Hello from Peoria
Thanks to Heather Smith, we have photos posted on a community website
www/photobucket.com Username: MarchTeam 2010 Password: fotcoh
Enjoy!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday March 25, 2010
Hello from Cyvadier
Supper is finished, bags are packed, inventory mostly complete, showered, sipping some nice red wine, and finishing up a wonderful team experience. We managed to see over 220 patients in out=r last half day. Lots of little ones. I am still enjoying making the older men and women giggle when I snatch their dossiers out of their hands as I prepare to fill the medication orders.
I ant to especially thank Carl Mikota for being a spectacular pharmacist and putting up with the old man these two weeks. We made quite a team and I would love to work with him again soon. I also want to that the rest of the team for all their help and support. And, yes, I will still be sending out some more of those emails that you grew to love.
This will be short tonight. The luggage truck is on it's way. We will get to fly from Jacmel to Port-au-Prince via Tortug (19 passengers) and MAF (5 passengers) planes. This tome I am on the small plane and that will be exciting.
We are all excited to be headed for home. We arrive in Miami sometime around 3 PM EDT and should be home by 10:30 PM CDT.
Thank you all for your prayers, comments, and support.
I hope to post pictures when I get home and have a better internet connection.
Supper is finished, bags are packed, inventory mostly complete, showered, sipping some nice red wine, and finishing up a wonderful team experience. We managed to see over 220 patients in out=r last half day. Lots of little ones. I am still enjoying making the older men and women giggle when I snatch their dossiers out of their hands as I prepare to fill the medication orders.
I ant to especially thank Carl Mikota for being a spectacular pharmacist and putting up with the old man these two weeks. We made quite a team and I would love to work with him again soon. I also want to that the rest of the team for all their help and support. And, yes, I will still be sending out some more of those emails that you grew to love.
This will be short tonight. The luggage truck is on it's way. We will get to fly from Jacmel to Port-au-Prince via Tortug (19 passengers) and MAF (5 passengers) planes. This tome I am on the small plane and that will be exciting.
We are all excited to be headed for home. We arrive in Miami sometime around 3 PM EDT and should be home by 10:30 PM CDT.
Thank you all for your prayers, comments, and support.
I hope to post pictures when I get home and have a better internet connection.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday March 24,2010
After another great meal from Ann, the team is relaxing. We saw over 430 patients today and have now seen over 2525 patients with one half day remaining. Pharmacy finished at 4:35 PM so we must be getting the hang of it. We expect around 170 tomorrow. Heather is our “bean counter.”
Today was Dr Nelson’s birthday but it slipped by without fanfare. We will celebrate it tomorrow at lunch. He did show off pictures of his new baby today. The boy is quite precious.
Several interesting cases were presented but I will not take away from the FOTCH blog. Kevin, our physical therapist, paid a visit to St Michelle hospital today. There is a group from Canada by the name of Healing Hands who are working there under tents and with pretty primitive conditions. They had paid us a visit last night and invited Kevin to come for a tour. At the same time, we transported a very sick young man to the hospital with possible meningitis.
We were given instructions for our return to Jacmel airport for the flight to Port-au-Prince on Friday. We will likely have to be at the airport around 7 AM. Our flight to Miami is somewhere around Noon on Friday but the Port-au-Prince airport is probably the slowest place to check into an airline that I have ever experienced. We will likely stand in line fo almost two hours in front of the American Airlines ticket counter. I am also told that we will have to remove our shoes three times and will not be able to carry any gels, toothpastes, shampoos, or lotions in our carry-on luggage. We will need to transport all of the bags and boxes back to Illinois and Washington for future team use.
In spite of the large numbers of patients, pharmacy has only run out of iodized salt and amoxicillin capsules. That, to me, is quite amazing. Dr Nelson found a great infant formula in Jacmel at $ 3.00 USD per can compared to the $ 25.00 USD per can for a similar item in the USA. Plus there were no shipping charges. The formula was made in France. I had a fear it might have been from China.
Computer work continues. I have cleaned up Dick’s computer, Boyer’s computer, Geral Jean’s computer and now Dr Nelson’s computer.
I need to close this, post it, and help with the FOTCOH blog. I may try another post tomorrow. Thanks for all the great comments.
Today was Dr Nelson’s birthday but it slipped by without fanfare. We will celebrate it tomorrow at lunch. He did show off pictures of his new baby today. The boy is quite precious.
Several interesting cases were presented but I will not take away from the FOTCH blog. Kevin, our physical therapist, paid a visit to St Michelle hospital today. There is a group from Canada by the name of Healing Hands who are working there under tents and with pretty primitive conditions. They had paid us a visit last night and invited Kevin to come for a tour. At the same time, we transported a very sick young man to the hospital with possible meningitis.
