I wanted to put this on the Sunday morning post and forgot. You might enjoy reading this article. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/haiti/16725382.htm
We were there. I was also reminded that we had a Haitian band show up at Cap Lamando and they were good. We listened, danced, and enjoyed. We will also be monitoring today's Daytona 500. There are some race fans here. We also hear there is an NBA game of note today that we hope to catch. Maybe, just maybe, we wil trun on the television.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Early Sunday morning
Bon Jour-Good Morning! Today will be a day of rest for this writer. Many team members will go to Bassin Blu, the waterfall, later this morning. After the waterfall, the next trip is to the beach at T Moulage. As for me, I plan to relax, read, and enjoy a day off with very little to do. It will serve as recovery time as the clinic winds down.
Saturday morning started with a heavy rain storm just about 7:30 AM. The rain lasted about 45 minutes and it made the day even more humid. It also made for more mud, dirt, rocks, and other landscape materials to be tracked into the clinic. One of the ironies is that the Haitians often take off their shoes outside the door and soon there is several pair outside that everyone must maneuver past to enter or exit. Haitians are, by culture, afraid of the rain. We had some canopies outside the compound and a tarp over the triage area for shelter. The providers are located on a portico with a new cement floor so they were relatively dry.
After the rain, with the limited amount of soil, there was very little mud. This area has very little top soil. I was remarking to Chip Moodie, who farms near Bradford, Illinois, about soil quality. We both agreed that the soil near Bassin Blu seemed very rich and we observed a planting of beans as we walked to the waterfall. There is an area on the way to Jacmel from Cyvadier that we pass that appears to be a crop raising area. Ooops, I’ve let my mind wander to another area instead of finishing my description of Saturday. We ended the day having seen160 patients. That brings our total to 2607 for the mission. Garron Lukas, our surgeon, performed 17 surgeries during this mission. He was only able to perform one on Saturday as the lady who was supposed to have a breast removed did not show up for the surgery. There is always a last minute demand by our Haitian helpers to have some family member seen on the last day, or to come up with some medical problem that day so that they can get some Motrin, or vitamins, or Tylenol, or some other medication. It takes me a long time, on the last day, to exit the pharmacy. The last day is also a hard day in the pharmacy as we do not want to package more that we need for the day as we will have to take it out of the packages for storage between clinics. So it is packaging in small lots for the pill packer which is hurry up and wait situation. I am so grateful for the work of Carol Steiner in the pharmacy again this year. She is a hard worker, never complains, works with a smile on her face, is very careful with her filling of orders, and a great blessing to me. I found out on Saturday that she will return with me on the July mission. HOORAY! I also want to acknowledge James Bender. He came in from triage, after it calmed down, and helped fill orders so we could keep our pharmacy bench cleared. He could also administer the injections as they came through pharmacy so that I did not have to chase down a nurse to give the injection. I was also assisted by Leah Barr. She took a heavy load of stress off my shoulders by keeping the pill packers at work. She shouldered the stress well and we were never completely out of stock of any medications in packages. Out of stock meds, packaged in a hurry, is a bad situation and we avoided it. We did have some advancement this year in the pharmacy that I want to brag about. I purchased plastic dropper bottles for the Lugol’s solution. In the past we have used empty bulk pill containers. They had poor seals and no dropper to use to dispense the medication properly. The plastic dropper bottles worked out very well for that and some other situations where a dropper bottle as needed. Speaking of Lugol’s solution, I had one of my translators, Edzer, write out the directions for the use of Lugol’s in Kreole. I then took that and put it on a Microsoft Word file and now we can preprint the labels for the Lugol’s. We have some the same for the baby vitamin formula and, my favorite item, BB Sirop. BB Sirop is a Haitian cough and cold liquid preparation. It comes in gallon bottles. It smells funny and is take with coffee by the patients, kids and adults alike. This year I purchased 2 oz and4 oz amber graduated Rx bottles to dispense liquids in a tight sealed container. In years past, the medication would leak out of the bottles if they were not held upright and I hated that. How could the bottle remain upright as the Haitians walked home from the clinic? It was most likely to spill. So I am pleased with the purchase. Also, I am happy to report that we JUST made it with the Ivermectin medication for scabies. We have less that 2 oz left of the 3 pints we started with. At 10 AM on Saturday, I began to ration it so that we could treat the worst cases. That meant that we would be painting adults with Lindane. We wanted to avoid, if at all possible, painting the small children with the Lindane and we did not have to paint them.
We all noticed that the rain and humidity caused a great increase in body odors from the Haitians on Saturday. It was, for me at least, the first time this clinic that the odor was present as I worked with the Haitians. We did run out of soap to pass out to the Haitians. I do not know how much we brought along but it is all gone. We had more orders for selenium sulfide (Selsun or Head and Shoulders) shampoos. We will have to restock more heavily in future clinics. The only medications we completely ran out of were Methyldopa (Aldomet) for blood pressure control, Phenytoin (Dilantin) for seizure control, and Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) for allergies. That is not too bad for all the patients we see but I hate it none the less. We will pick up a small amount of Methyldopa and Phenytoin from a supplier in Port-Au-Prince who may or may not have some in stock. You can bet that I will lobby for more for the April and July upcoming clinic.
After the clinic on Saturday, we trucked to Cap Lamando. It seemed to take forever to get on the trucks for the trip. Then, as we started down the main road in the second truck, the first truck stopped and turned around for no apparent reason. We stopped and moved the truck to the limited shade at the wrong side of the road. Using the Haitian cell phones, we found out that someone (best left unnamed) had lost cigars off the back of the truck and needed to attempt recovery of same cigars. I hear we, in the second truck, had only crushed one of them as we passed over them on the rough rocky road. At Cap Lamando hotel, we had the pool to ourselves for the most part. There was one family from Appleton Wisconsin there. The husband was Haitian from Jacmel, who had gone to school in the USA and continued to live in Wisconsin. The wife had met him when he was stationed in Wisconsin. They were in Jacmel for Karnaval with their two children and were enjoying a day at the pool. The hotel is much busier again this year as the presence of the UN has caused an increase in room nights. Donna and I ordered a bottle of Chardonnay wine. It cost, with taxes-new to me this year- $12.00 American. It was served by my “old” friend Jean Chadony. On my first visit to Haiti, Jean Chadony was a bus boy. He and I worked together at the hotel setting up tables, table cloths, plates, silverware, and drink glasses so we could have our meal. We had a good time, that night, laughing and working together. He is now the head barman and I got to catch up on him and his growing family. I used to hear from him by email but he has been too busy lately to write. The wine was Australian and a dark yellow color but a nice taste. When Jane Gray went to order another bottle, we found out that I had purchased the only one. She selected a French Sauvignon Blanc and it was also tasty. Many, many Rum Punches, Prestige beers, and ???? Later, the team sat down for our meal. It was the usual Haitian confusion central getting the correct meal to the correct person. Donna and I got ours early on. I think the goat was the last to be served. After we finished the meal, they served pomme fries (French fries) which are tasty, then they brought out a serving of white rice. By that time, many were too full to enjoy the rice. After the meal, there was a swimming pool challenge among the team members. For the sake of confidentiality, I will not name names, at this point. I am, however, open to bribes.
All had a good time and we waited-and waited-and waited for the check. Again, this is very Haitian. When it came, the hotel staff could not agreed on the total. We paid one amount shown on the bill, and one hotel employee, the front desk clerk, argued and argued with the rest of the hotel staff about something or other. We were loaded in the trucks, ready to go, but our driver would not proceed until was give the word from Boyer, our interpreter. This driver is Boyer’s friend and has driven us around the entire mission. I went in to get Boyer. He was in the middle of the argument. The catering manager, with whom I had spoken to earlier, came out with an arm full of Cap Lamando tee shirts for the team. Finally we left and returned to the clinic. It was sometime around 9 PM and the streets were still full of people coming and going. The vehicles all dive with their bright lights on and will only go to low beam about 10 yards from the oncoming vehicle. Traveling on the roads in Haiti is always an adventure. There are people walking along side the road day and night. There are vehicles, parked along the sides and stripped of any and all useful parts, there are motorbikes that either fly around you or slowly put-put along. If you are in a slower moving vehicle, you are passed by a speedier vehicle, no matter what may be on the road ahead. The Haitians use their vehicle horns, so you do have some idea what is happening, but near miss opportunities abound. So far, we have been safe and sound..
The sun is now up, most of the team awake, and soon we will have our prayer service. No one looks the worse for wear from last night and I’ve written more that you may care to read so I’ll TRY to correct some of the many grammar and typographical errors and get this published. Oh, I almost forgot, we are aware of the additional 4 inches of snow that Peoria received on Saturday. We are still watching the forecast for our Tuesday travels. The 45 degrees that is forecast sounds cold to us but better than below zero. Again, it is Sunday, so relax and enjoy the day. Our thoughts and prayers are for you and with you.
Saturday morning started with a heavy rain storm just about 7:30 AM. The rain lasted about 45 minutes and it made the day even more humid. It also made for more mud, dirt, rocks, and other landscape materials to be tracked into the clinic. One of the ironies is that the Haitians often take off their shoes outside the door and soon there is several pair outside that everyone must maneuver past to enter or exit. Haitians are, by culture, afraid of the rain. We had some canopies outside the compound and a tarp over the triage area for shelter. The providers are located on a portico with a new cement floor so they were relatively dry.
