Thursday-Friday July 24 25

Hello from Peoria again.
I thought I would finish the blog with some of the details of our last two days.

Early Thursday morning we awoke to a very pleasant surprise. Dan had prepared a breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon bits and onions and it was very tasty. I told Dan that he needed to make one without the onions as Jamie had been passing all of her onions to my plate each time she found one. Regardless, I do not ever recall having scrambled eggs during any on my previous missions. I missed the hash browns but you can’t have everything. Ha!
We had planned to see patients on Thursday for one half day. Jamie’s burn patient returned and she was please with the patient’s progress and the care given the child by the child’s aunt. We did discover a medication error where a patient received Tylenol for Tegretol but manage to get that corrected before the patient left the clinic grounds. We also had an incident with the treatment of Esperidon, the clinic caretaker. Some of the older FOTCOH people know him as “Don” or “Asparagus” as he and his large family are a source of conversation on each team I have been a part of. Jamie became very angry and stormed into the pharmacy. I figured that would be a great time to let Gary handle the issue and he allowed Jamie to vent her anger at him. When she left, Gary took a short break and returned as if nothing had happened. Jamie came back a little later and apologized to Gary and all was well in Haiti once more. With all of the pressures, heat & humidity, living with several strangers, being away from home in a Third World country, I am always surprised that people seldom get angry or upset so a little venting is sometimes needed. We ended the clinic by treating 118 patients on Thursday, making the grand total of 2005 patients for the mission. I know it was hard on the crowd control people to close the gate for the last time.
Dan had a great lunch for us and Sue had a short team meeting. Then it was time for inventory and putting the clinic to bed. I had great helpers in the stockroom, the packaging room, and the dispensing area and the inventory went very well. Inventory of the pharmacy and medical supplies is required so we can restock for the next mission. Inventory is never fun but we try to make it as fun as we possibly can.In the pharmacy, I had saved a lot of stock bottles with tight seals and also hundreds of desiccants. We used these to package the bags of prepackaged medications that remained at the end of the clinic so there would be some protection from the heat and humidity. After the inventory and clean up was finished, several took off for 1 more swim at the beach, some began to pack up their gear for the trip home, and some just read quietly. I spent the time tabulating the pharmacy inventory and checking on some items where I questioned the counts or could not read the hand writing. It is not the most exciting of tasks and I know that I dozed off at least twice during that period of time. I have since audited my records and made the necessary corrections that my dozing caused.I did not sleep well the last few nights in Haiti. I must have been ready to get home.
Our final meal is always worth waiting for as the Haitian girls. Neva and Andreta prepare a sauce with lobster, onions, tomatoes and other herbs and it is really good eating. After dinner, we took the bags that would be our checked luggage down to the pharmacy waiting area where they would be taken by truck early Friday morning (4 AM) to the main airport in PAP. Most of the team ended the evening on the roof gazing at stars. Come to find out that Jan & Jon had written a book on stars and Chris was also quite expert at picking out stars and constellations. Being further south in Haiti than in Peoria, the Southern Cross was visible and many of the team had never seen the Southern Cross in the night sky. It was a great way to end our day.
All were up early on Friday. Dan fed us one last breakfast of oatmeal. We did the usual routine of getting to the Jacmel airport very early. I did not pay much attention to the time but it seemed that we were there for over 1 hour before the Tortug plane arrived. Diedudone was there to see us off, as I knew that he would be. An older gentleman arrived. Eric seemed to know him as did Dick and Barb. He presented Dick with a container of eggs. That was funny as Dick and Barb were coming with us on the trip to Peoria. Carol, Bruce and Dan were staying back to do the laundry and shut down the clinic. They will be returning to Peoria on Tuesday. So Dick gave the eggs to Dan. I could just visualize TSA or USA Customs discovering eggs in Dick’s carry on. That would be a scene.
Our plane arrived and we wrote our names and birth dates on the manifest. Our carry on’s had been searched by a Haitian policeman and he passed the wand over the fronts and backs of each passenger before we could board the plane. The plane ride over the mountain was very hot and smelly. All of us were sweating profusely and the smell of the aviation fuel was nauseating. When we landed in PAP, the pilot opened up the front windows and all were glad to feel the breeze. We disembarked the plane and passed through the small airport in a hurry only to walk to the back of the rutted and wet parking lot to our truck which had brought the luggage over the mountains. We climbed into the truck for our usual exciting ride to the main airport. The driver managed to brake without warning and we all slide into the person next to us and then into the bags. It was just another Haitian memory for our memory bank account.
PAP airport was the usual mob scene of pushing and shoving to get inside the airport. We started to get into a long line and when we finally reached the first check point, Sue collected our passports and we gathered at an area near the AA ticket counter while she checked all of us and our luggage in with AA. That process went smoothly as did our passage through Haitian immigration and security checkpoint. Then it was time for one last Prestige beer and the famous Haitian Hot dog. Some folks purchased rum in the 5 pack carrying case and this trip there was the 15 star (best) rum. I had purchased 3 star and 5 star rum in Jacmel and David, Jan and Gary helped me get it back to Peoria as prizes for our upcoming fund raiser, the annual FOTCOH golf outing. We had lots of time in the souvenir shops. Gary found what he was looking for. He collects pharmacy mortars & pestles from all over when he travels and they had one in the shops.We went down to the departure lounge when our plane arrived and passed through the third security checkpoint. This one was manned by AA and we had to remove the laptops from our carry on and also remove our shoes. We waited quite awhile before our plane was available for boarding and we did not leave PAP on time but rather at least 30 to 40 minutes late. We had a fairly short layover time in Miami facing us. There was a first on this trip as Dick and Barb managed to fly First Class from PAP to Miami and then on to Chicago. They enjoyed that privilege greatly. The flight was smooth and we landed right at the immigration area. On my last mission our gate was a very long walk to immigration. We breezed through immigration and arrived at baggage claim. We had to reclaim our bags, pass through customs and then pass our bags back to AA after they had cleared customs. It is here that the people who purchased rum at the PAP airport can put it in their checked bags. We were told to go to carousel # 8 and our flight was posted on that bulletin board. Sometime later, it was announced that our bags were at carousel # 2 so we had to fight our way past a lot of people to get to carousel # 2. Some of our bags had been off loaded so we had to wait until all the bags arrived to collect our things. Amanda took of to return to Seattle, Washington. The time for our departure to Chicago was approaching rapidly when we finally exited baggage claim only to find out we had to go t another terminal and even worse, near the end of the terminal for our next plane. Plus, we now had to pas though TSA security. We were spread out in the TSA area when a TSA agent called us over to the first class check in and rushed us through so we could make our plane. We still had to play OJ Simpson and run through the length of the D concourse to get on our Chicago flight. That run was hard on Dick, I am sure. Fortunately, AA was holding our flight and we all made it before they closed the doors. Our flight to Chicago was a bit bumpy due to some storms in Florida but we manage to arrive in Chicago early. Too early, it turned out as our gate was not open so we sat in the penalty box for a bit before taxing to our gate. Most of us stopped at Chili’s for a quick bite of food. Jon took a stroll all the way to Gate G 11 to see the 8:30 Plane to Peoria off. That caused us a worry as we thought he had gotten lost. Our gate was G 4 and we left Chicago nearly on time and had a quick flight to Peoria, a long wait for our bags, some quick good byes and a fast drive home.
In reflection, this was a really great team to be a part of. Everyone worked really hard, we all got along well, we had no major medical problems with team members, some discomfort from the heat and humidity, few mosquitoes & other varmints, and over all a memorable experience for all of us.
I want to thank you for reading this. I did enjoy all of your comments. I especially like the fact that I was able to link you to the pictures. I still hope to put captions on a few and also to post more when I get them from other team members. Lastly, I would appreciate any and all support you could give to FOTCOH so that we can continue to care for our Haitian brothers and sisters. You can get more information about the sponsorship program or donations at our website : www.fotcoh.org
God bless you!
Ed

