Hello from Haiti 3-15-11

Hello from Haiti. For our first day here we saw 324 patients. I am sure that is a new record in lots of ways. It is the first time that I can recall that we were ready to open at 7 AM on day 1 of a clinic. We were not quite ready in the pharmacy but survived.
Another first was a prayer service at opening. Boyer wanted to lead a moment of silence in honor of our team mate, Gary Paulson. Gary made several trips to Haiti with FOTCOH and passed away over the winter. He was a dedicated worker and a great friend. Boyer, our main man in Haiti, asked the crowd to observe a moment of silence and pointed to his ears so they would understand who he was referring to. Gary had a hearing aid in both ears and they seemed to know him from that gesture. After the moment of silence, one lady in the crowd began to say the Rosary in Creole. The prayer, with responses from the crowd, lasted over 30 minutes and those team member who witnessed it were in awe.

Our flights here were uneventful except for the volunteer who had problems with American Airlines. It seems they did not record her credit card when she made her reservation. Long story-short: she ended up in Puerto Rica sleeping on the floor at the airport in PR, flyibg the next day to Santo Domingo and then on to Port-au-Prince. She arrived there 1 hour before us. We lost one bag, which is now in PAP to be picked up.

There are some problems with the January inventory but we will also survive that problem. Team is wonderful to work with. We have 4 rookies and they fit in very well. There is lots of laughter and merriment outside as I write this note.

I hope to add some pictures tomorrow but for now, I will head for bed.