After the rain, with the limited amount of soil, there was very little mud. This area has very little top soil. I was remarking to Chip Moodie, who farms near Bradford, Illinois, about soil quality. We both agreed that the soil near Bassin Blu seemed very rich and we observed a planting of beans as we walked to the waterfall. There is an area on the way to Jacmel from Cyvadier that we pass that appears to be a crop raising area. Ooops, I’ve let my mind wander to another area instead of finishing my description of Saturday. We ended the day having seen160 patients. That brings our total to 2607 for the mission. Garron Lukas, our surgeon, performed 17 surgeries during this mission. He was only able to perform one on Saturday as the lady who was supposed to have a breast removed did not show up for the surgery. There is always a last minute demand by our Haitian helpers to have some family member seen on the last day, or to come up with some medical problem that day so that they can get some Motrin, or vitamins, or Tylenol, or some other medication. It takes me a long time, on the last day, to exit the pharmacy. The last day is also a hard day in the pharmacy as we do not want to package more that we need for the day as we will have to take it out of the packages for storage between clinics. So it is packaging in small lots for the pill packer which is hurry up and wait situation. I am so grateful for the work of Carol Steiner in the pharmacy again this year. She is a hard worker, never complains, works with a smile on her face, is very careful with her filling of orders, and a great blessing to me. I found out on Saturday that she will return with me on the July mission. HOORAY! I also want to acknowledge James Bender. He came in from triage, after it calmed down, and helped fill orders so we could keep our pharmacy bench cleared. He could also administer the injections as they came through pharmacy so that I did not have to chase down a nurse to give the injection. I was also assisted by Leah Barr. She took a heavy load of stress off my shoulders by keeping the pill packers at work. She shouldered the stress well and we were never completely out of stock of any medications in packages. Out of stock meds, packaged in a hurry, is a bad situation and we avoided it. We did have some advancement this year in the pharmacy that I want to brag about. I purchased plastic dropper bottles for the Lugol’s solution. In the past we have used empty bulk pill containers. They had poor seals and no dropper to use to dispense the medication properly. The plastic dropper bottles worked out very well for that and some other situations where a dropper bottle as needed. Speaking of Lugol’s solution, I had one of my translators, Edzer, write out the directions for the use of Lugol’s in Kreole. I then took that and put it on a Microsoft Word file and now we can preprint the labels for the Lugol’s. We have some the same for the baby vitamin formula and, my favorite item, BB Sirop. BB Sirop is a Haitian cough and cold liquid preparation. It comes in gallon bottles. It smells funny and is take with coffee by the patients, kids and adults alike. This year I purchased 2 oz and4 oz amber graduated Rx bottles to dispense liquids in a tight sealed container. In years past, the medication would leak out of the bottles if they were not held upright and I hated that. How could the bottle remain upright as the Haitians walked home from the clinic? It was most likely to spill. So I am pleased with the purchase. Also, I am happy to report that we JUST made it with the Ivermectin medication for scabies. We have less that 2 oz left of the 3 pints we started with. At 10 AM on Saturday, I began to ration it so that we could treat the worst cases. That meant that we would be painting adults with Lindane. We wanted to avoid, if at all possible, painting the small children with the Lindane and we did not have to paint them.
We all noticed that the rain and humidity caused a great increase in body odors from the Haitians on Saturday. It was, for me at least, the first time this clinic that the odor was present as I worked with the Haitians. We did run out of soap to pass out to the Haitians. I do not know how much we brought along but it is all gone. We had more orders for selenium sulfide (Selsun or Head and Shoulders) shampoos. We will have to restock more heavily in future clinics. The only medications we completely ran out of were Methyldopa (Aldomet) for blood pressure control, Phenytoin (Dilantin) for seizure control, and Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) for allergies. That is not too bad for all the patients we see but I hate it none the less. We will pick up a small amount of Methyldopa and Phenytoin from a supplier in Port-Au-Prince who may or may not have some in stock. You can bet that I will lobby for more for the April and July upcoming clinic.
After the clinic on Saturday, we trucked to Cap Lamando. It seemed to take forever to get on the trucks for the trip. Then, as we started down the main road in the second truck, the first truck stopped and turned around for no apparent reason. We stopped and moved the truck to the limited shade at the wrong side of the road. Using the Haitian cell phones, we found out that someone (best left unnamed) had lost cigars off the back of the truck and needed to attempt recovery of same cigars. I hear we, in the second truck, had only crushed one of them as we passed over them on the rough rocky road. At Cap Lamando hotel, we had the pool to ourselves for the most part. There was one family from Appleton Wisconsin there. The husband was Haitian from Jacmel, who had gone to school in the USA and continued to live in Wisconsin. The wife had met him when he was stationed in Wisconsin. They were in Jacmel for Karnaval with their two children and were enjoying a day at the pool. The hotel is much busier again this year as the presence of the UN has caused an increase in room nights. Donna and I ordered a bottle of Chardonnay wine. It cost, with taxes-new to me this year- $12.00 American. It was served by my “old” friend Jean Chadony. On my first visit to Haiti, Jean Chadony was a bus boy. He and I worked together at the hotel setting up tables, table cloths, plates, silverware, and drink glasses so we could have our meal. We had a good time, that night, laughing and working together. He is now the head barman and I got to catch up on him and his growing family. I used to hear from him by email but he has been too busy lately to write. The wine was Australian and a dark yellow color but a nice taste. When Jane Gray went to order another bottle, we found out that I had purchased the only one. She selected a French Sauvignon Blanc and it was also tasty. Many, many Rum Punches, Prestige beers, and ???? Later, the team sat down for our meal. It was the usual Haitian confusion central getting the correct meal to the correct person. Donna and I got ours early on. I think the goat was the last to be served. After we finished the meal, they served pomme fries (French fries) which are tasty, then they brought out a serving of white rice. By that time, many were too full to enjoy the rice. After the meal, there was a swimming pool challenge among the team members. For the sake of confidentiality, I will not name names, at this point. I am, however, open to bribes.
All had a good time and we waited-and waited-and waited for the check. Again, this is very Haitian. When it came, the hotel staff could not agreed on the total. We paid one amount shown on the bill, and one hotel employee, the front desk clerk, argued and argued with the rest of the hotel staff about something or other. We were loaded in the trucks, ready to go, but our driver would not proceed until was give the word from Boyer, our interpreter. This driver is Boyer’s friend and has driven us around the entire mission. I went in to get Boyer. He was in the middle of the argument. The catering manager, with whom I had spoken to earlier, came out with an arm full of Cap Lamando tee shirts for the team. Finally we left and returned to the clinic. It was sometime around 9 PM and the streets were still full of people coming and going. The vehicles all dive with their bright lights on and will only go to low beam about 10 yards from the oncoming vehicle. Traveling on the roads in Haiti is always an adventure. There are people walking along side the road day and night. There are vehicles, parked along the sides and stripped of any and all useful parts, there are motorbikes that either fly around you or slowly put-put along. If you are in a slower moving vehicle, you are passed by a speedier vehicle, no matter what may be on the road ahead. The Haitians use their vehicle horns, so you do have some idea what is happening, but near miss opportunities abound. So far, we have been safe and sound..
The sun is now up, most of the team awake, and soon we will have our prayer service. No one looks the worse for wear from last night and I’ve written more that you may care to read so I’ll TRY to correct some of the many grammar and typographical errors and get this published. Oh, I almost forgot, we are aware of the additional 4 inches of snow that Peoria received on Saturday. We are still watching the forecast for our Tuesday travels. The 45 degrees that is forecast sounds cold to us but better than below zero. Again, it is Sunday, so relax and enjoy the day. Our thoughts and prayers are for you and with you.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Sometime Friday night
Dinner is finished and it was another first for the February team. We enjoyed Hamburgers on the charcoal grill. Sue and Eric brought the meat. Garron and Sharon transported the charcoal. Larry got the buns from Tina’s bakery here in Cyvadier. Chip dug the pit and grilled the meat with Courtney’s help. And it a great meal was had by all. James is setting up the movie and it is Girl’s night and I’ve already forgotten what is supposed to be playing. There is a “gaggle of girls” outside the door trading girl stories. There is a lot of activity around me near the computer center on the third floor. It is about 14 degrees hotter on third floor than on second. The air conditioner is running on third and all of the hot air, me included, is on the third floor.
I need to correct a misstatement form a previous post. I said that Jeremy and Lori had made to Peoria. That is not right. I have since found out that they stopped in Alton, Illinois which is where they are from. Jeremy apparently went to the ER there and was admitted to the hospital in Alton. We do not have any update as of this moment, on how they are doing.
Today we saw 346 patients today, 305 on Thursday, 278 on Wednesday, 280 on Tuesday, and 347 on Monday. That puts us at about 2500 patients so far. Tomorrow is a half day and I expect that we will see nearly 200 on our last clinic day. Everyone is holding up well and their high spirits makes it even more fun for all. I know all of us are tired and have to concentrate even harder as we work. I drug out the pony tailed hat and clown nose today, The foam nose is hot as is the clown wig so it does not stay on very long but it does bring smiles to the children. We did have a little girl yesterday who had never seen a “blanch” as we are called by the Haitians. The girl cried and screamed whenever on of us came near her. I had to make two trips past her as she sat in the lab line which is outside the pharmacy storeroom and the second trip was very hard for me to make as I knew she was so frightened. Fortunately, she has calmed down by the time she got through treatment and provider areas and came into the pharmacy. Saturday afternoon we will be going to Cap Lamando hotel for swimming and dining. Sunday we will have our prayer service, afterwards some will go to Bassin Blu. After they return there is another trip planned to the beach at Ti Moulage. Monday will be inventory day and packing day. Our main bags will be trucked to Port-Au-Prince around 5 PM on Monday so we will not have an overloaded plane ride from Jacmel to Port-Au-Prince like we did last year. As I recall we used all of the Jacmel runway and more to get off the ground on that trip and flew near some of the mountain folks kitchen windows as we passed by-not over-their huts. It was quite a ride.
Thanks to Piper for the winning bid on my auction to tell who has been sick. She not only won the bid but gets the news that her mother is as healthy as ever. A note to our family members and friends who are reading this blog: Thanks for all of your prayers and support. We really do miss you very much and are anxious to return home. The work that we do here is really important to the people of this area and they greatly appreciate what we are doing. It is not a vacation on this tropical island and every one of the team works hard, plays hard, laughs a lot, cries when they hear or see a sad occasion or event, and feel like they have really made a difference in peoples lives at the end of the day. It is not easy to get up every morning at sunrise and get to work by 7:30 AM at the latest. The day usually ends somewhere around 5 PM each evening so it is also not your “banker’s hours.” But you, dear ones, are never far from our minds. With that, I’ll publish this, get my shower taken, and crash for the night. God bless you all…
I need to correct a misstatement form a previous post. I said that Jeremy and Lori had made to Peoria. That is not right. I have since found out that they stopped in Alton, Illinois which is where they are from. Jeremy apparently went to the ER there and was admitted to the hospital in Alton. We do not have any update as of this moment, on how they are doing.