Friday before we depart

Hello again. It is so great to be in less pain for the upcoming mission. With the help of the Depo Medrol injection, my chiropractor, Mt Buettner, and the folks at Body Fitness gym, I have managed to go the entire week relatively pain free. Of course, when I over extend myself the pain returns to a lesser degree than before the injection. The difference is I know what to do to relieve it. I have taken much less Ibuprofen and tramadol this week than before so I am making progress.
The exciting news is the D. Jeremy Ufert, M.D. is joining us for the mission. I have served on 3 other teams with Jeremy and it is wonderful that he is available to come to Haiti with us. I have already hear from his wife that I am to watch over him so he stays healthy. On his last trip to Haiti, he became very ill and we had to send him home with his wife very early in the mission. I hope he has fully recovered. He and his wife have moved to San Antonio, Texas where his wife is teaching at an orthodontics school.
I am almost packed. I still have my back pack and carry on to finish. I was called to work at a pharmacy in Lacon, Illinois today and worked for 3 hours there and will work for 4 1/2 hours tomorrow. It is a test of my stamina and how well my back holds up to standing. Fortunately, I am able to sit down often and I suspect I will have to do the same in Haiti. I hope Dick has built that stool for me. I also have to pick up some items for Dick and Barb from their grandson but we are having trouble getting together. I'll try again tomorrow.
I do not know if I'll get the chance to post anymore until we reach Haiti so the next time you hear from me may be Monday night or Tuesday morning. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Thanks

March Mission to Haiti

Hello once again.
Here comes the March mission, rushing forward like the proverbial March Lion. We leave on March 23 in order to get to O’Hare airport for a 6:15AM flight from Chicago to Miami. Our small team is made up of 9 nurses, 2 non medical people, and your favorite pharmacist-me! There are 4 people coming from the state of Washington, 1 from Minnesota. 1 from Kentucky, and 6 (I think-I do not have addresses on two but I assume they are from Illinois) from Illinois. I am not sure, at this point, how many are FOTCOH experienced workers and how many are first timers. We do not have a USA physician. We will need to rely on Dr. Frantz Nelson. He is a Dominican Republic trained Haitian physician. He helps out Dr Garron Lukas, our FOTCOH surgeon, during Garron’s trips to Haiti. He also works with Dr Martinez, the Jacmel OB-GYN physician who has our operating suite in his office and lets us do surgeries there. So this will be a most interesting mission. I doubt that we will be able to do much in the way of treating new patients and I think our focus will be on refills for existing Haitians. It is a wait and see situation, for sure.
The geographical separation of the team is making it hard to get all of our needs shipped in our two 50 lb allowed baggage. For example, I have almost 280 lbs of vitamins and no way to get them in to Haiti on time unless I have them carried in. In times past, we have had bags seized by Haitian customs when they contained medications. The customs people want us to pay them a duty in order to get our bags. This causes a long delay and often costs hundreds of dollars. Not a good use of FOTCOH’s donations, for sure. I am still hopeful of a better solution. In the mean time, I will ship out the excess that I have so it will be there for the May team.
One other issue that I should mention is my health. During the Valentine’s Day week last month, I drove with my wife, my sister-in-law, my nephew and his girl friend to Dallas Texas for a wedding. It was about a 14 hour ride. The ride down was uneventful except for some ice we encountered around Springfield, Mo. We enjoyed ourselves at my nephew’s wedding. On the way home, I allowed my 47 year old nephew to drive my BMW X-5. He proceeded to drive around 95 MPH while returning calls on his cell phone. Needless to say, that made me quite tense. The next driver was my wife. She recently had cataract surgery on both eyes and this would be the first time she drove with her “new” eyes. Again, I got just a little tense helping her to navigate the St. Louis Mo. Interstate puzzle. We arrived home around midnight on Friday. Saturday was a great day and we caught up on a few projects. Sunday was a different story. My back and right leg hurt so bad I could not get out of bed to go to Mass. I went to my internist on Monday for my regularly scheduled yearly checkup. He prescribed a muscle relaxant. This did not make any dent in the pain. On Tuesday, I had a therapeutic massage and that gave me some relief. On Wednesday, it was off to the Chiropractor. Dr Mark has now worked with me regularly since and I am relatively pain free-IF I do lots of stretches and exercises. I have also been seen by a rehab doctor who specializes in spinal trauma. So now it is almost two weeks later. I am spending over 1 hour in the gym each day, doing lots of stretches, going to the chiropractor 3 times a week for bone cracking, spinal traction, and heat/ice therapy. I have just come from the spinal rehab doc and she will give me a spinal injection of Lidocaine & steroids on Friday, March 14.

