Recap – PoE Mission #3, February 2013 – by Linda Brown MD MPH

Thank you for your accompaniment and prayers on our journey to Haiti.

Our team of 15 volunteers on this medical mission included Linda Brown, Nick Candee, Suzanne Bloore, Reid Boswell, Laura Carman, Michael Chesson, Jill DiOrio, Barbara Foot, Donna Gross, Steve Gross, Virginia Harrington, Gloria Korta, Carol Hollingshead, Bill Saunders, Kate Saunders. We also had 14 Haitians working with us in patient care: Dr. Alex Le Brun, Dr. Emmanuel Bastian, Nurse Roseline Telfort, and 11 translators.

With their help, we provided mobile medical clinics in the following locations near Leogane:

Day, Village, Number of Patients
2/4  Monday,  Mathieu – 142 patients
2/5  Tuesday,  Bonyotte – 170 patients
2/6  Wednesday, Fayette – 175 patients
2/7  Thursday, Sarbousse – 215 patients
2/8  Friday, K-Moncil – 170 patients

Total: 872 patients

We deeply appreciate all our donors, in cash and in kind, for going on this medical mission with us.

A special thanks for our dentist friends who donated novocaine, dental instruments, toothbrushes, toothpaste. We gave toothbrushes and toothpaste to almost every patient. As you may recall in our 2011 report, extraction is the only curative treatment available in remote locations. So we tried to offer prophylaxis and prevention. .

Ramzi Dinno, a pharmacist in Weston again donated pharmaceuticals (dermatological creams, eye drops and ear drops) to treat tropical problems.

Bob Bristol’s employer, Nova Biomedical, Waltham, donated 15 glucometers and supplies, which are a treasured resource in Haiti. These glucometers help patients to better control their blood sugar. When we gave a patient a glucometer, we asked that patient to also check the blood sugar for other people living in their village. On Friday, Michael Chesson did a screening clinic for diabetes, and we offered to check the blood sugar for any adult.

The Epiphany hand-crafted carry-bags were beautiful, a lovely gift from the women in our church to the Haitian women.

 

Logistics of our 32 checked and 15+ carry-on bags: about 2,000 pounds of medical and dental supplies hand-carried to the Guest House at HSC in Leogane.

To recap: for 872 patients, we filled over 4,000 Rx, and gave patients deworming meds, vitamins, toothbrush, toothpaste, anti-fungal creams. Most women carried these away in a hand-crafted Epiphany bag. On behalf of the 872 people we treated, merci beaucoups!

 

We thank our Lord for our journey to Haiti. We are all missing the warmth and work in Haiti. For many members of the team, our work was transformative. We received far more from the Haitians than we gave. God willing, we return to Haiti on 8 March 2014.

 

A Prayer for Tomorrow

Take me as high as you want me to go, Lord,

Make me whatever you want me to be,

Lift me above my own narrow vision

That I might fulfill your true vision for me.

BJ Hoff