Haiti for Isaac disaster relief funding.

Crime did not come to a standstill during the storm. A 56-year-old woman was kidnapped as Isaac passed through Haiti. It looks like the kidnappers saw the storm as a good opportunity. A dead new-born baby was found on a street in the Christ-Roi area of Port-au-Prince. It looks like a home-birth that went wrong. It wouldn’t have been possible for the woman to go to the hospital while she was in labour during the storm and I guess you could consider this baby’s death as an Isaac victim.

This update has been a natural disaster update for Haiti. Pray that the country re-builds taking things like tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes into consideration.

That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!

Karen Bultje, Coram Deo