That should ease the inflammation and pain and allow me to go on the mission as planned. I will have to figure out which exercises I can do during the trip and at the clinic to avoid the flare ups. There is a lot of arthritis on L-5. I must be getting older. HA!

As I stated earlier, this should be a most interesting mission. I hope I have not bored you with my medical problems. I also hope you will continue to follow the blog. I appreciate all of your prayers and support.

Saturday morning January 26

Hello from Haiti!

After a good nights sleep I am not quite as mad as I am sad. Very early yesterday, morning, one of my room mates, Raj. Decided it was time to get up. That woke me up. I waited till Raj finished in the bathroom, and then I got up, washed up, and got dressed. Imagine my surprise when I liked at the clock and it was 3:30 AM. So I lay back down and never did get back to sleep. So last night, after another great meal and our usual meeting, I was in bed by 8:45 PM and feel more rested today.

I know that this clinic, or any clinic for that matter, is not about patient numbers but is about serving those Haitians who come to us for care. FOTCOH has developed a monster in that we have patients returning clinic after clinic for refills of medication who still think they need to be seen by a provider in order to get more medicine. During this particular clinic, we have tried to establish a new procedure where some of our providers do a check on the patients and send them directly to pharmacy for refills and we give them a two clinic supply of medications. This new system is not a big hit with the Haitians as they complain about new problems AFTER they are given their refills. Another important reason is that the next team, for the March mission, has only 15 volunteers. They will have enough on their hands during that mission so we are trying to lighten their burden. Incidentally, I will be returning on that mission as there was no other pharmacist available. We are trying to recruit more pharmacists and we would appreciate help in spreading the word to any other pharmacist you might know. So, as you might suspect, the conversations between my pharmacy interpreters and the patients gets a bit heated and loud. It makes me glad, sometimes, that I do not speak Kreole so I can’t tell what they are calling me!

Back to patient numbers, yesterdays count was 435. Yes, folks, that is not a misprint. I do not believe that I have ever been part of a mission that saw over 400 patients before. In addition, we had a visit from the Haitian Connection people from Peoria who were on their way home to Peoria from working in Bodaire Haiti. That is way up in the mountains near the border of the Dominican Republic. We are getting tight on some medications. This problem with Lynx Air is serious and forces me to be creative and also to say sorry we do not have the medications. Sadly, it is Garron’s surgical meds, some comfort items such as stool softeners and eye drops, some baby vitamins, and some dandruff shampoo (that is a big problem here and the head is usually full of infection).

This morning, I am on the east side of the clinic watching a lot of storm clouds blocking the sunrise and heading this way. We may have rain at the beach this afternoon. We plan to shut down at noon and head for the beach around 1:45. Tomorrow, after a prayer service, a special breakfast, and a little rest, we will head for the pool at the Cap Lamondue Hotel for R & R.

I must say a word about my wonderful helpers this year. I was a bit fearful as the mission approached because my normal helper, Carol Steiner, would not be on this mission. However, Sharon Doran had helped last July and I was sure that Mary Hedges would do well there also. To my most pleasant surprise, they are not only doing well, they are doing SUPER well. We do get help from Carla Haycox, our nursing student who is doing the lab and giving my shots. I keep teasing her that she is doing my wife’s job and she just smiles and nods. Debbie Yandell, on of our triage nurses, also comes to help when triage is done. Chip Moodie and Jane Gray are assisting in pill packing. Oh my, the beautiful sun has burst through the clouds and I know that this will frustrate the English majors, but I had to tell you of it’s beauty.

It is time for breakfast and I MUST get a jump on the day as I left the pharmacy in shambles last night to rush to the internet to find out about my shipments. So I have a mess at the start. Everyone is well here. Garron is another year older, after his birthday party last night, but I will not tell you how old he really is. I am enjoying your comments and would love to hear more from you. I was tickled to death to see a comment from my wife. Thank you dear, very much! Please know that all of you are in our thoughts and prayers!

Friday afternoon January 25 5:11PM

I am boiling mad. I have just ended another day of over 350 patients-maybe even over 400 and I check my email before dinner-with a glass od cold Sauvignon Blanc wine or two. Incidentally, Jean Michel,one of our main Haitian employees and a Mormon minister, has joined me in hoisting a glass of wine. I nearly dropped the bottle when he asked for it. Ha! Back to the mad. On December 26, I shipped 10 cases of medications to Lynx Air and they got them on January 2 BUT they are still in Fort Lauderdale as they are "backed up" from the holidays. We needed those medications NOW not months later. I wish I were in the States to call them and vent my anger. I would never have dreamed that our meds would be this delayed. You can imagine my tone when I call them next week when I am back in Fort Lauderdale. WE HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER WAY. On the good news side, Dr.. Matha Willi, Dr Patel, Pharmacist Tom Rickey. Sister Rachel Bergschneider and some others stopped by today on their way home from their mission in the Haiti mountains. I ran out of the pharmacy, squirt gun in hand, and shocked everyone as I sprayed Martha with cold water. It was a riot!!! That team had a great mission and it was good to visit with them. It is an early supper tonight so I will stop and continue to boil!!!

Wednesday evening January 23, 2008

It is almost dinner time and I am going to start this now and finish after dinner. I have just had a nice shower, a glass of white wine, a few peanuts, and about ½ hour of just sitting at the end of my work day. Life is good-almost.