Today we saw 346 patients today, 305 on Thursday, 278 on Wednesday, 280 on Tuesday, and 347 on Monday. That puts us at about 2500 patients so far. Tomorrow is a half day and I expect that we will see nearly 200 on our last clinic day. Everyone is holding up well and their high spirits makes it even more fun for all. I know all of us are tired and have to concentrate even harder as we work. I drug out the pony tailed hat and clown nose today, The foam nose is hot as is the clown wig so it does not stay on very long but it does bring smiles to the children. We did have a little girl yesterday who had never seen a “blanch” as we are called by the Haitians. The girl cried and screamed whenever on of us came near her. I had to make two trips past her as she sat in the lab line which is outside the pharmacy storeroom and the second trip was very hard for me to make as I knew she was so frightened. Fortunately, she has calmed down by the time she got through treatment and provider areas and came into the pharmacy. Saturday afternoon we will be going to Cap Lamando hotel for swimming and dining. Sunday we will have our prayer service, afterwards some will go to Bassin Blu. After they return there is another trip planned to the beach at Ti Moulage. Monday will be inventory day and packing day. Our main bags will be trucked to Port-Au-Prince around 5 PM on Monday so we will not have an overloaded plane ride from Jacmel to Port-Au-Prince like we did last year. As I recall we used all of the Jacmel runway and more to get off the ground on that trip and flew near some of the mountain folks kitchen windows as we passed by-not over-their huts. It was quite a ride.
Thanks to Piper for the winning bid on my auction to tell who has been sick. She not only won the bid but gets the news that her mother is as healthy as ever. A note to our family members and friends who are reading this blog: Thanks for all of your prayers and support. We really do miss you very much and are anxious to return home. The work that we do here is really important to the people of this area and they greatly appreciate what we are doing. It is not a vacation on this tropical island and every one of the team works hard, plays hard, laughs a lot, cries when they hear or see a sad occasion or event, and feel like they have really made a difference in peoples lives at the end of the day. It is not easy to get up every morning at sunrise and get to work by 7:30 AM at the latest. The day usually ends somewhere around 5 PM each evening so it is also not your “banker’s hours.” But you, dear ones, are never far from our minds. With that, I’ll publish this, get my shower taken, and crash for the night. God bless you all…
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Nearing the end
Today is Thursday and we have 1 full clinic day and one half day of clinic. We saw about 300 + patients today. The final numbers are not in yet and yesterday it was somewhere around 275. Garron and Bart at still at thehspital in surgery. Yesterday went slow for them due to lack of bed space at Dr Martinez’s hospital and the Haitian helpers’ doing their jobs in the Haitian way rather than the way Garron and Bart would like to have the job done. Our two team mates are now safely home so I can report that Jeremy Ufert and his wife, Lori Fulk flew home yesterday and made it all the way to Peoria. I do not know very many details except that Jeremy was a very sick person and we are all relieved that he is safe and well cared for in Peoria. I am considering holding an auction for the names of the other team members who are not at the top of their game. I wonder how much that would bring in from you, my faithful readers, or from team members when I announce it at tonight’s team meeting. It sounds like a fun idea to try.
Most of the team is on their way to Son Son’s bar for refreshments. That will mean a late supper tonight. Some of the team went to the secret beach this afternoon. No, I do not know where it is for sure, but I hear it is close by. Chef Larry has prepared excellent meals for the team. With his breakfast oatmeal, we should all lower our cholesterol levels by 30 or more points. It would not hurt yours truly to loose a few pounds while he is here but I doubt that it will happen. I am sitting here with a nice glass of French Sauvignon Blanc wine and watching the sunset over the mountains. We had a hard rain last night and we had a lot of laundry on the lines but it dried early in the morning. The rain forced a cancellation of another movie night.
On the pharmacy side, we have run out of Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) 25 mg, phenytion ( Dilantin), and methyldopa ( Aldomet). We have tapped into the ferrous fumarate syrup (yucky smelling iron liquid). My interpreters have made labels for the Lugol’s solution. I purchased 2 oz dropper bottles for that item and that is a blessing. I am also using the 3 and 4 oz Rx bottles for liquids and there is less leakage. It will be close on the Ivermectin and there is not enough time to get another delovert from Preckshot Pharmacy in Peoria Heights. That reminds me to ask a favor of you, dear reader. I would really like it if you would call Preckshot Pharmacy and thank them for the support that they give us with the Ivermectin and also call Bogard’s Drug Store on Western in Peoria and thank them for helping us to get some needed supplies at a very good price. Without their help, our trip would have been much less of a success.
Weekend plans call for a trip to the Cap Lamando hotel on Saturday afternoon for a swim and dinner on the patio. Sunday some of the team will go to Bassin Blu in the early afternoon. Later on Sunday the plan is for another trip tp the beach at To Moulage. I am sitting here near the main computer area and the wireless network is busy with 3 or 4 laptops going during much of our free time. We sometimes encounter satellite problems due to the clouds but generally we can get on line easily. The thick walls limit the range of my wireless card. My new card that I purchased for this trip has failed so I am glad that I brought along the old spare card.
Donna has just brought me another glass of wine so I’ll close this before it catches up with me. One last note: I would enjoy hear from you if you are enjoying or hating this blog.
Most of the team is on their way to Son Son’s bar for refreshments. That will mean a late supper tonight. Some of the team went to the secret beach this afternoon. No, I do not know where it is for sure, but I hear it is close by. Chef Larry has prepared excellent meals for the team. With his breakfast oatmeal, we should all lower our cholesterol levels by 30 or more points. It would not hurt yours truly to loose a few pounds while he is here but I doubt that it will happen. I am sitting here with a nice glass of French Sauvignon Blanc wine and watching the sunset over the mountains. We had a hard rain last night and we had a lot of laundry on the lines but it dried early in the morning. The rain forced a cancellation of another movie night.
On the pharmacy side, we have run out of Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) 25 mg, phenytion ( Dilantin), and methyldopa ( Aldomet). We have tapped into the ferrous fumarate syrup (yucky smelling iron liquid). My interpreters have made labels for the Lugol’s solution. I purchased 2 oz dropper bottles for that item and that is a blessing. I am also using the 3 and 4 oz Rx bottles for liquids and there is less leakage. It will be close on the Ivermectin and there is not enough time to get another delovert from Preckshot Pharmacy in Peoria Heights. That reminds me to ask a favor of you, dear reader. I would really like it if you would call Preckshot Pharmacy and thank them for the support that they give us with the Ivermectin and also call Bogard’s Drug Store on Western in Peoria and thank them for helping us to get some needed supplies at a very good price. Without their help, our trip would have been much less of a success.
Weekend plans call for a trip to the Cap Lamando hotel on Saturday afternoon for a swim and dinner on the patio. Sunday some of the team will go to Bassin Blu in the early afternoon. Later on Sunday the plan is for another trip tp the beach at To Moulage. I am sitting here near the main computer area and the wireless network is busy with 3 or 4 laptops going during much of our free time. We sometimes encounter satellite problems due to the clouds but generally we can get on line easily. The thick walls limit the range of my wireless card. My new card that I purchased for this trip has failed so I am glad that I brought along the old spare card.
Donna has just brought me another glass of wine so I’ll close this before it catches up with me. One last note: I would enjoy hear from you if you are enjoying or hating this blog.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Tuesday sometimes during the day
It is noon and I broke for lunch and a little sit down time. It was a long night last night. We had one very sick team member that we were trying to get flown out to Miami. We worked on medications and travel plans till after 11:30 PM. We were up at 5:30 AM as usual. We did manage to send him, along with another team member by small plane (Missionary Air) to the main terminal at Port-Au-Prince and he should be landing now. We hope for a report soon and I will keep you posted. Garron and Bart did a few surgeries yesterday and will be doing several more tomorrow. They were quite late in returning last night and that was a worry. So the whole team is tired today and a little on edge. Lots of Valentine’s day jokes flying around. Twp cases out of four cases of the shipment of medications that I sent on January 29 arrived today. I had predicted that it would arrive today so I was half way right. Cell phones are in abundance here with Digicel building new towers and having a cheap introductory program so many Haitians have cell phone (that even work this year). As with all cell phones, it rings at the worst times in the waiting areas or as the employees are working. We have lost the satellite connection again so I will close down and try again later. It is now 5 PM and the pharmacy is closed. I do find that amazing for as busy as we were again today. We are starting to run out of some medications such as methyldopa and phenytoin. That makes more work for us to find some substitute or tell the patient we do not have the med. There is an attack of what I will call the puney’s within the team but just a minor inconvenience. We still have not heard from the folks we sent to Miami and we are hoping to hear real soon. Much of the team is off to the beach and later on Lobster Man is bringing a fresh catch for us. Chef Larry has a Valentine’s day surprise for the team. There were less screaming children today and several brave souls ventured into the pharmacy. One little girl named Nancy was carried by many of the team members and was almost considered the team mascot. We had lots of babies with skin infections, scabies, worms, fungus, and malaria. That means lots of dose calculations for me. We now have in Kreole the baby vitamin label and the Lugol’s solution label. Next step is the BB sirop label. I think that will be a wrap from this end for today.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Tuesday night
Before I forget it-"Happy Valentine's Day" to all of our loved ones. We do miss you very much.
Today we saw 266 patients. Garron went into town for his surgery patients and we have some of the team under the weather but I have promised to not name names for the sake of peace and harmony. This to shall pass....
Our patient count so far is 125 on Wednesday, 269 on Thursday, 334 on Friday, 173 on Saturday, and 347 on Monday. I am happy to report that the pharmacy was finished today at 4:15 and on Monday at 5 PM. That is amazing. I have such great help from Carol Steiner, Leah Barr, and James Bender along with Roger, Belany, and Edzer out front. I am having a problem with my 3 pill packers. I audited their counts and found major discrepancies with what should be in the bags-all on the low side rather than the high side. No wonder the patients have reported being out of meds between clinics. We are now random counting as many loots as we have the time to do. It is discouraging and very hard to communicate with the girls when we do not know Kreole and are forced to use a third party. This to shall pass.
I hope you are not too mad at our snow scene on the most recent blog. It has been the talk of the team all day and we are worried about you.
Today we saw 266 patients. Garron went into town for his surgery patients and we have some of the team under the weather but I have promised to not name names for the sake of peace and harmony. This to shall pass....