We were given instructions for our return to Jacmel airport for the flight to Port-au-Prince on Friday. We will likely have to be at the airport around 7 AM. Our flight to Miami is somewhere around Noon on Friday but the Port-au-Prince airport is probably the slowest place to check into an airline that I have ever experienced. We will likely stand in line fo almost two hours in front of the American Airlines ticket counter. I am also told that we will have to remove our shoes three times and will not be able to carry any gels, toothpastes, shampoos, or lotions in our carry-on luggage. We will need to transport all of the bags and boxes back to Illinois and Washington for future team use.
In spite of the large numbers of patients, pharmacy has only run out of iodized salt and amoxicillin capsules. That, to me, is quite amazing. Dr Nelson found a great infant formula in Jacmel at $ 3.00 USD per can compared to the $ 25.00 USD per can for a similar item in the USA. Plus there were no shipping charges. The formula was made in France. I had a fear it might have been from China.
Computer work continues. I have cleaned up Dick’s computer, Boyer’s computer, Geral Jean’s computer and now Dr Nelson’s computer.
I need to close this, post it, and help with the FOTCOH blog. I may try another post tomorrow. Thanks for all the great comments.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Hello to Donna
I tried to call you tonight on Skype. Checked all settings and my equipment seemed to be working okay. I do not know why you could not hear me. I just wanted to say hello. No big deal. I will see you on Friday.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Note to Donna
Yes, free hotmail would be a good way to contact me but this is working and I love hearing from you. You may get another phone call tomorrow night. I know this is a busy night for you. Very tired today. I was able to get a 1/2 hour nap after linch that helped. I hope for an earlier bedtime tonight.
Love you very much
Love you very much
Weekend in Haiti
Saturday night- Sunday morning
Sorry, I have been a bit negligent on the blog. When I get done with all my duties, I read my emails, check up on Facebook, and head for bed. No, I am still not sleeping well. I fall asleep, wake up when the power switches, wake up later with leg cramps, fall back asleep, and wake up at 5 or 5:30 AM when the lights come on in the kitchen. It is hinted that I avail myself of the I-Stat machine to see if there is an imbalance in my blood chemistry. Hmmm, do I really want Reg to stick me??
We saw over 350 patients on Friday and over 150 on our short day today. The last 24 patients may have not needed to be seen but the 25’th one really needed help. And our dentist, Kate, is pulling teeth and is as busy as we are in the pharmacy.
We walked to the beach at Cyvadier Plaz on Friday night. My legs were barking but we took a new route past the voodoo temple. It was quite interesting. I will try to post pictures when I can get the card reader to work once again. I had never been there before. I stopped at the hotel to see Christophe but he was busy. I did meet some of the Canadian rehab team and hope to talk with them Sunday. Next we walked to Son-son’s bar and ended up walking home in the dark. All of our shoes got muddy and Stephanie even managed to fall into the mud. I hope you are following the PNN blog through FOTCOH.org. Several team members are blogging and we are trying to post some pictures.
Good morning. It is now Sunday and the forecast for Peoria is freezing rain while here in Cyvadier it is clear, sunny, humid and only 80 degrees. The EDH power went off around 8 PM and we sat in the dark for several minutes while we scrambled for flashlights to be able to turn on the generator. On the second floor, some of the team played a noisy card game. On the third floor, the outside balcony was lined with chairs and all of the problems of the world were solved. Also on the third floor, the computers were going full blast and the library was filled with readers. It was nice to relax a bit. We were expecting a voodoo parade last night by the locals as Easter is approaching but we did not get to see and hear that special treat.
At Ti Moulage, Bill tried his hand at body surfing, thanks to an errant wave. He managed to meet the rocks with his chest, nose, and forehead. Here again, I hope to post some pictures. The FOTCOH band showed up at the beach and played for a short while. They seem to know when we are there each time.
I had to get in the middle of a loud argument in the pharmacy lobby yesterday. Belony was shouting at some one and that some one was shouting back. The argument moved outside and seemed about to escalate into a fight. Several people restrained Belony and the other angry man. I approached the man (first “Blanc” on the scene) and told him we would have to seek out Papa Dick. I walked him around the building, out to the gate, and back to the building looking for Dick. We avoided the pharmacy and I started upstairs to seek out Dick. Andreta, on of our kitchen girls, signaled with hand gestures that I should not bother Dick with this matter. After a few minutes of stalling, I came back out and sat him down on a bench. It turns out that he is now living in Seattle, Washington and is an artisan there. About three years ago he stayed at Belony’s home with his wife and wanted a refund of $ 250.00 Haitian Dollars. After I felt he had calmed down, I escorted him out of the grounds. Leave it to me to get in the middle if things.