We are again experiencing internet problems. After we got out on the net this morning, we again experienced the problem of getting out and seeing the indication that there is a problem with our account. Help is supposed to be on the way, yet tonight. I’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Last night, I joined the boys on the porch about 8 PM and we finally struggled off to bed at 10:30 pm so it was a very short night. To top that off, we smoked a very nice Cuban cigar. I enjoyed the smoke but I can still taste it in my mouth. Last night, I brushed my teeth 3 times and the taste stayed with me. Bet you are laughing at me for that!!

On Tuesday, we did see 317 patients plus about 20 of Garron’s surgical patients. I am not sure, at this moment, the count for today. It was estimated in the millions but we had to cut off the estimator’s beer as it is affecting his estimates. I suspect it will be near to Tuesday’s total
.
Lots of screaming kids today made for one of the nosier clinics I can remember. So far, the only mosquitoes we encountered were on the bus in Port-Au-Prince. We did see a bat last night. Maybe he is keeping the bugs in check. The entire crew’s health remains great. Debbie’s ankle swells up in the evenings but is down in the morning. Sharon Doran seems to attract insect bites and we are wondering why she is the only one bothered by that. No speculation, please!

We have had interesting cases galore. I hesitate to write about them. I do not want you to worry. I do not want you to think about all of the sickness, stress, and conditions here. We had one small baby with HIV and that was a tear jerker. Today, we had a VERY cute 18 month old girl in the pharmacy line. She has a little backpack, a darling dress, pigtails with bows, and beautiful large brown eyes. Sharon beckoned to the child and she ran into Sharon’s arms. That lasted a short while and when I tried to get a picture; our girl decided that Mom was where she wanted to be. We tried for several minutes before we could get her to look at the camera. We put her down, to fill her order and she promptly decided to come back into the pharmacy and sit right in the middle of the traffic lane. That is like sitting at the center of the busiest intersection in your home town at supper time. The traffic did not bother her at all. She played with her stuffed toy, tried to make eye contact with Sharon, her mother, and even me. That was a real treat. We had several large families today. I think there were about 8 sets of 7 family members. That is a challenge for the pharmacy as well as the interpreters. We were not done tonight until sometime after 5. There was some sort of a crisis involving treatments late in the afternoon that slowed down the providers.

It is now early on Thursday morning so I’ll post this to blogspot. AsI told you earlier, our internet help is on the way and he arrived after supper and gave us the password so that we could log on. It seems that Hughesnet noticed the increased activity on this account and needed to check it out. I will help Dick to store it in a safe place. I need to write more but I want this out for you now.

Wednesday update January 2008

Tuesday morning January 22

Back again at the computer in the quiet of another morning dawn’s light. I had a restful night’s sleep as I went to bed just after 9 PM for a change. I was very tired after a very busy day here at the clinic.

Fist of all, I can report that my wife had her eye surgery yesterday and it went very well. Papa Dick allowed me to use the cell phone and I was able to call her just as she got back from the hospital. That surprised her very much and relieved my worries here. It seems strange that a cell phone call is the least expensive way to call.

After a great coffee cake breakfast by Larry Shank we began to tackle the task of setting up the clinic. Dr Raj and Sharon Doran helped me at the start and after lunch the rest of the team pitched in to help. We were able to package almost all of the drugs that are pre-packaged as our fast movers by 3:30 PM. In the seven or eight times tat I have been here, I have never been as ready to open as I am this morning. However, we are missing the six cases of product that I shipped out on December 26, 2007 and we will try to contact Lynx Air this morning to see what the problem is. I am very concerned about that.
Many of the team members went to the beach yesterday afternoon for a swim. As usual, I stayed behind to finish up and clean up from our set up. My goodness, that was a lot of up’s. Ha! Later in the afternoon some of the group of us who stayed behind walked up to Son-Son’s bar for an outing. For those of you who have been here before will know that is a rare thing for me to go to Son-Son’s. On my first visit to Haiti and my first trip to Son Son’s I lost the bridge to my glasses in the dirt and never did find it. So I resorted to try to make do by putting a band-aid on my nose so the wire bracket would not hurt as much. I was rescued by a local eye doctor who had come for a visit. He took my glasses back to his office and repaired them for me. So going to Son-Son’s is not among my favorite experiences. This time, we were met by the group who had gone to the beach and we had a nice time. A pick up truck pulled up to the bar, with a load of blancs. Blanc is the name we are given by the Haitians as a team of respect because they do not know your name. The driver of the truck was Michelle. She runs the orphanage nearby and has adopted the child named Cristala Belle. Christala Belle was the baby born in the latrine last July when we were here and we cared for the baby. Michelle will be bringing the baby in for a check up and I am vey happy about that.

Last night’s dinner was chicken pot pie and I managed to wolf down two helpings. I must have been hungry. I realize I forgot to tell you that our supper on Monday was one of my favorites. I enjoy the rice and beans and the tomato-onion sauce that is put over it. We finished up the left-over’s at lunch on Monday. Can you tell that I have not been down to breakfast?

This is quite an experienced team. There are only three people here for their first visit. Dr Wendy, Dr Raj, and Carla, our student nurse are the rookies. However, they have jumped right in to the mix and I know that they will do well. There are no strangers here. Only friends that can take the teasing. With that in mind, I must report that Jodie Moody was the recipient of the “Monkey Butt” award. This was given in recognition of her very bad rash that she acquired in May 2006.

It is time to eat breakfast and get to work. The internet satellite is down so I will not be able to transmit this until later. Darn, we can’t call the cable company to complain because we can’t get a dial tone to an outside line..

Here I am, back at you at noon. The satellite is still not working so that we can get out onto the internet. The lunch time gossip is that we have already let over 200 people through the gate so we will have a big day. The other news report is that there was an accident on the road between Port-Au-Prince and Jacmel last night and three people were killed and an unknown number are injured. As you know, that is the road that we were on the night before. We rode, in fear of such an event the entire route. We are still suffering from the absence of the six cases of medications that I shipped out on December 26 and delivered to Lynx Air in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on January 2, 2008. We are attempting to contact the people of Lynx Air to get our shipment here. It contains medications for surgery, baby vitamins, and some other very important items. It breaks our hearts to tell the people today that we do not have what they need on hand-especially on the very first day of clinic. We MUST look for other ways to get the medications here in time.