Our patient count so far is 125 on Wednesday, 269 on Thursday, 334 on Friday, 173 on Saturday, and 347 on Monday. I am happy to report that the pharmacy was finished today at 4:15 and on Monday at 5 PM. That is amazing. I have such great help from Carol Steiner, Leah Barr, and James Bender along with Roger, Belany, and Edzer out front. I am having a problem with my 3 pill packers. I audited their counts and found major discrepancies with what should be in the bags-all on the low side rather than the high side. No wonder the patients have reported being out of meds between clinics. We are now random counting as many loots as we have the time to do. It is discouraging and very hard to communicate with the girls when we do not know Kreole and are forced to use a third party. This to shall pass.
I hope you are not too mad at our snow scene on the most recent blog. It has been the talk of the team all day and we are worried about you.
Snow
There is no word for snow in Kreole. This is the view outside. We are looking at pictures from Peoria at the weather you are having. It is windy here also and my female pill packers were cold all day today. It was 91 degrees F here. More later.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Computers
With all of the laptops here, there is some one on their computer most of the free time. There are two of us that you can always count on to be typing away. One of them is the person that I neglected to list when I described the team. And how could I forget anonymous? No her name is Leigh Behrens and she is the sister of Eric Behrens. She is again doing a fabulous job in wound care, scabies treatments, laundry, and any other job that comes along. And the best part is that it is always done with a smile that brightens up even a sunny Day like today. I am so sorry that I forgot you. I'll share some more of my wine with you if that will help!
Monday at 6 PM
Monday evening
I still admit to being tired this morning. The night went by too fast and here it is almost time for work. We start again at 7:30 AM. Our Sunday started off with a prayer service. During that service, Garron spoke about courage. He told us how courageous the Haitian people are. He described a Haitian woman who passed through the clinic. She had a mass or growth on her head. It was covered with fleas and flies. She kept it covered with a babushka. She has been to many doctors and tried many things and wondered if we could do anything to help her. But whether we could help her or not, she accepted her condition as it was and would go on with her life. This is so much different from the people in America. We would be angry, depressed, and so on. The Haitians, however, accept the fate that has been put before them and move on. It again shows me that we have entirely too much stuff and are many times unhappy because we do have so much stuff. The Gospel for the prayer service was on the Beatitudes and focused our minds on the mission we are here for. Courage, I pray that we all have the courage to face what life brings us.
After a great breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we took off for Bassin Blu. No, that is not a spelling error but how it is spelled here. Bassin Blue is the beautiful waterfall that is WNW of Jacmel. The trip was an adventure in itself. Jacmel is filled with thousands of people who are in town for national Karnaval. The UN and Haitian police are out in force and the traffic is more than twice the traffic I have seen over the years. When we arrived into Jacmel on the main road we were diverted to a side street and tried to find a way around the crowds. The streets were filled with people, cars, trucks, motorbikes and you were lucky to make a lane to pass through. At one point we encountered a line of cars coming towards us and neither had any place to go due to the narrow passage and the stream of people passing around us. A heated argument ensued between our main man, Boyer, and the several men in the other vehicle. After a while, a Haitian policeman appeared and helped us to back up to allow the other vehicles to proceed and we were off through the crowd. We drove down a very rough and dirty street and finally reached the road leading WNW that we were trying to get to. We took a sharp left and drove on a dirt trail towards the river. This is where I saw the large truck get stuck last year and I expected to see it still there, stripped if all useful items and abandoned. I am happy to report that I am wrong. It must have gotten out of the large hole it had fallen into. So it is over the river, passing the men and women bathing and doing laundry. Yes, there were some x-rated scenes. We forded the river and continued on the dirt road a ways. Boyer stopped and engaged the hubs for our 4 wheel drive up the mountains. There are no street signs and we took a fork in the road at an unmarked corner and climbed up the very steep gravel strewn road. We climbed up and up, slowly easing over washed out areas and avoiding the people and animals who passed by on the road. We passed many huts and partially completed buildings. The small children would wave then hold out their hands for something from us. Near the top we stopped for a picture moment. The view was the city of Jacmel and the Jacmel bay. You could see the roads, the harbor area with the light blue colors followed by the darker blue of the deeper water. It was easy to pick out the abandoned ship in the harbor and the Cap Lamandou hotel and other landmarks. When we arrived at Bassin Bleu there were several cars so we knew that we would not have the place to ourselves. We parked the car and Boyer engaged our Haitian helpers and we were off on a 15 minute (I think-I did not wear my watch) on a trail that led up and down the hills and over the slippery rocks. When we got to one point we encountered a group from the state of Oregon who were heading back from the falls. They are working in Port-Au-Prince on a physical therapy mission. Arriving at the falls, we encountered several men who were finishing off their rum bottles. Yes, we had to climb down the rock using the rope and cross the slippery rocks and ford the stream to reach the large rock where we stowed the small amount of gear that we brought and dove into the water. Everyone warned you to hold your nose as you dove into the water. The current was stronger than I remembered and it was a hard swim. Donna, and several others, swam to the falls and climbed to the first opening. Then they dove into the water. One young man had climbed higher and threw his cap out and dove after it into the pool. Then it was time to leave. Everyone had a good time and hated to leave. Both Donna and I took a fall. Donna is okay but I scarped my shins on the wet, slippery rocks and discovered that they were as sharp as I had heard that they were. No major broken skin and Neosporin will heal it soon. Our return trip was so easy that all of us were surprised at how we got through town with relative ease.
We had about 1 hour at the clinic before we left for Ambians and national Karnaval. The streets were jammed with people and we had to form a line to get to Ambians. We were pushed and shoved as the mob of people swirled around us. At Ambians, all of the prime positions overlooking the street were filled with Haitians, a group of young people from France, a DJ and his sound equipment from a local radio station. We stood behind them and looked out at the parades as it passed by. The bar was as difficult as ever as they are very slow and never know how to make change even in their own currency. It is a sad situation for sure. We were supposed to eat at 5 PM and our dinners arrived at 7:30 PM and were messed up as usual even though we ordered two days before. Then we waited over 1 hour for the check. When we tried to leave, we again formed a chain and scooted across the street in spite of the parade. Now the search was on to find Son-Son and our Tap tap and the other truck. We walked several blocks through the crowds and there was Son Son but not the second truck. It arrived a few minutes later and we rode home through more crowds of people. It was about 9:30 when we got back. After a shower, I was ready for bed and too tired to write. Sorry! I know some of my readers were waiting to hear about our adventure. I started on this at 6 AM and finally finished at 6 PM.
Note to anonymous: Your comment said that I missed someone and at a quick review I do not see it. How about a little more of a clue.
I still admit to being tired this morning. The night went by too fast and here it is almost time for work. We start again at 7:30 AM. Our Sunday started off with a prayer service. During that service, Garron spoke about courage. He told us how courageous the Haitian people are. He described a Haitian woman who passed through the clinic. She had a mass or growth on her head. It was covered with fleas and flies. She kept it covered with a babushka. She has been to many doctors and tried many things and wondered if we could do anything to help her. But whether we could help her or not, she accepted her condition as it was and would go on with her life. This is so much different from the people in America. We would be angry, depressed, and so on. The Haitians, however, accept the fate that has been put before them and move on. It again shows me that we have entirely too much stuff and are many times unhappy because we do have so much stuff. The Gospel for the prayer service was on the Beatitudes and focused our minds on the mission we are here for. Courage, I pray that we all have the courage to face what life brings us.
After a great breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we took off for Bassin Blu. No, that is not a spelling error but how it is spelled here. Bassin Blue is the beautiful waterfall that is WNW of Jacmel. The trip was an adventure in itself. Jacmel is filled with thousands of people who are in town for national Karnaval. The UN and Haitian police are out in force and the traffic is more than twice the traffic I have seen over the years. When we arrived into Jacmel on the main road we were diverted to a side street and tried to find a way around the crowds. The streets were filled with people, cars, trucks, motorbikes and you were lucky to make a lane to pass through. At one point we encountered a line of cars coming towards us and neither had any place to go due to the narrow passage and the stream of people passing around us. A heated argument ensued between our main man, Boyer, and the several men in the other vehicle. After a while, a Haitian policeman appeared and helped us to back up to allow the other vehicles to proceed and we were off through the crowd. We drove down a very rough and dirty street and finally reached the road leading WNW that we were trying to get to. We took a sharp left and drove on a dirt trail towards the river. This is where I saw the large truck get stuck last year and I expected to see it still there, stripped if all useful items and abandoned. I am happy to report that I am wrong. It must have gotten out of the large hole it had fallen into. So it is over the river, passing the men and women bathing and doing laundry. Yes, there were some x-rated scenes. We forded the river and continued on the dirt road a ways. Boyer stopped and engaged the hubs for our 4 wheel drive up the mountains. There are no street signs and we took a fork in the road at an unmarked corner and climbed up the very steep gravel strewn road. We climbed up and up, slowly easing over washed out areas and avoiding the people and animals who passed by on the road. We passed many huts and partially completed buildings. The small children would wave then hold out their hands for something from us. Near the top we stopped for a picture moment. The view was the city of Jacmel and the Jacmel bay. You could see the roads, the harbor area with the light blue colors followed by the darker blue of the deeper water. It was easy to pick out the abandoned ship in the harbor and the Cap Lamandou hotel and other landmarks. When we arrived at Bassin Bleu there were several cars so we knew that we would not have the place to ourselves. We parked the car and Boyer engaged our Haitian helpers and we were off on a 15 minute (I think-I did not wear my watch) on a trail that led up and down the hills and over the slippery rocks. When we got to one point we encountered a group from the state of Oregon who were heading back from the falls. They are working in Port-Au-Prince on a physical therapy mission. Arriving at the falls, we encountered several men who were finishing off their rum bottles. Yes, we had to climb down the rock using the rope and cross the slippery rocks and ford the stream to reach the large rock where we stowed the small amount of gear that we brought and dove into the water. Everyone warned you to hold your nose as you dove into the water. The current was stronger than I remembered and it was a hard swim. Donna, and several others, swam to the falls and climbed to the first opening. Then they dove into the water. One young man had climbed higher and threw his cap out and dove after it into the pool. Then it was time to leave. Everyone had a good time and hated to leave. Both Donna and I took a fall. Donna is okay but I scarped my shins on the wet, slippery rocks and discovered that they were as sharp as I had heard that they were. No major broken skin and Neosporin will heal it soon. Our return trip was so easy that all of us were surprised at how we got through town with relative ease.
