Tracking Ed Monroe as he travels to Haiti and other exotic(?) places

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Saturday night 7:30 PM

Saturday night 7:30 PM
We have just returned from the beach. It took 3 pick up trucks to transport all of us and our coolers. We encountered no problems along the way but there was a lot of traffic in the town of Cayes Jacmel when we passed through. It was market day and the market was full of people, produce, clothing, auto parts, and who knows (or really wants me to describe) what else. Let’s just say the smell was “unpleasant.” When we arrived at the beach, we noticed the continuing improvement of the place that we spend the afternoon. It is really coming along nicely and may be done by 2010 or so. The second floor is complete on the outside and a new wall and gate entrance is done. The stone work on the front must have taken days to chip the stones and cement into place. The restroom is till very primitive. The food consisted of a very small portion of lobster, some grilled white fish that was tasty, pickle, fried plantains, and beans and rice. We brought along Prestige and rum punch and a little soda pop. No one was lost to the sharks. We managed to help the economy with our purchases of art works and hats. Donna and I rode back in the first truck so that we could get our showers out of the way. Jane Gray had arranged with Lobtser man, Emil, to have a lobster roast here a short while ago and it was delicious. It was freshly caught spiny lobster and cooked before our eyes on a charcoal fire. Add a little lime juice from a fresh picked lime and there you have a Haitian treat.
On this shortened weekday, we managed to see 173 patients. Fortunately, we were able to be done by noon and are caught up on our packaging. I am pleased with the work flow. I did get an email from Mark Purcell with a copy of the next MAP European drug order. I will review it tomorrow and let him know if it needs to be adjusted due to products we have here and products which are slow moving this clinic.
I was just told to stop for a short break to celebrate James Bender’s 35th birthday. So I will be back to this later. I’ll go ahead and publish this much now. Or then again, maybe not, as others are complaining about slow internet and now a message that the satellite is not working.
I thought I would list the team members and what they are doing here at the clinic. Our hosts are Dick and Barb Hammond. Dick does it all here at the clinic. Barb handles all patient dossiers at triage, helps our chef in the kitchen, and watches over our two Haitian helpers. Courtney Barr is working crowd control. His wife, Leah Barr, is helping me in the pharmacy, doing fluoride treatments for dental, and helping out at scabies treatment. Eric Behrens is our team leader, His wife, Sue Behrens, is a nurse provider, assistant team leader, etc. James Bender works in triage and helps me in the pharmacy. Joshua Bradshaw is in triage. Dr. David Cross is a pediatrician provider and also sees adults as time permits. Keri Edwards is helping lab and dental and records filing. Her husband, Dr. Bill Edwards is another pediatrician who is seeing adults. Lori Fulk is our dentist. Jane Gray is doing crowd control. Mary Hedges is working in triage. Her daughter, Lucy, is doing fluoride treatments and scabies treatments. Dr. Garron Lukas is our surgeon. His wife, Sharon, is a nurse provider. My wife, Donna is working in the lab and helping with dental and records filing. I work in the pharmacy. Ralph ‘Chip’ Moodie is helping in crowd control. His wife, Jody, is a nurse provider. Kay Shank is another nurse provider. Her husband, Larry, is our chef. We will be joined next week by Bart Shields. He will work with Garron as a nurse anesthetist. Carol Steiner helps me out in the pharmacy. Her twin sister, Mary Steiner, is our dental assistant. Dr. Jeremy Ufert, Lori Fulk’s husband, is another physician provider. Debi Yandell is last but not least and is a nurse provider. I hope that I have not overlooked any one. For my pharmacist members, I am still trying to find out when Pepto Bismol was added to our formulary. I do have multiple requests from our female providers for Milk Of Magnesia. I am told it may be a personal request so I was able to serve it today at lunch on a prn basis. The report is that it is beginning to work.
Thanks to all of the folks who are writing comments to the blog and I have published them as I get them. Some of the team members are chiding me that they have to read the blog to see what is going on at the clinic. I hope to get some pictures from team members to post here. Donna and I did not even bring a camera on this trip but there are plenty around the clinic. This is a long blog so I will try to get on line, weather permitting, and publish this. Thanks again for your prayers and support.

3 comments:

Piper said...

Hi Ed,
Thanks for the daily updates. It makes me wish I was there. I really missed todays. Hope you had fun at Basin Blu...next time I go I need to make a trip there! I can't wait to hear all about Karnival!
Thoughts and prayers to everyone there!
Piper :)

Anonymous said...

Hey, Ed, I think you missed a team member in your rundown....
:(

Anonymous said...

hey, dad. just ha d a great snow weekend with the kids - went out to Suz and Brian's for ATV and snowmobiling. tell your anonymous friend to chill out and get a life for god's sake. what a baby. i personally wouldn't have responded to that idiotic comment. maybe they should do more than just go to work ebvery day and then they would understand that the "expected minimum" isn't really that noble...

anyway, we are all looking forward to your return - the kids asked about you every day. see you soon. we love you. C&H