It is humid, warm, and sunny here as I take a lunchtime break. We called back to the November team leader this morning and she was busy shoveling snow off of her driveway. I am very pleased to report that the team is working very well and adjusting to the work load. It is always a little rough on the first day of clinic. The internet is still not up so I’ll get back to my post and publish this later.

Hello again. It is now early Wednesday morning and the internet connection is back. I will catch up with the blog later today but I’ll publish this now. What’s with this snow and cold in Peoria???

Monday morning in Haiti January 2008

Hello again from Haiti at sunrise. We have returned to Cyvadier, Haiti for another medical mission to the people of this area. We left Peoria, Illinois at midnight on January 19, 2008. The temperature was 1 or 2 degrees below zero and we were dressed for Haiti and not for Illinois. So we were quite cold as we loaded our 40 or so bags and totes into the bus. The ride to Chicago started out with a lot of excited chatter but it was soon quiet as everyone tried to rest. Surprisingly, I managed to sleep for about 1 hour of the 2 ½ hour trip. At 2:30 we arrived at O’Hare airport. We scrounged up 4 large baggage carts and hauled our freight into the lobby by the international ticket counter. We have learned, over the years, that there is one of the digital scales available for us to check the weight of our bags. Many were overweight and some under weight so we were able to redistribute some items to keep under the 50 pound weight limit. At 4:15 AM, the American Airlines people were ready to check us in and we had all done that and passed through security by 5:00 AM. The wait at the security line was a mere 20 minutes, even at that time of the morning and with 3 lanes open. It is always amazing to see how people act when going through the security check point. Some folks just do not have a clue, will not read the posted signs, and will not listen or follow directions.

After a delicious cup of coffee and a bite of breakfast from the airport MacDonald's we boarded the plane at 5:45 AM and had a pleasant flight to Miami. I managed another hour of sleep during the 3 ½ hour flight. It was raining and 66 degrees in Miami. We arrived at terminal E and our connecting flight was in terminal D so we only had a short tram ride in from terminal E and a short 15 minute walk to terminal D. We normally go out of terminal A which would have been a 20 or 30 minute hike. In terminal D, we were pleasantly surprised to find a Monitor bar. After 2 of those in a row, I needed to find some food. The wait for a Uno’s sausage pizza was almost 20 minutes and I am sorry to report that it was not worth the wait. The pizza was undercooked and quite blah! Our flight left Miami on time at 2 PM, at least, on time out of the gate. We taxied for a very long, slow time and were finally airborne. We arrived in Port-Au-Prince at 4:10 PM, passed through immigration and into baggage claim with our usual speed. Our baggage was coming off the conveyor belt as we entered the baggage claim area and Boyer was there to greet us. After all the bags arrived we were short on of Garron Lukas’s bags. The rest of us breezed through custom with out stopping and made it to the front door. We were halted there for several minutes to collect the group for our assault on the crowd at the airport’s exit doors. We were met bay several our Haitian employees who helped us to keep the crowd of Haitians, who were trying to help us in order to make money, away from our bags. There were two buses waiting for us and, after about 5 minutes of Haitian debate we piled all of our bags and carry-on’s into one bus and all of us into the second bus. Then, much to our frustration, we sat for 1 hour waiting for word from Garron about his bag. As dusk approached the mosquitoes invaded the bus and we spent a lot of time swatting at them. Finally, Garron arrived and we were off at twilight through Port-au-Prince at 6PM. Our trip through Port-Au-Prince was the usual stop and go, strange smells, crowds of people on both sides of the road, and wild and crazy drivers of cars, buses, trucks, and hundreds of motorbikes. The trip over the mountains was uneventful. You get used to the smell of hot transmission fluid and the smell of burning brakes. There was a full moon so some of the scenes of the mountains were picturesque. At about 8:40 PM we arrived in Jacmel and ran into Karnival so we had to back up and try another route through the city. Our driver did pretty well until he neared the iron market and we were stopped by a rah-rah band of about 300 fans. After a short wait, we arrived at the clinic a little after 9 and the bags were right behind us. Supper was at 10 and some relaxing until close to midnight, then it was off to bed for this guy. I awoke at my usual 5:00 AM and that catches you up to this moment.
Today, we will unpack our bags, the many cases of supplies and medications that have arrived, and set up the clinic for our patients. There are about 100 outside at the present and I am sure there will be many more by Tuesday when we will open. This is a very experienced team so we should have a good clinic in terms of serving the Haitian people. Our clinic is fully operational at the present. There are no known water of generator problems. The weather forecast is for humid days with highs of 85 and lows of 73 degrees. That will be a blessing. I am enjoying a beautiful sunrise as I write this on the third floor balcony, in a rocking chair. The goats who live in the property east of us are crying. Last night, one of the baby goats sounded so sad as we sat here and listened to its cries.
Thanks for reading this blog. Please keep us in your prayers as we are praying for you at each meal and through out the days. As always, your comments are welcome. Bonde bene ou!

January mission to Haiti soon.

Heello from sunny Florida. I am here resting up for the next mission to Haiti with The Friends of The Children of Haiti (www.fotcoh.org). We leave late Saturday night, January 19 and will return on Friday evening, February 1. This years team is made op with many experienced members and some new ones also. I will miss my wife this time, as she has elected to stay in Peoria, especially since I'll be making 3 missions in 2008. I believe that I have shipped all of the medications that we will need for this mission. I will have to carry in some supplies, however that I just realized that I had not sent. I'm looking forward to another great mission. I do enjoy my work in Haiti and I do believe we are making a difference in the lives of many people there. I will try to post to this blog on a daily basis-depending on how tired I am at the end of the day.