Okay.o it is now late Monday afternoon. Where did the time go? I have been trying t get photos uploaded to the FOTCOH blog and the internet has not been the most cooperative. I just love Hughes net-not. I finally rebooted the entire system and it worked this morning but did not work last night.
Sunday we had a great breakfast of bacon and pancakes thanks to Bill and Kent. The prayer service wet well, I think. Man of the team headed for Jacmel to survey the damage. I managed a short nap the back to computer clean up.. I have Papa Dick’s done and Boyer’s done but still have Gerald Jeans and Nelson’s to work on. Nelson came to work today and promised to show me pictures of his new baby and then forgot me. Poor me!
There are a lot of sun burned team members from the weekend and many of them are presently on a hike u the mountain. Kevin, our physical therapist, came in to help in the pharmacy today. Pretty soon, I will have the whole team “doing drugs in Haiti”. Kev in and I did meet with the Canadian Rehab team at the hotel on Sunday night at dinner. They were supposed to stop by when they got done today at 2 PM. They start work at 9 AM. That would be nice. Christophe was very busy at the hotel during dinner but the food was excellent. The damage to his hotel breaks my heart.
My last patients today were very small babies whose mother and father were killed in the earthquake. Very sad.
My sponsor child showed up today and I loaded him down with some toys. I just realized that I failed to give him the cards from my grandchildren. He always manages to show up when I am the busiest.
Think I’ll close and post this. I am missing home quite a bit today.
Sorry, I have been a bit negligent on the blog. When I get done with all my duties, I read my emails, check up on Facebook, and head for bed. No, I am still not sleeping well. I fall asleep, wake up when the power switches, wake up later with leg cramps, fall back asleep, and wake up at 5 or 5:30 AM when the lights come on in the kitchen. It is hinted that I avail myself of the I-Stat machine to see if there is an imbalance in my blood chemistry. Hmmm, do I really want Reg to stick me??
We saw over 350 patients on Friday and over 150 on our short day today. The last 24 patients may have not needed to be seen but the 25’th one really needed help. And our dentist, Kate, is pulling teeth and is as busy as we are in the pharmacy.
We walked to the beach at Cyvadier Plaz on Friday night. My legs were barking but we took a new route past the voodoo temple. It was quite interesting. I will try to post pictures when I can get the card reader to work once again. I had never been there before. I stopped at the hotel to see Christophe but he was busy. I did meet some of the Canadian rehab team and hope to talk with them Sunday. Next we walked to Son-son’s bar and ended up walking home in the dark. All of our shoes got muddy and Stephanie even managed to fall into the mud. I hope you are following the PNN blog through FOTCOH.org. Several team members are blogging and we are trying to post some pictures.
Good morning. It is now Sunday and the forecast for Peoria is freezing rain while here in Cyvadier it is clear, sunny, humid and only 80 degrees. The EDH power went off around 8 PM and we sat in the dark for several minutes while we scrambled for flashlights to be able to turn on the generator. On the second floor, some of the team played a noisy card game. On the third floor, the outside balcony was lined with chairs and all of the problems of the world were solved. Also on the third floor, the computers were going full blast and the library was filled with readers. It was nice to relax a bit. We were expecting a voodoo parade last night by the locals as Easter is approaching but we did not get to see and hear that special treat.
At Ti Moulage, Bill tried his hand at body surfing, thanks to an errant wave. He managed to meet the rocks with his chest, nose, and forehead. Here again, I hope to post some pictures. The FOTCOH band showed up at the beach and played for a short while. They seem to know when we are there each time.
I had to get in the middle of a loud argument in the pharmacy lobby yesterday. Belony was shouting at some one and that some one was shouting back. The argument moved outside and seemed about to escalate into a fight. Several people restrained Belony and the other angry man. I approached the man (first “Blanc” on the scene) and told him we would have to seek out Papa Dick. I walked him around the building, out to the gate, and back to the building looking for Dick. We avoided the pharmacy and I started upstairs to seek out Dick. Andreta, on of our kitchen girls, signaled with hand gestures that I should not bother Dick with this matter. After a few minutes of stalling, I came back out and sat him down on a bench. It turns out that he is now living in Seattle, Washington and is an artisan there. About three years ago he stayed at Belony’s home with his wife and wanted a refund of $ 250.00 Haitian Dollars. After I felt he had calmed down, I escorted him out of the grounds. Leave it to me to get in the middle if things.
