Haiti  - Epiphany Med Mission 3

FIRST MEDICAL CLINIC DAY – MONDAY
by Barbara Foot

Sunday evening brought lots of pill counting and efforts to get organized for Monday.  A few enthusiastic Super Bowl fans (Reid, Nick, Jill and Barbara), tried valiantly to tap into a live stream to catch the end of what sounded like a great game.  Unfortunately, our best effort met with a message stating that our location precluded us from receiving the stream (imagine Leogane not making it onto the NFL screen!).  Ever optimistic, we proceeded to “watch” (?) the end of the game by staring at the computer screen watching the play-by-play in written form – no pictures, no sound, just the posting every few seconds of the last play and where the ball was on the field.  We realized we looked pretty ridiculous staring at the screen sitting on a wicker bench in the Hopital Ste. Croix guest house in Leogane - but, as they say on the Bud Light commercial, “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.”  And it did - not quite the same as watching it live but we got the outcome as it played out. 

After counting pills and packing everything into 5 extra large duffel bags Sunday night, the team was up bright and early Monday morning, anxious to begin our first clinic.  We loaded up the trucks with supplies, interpreters and team members and set out for Mathieu, a location approximately 30 minutes from the Hopital Ste. Croix.   The site was the open space between a beautiful Episcopal church that had been severely damaged in the earthquake (and is slowly being repaired) and the accompanying school.  Fortunately, there were tarps spread across the space that provided much appreciated shade.  School was in session, so we met with patients to the backdrop of children’s voices and elementary school lessons (no windows in this warm climate), and enjoyed distributing crayons, toothbrushes, and stickers to the enthusiastic children in their neatly pressed uniforms once classes finished for the day.

Despite the high number of novice team members, all went pretty smoothly.  Patients were first registered by the head translator and given a number.  They then went through triage for blood pressure, temperature and a health history, including reasons for today’s visit.  Triage was led by Donna, NP, with Virginia, LPN, and alternately Kate, Bill, Jill and Suzanne.  After triage, they answered a very short survey set up to capture a snap shot of how life is now compared to the past year.  They then met with one of the 4 physicians and/or the dentist for diagnosis and prescriptions.  Once they received their medications from the pharmacy, they were counseled by Mario, our Haitian “chief organizer/coordinator” on how to take them and set off, carrying everything in one of the beautiful hand-made bags from women at Epiphany. 

The pharmacy was a well-organized machine under Carol’s methodical direction, with medicines spread out across 3 long pew benches.  Each team member working directly with patients had a translator and they were indispensible in terms of bridging the language gaps.  Triage went without a hitch, with different team members shifting in and out throughout the course of the day.  The doctors and dentist set up stations in an open space behind a makeshift screen and efficiently saw over 140 patients with a host of health complaints. 

After we returned to the guest house last night, and everyone had a chance to shower, relax and swallow a dose of Nick’s favorite Haitian medication (ice cold Prestige beer!), we met to debrief over the first day.  All in all, everyone seemed very pleased with how it went – the few kinks were worked out pretty quickly and we figured out how to do things even better on Tuesday.  The most interesting part of the conversation focused on people’s impressions of the day.  Having worked alongside Steve on administering the survey to all adult patients, I was amazed at how open people were in meeting with us and discussing the challenges that they continue to face in general, and more specifically following the devastation of the earthquake and more recently this fall’s hurricane Sandy.  Most had no work to report, most were living in damaged homes or temporary make-shift homes built with materials provided by international organizations after the hurricane (now 3 years ago), and many had multiple health complaints.  The lack of work often means no tuition for children to attend school and difficulty securing adequate food.  Almost everyone reported their lives were getting worse this year compared to last.  And yet, in the face of numerous challenges and no obvious means to improvement, the individuals and families that we saw seemed incredibly resilient.  Many attributed this to their faith, and all seemed determined to persevere.  It was quite humbling to listen to their stories and to have them be willing to share them with us – perfect strangers.  Hopefully our presence, a warm smile, some very broken Creole, and a gentle touch repaid some of this trust and helped to bolster their sense of hope and faith, even if in a very small way.