Sunday evening

I have some words on the day while the light is still with us. We had a prayer service early this morning at it went well. Kathy Roehm had sent along some songs that I thought Josh could play. It turns out that Josh does not read music after all. Jon Wagner, who had restrung the guitar with new strings, played “Amazing Grace” and “Just a closer walk with Thee” for the service. CJ, Barb, and Diana did the readings and the responsorial verse. Bruce read the gospel and brought it home for us as we server the Haitian people. Pancakes and bacon for breakfast and most were off to Bassin Blu. We had someone stay behind and require an IV but I have been sworn to silence unless the bribe money reaches an acceptable amount. I have picked on this team mate before and I enjoy teasing h__. Put your thinking caps on to guess whom it is. Ha Ha! I though about taking a nap while they were gone but I was unable to fall asleep so, for the first time since I have been here, I was able to relax and read one of my books. There was one injury from the waterfall and I was asked to apply triple antibiotic ointment to someone’s back. I hate these secrets as much as you do but let’s say I did nit mind the application. While I am into the teasing mode, I have to mention a pediatrician who still hates decimal points and continues to try to sneak in pediatric doses for full grown adults. She claims to just be testing me. I have also been teasing one of my dark haired pharmacy helpers that she often thinks too much-or was that stinks too much. I think it was one or the other.
Our trip to Ti Moulage was an adventure as there was some sort of a festival in Cayes Jacmel as we passed through and the one main street was crowded with people. We had our beach party outside of the place we normally go but that was the only difference. I brought along my backpack so the shoppers, and there were many, could purchase their art, statues, jewelry and rocks. I think CJ spent all that he brought, I had to loan Eric $ 20.00 and Dick and Barb $ 18.00. I spent a total of ZERO. I hope Donna will be pleased. The best bargain I saw were the straw hats at $ 2.00. The tee shirt lady wanted $ 8.00 per shirt and did come down to $ 7.00 but had no takers. We did buy some statues for the upcoming golf outing for FOTCOH. Have yu made your reservation yet? Have you volunteered to help FOTCOH at the golf outing. It is on August 6 at Arrowhead country club amd you can let Mary Hedges (mary123158@aol.com) or leave a message with Larry Shank at 691-4846. We really need your help. This is FOTCOH’s biggest fundraiser and we do need the money. But I need to go back to the beach story. The water temperature was near 85 degrees based on my experience with our 86 degree pool in Illinois, There was a strong undertow so we asked all not to swim out too far. The waves about 100 yards out were still around 4 to 6 foot. The beach wmore crowded with Haitians than I have seen in the past. The funny looking house with the blue concrete filled barrels for pillars has been worked on and all of the cement sacks that were mixed into the flooring were covered up with a new layer of concrete that looks like a product called dryvet in the states but this was gray in color so it may have been cement. The food at the beach was delicious as ever but a few team members, no names mentioned-darn, had queasy stomachs and did not eat. One of those queasy folks just stopped by and told me I could release her name but I am a good boy., right?
One of the most interesting things at the beach was the appearance of two water spouts and the beginnings of a third one. They were part of a cloud formation that appeared to me to be about 5 miles out into the Caribbean and headed westward and not towards us. The first one lasted about 10 minutes and then the second one completed its formation and it lasted about 8 minutes. That attracted the attention of the entire beach population. Everyone agreed that is was unusual. I understand that a waterspout is a precursor of a hurricane so I’ll need to check the weather forecast. Our ride home was the usual bumpy ride through the crowds at Cayes Jacmel. When we arrived at the turn off for our compound, the people in the streets cheered us and that made us feel good. The ride in and out of the compound in the truck and tat tap is an adventure in trying to dodge the vegetation that hits the passengers as we sway back and forth under the trees. To our dismay, we found some of them have thorns. Ouch! So now it is dark and we are trying to stay cool. A shower is in order for me. Poor Sharon rode home in the tap tap directly under my arm pit and there was little I could do but apologize. It is time to go, fill requests for aspirin, steroid cream and triple antibiotic ointment. You would think they would be able to find it themselves. Ha! There are 3 full days and one hectic half day left. I still hope to see our new sponsored child and have spoken to Boyer about it. Wish me luck on that one. I did get some news from my family today and I feel better about that. Keep us in your prayers. We prayed for you today