We had about 1 hour at the clinic before we left for Ambians and national Karnaval. The streets were jammed with people and we had to form a line to get to Ambians. We were pushed and shoved as the mob of people swirled around us. At Ambians, all of the prime positions overlooking the street were filled with Haitians, a group of young people from France, a DJ and his sound equipment from a local radio station. We stood behind them and looked out at the parades as it passed by. The bar was as difficult as ever as they are very slow and never know how to make change even in their own currency. It is a sad situation for sure. We were supposed to eat at 5 PM and our dinners arrived at 7:30 PM and were messed up as usual even though we ordered two days before. Then we waited over 1 hour for the check. When we tried to leave, we again formed a chain and scooted across the street in spite of the parade. Now the search was on to find Son-Son and our Tap tap and the other truck. We walked several blocks through the crowds and there was Son Son but not the second truck. It arrived a few minutes later and we rode home through more crowds of people. It was about 9:30 when we got back. After a shower, I was ready for bed and too tired to write. Sorry! I know some of my readers were waiting to hear about our adventure. I started on this at 6 AM and finally finished at 6 PM.
Note to anonymous: Your comment said that I missed someone and at a quick review I do not see it. How about a little more of a clue.
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.
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.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Friday evening
Friday night 8:45 PM
We are just finished with our team meeting. We saw 334 patients today, and that is quite a busy day. The team is responding marvelously. Everyone helps each other when ever help is called for. There is laughter and fellowship all around. Interesting cases are shared, problems are aired and a solution worked out. It is fun to work in this atmosphere where everyone gets along so well. James continues to help out in the pharmacy and we finished again today at 5 PM. That is amazing! James has his ear buds in so he can listen to his Ipod. He also sings. I am looking for a recorder so we can publish his singing on the internet. His family has requested this as a part of his birthday celebration.
There was a plan to go to a concert in Jacmel on Saturday night. The every popular band, Jam, is playing but we have found out that they will likely take the stage at 11:00 PM and that will be too late for us. We will go to Ti Moulage tomorrow for a beach party. It is a beautiful beach area a few miles east of here. We will have lobster, fish, rice and beans, piclkie, and liquid refreshments there. I am sure there will be some shopping opportunities from the T- shirt lady and the local artist. On Sunday, we will have a prayer service in the morning. Ten lucky people will get to go to Basin Blu, the beautiful waterfall west of Jacmel. Donna an I will try to go next week. This week is for those who have never been there. Sunday night we will go to the Ambiance to watch National Karnaval from the rooftop restaurant. It will be extremely crowded and very exciting.
The weather here remains in the 90’s. It seems to rain every night, over night. They did get in in Movie night last night but I have not heard about tonight’s plans. I was just told to get this blog published so the team could find out what is going on here. I do not think I am that great a writer. We did find out tonight that Lucy has decided to become a nurse and is strongly looking to go to school at SLU. Donna just dropped by to tell me we may get to go to the waterfall after all as no one is signing up for it. Hooray!! We will only have a half day tomorrow so that will be nice for us. I hope to list the team members and what they are doing tomorrow so that I do not forget anyone. Time for a shower and bed. More blogging another day!
We are just finished with our team meeting. We saw 334 patients today, and that is quite a busy day. The team is responding marvelously. Everyone helps each other when ever help is called for. There is laughter and fellowship all around. Interesting cases are shared, problems are aired and a solution worked out. It is fun to work in this atmosphere where everyone gets along so well. James continues to help out in the pharmacy and we finished again today at 5 PM. That is amazing! James has his ear buds in so he can listen to his Ipod. He also sings. I am looking for a recorder so we can publish his singing on the internet. His family has requested this as a part of his birthday celebration.
There was a plan to go to a concert in Jacmel on Saturday night. The every popular band, Jam, is playing but we have found out that they will likely take the stage at 11:00 PM and that will be too late for us. We will go to Ti Moulage tomorrow for a beach party. It is a beautiful beach area a few miles east of here. We will have lobster, fish, rice and beans, piclkie, and liquid refreshments there. I am sure there will be some shopping opportunities from the T- shirt lady and the local artist. On Sunday, we will have a prayer service in the morning. Ten lucky people will get to go to Basin Blu, the beautiful waterfall west of Jacmel. Donna an I will try to go next week. This week is for those who have never been there. Sunday night we will go to the Ambiance to watch National Karnaval from the rooftop restaurant. It will be extremely crowded and very exciting.
The weather here remains in the 90’s. It seems to rain every night, over night. They did get in in Movie night last night but I have not heard about tonight’s plans. I was just told to get this blog published so the team could find out what is going on here. I do not think I am that great a writer. We did find out tonight that Lucy has decided to become a nurse and is strongly looking to go to school at SLU. Donna just dropped by to tell me we may get to go to the waterfall after all as no one is signing up for it. Hooray!! We will only have a half day tomorrow so that will be nice for us. I hope to list the team members and what they are doing tomorrow so that I do not forget anyone. Time for a shower and bed. More blogging another day!
Anna Nicole Smith
Anonomyous sent a comment about an Anna Nicole Smith. I looked at all of our dossiers and I do not find that name listed. So I took a survey of the 334 people who passed through the pharmacy today and no one reported being sad about Anna Nicole Smith. Is there something really important that we here in Haiti are missing????
Friday morning 5:30 AM
I feel better after a long night’s sleep. I am sitting outside on the third floor looking out at the ocean and waiting for the sun to come up. It is cooler outside than in the clinic and I want to enjoy it while I can. I admit to going to bed at 9PM. I was really tired and I’ll explain why. First, I need to revise the total patients seen on Wednesday to 125. It seems that 9 dossiers were found and accounted for. Golly, things do not change from team to team or year to year. Yesterday, I was overwhelmed at the pharmacy and had to call for help. We opened at 7:30 AM and I thought things were going well. About 11:30 AM my Haitian helpers began to talk about lunch plans so I took a look outside to see if there might be a line of people waiting for pharmacy. To my dismay, there were over 50 people outside waiting and 10 more inside. How could I close down for lunch and enjoy eating with all those folks waiting in line? Of course, how could I help them with out my interpreters? During lunch I discussed the situation with our team leader, Eric. We decided to get me some help. Sitting nearby was James Bender, an EMT- instructor at OSF St, Francis medical center in Peoria. He volunteered that he teaches Pharmacy math to the EMT’s and could assist with the dose calculations, that have been solely my responsibility. That was a great blessing as we got through the line and were done and cleaned up by 5 PM. Boy, was I relieved. We ended up seeing 264 patients yesterday, so it was not a record day after all.
Sitting out here on the balcony, I have noticed that there are no goats in the property next door, and I just realized that fact. Also this year, we see a flock of white birds around. That is more birds that I have seen in the past. I have not seen the birds up close so I can’t really identify them but I can tell you they are not gulls nor pigeons.
Another interesting thing was a doctor making house calls in Haiti. Dr Bill saw a very sick boy on Wednesday and we gave him an antibiotic laced IV. He was to return yesterday and when he had not, the decision was made to go and look for him. I prepared the antibiotic again for the IV for Bill to take with him. I stuck myself with my own needle in doing so. Thankfully it was a needle stick from my own needle and not someone else’s. It was a painful reminder and still hurts. Bill and Boyer, on of our Haitian main men, went to the boys home and found him. He was a little improved and was given the second IV. We hope he comes in to the clinic again today. Another problem I had yesterday was in fulfilling a promise made by the November team. Bob Hoy was the team leader and pharmacist for that team. He had promised to send some Lantus insulin for a patient. The problem is, he told me via email AFTER I got to Haiti of his promise. During the packing party for this team, I came across some Lantus insulin but chose not to bring it as there is little electricity in most home and no way to properly store it. The Haitian patient is reported to have a son who is a physician in the States. I recognized this man because he speaks English so well and we always visit a little about his medications on each visit. He also wanted some Neurontin. I know that I brought some samples of that, now all I need to do is find it. That will not be easy as there are boxes still stacked in the store room and the alphabetical sort of the meds has been lost in the crush.
I have to admit a mistake about the goats as the children are bring them out now that the sun is up. I must have not heard them the first few days and you can’t miss them now. Donna and I are staying in a bedroom on the third floor. We were reluctant to take that room as it is on the third floor and it could get noisy due to the proximity to the lounge and the TV. Luckily, the TV is broken again so that is a help and this year the young folk are partying on the roof. The ladder is outside our window but that is all the contact we have with it. I am watching two boats on the water. The men are alternately busy with their fish nets and bailing the water out of their leaky boat. It is comical. The weather here has been overnight rains and it was mostly cloudy yesterday. Today’s forecast is for 93 degrees F. How cold is it in Peoria? I really do not want to know.
It is time for breakfast, and what ever Chef Larry is baking is calling me to quit. I want to say a thank you to Jordan. It’s nice to be called cool by a teenager. Thanks! The team is waiting for this to be posted so they also know what is going on here. Ha!
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We are safe and enjoying our time. I hope to have time today to tel you about the weekend plans. It sounds fun and exciting.
Sitting out here on the balcony, I have noticed that there are no goats in the property next door, and I just realized that fact. Also this year, we see a flock of white birds around. That is more birds that I have seen in the past. I have not seen the birds up close so I can’t really identify them but I can tell you they are not gulls nor pigeons.
Another interesting thing was a doctor making house calls in Haiti. Dr Bill saw a very sick boy on Wednesday and we gave him an antibiotic laced IV. He was to return yesterday and when he had not, the decision was made to go and look for him. I prepared the antibiotic again for the IV for Bill to take with him. I stuck myself with my own needle in doing so. Thankfully it was a needle stick from my own needle and not someone else’s. It was a painful reminder and still hurts. Bill and Boyer, on of our Haitian main men, went to the boys home and found him. He was a little improved and was given the second IV. We hope he comes in to the clinic again today. Another problem I had yesterday was in fulfilling a promise made by the November team. Bob Hoy was the team leader and pharmacist for that team. He had promised to send some Lantus insulin for a patient. The problem is, he told me via email AFTER I got to Haiti of his promise. During the packing party for this team, I came across some Lantus insulin but chose not to bring it as there is little electricity in most home and no way to properly store it. The Haitian patient is reported to have a son who is a physician in the States. I recognized this man because he speaks English so well and we always visit a little about his medications on each visit. He also wanted some Neurontin. I know that I brought some samples of that, now all I need to do is find it. That will not be easy as there are boxes still stacked in the store room and the alphabetical sort of the meds has been lost in the crush.