Okay.o it is now late Monday afternoon. Where did the time go? I have been trying t get photos uploaded to the FOTCOH blog and the internet has not been the most cooperative. I just love Hughes net-not. I finally rebooted the entire system and it worked this morning but did not work last night.
Sunday we had a great breakfast of bacon and pancakes thanks to Bill and Kent. The prayer service wet well, I think. Man of the team headed for Jacmel to survey the damage. I managed a short nap the back to computer clean up.. I have Papa Dick’s done and Boyer’s done but still have Gerald Jeans and Nelson’s to work on. Nelson came to work today and promised to show me pictures of his new baby and then forgot me. Poor me!
There are a lot of sun burned team members from the weekend and many of them are presently on a hike u the mountain. Kevin, our physical therapist, came in to help in the pharmacy today. Pretty soon, I will have the whole team “doing drugs in Haiti”. Kev in and I did meet with the Canadian Rehab team at the hotel on Sunday night at dinner. They were supposed to stop by when they got done today at 2 PM. They start work at 9 AM. That would be nice. Christophe was very busy at the hotel during dinner but the food was excellent. The damage to his hotel breaks my heart.
My last patients today were very small babies whose mother and father were killed in the earthquake. Very sad.
My sponsor child showed up today and I loaded him down with some toys. I just realized that I failed to give him the cards from my grandchildren. He always manages to show up when I am the busiest.
Think I’ll close and post this. I am missing home quite a bit today.
Friday, March 19, 2010
My helper today
The above is a picture of a boy who wandered into the stock room as I was working on some meds. He had been locked out of the pharmacy about 10 minutes earlier because he kept wandering under our feet as we worked. I thought he had left. He proceeded to unpack a box of meds and hand them to me. I stacked them into a column as I tought he would want to knock down as my grand children would do. It rained this morning but we still managed to see 310 patients and there was no one left outside tonight. Met with Canadian rehab team at hotel and hope to hook up with them tomorrow. Lots of interesting cases today. I walked to the Cyvadier Plaz hotel after we closed and met with Christophe and also the Canadian rehab team/ We had rum and cokes at Son-sons. He is out of Prestige.
Bed time again. I have not been sleeping well.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Thursday March 18, 2010
Only 345 patients today so you can see we are just loafing here. Ha. We even had two show up in their truck after closing and we will see them tomorrow. My friends, Nego and Ellen brought them from Seguin. Ooops, need to make a mad dash for the outside as it is raining here at 8:20 PM and the laundry is still on the lines. It has looked like rain all day long and there was a cool breeze when we closed the pharmacy around 5 PM and I sat out on the veranda and enjoyed a glass of white wine. This time it costs $ 6.00 USD instead of $ 10.00 USD. I’ll drink to that.
I hope to post some team members pictures along with this post.
Reg is settling in to the lab and Bill was also in there today. Carl and I have really enjoyed the extra help in the pharmacy. Matt, our medical student, came in today and did drugs with us and I had to pull the mooning joke on him.
I am not supposed to talk about Amanda’s cough so I will not say a word about her Reese’s chasers.
Ann is keeping us well fed, Tonight’s birthday celebration for Debbie went very well and the smoke detectors remained silent. Oh, what smoke detectors??
Tonight’s team complaint for the FOTCOH BOD is that there are not enough chairs outside on the third floor balcony for a team meeting.. Sorry, bit of an inside joke.
Pharmacy is still finding items in various boxes. Today the two cases of Penicillin VK 125mg.5ml appeared. That was about 1 hour after we needed a bottle for a child. I am still looking for the furosemide and I may try to purchase some tomorrow in Jacmel. That is the only item we are short of at this time.
People are here wanting to use this computer so I’ll say good night.
Oh yes, we are unable to view the blog at www.fotcoh.org from here for "server error:.
I hope to post some team members pictures along with this post.
Reg is settling in to the lab and Bill was also in there today. Carl and I have really enjoyed the extra help in the pharmacy. Matt, our medical student, came in today and did drugs with us and I had to pull the mooning joke on him.
I am not supposed to talk about Amanda’s cough so I will not say a word about her Reese’s chasers.
Ann is keeping us well fed, Tonight’s birthday celebration for Debbie went very well and the smoke detectors remained silent. Oh, what smoke detectors??
Tonight’s team complaint for the FOTCOH BOD is that there are not enough chairs outside on the third floor balcony for a team meeting.. Sorry, bit of an inside joke.
Pharmacy is still finding items in various boxes. Today the two cases of Penicillin VK 125mg.5ml appeared. That was about 1 hour after we needed a bottle for a child. I am still looking for the furosemide and I may try to purchase some tomorrow in Jacmel. That is the only item we are short of at this time.