Friday the Thirteenth

Friday the 13th

It is a little after 5 AM, and it is nice a quiet and the sun is beginning to light the sky. Last night was Hamburger night and I recalled how that was Chip Moodie’s favorite meal. They got started late cooking them and I don’t know why because no one left for the beach or Son-Son’s. The burgers were well done but tasty anyhow. Our normal bakery is closed so we actually ordered buns in town and they were made for us. I understand that this bakery will only make buns by special order as only the blancs eat the buns. We had over night guests. Now that has happened before when a very sick blanc was brought to the clinic. This time it was a Haitian lady and her friend. Her asthma was so bad when she came in early yesterday. She came in at a time when our generator was down due to a broken belt and we had no power. You may recall that we have power from EDH via the lines from 2PM till 6 AM and then we use a Cat generator for the power. Thankfully, I could hook up her nebulizer to the large tank of Oxygen, and thankfully I remembered to bring along the regulator this time. She stayed here all day with her friend and some team members got up over night to give her treatments, Yes, she did eat with us. I forgot to mention that we had another of my favorite Haitian foods, the beet potato salad. I do not remember it as having the kick of a hit of hot peppers but it did. I also found out that it has quite a bit of garlic. But it is tasty…
As I recall, I was to tell you about the visit from the police. Early in the morning two Haitian police arrived at the clinic as patients. It caused a small stir, as I understand, and they were rushed through the system and the pharmacy line. I was handed their dossiers and got them filled and brought them out to my interpreters. The man with the family smiled, shook my hand, and thanked me in English. So, see, there was no police problem but I may have gotten the attention of team members families who may be reading this.
Our team meeting started after the hamburger feast. There is a pharmacy issue but Dr Bill and I put it off due to the lateness of the meeting and the need to keep checking on our patient. David Coleman was assigned to be the enforcer of the provider benches and that worked out well until he moved out of sight and then the Haitians rushed to the provider benches. It has to be hot for them and there is very little shade in the staging area outside the compound and not a lot more where the providers are sitting. I think we will continue to use an enforcer in that area. One of my interpreters took an extended lunch hour yesterday. Pharmacy was already backed up from a heavy morning load and that put us further behind. I did a quick run outside and could not spot him so this morning will be a lecture time. My pill packing girls have, for the most part, kept us up. I did not need to use team members to package last night. Hooray!
Another tidbit that came out of the team meeting was a comment about our Haitian physician. It seems that two young Haitian women came to triage to be seen. They did not present with any discernable symptoms (chief complaints in our terminology). They, both, insisted that they must see Dr Nelson and no one else. It turns out they wanted to have “a relationship” with the young doctor. When asked about the incident, the doctor told us that he was still learning.
The pill counting machine is officially dead. I asked Dan Hoehne to look at it and the circuits are fried and corroded. So the pharmacy committee will have to address that issue at some point or seek a donation of another machine. Last night, at the team meeting, we were discussing how our patients consistently seem to have elevated blood sugar levels and blood pressure levels due to the fact that they had not taken their medications. They claim that they ran out. Our suspicion remains that they feel that if they come in with the levels regulated by the medicine that they will not be seen nor be given more medications. I am going to suggest to the pharmacy committee that we, somehow, ask them to bring n their medication containers, both the empty ones and the partial ones. That would give us some indication of how the medications are standing up in our packaging and also if they are taking the meds at all. I just do not expect that this will be easy for us.
I’ve had no inquires about the squeeze issue, the lips issue or the rash issue yet so the auction remains open. Today, being Friday the thirteenth, some of the team is going to the voodoo ceremony that the Haitians will put on this evening. I think I’ll pass on that, sit here on the back porch with my Prestige beer, and think about home. Speaking of home, what is the Ray reaction to the cigars?? Let me know, please.
One last joke on myself, not only did I fail to bring along the correct file on my flash drive, and that I have been waiting for my son to go to my home and email it to me, but there is more. Last night, I was looking through some old files on this laptop and came across the file where I had calculated out the dosages for the Chloroquine liquid for children. It is aggravating that I have spent a lot of time, and frustration, calculating each child’s dose when I could have posted the chart and supervised the dispensing. As Dr. Nelson said, ”I am still learning”. Sun’s up, EDH is on, and so is breakfast. Love from Haiti!!!

Thursday 5:30 PM

Just a short note as I am happy to sit down. Pharmacy is closed. I had extra help in reducing the line and we were done at 6 PM. However, for anyone who has been here, imagine 10 people in the pharmacy trying to fill orders at the same time. Or, for you h=who have not had the pleasure, picture a 15 x 15 foot room with shelving and then 10 people with trays. Cramped? Noisy? Confusing? I am, however. most grateful for the help. I was really getting tired.
Later this evening or in the morning I will discuss the visit by the Haitian police. I may make mention of Marna's squeeze, Becky's lip, and Sue's rash. Of course, I could hold that information and sell it to the highest bidder.
I did have to remind a provider that she was a medical provider and not a lawyer when it came to shingle. I've encountered some interesting dosing when one forgets a zero here or there or even a tiny, insignificant decimal point. Also today in the pharmacy, I was just about given a flying bird by a provider. I leave that to your imagination.
The news I do want to share concerns a baby that I just saw. She was born Sunday and dropped in a toilet (yes,a latrine). The baby was rescued by the actions of an alert 17 year old. He had seen the pregnant lady and just a little later noticed her leaving and trail a path of blood. The UN assisted, broke into the concrete and lowered a Sri Lankan soldier down to rescue the child. Luckily the toilet was almost brand new and not as gross as you might be imagining. She came last night and tonight for a shot of antibiotic. She was adopted by an American family that has an orphanage here. The baby's name is Kristala and I may not have spelled it correctly but it means, in Kreole, Christ was here!
With that said, it is time for a Prestige or something stronger. I have to stop crying!!!

Wednesday afternoon

I am outside on the balcony, my favorite place here, enjoying the breeze and blogging. We would have been done today at 5 PM but I stayed to fill the prison order. More on that a little later. First and foremost a note to Donna: I miss you very much-especially today at lunch when Dan served potato soup. Almost made me cry! It’s harder this time for me than in the past trips by myself.
In other news, there was a problem with a certain female physician and her delicate garments. I was advised not to divulge many details as it might even embarrass me! Why is it that I always seem to be around when these incidents happen? Also today, one of my female pill packers was complaining about pain in her rather large breasts. I asked my interpreter for help in determine what she wanted me to do as I could not FULLY understand what she was telling me. After the translation, without further delay, I rushed her to Sara Baysinger’s bench so that I would retain my clean cut image! Ha!
At noon, when we tried to close the door and take a break, we had not one but two instances of people entering the pharmacy after they were told that we had closed and demanding service. The last one, I found out later, had pulled that act at every station in the clinic and we all fell for it. Oh well!
On the medical front, the Phenytoin issue has arisen and will be an issue at the next medical advisory committee. And then there is the prison issue. We were asked to visit the local jail this mission. Dr Bill, Sue, Dick, Eric and Dan H. made the trip. The word is, do not end up in Jacmel jail. It is retched. I filled the medication orders and almost all had worms and malaria. All were given vitamins and iron. There were some strange orders but this is not the vehicle to carry that knowledge. All of the inmates, male and female, are housed in the same area but there is restricted access that keeps the gang rapes in check.
I had addit onal help in the pharmacy today. I asked Sharon to come in and fill orders and she did very well. Dr Elsa also volunteered this afternoon and I had her calculating doses for chloroquine, Ivermectin and vermox. She also was a trooper and excelled in her work. At this moment, there are several people helping me package pills.
I seem to have drawn a crowd at my spot so I will run this through the spell checker and get it published.