I have to admit a mistake about the goats as the children are bring them out now that the sun is up. I must have not heard them the first few days and you can’t miss them now. Donna and I are staying in a bedroom on the third floor. We were reluctant to take that room as it is on the third floor and it could get noisy due to the proximity to the lounge and the TV. Luckily, the TV is broken again so that is a help and this year the young folk are partying on the roof. The ladder is outside our window but that is all the contact we have with it. I am watching two boats on the water. The men are alternately busy with their fish nets and bailing the water out of their leaky boat. It is comical. The weather here has been overnight rains and it was mostly cloudy yesterday. Today’s forecast is for 93 degrees F. How cold is it in Peoria? I really do not want to know.
It is time for breakfast, and what ever Chef Larry is baking is calling me to quit. I want to say a thank you to Jordan. It’s nice to be called cool by a teenager. Thanks! The team is waiting for this to be posted so they also know what is going on here. Ha!
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We are safe and enjoying our time. I hope to have time today to tel you about the weekend plans. It sounds fun and exciting.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Wednesday Evening
This will be short. For some reasons, I am very tired. With about 5 hours sleep last night, I knew this would be a tiring one. We had a late team meeting and it was close to midnight when I got to bed and it was before 5 AM when I was awakened. After coffee, I went down and started to put away as much of the inventory as I could manage. I had help from Dr. Bill, Dr. David, and Carol so it went smoothly. After lunch, around 1 PM we started to see patients and we ended up with seeing 116 today. Pharmacy was very busy as we had very few medications labeled and packaged. Everyone pitched at some time or another to help and we were done by 6PM with the line and clean up. Tomorrow will go much more smoothly, or at least I hope. I’d love to report on interesting patients but I did not seem to have time to get out and look around. Tonight, we have just finished dinner and it is 9 PM. My wireless is not working well today and I do not know why. I’ll try to get on another and publish this. Oh yes, how is the snow in Peoria? I did not read the on line Peoria Journal Star today.
Hello from Cyvadier
Hello from Haiti
We arrived safely tonight about 8:30 PM. Our trip started at the Peoria airport. We boarded a Peoria Charter Coach at 11:45 PM on Monday. The temperature outside was -3 degrees F and we were cold as we put in 50 50lb bags and totes on the cargo bay of the bus. No one was late and we took off a little after midnight. The team played a DVD on the way up to O’Hare so n sleeping on the bus. We arrived at O’Hare about 2:45 AM and unloaded the bus. At 4 AM some American Airlines people arrived and we were all checked in by 4:30 AM. TSA opened about 4:50 AM and we passed through and headed for the coffee bar. Yours truly failed to follow the TSA 3-1-1 rule and almost lost his shave cream, shampoo, toothpaste etc. Luckily we had an extra zip lock bag to put them in and I got a good lecture from the TSA lady. Yes, I deserved it! We departed Chicago only after waiting 450 minutes for the mechanics to put the proper tire pressure in the airplanes tires. A favorable tail wind got us to Miami just a little late. We had to walk from terminal A top Terminal e. It is listed as a 16 minutes walk but it was good exercise. We met up with Leigh Behrens from San Francisco and Garron and Sharon Lukas from South Carolina at the gate area. We ate a nice lunch at the Mexican restaurant in the E Concourse. We arrived in Haiti at 4:20 and it too till 5 PM to get our bags, get through customs and get on the buses. We loaded the bags on a third vehicle and off we went. It took almost 1 ½ hours to get out of Port-Au-Prince proper. The roads were filled with crazy driver, people trying to sell drinks and food. The sidewalks were packed with people and more vendors. Each major intersection was a 5 minute challenge or more to get through. At the south edge of Port-Au-Prince the road has deteriorated into a rocky, pothole filled, dusty, then muddy road. We could not proceed with any speed and that allowed more people to try to sell us water in small vinyl bags, soft drinks, fried plantains, bread, and who knows what else. The sights and smells of Port-Au-Prince have improved but only slightly. Next came the challenge of the mountains. We were told that there are 365 turns as we went up and sown the mountain roads and I believe them. It would be easy to get motion sick from the diesel fumes, dust, and burning garbage smells, let alone the twisting ride. As I said, we made it safely to the clinic, unloaded the bags, ate supper, had a quick team meeting, and unpacked a little. Donna and I have had our showers and it is 11:17 PM and I am off to sleep as the last time I had sleep was early on Monday morning. I hope to finish this in the morning and get it published. I do want to than you for your prayers for our safety.
We arrived safely tonight about 8:30 PM. Our trip started at the Peoria airport. We boarded a Peoria Charter Coach at 11:45 PM on Monday. The temperature outside was -3 degrees F and we were cold as we put in 50 50lb bags and totes on the cargo bay of the bus. No one was late and we took off a little after midnight. The team played a DVD on the way up to O’Hare so n sleeping on the bus. We arrived at O’Hare about 2:45 AM and unloaded the bus. At 4 AM some American Airlines people arrived and we were all checked in by 4:30 AM. TSA opened about 4:50 AM and we passed through and headed for the coffee bar. Yours truly failed to follow the TSA 3-1-1 rule and almost lost his shave cream, shampoo, toothpaste etc. Luckily we had an extra zip lock bag to put them in and I got a good lecture from the TSA lady. Yes, I deserved it! We departed Chicago only after waiting 450 minutes for the mechanics to put the proper tire pressure in the airplanes tires. A favorable tail wind got us to Miami just a little late. We had to walk from terminal A top Terminal e. It is listed as a 16 minutes walk but it was good exercise. We met up with Leigh Behrens from San Francisco and Garron and Sharon Lukas from South Carolina at the gate area. We ate a nice lunch at the Mexican restaurant in the E Concourse. We arrived in Haiti at 4:20 and it too till 5 PM to get our bags, get through customs and get on the buses. We loaded the bags on a third vehicle and off we went. It took almost 1 ½ hours to get out of Port-Au-Prince proper. The roads were filled with crazy driver, people trying to sell drinks and food. The sidewalks were packed with people and more vendors. Each major intersection was a 5 minute challenge or more to get through. At the south edge of Port-Au-Prince the road has deteriorated into a rocky, pothole filled, dusty, then muddy road. We could not proceed with any speed and that allowed more people to try to sell us water in small vinyl bags, soft drinks, fried plantains, bread, and who knows what else. The sights and smells of Port-Au-Prince have improved but only slightly. Next came the challenge of the mountains. We were told that there are 365 turns as we went up and sown the mountain roads and I believe them. It would be easy to get motion sick from the diesel fumes, dust, and burning garbage smells, let alone the twisting ride. As I said, we made it safely to the clinic, unloaded the bags, ate supper, had a quick team meeting, and unpacked a little. Donna and I have had our showers and it is 11:17 PM and I am off to sleep as the last time I had sleep was early on Monday morning. I hope to finish this in the morning and get it published. I do want to than you for your prayers for our safety.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Friday before we leave
It was exciting to meet the team members again. We have several new team members and that will be fun. There is a news flash: We will NOT be flying from Port-Au-Prince (PAP) to Jacmel when we arrive. Due to the schedule change at American Airlines, we arrive too late into PAP to make the connection on the small planes to Jacmel. There are no landing lights at Jacmel airport and flying over the mountains at night is not a good idea when we fly so low over them in the daylight. So, instead of spending the first night at Wall’s Guest House, the plan is to bus us over the route. he picture at the top is an example of a typical bus in Haiti. They are quite colorful. To look on the map the distance is 75 miles. However, due to road conditions and winding mountain roads the distance is somewhat longer and slower. This will give the people who have never seen the countryside, a good look at living conditions in PAP and the villages along the way. It will also be scenic and a little scary as we round the mountain roads.That will be just another part of the Haitian experience. I hope all remember to make a potty stop at the PAP airport as there are no stops along the way. We took this trip in 2004 and had a flat tire along the way. We lost a lot of time with that. The girls ducked into the bushes and surprise: the bushes were filled with people passing by. Now you know why we carry our own toilet paper. This is just some of the amazing facts I have to share to share with you.
Emails are flying hot and heavy between the team and Papa Dick in
I’ll try to have more to post on Monday. Our forcast is for temperatures no higher than 10 degrees Fahrenheit which, I think, is -13 degrees Celsius. BRRR! It will be cold loading the bus for O’Hare at midnight on Monday!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Packing for Haiti once again 2007
Hello! It's time once again to restart the blog. I'm just sure you have all been waiting anxiously for a new posting. Today was our packing party. We have a very large team, 27 members in all. We will have 9 medical providers. That will keep us busy in the pharmacy. We will also be doing a project for the Haitian patients. We will be placing small sticker on the pill bags for the chronic medical problems such as hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, breathing problems and others. These stickers will have a graphic picture of a heart, or a blood pressure cuff, or other symbol so that the patient will know, a little more clearly, what medical problem they are taking those little white pills that are in that bag. It is our goal to increase compliance and better their health by better understanding. This will likely require another volunteer in the pharmacy to work on this project. Yes, as usual, I will have a full plate.
My wife, Donna, and I are excited to be a part of this team again this year. We will have some new people who will join quite a few veterans on our time. We should have a good time. One other bit of news for you. American Airlines has changed the flight schedule into Port-Au_Prince and we will arrive too late in the day to be able to fly on to Jacmel on the smaller planes. There are no landing lights at Jacmel airport and it would be risky flying over the mountains in the dark. So our options are to spend the night at Wall's guest house, as we did last May, or to ride the bus over the mountains. The trip is only 75 miles but due to the roads and mountains, it takes from 3 to 4 hours if we are lucky. The decision has been made to use the bus. That will give us a look at Port-Au-Prince, the mountain roads, and a better idea of how the people live in Haiti. It could also get us in some problems. Please keep us in your prayers!
It is my plan to try to write to this blog on a daily basis once we get to Haiti. Since we leave Peoria at midnight on Monday, February 5 and arrive at the compound around 8 or 9PM on Tuesday, I doubt that I will get computer time until February 7. I appreciate any and all comments you would care to make to this blog during our trip. I will post them as they come in. I get an email from blog spot to let me know you have a comment. I would also enjoy answering any questions that you might have.
