Friday March 20, 2009

Hello again from Haiti. I do hope you are also enjoying reading the blog on PNN. If you go to the FOTCOH website (www.fotcoh.org) you will get a more medical perspective than I may be writing about at this location. I have enlisted the help of Holly Melroe to add more medical information to this blog. Message to Scott, I am putting Holly to work as requested. I have not found the rolling pin but there is one here so I am mindful of that.
Today we had a squirt gun war. Zech passes out several squirt guns and it got a little out of hand till our team leader, Lynn, stepped in to halt it. I found out that Zech had not taken his meds/ HMMMM! It looks like he and I will have to do a little talking soon.

Of course, in the middle of the day when we are the busiest so I had little time for him, Fortunately, Barb had rescued the soccer ball that I brought down for him, I had to stop and re-inflate it, of course. I did not break the needle this time as I have done in the past. His dad said that he had not been well but the clinic was closing and I kept getting pulled away so they left before I could get them seen. I have asked Jacky, one of the Haitians that work with us, to tell them to come back to be seen by a provider.

Did I tell you that we had a great time at Son-son’s last night? Apparently I missed the roof top after part here at the clinic. It is reported that it was complete with dancing to the voodoo music that was playing just outside the gates. I have added a few more pictures to the Google album on line.
Good morning- the joke is on me. It is now 5 AM Saturday and I never did get back to finishing this edition. I do not know why I am up so early on a Saturday as I know it was late when I finally went to bed. I spent some time late last light hunting the power switch for the pump to draw water up to the roof top tanks because they were empty. I looked all over the third floor balcony store rooms and could not locate it. Papa Dick tells me this morning that it is now outside by the air conditioner. Oh well, I tried.

I have no notes from Holly on the interesting medical cases to pass along yet. I did get a message from Scott, Holly’s husband, to beware of her rolling pin. Thanks, Scott, I have hidden the rolling pin that was in the kitchen, just in case.

Sadly, I must report that we are stating to get low on medications and still have several days of clinic left. I know we will run out of baby formula even though we brought down a lot of it. We are encouraging each mother to breast feed but the Haitian men will not support the women in that decision.

Today will be a half day of clinic. After we finish, 10 of the team will head to town on Son-son’s tap-tap for some sightseeing and shopping. The rest of us will go over to the Cyvadier Platz hotel around 4:20 PM for dinner and socializing. Speaking of shopping, we had an opportunity to shop just outside the gate late yesterday afternoon as Jacky had brought his paintings, wood carvings, and jewelry for our perusal.

The shower is open so I’ll post this and dash in before someone gets ahead of me. BTW, this team has really bonded well. There are no conflicts or personality issues, only smiles, hugs, jokes, and water gun fights.