Early Wednesday

It is another beautiful morning on the balcony. As I sit on the rocking chair, a nice cool breeze from the North floats over me and the sun will soon jump out of the ocean. I managed to rig up my fan so that it blew cool (?) air over me last night. I propped it on the headboard and aimed it on my body. The fan is tall and somewhat square in shape so it stayed out all night. I realized this morning that I am not hydrating enough as I have slept two nights in a row with out awakening to urinate. So it is more water for me today for sure. Carol and I remind each other to drink but not often enough for me, it seems. There has been nobody being sick so that means health is excellent. That is a good thing.
The fishermen are rowing their boat around the point now. Today there are only two men on board. The waves are crashing on the rocks and there is a constant sound, like a big jet plane passing overhead, coming from the nearby rocks.
Time for some more coffee. It is fluid, isn't it.

Welcome to Haiti

It’s Tuesday morning at 5:15 AM. The sun will be up in about 30 minutes. I am on the third floor balcony looking out to the Southeast. There is a small boat out on the water with 3 men fishing. The skyline is gray with the morning haze. The small breeze is refreshing and nice. It is probably 15 degrees cooler outside than in side the clinic so it is fun to sit here and watch the sun come up as I type.
On Sunday night at 11PM, I left for the airport. About half way there, I realized that I’d not packed my passport so we turned around and returned home to retrieve it. No matter, our bus did not show up until midnight. It took just a short while to load the bus and we were off on this adventure. The bus ride was uneventful. The DVD of “The Simpson’s” was the movie. I dozed a bit after that as it was hard to doze with the noise. We arrived at O’Hare at 3 AM. There were, already, several people there and a couple of large groups ahead of us in line. When we stated to check in at 4:30 AM we encounter our first problem. American Airlines, with its announced embargo, would not take our tote containers that we had specially purchased in response to that embargo. They told us that totes are, boxes and no boxes are allowed due to the embargo. It took many calls and almost 1 hour before we were allowed to check in. Whew. We managed to get checked in, through TSA security, etc with minimal problems. I had failed to remove my quart sized bag of shave cream so my bags were checked by TSA and I did not loose the product. Fortified by Starbucks coffee, we got on a full flight to Miami and arrived on time at the D concourse. Our next flight, in 3 hours was from the “A” concourse and that meant a 20 minute walk between terminals for our exercise. We ate lunch at the Mexican restaurant and Jane Mai, a second year medical student from Tampa, met up with us. She is a lovely young oriental who, influenced by meeting Dr. Paul Farmer, was inspired to work in Haiti and found out about our team. She is friendly and personable and will be a great asset. On a side note, this team has come together quite well and it will be another fun adventure.
Our plane was late and full leaving Miami. What else is new? When we arrived in Haiti, we cleared immigration in record time and I complimented the agent on the swiftness of the process. That was a mistake as it took more than 1 hour for our plane to be unloaded and, to our joy and surprise, our containers were the last to be unloaded in typical Haitian fashion. Now the process begins of getting your bags and boxes and get through customs. Someone else had my container so I switched with her and faced the music. After I had to show the agent how to open the ties-much to his surprise, he merely pawed through the box, picked up the bag of very powerful injectables, much to my dismay, and promptly put them back neatly and I was on my way. About 8 of us seemed to be targeted for inspection but no seizures and no customs charges. Yeah!. We departed the terminal, into the mob of people and our Haitian helpers guided us to the truck that would take our luggage to Jacmel and also take us to the small airport. We loaded up, like sardines in a can, and raced to the other end of the airfield. It too Carbintair about 45 minutes of Haitian stalling for us to get on the two small planes for our 18 minute flight over the mountains to Jacmel. Dick, Barb, Bruce, Dan, and, of course, Digone met us at the Jacmel end. We loaded our carryon and ourselves into the two trucks for the short trip to the clinic. Jean Michel, Eric and I rode the back bumper and Jean Michele and I chose to walk from the min road back to the clinic as Son Son’s Tap-Tap was dragging bottom as we drove over the rough rocky ground. It was fun to spend that time with Jean Michel, one of our main men, here in Haiti.
The clinic was as clean as ever and the new team members marvel at our luxurious accommodations. I began to uncover the pharmacy and prepare it to open. We ate one of my favorite meals, Thanks to our Haitian cooks, of tomatoes, onions, lobster in a stew, with rice and beans and pickly, the hot Cole slaw. It was a nice welcome. Our main bags arrived at 10 PM and we had them broken down in about a half hour. There was some leakage of shampoos inside the bags and boxes but no real damage that I can see. A quick note to the pharmacy committee that the new light bulb did not solve the problem with the pill counting machine so I will have some one here look at it but I will not count on it for this mission. Soon it will be breakfast and off to work. We give thanks to God for our safe journey here and for the many blessings He bestows on us.

Here in Haiti

We arrived late into Port-Au-Prince but were able to catch the plane to Jacmel so you know we have arrived safely. I am very tired and have been up now almost 45 hours so this will be brief. I just wanted you to know that we got here. I'll write more about our adventures tomorrow when I am rested. Yes it is hot and sticky. I am sweating quite well, thank you. Please know you are in our prayers.

Soon to be off

Tomorrow we will begin the July mission to Haiti. I am excited that I can return to assist the people in the Jacmel area as best that I can. I am hoping to meet up with Brother Nego. He is a youth minister in Jacmel. We've corresponded via email so far.
Our packing party went smooth but my bags are very overweight so I've had to remove some soap. baby blankets, lotions, food, and other items in order to accommodate some last minute medications. I hope we do not have problems at customs!!! Our new tote boxes, in response to American Airlines cargo embargo, do not hold as much bulk and 50 lbs comes very easily. Our weather forecast is for hot and muggy conditions. Please keep us in your prayers as you are in mine.

Pictures from February 2007 Mission

Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/edmonroe316 for more photos.

Team preparation for July Mission

We will soon have our second team meeting for the upcoming July medical mission. We will have a team made up of some first timers and some old timers. It should be a fun trip. Today I heard that the April-May team had some problems with American Airlines and did not get to arrive in Haiti until later than planned. That forced them to spend the night in Port-Au-Prince. They were also expected to arrive in Jacmel late this morning so that will cause them problems today. I'll keep you posted as I hear more.