Thanks for your love and concern. Ed
My wife, Donna, and I are excited to be a part of this team again this year. We will have some new people who will join quite a few veterans on our time. We should have a good time. One other bit of news for you. American Airlines has changed the flight schedule into Port-Au_Prince and we will arrive too late in the day to be able to fly on to Jacmel on the smaller planes. There are no landing lights at Jacmel airport and it would be risky flying over the mountains in the dark. So our options are to spend the night at Wall's guest house, as we did last May, or to ride the bus over the mountains. The trip is only 75 miles but due to the roads and mountains, it takes from 3 to 4 hours if we are lucky. The decision has been made to use the bus. That will give us a look at Port-Au-Prince, the mountain roads, and a better idea of how the people live in Haiti. It could also get us in some problems. Please keep us in your prayers!
It is my plan to try to write to this blog on a daily basis once we get to Haiti. Since we leave Peoria at midnight on Monday, February 5 and arrive at the compound around 8 or 9PM on Tuesday, I doubt that I will get computer time until February 7. I appreciate any and all comments you would care to make to this blog during our trip. I will post them as they come in. I get an email from blog spot to let me know you have a comment. I would also enjoy answering any questions that you might have.
Thanks for your love and concern. Ed
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Home from Haiti
It is so nice to be back home and with my wife. It was a fun adventure and I am glad that I went on the mission but I am very happy to be home.
Thursday evening went great. We packed up the tubs and bags for the return trip. If you recall, each team member was assigned two pieces of checked baggage. It was either a large tub or a canvas bag. These were filled with food and medical supplies. We need them back in Peoria for the September team. They were useful in bringing back souvenirs but still a pain to transport, to wait at baggage claim for, a struggle to move through customs, but they all made it home. At 5:45 M on Friday, Papa Dick drove the tubs and me to Jacmel airport. I stood guard as he returned to get the team to the airport by using his truck, and for some, a last ride in Son-Son’s smoking tap-tap. We waited about 1 hour at the airport for the Haitians to get there, set up, and check in our bags. The team was split into two airplanes for the return trip to Port-Au-Prince. I was on the first plane and it was a beautiful ride. From where I sat on the plane, I could watch the altimeter and we flew at 3.500 feet over the mountains. The small airport was very crowded so we waited outside with our tubs and bags for the other part of our team. Then we split up again to ride another truck to the main airport. I was on the second trip on this one and witnessed the confusion outside the main airport departure area as we off loaded our stuff and passed through the first of 3 security checkpoints. We stood around in a group waiting for American Airlines to check us in. That was accomplished by giving our leader, John, our passports and letting the AA people do their thing. It seemed to take forever and that part of the airport was extremely hot. Next we passed through Haitian immigration to get our passports stamped. There was just enough time for me to purchase some Haitian rum to be auctioned at the upcoming golf outing. A few lucky ones tasted a Haitian hot dog. Remember, we had not had our big oatmeal breakfast. Then it was on to the plane and off to the USA. Arrival in Miami was on time. Passed through immigration and on to baggage claim. Our tubs came out after all the bags had cleared and we moved trough customs and had to lug our checked bags to the next AA area so they could follow us to home. We had about two hours in Miami so it was off to the food courts for some grub. Our plane to Chicago was on time and we had a fairly smooth flight to O’Hare except when we picked up turbulence from a plane ahead of us. O’Hare was a sad time. Lisa lives in Chicago, John, Linda, and Audra were being picked up by Audra’s family. We had time for a hug and a quick good bye. There was a 3-hour layover here and AA did not have our gate posted so we hung out at gate G 2 with our bags. This allowed some to have some food at Chili’s or other of the many food vendors in the area. Things looked good for our 8:30 departure. Our plane was in, our crew showed up, we boarded early, and then the fun began. The stewardess kept calling out names of people who did not seem to be on board. We told them 4 times about how we had checked in as a group in P-A-P and that it was likely tat there were luggage on board that bore the names of group members who had left us in Chicago. Finally they closed the doors and we had a nice flight to Peoria. We encountered our last problem here waiting for the tubs. AA chose to keep them upstairs and not put them on the belt but failed to tell us so we stood and waited. Finally, Bill went to ask and we repositioned the cars to the upper arrivals level and loaded the baggage. The team members who did not have checked bags were the lucky ones to get home early. Soon, we will have our team picture part at Bill & Keri’s home in East Peoria and the trip will be recounted to the last detail once again.
In reflection, it was a great team. Each person contributed to the best of their ability and then 50% more. When you have 20 diverse people in any situation there are usually lots of conflicts but this team bonded and none of the conflicts were anything more than minute. I thank them all for serving with me. They taught me a lot. They put up with me a lot. They made me think and grow a lot. They became good friends of mine and I am very proud of them and honored to have served with them. The mix of old and young got along very well and I would be happy to serve with any and all of them again, soon. Perhaps I will get the opportunity to serve them once again.
I want to thank all of my readers for their prayers and kind words. I apologize if I offended any one with some of my humor. I did appreciate the feedback from those who chose to comment. I did not post the comments to protect the innocent. Please keep the Haitians in your prayers. Please consider sponsoring a child. Please be generous to our organization, FOTCOH, if you can spare a donation. Please consider going on a team. We can use you no matter what your talents may be.
So I’ll leave you with a little Kreole:
Mesi! Thank You
M’ale orevwa Good Bye
Bondye beni ou May God bless you.
Thursday evening went great. We packed up the tubs and bags for the return trip. If you recall, each team member was assigned two pieces of checked baggage. It was either a large tub or a canvas bag. These were filled with food and medical supplies. We need them back in Peoria for the September team. They were useful in bringing back souvenirs but still a pain to transport, to wait at baggage claim for, a struggle to move through customs, but they all made it home. At 5:45 M on Friday, Papa Dick drove the tubs and me to Jacmel airport. I stood guard as he returned to get the team to the airport by using his truck, and for some, a last ride in Son-Son’s smoking tap-tap. We waited about 1 hour at the airport for the Haitians to get there, set up, and check in our bags. The team was split into two airplanes for the return trip to Port-Au-Prince. I was on the first plane and it was a beautiful ride. From where I sat on the plane, I could watch the altimeter and we flew at 3.500 feet over the mountains. The small airport was very crowded so we waited outside with our tubs and bags for the other part of our team. Then we split up again to ride another truck to the main airport. I was on the second trip on this one and witnessed the confusion outside the main airport departure area as we off loaded our stuff and passed through the first of 3 security checkpoints. We stood around in a group waiting for American Airlines to check us in. That was accomplished by giving our leader, John, our passports and letting the AA people do their thing. It seemed to take forever and that part of the airport was extremely hot. Next we passed through Haitian immigration to get our passports stamped. There was just enough time for me to purchase some Haitian rum to be auctioned at the upcoming golf outing. A few lucky ones tasted a Haitian hot dog. Remember, we had not had our big oatmeal breakfast. Then it was on to the plane and off to the USA. Arrival in Miami was on time. Passed through immigration and on to baggage claim. Our tubs came out after all the bags had cleared and we moved trough customs and had to lug our checked bags to the next AA area so they could follow us to home. We had about two hours in Miami so it was off to the food courts for some grub. Our plane to Chicago was on time and we had a fairly smooth flight to O’Hare except when we picked up turbulence from a plane ahead of us. O’Hare was a sad time. Lisa lives in Chicago, John, Linda, and Audra were being picked up by Audra’s family. We had time for a hug and a quick good bye. There was a 3-hour layover here and AA did not have our gate posted so we hung out at gate G 2 with our bags. This allowed some to have some food at Chili’s or other of the many food vendors in the area. Things looked good for our 8:30 departure. Our plane was in, our crew showed up, we boarded early, and then the fun began. The stewardess kept calling out names of people who did not seem to be on board. We told them 4 times about how we had checked in as a group in P-A-P and that it was likely tat there were luggage on board that bore the names of group members who had left us in Chicago. Finally they closed the doors and we had a nice flight to Peoria. We encountered our last problem here waiting for the tubs. AA chose to keep them upstairs and not put them on the belt but failed to tell us so we stood and waited. Finally, Bill went to ask and we repositioned the cars to the upper arrivals level and loaded the baggage. The team members who did not have checked bags were the lucky ones to get home early. Soon, we will have our team picture part at Bill & Keri’s home in East Peoria and the trip will be recounted to the last detail once again.
In reflection, it was a great team. Each person contributed to the best of their ability and then 50% more. When you have 20 diverse people in any situation there are usually lots of conflicts but this team bonded and none of the conflicts were anything more than minute. I thank them all for serving with me. They taught me a lot. They put up with me a lot. They made me think and grow a lot. They became good friends of mine and I am very proud of them and honored to have served with them. The mix of old and young got along very well and I would be happy to serve with any and all of them again, soon. Perhaps I will get the opportunity to serve them once again.
I want to thank all of my readers for their prayers and kind words. I apologize if I offended any one with some of my humor. I did appreciate the feedback from those who chose to comment. I did not post the comments to protect the innocent. Please keep the Haitians in your prayers. Please consider sponsoring a child. Please be generous to our organization, FOTCOH, if you can spare a donation. Please consider going on a team. We can use you no matter what your talents may be.
So I’ll leave you with a little Kreole:
Mesi! Thank You
M’ale orevwa Good Bye
Bondye beni ou May God bless you.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Last Day
Here is Betty!. There were some complaints because I had forgotten to include her in the previous postings and I have apologized to her.
The next picture is the child that we sponsor here in Haiti. His name is Jean Dessin and he is 12 years old and now in the first grade. His ear shows an injury from a fall according to his mother. It looked more like a bite so I had Sara Baysinger look at at, treat it and dress it. I sent him home with vitamins till February and for his mother also. The soccer ball that Donna and I left in February is still holding up.
Yes, I cried after he left and even now as I write this.The next picture is with hs mother, myself, and Jean Dessin.
The last picture is our team photo, without Jan & Bruce. I have heard from both of them and they are recovering well and that make us happy.
Most of the team is at the beach. I have finished inventory and will place it on the computer so that we can reorder medications next week for the September team.
Tonight, our last night, is the lobster meal that was so delicious in February. I have been waiting for this one. We also must pack and be at the airport tomorrow at 6 AM. We MAY get back into Peoria around 9:30 or 10:00 PM on Friday so I will not be posting again till I get back home.