People are here wanting to use this computer so I’ll say good night.
Oh yes, we are unable to view the blog at www.fotcoh.org from here for "server error:.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Wednesday March 17, 2010
Happy end of Saint Patrick’s Day. There was little celebration here as we saw 314 patients and I finished around 5: 30 PM. Guess I should expect that with the 8 providers. The pharmacy bench was long all afternoon and at the end we had some large and sick families.
We celebrated St Patty with some cookies and one large cookie thanks to our fine cook, Ann. She tried a new recipe on us this evening and it was very delicious. There was a portion for the meat lovers, vegetarians, and diabetics.
In late breaking news, we managed to get the I-Stat machine working thanks to Debbie Nord from Bloomington.
I should report that all of the team is back to good health and we are having a good time and caring for a lot of people.
I will close this tonight and get some rest.
We celebrated St Patty with some cookies and one large cookie thanks to our fine cook, Ann. She tried a new recipe on us this evening and it was very delicious. There was a portion for the meat lovers, vegetarians, and diabetics.
In late breaking news, we managed to get the I-Stat machine working thanks to Debbie Nord from Bloomington.
I should report that all of the team is back to good health and we are having a good time and caring for a lot of people.
I will close this tonight and get some rest.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday March 16, 2010
Wow, We started at 10:30 AM and finally finished at around 6:30 PM. We managed to see 223 patients in that time and were minus two physicians. One was tide up in meetings with some visiting dignitaries. The other was a little under the weather. No names to mention and, please do not become concerned. First day is always a challenge for all of us and we overcame every one of them. It seems extremely muggy this time maybe I am just getting older. As usual, we are eating very well. Bill Cicala and I are taking turns getting up at 2 AM to switch from EDH electricity to the Cat generator. Reg is in the lab, sticking small children's fingers and learning from Kevin. Heather is any place and every place where there is work and ended the day in the pharmacy as did Sherri. I promised not to report that they did drugs in Haiti or had anything to do with mooning. Carl is a wonderful help in the Pharmacy and I do hope he is enjoying his time. Our other newbie, Debbie, also seems to be adjusting to the heat, confusion, and fun times here in Haiti. All of the old timers are doing well and this is a marvelous team. Sorry I did not get he pictures downloaded. It is rapidly approaching this old mans bed time.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday March 16,2010
It is almost 9 PM. We are winding down from a long day. Encountered delays at Miami leaving. Had to circle PAP to land due to traffic. That was a shock. It took forever to get our luggage in the old, hot air freight terminal. One tote did not make it. We hope it will turn up soon. I flew Tortug to Jacmel. Hot and humid flight. Glad to see clinic is okay. Saw lots of tents in PAP and quite a few in Jacmel and several damaged buildings. Had lunch and began to unpack the freight that had arrived. Luggage truck finally arrived after flat tire along the way. Bags will wait till morning before we finish unpacking. Some pills packed today. I am tired and heading for bed after I try to get FOTCOH blog posted. I understand that WEEK played my interview from yesterday at the Peoria airport. I hope I did not screw up too much.
Love to all. Thanks for the prayers
Love to all. Thanks for the prayers
Friday, March 05, 2010
Packing Party
Our team packing party is this coming Sunday afternoon, March 7, 2010. We will have 14 of the 24 team members coming from Peoria. There are 3 coming from Arizona, 1 from Minnesota, 1 from Montana, and 5 from the Seattle Washington area. The team is blessed with many physicians, nurses, a physical therapist, two pharmacists, and several non medical members. Most of the team has been on missions in the past so this will be great group to work with.
I plan to update this blog as I have time before the trip, during the trip, and after the trip.
I am always happy to report on various team members so let me know who I can spread some rumors about.
The outlook in Haiti remains bleak. I am wondering what we will find when we get there.
I plan to update this blog as I have time before the trip, during the trip, and after the trip.
I am always happy to report on various team members so let me know who I can spread some rumors about.
The outlook in Haiti remains bleak. I am wondering what we will find when we get there.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Haiti Earthquake
The FOTCOH medical team for January is headed to Fort Lauderdale today and on to Cyvadier by charter planes. They hope to be operational by tomorrow. The need is so great there.
Dr Ron Bush and the Methodist Missions group from Michigan are trying to get to Mizak on Friday. They need supplies and medicines. If you want to help, please let me know.
Dr Ron Bush and the Methodist Missions group from Michigan are trying to get to Mizak on Friday. They need supplies and medicines. If you want to help, please let me know.
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