Thank you again for reading this blog. Thanks, especially, to those who commented and let me know that it was being red.
I have joked with the team about some one's wet front and hot__ and perhaps I will reveal more secrets when I am out of their range.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Babies
There are 40 children that have no sponsors. Could you consider sending $25.00 per month to FOTCOH so these kids can have food and go to school? The boy that I sponsor is 12 years old and now that I am sponsring him, he is in First Grade. That just tears me up.
There is more information at www.FOTCOH.org
Thanks. I had these pictures and wanted to share them with you.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Quick Update.
This morning we sent Jan Lundeen to PAP and on to the States because she was in severe pain. We sent Bruce Steiner wit her as a guide and companion. When they arrived in the USA they went to a hospital and the dianosis is a kidny stone. They are now on their way to St Louis and on to their homes in central Illinois. Thanks for all of the prayers. I am sure they helped. Due to a full airplane this morning, Boyer was forced to drive them on the 3 hour tip to PAP rather than the 13 minute flight so those prayers for their safety were heard.
I plan on posting pictures today to previous blogs before I write more here.
God Bless You!!
I plan on posting pictures today to previous blogs before I write more here.
God Bless You!!
Please pray
I will not give details yet but we have two team members that we are sending by plane to Miami for medical care that we cannot do here in Haiti. Please pray for them today. Later, when their families have been notofied, I will give you more details.
Please pray. Thank you
Please pray. Thank you
Monday, May 29, 2006
Monday morning
The day at the beach was wonderful. The water was warm, the sun was not too intense, and there were quite a few people enjoying the surf & sand. The place where we hang out is still under construction but the second floor is now complete and the scaffolding has come down. When a second floor is added, holes are punched into the first floor walls to place the stabilizing boards of the scaffold, and I think that is hilarious. The holes were plugged this trip but obvious to me. Some of the wiring is roughed in and, in Haitian fashion, there are two RED wires leading from the house next door to the new building.
We enjoyed lobster, fish, rice & beans, pickly (a spicy cabbage salad), fried bread fruit and fried plantains. We gave the left-overs to the children who hovered over us. Some of the team brought inflatable balls & rafts which they gave to the children. That was nice,
My wife’s buddy, the grouchy artist, seemed to remember me. Perhaps it was because we made several purchases in February. He scored a few sales this trip but none from me. The most controversial picture was the pregnant nude which we labeled nude on Rogaine. I leave that for your imagination.
When we returned, the younger team members went to the Bee club from 7:30 to 10:30 to listen to the music and dance. Boyer, one of our main helpers, owns part of the club and Franz, another valued helper, went along to guide. I DO not think they got back at 10:30 as I was not wearing my watch.
Last night was my night on the hot seat. Jody, Jan, Christine, and Linda had questions on drugs, doses, side effects, and “What is the brand name of?” So I got out the popcorn, in loving memory of the February team, and we had a popcorn bull session. We also teased Jody about her hot ___. The inflammation is SLOWLY going down and most of the itching has stopped. Yes, I do get teased about looking at Jody’s ___. Neff said there!
Dr. Bill shared pictures with me so I hope to finish this and go back to add pictures to previous blogs. I am up early so it may happen. The weather is very hot and humid, especially early this morning. That is not a good sign for a Monday. No, we will work in celebration of Memorial Day, and remember our loved ones by our service.
God bless all of you. Thanks for the notes that you send to the blog. I get them right away.
We enjoyed lobster, fish, rice & beans, pickly (a spicy cabbage salad), fried bread fruit and fried plantains. We gave the left-overs to the children who hovered over us. Some of the team brought inflatable balls & rafts which they gave to the children. That was nice,
My wife’s buddy, the grouchy artist, seemed to remember me. Perhaps it was because we made several purchases in February. He scored a few sales this trip but none from me. The most controversial picture was the pregnant nude which we labeled nude on Rogaine. I leave that for your imagination.
When we returned, the younger team members went to the Bee club from 7:30 to 10:30 to listen to the music and dance. Boyer, one of our main helpers, owns part of the club and Franz, another valued helper, went along to guide. I DO not think they got back at 10:30 as I was not wearing my watch.
Last night was my night on the hot seat. Jody, Jan, Christine, and Linda had questions on drugs, doses, side effects, and “What is the brand name of?” So I got out the popcorn, in loving memory of the February team, and we had a popcorn bull session. We also teased Jody about her hot ___. The inflammation is SLOWLY going down and most of the itching has stopped. Yes, I do get teased about looking at Jody’s ___. Neff said there!
Dr. Bill shared pictures with me so I hope to finish this and go back to add pictures to previous blogs. I am up early so it may happen. The weather is very hot and humid, especially early this morning. That is not a good sign for a Monday. No, we will work in celebration of Memorial Day, and remember our loved ones by our service.
God bless all of you. Thanks for the notes that you send to the blog. I get them right away.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Sunday AM
This morning we ate bacon & pancakes, what a nice treat for a late breakfast. Most of the team slept in this morning. I did not get up until 6:30 AM. One hour extra felt good. The overnight rain, and we had a lot of rain but no thunder, dropped the room temp so that we had to pull up the sheets to keep warm. That is the first time on this trip that I have used the top sheet. For most of the nights I just lay still and try not to sweat.
Justin used my camera and we have made progress on the ID badges for the Haitian helpers. With my Kodak Dock, we could download them into Dick’s computer and print the pictures. No, I have yet to solve the wireless problem. Lisa’s mom sent us a tip but it did not work. The lap top is connected but IE will not display the page. Hey Chris, do you think you could take time to call Tim Flynn at American PC Solutions and see if he has any ideas?? Thanks.
We had a nice prayer service this morning for about one hour. Justin played and he and Audra sang. They printed out the words to the songs so we could all join in. Bruce led the service and surprised us with a short homily. Papa Dick and I did our Agape part and we had some sharing to close. This group likes to pray before meals and that is nice. At noon we will be off to Ti Moulage and the beach party. There are some clouds in the sky but not as threatening as in February. Girls are packing their beach bags and the guys are stocking the coolers. The young ones are gathered around a table playing some sort of a number game that I can’t remember how to spell it’s name. I’m NOT tired. HA!
Last night at the Ambians, we had the place to ourselves. The team members who went to town earlier encounter a large group of blancs (whites) from central Florida. The name of the group is “Without Borders”. They travel the world and experience other cultures. There is no other purpose to the group other than that. To us, that is a sad waste of money when there is no great a need here. Maybe by the things they purchase here, they will at least enhance the economy. Oops. Time for the tap-tap ride to the beach. I will try to download pictures tonight for tomorrow’s post.
Praise the Lord for a day of rest!
Justin used my camera and we have made progress on the ID badges for the Haitian helpers. With my Kodak Dock, we could download them into Dick’s computer and print the pictures. No, I have yet to solve the wireless problem. Lisa’s mom sent us a tip but it did not work. The lap top is connected but IE will not display the page. Hey Chris, do you think you could take time to call Tim Flynn at American PC Solutions and see if he has any ideas?? Thanks.
We had a nice prayer service this morning for about one hour. Justin played and he and Audra sang. They printed out the words to the songs so we could all join in. Bruce led the service and surprised us with a short homily. Papa Dick and I did our Agape part and we had some sharing to close. This group likes to pray before meals and that is nice. At noon we will be off to Ti Moulage and the beach party. There are some clouds in the sky but not as threatening as in February. Girls are packing their beach bags and the guys are stocking the coolers. The young ones are gathered around a table playing some sort of a number game that I can’t remember how to spell it’s name. I’m NOT tired. HA!
Last night at the Ambians, we had the place to ourselves. The team members who went to town earlier encounter a large group of blancs (whites) from central Florida. The name of the group is “Without Borders”. They travel the world and experience other cultures. There is no other purpose to the group other than that. To us, that is a sad waste of money when there is no great a need here. Maybe by the things they purchase here, they will at least enhance the economy. Oops. Time for the tap-tap ride to the beach. I will try to download pictures tonight for tomorrow’s post.
Praise the Lord for a day of rest!
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Saturday afternoon
Saturday and all is well. We got done about 1 PM after a very busy day. For those who like numbers here they are. Day 1 was 89 patients, day 2 = 304 patients, day 3 = 267 patients, day 4 = 248 patients, and today 175 patients. This team, especially Bruce in crowd control has no mercy. HA! He is getting back at me for some of the evil deeds I have done to him.
We had an earlier dinner last night and I got to bed by nine. I did not stay up for the movie and got some rest. I did, however, fall asleep here at the computer earlier this afternoon and Papa Bruce made me lay down for a quick nap. I have yet to solve the laptop connection mystery. It shows me that I am connected to the network but Internet Explorer nor Mozilla will reach out to the net. My next idea is to check my firewall settings. Bother bother for all of us who brought along laptops. I emailed a February team member who successfully connected then but he had no tips.
This afternoon, as we served our last patient, a young boy of about to 10 years old fainted in the pharmacy waiting line and went into convulsions. With help from Dr Bill and others we carried him into the surgery area and started an IV. He responded slowly so we found some diazepam to inject and he did better. We ended up taking him into Jacmel to the Sister’s of Charity hospital and we will check on him this evening when we go in to town for dinner.
The bracelets that I brought along and the cars are a great hit. I get MORE smiles than ever when I put them on the children. Yes, I cry, a lot. I am a softy for these people. When I see these families with so many medical problems and financial problems it hurts. There is so much scabies again. I did get to see one of our February patients who got an Ivermectin treatment then and she was scabies free. That was a JOYFUL moment to know that what we did then really worked on a severe case. Praise the Lord!!!
Sounds like we will have a prayer service tomorrow morning and I am assigned to do the Agape service with Bruce and John. Justin will play the guitar and we have some CD’s for a sing along.
It’s getting about time to leave for town so I will be brief today. Sorry. There are some juicy stories to tell. Nancy & JC are you reading this??
You will be in our prayers.
We had an earlier dinner last night and I got to bed by nine. I did not stay up for the movie and got some rest. I did, however, fall asleep here at the computer earlier this afternoon and Papa Bruce made me lay down for a quick nap. I have yet to solve the laptop connection mystery. It shows me that I am connected to the network but Internet Explorer nor Mozilla will reach out to the net. My next idea is to check my firewall settings. Bother bother for all of us who brought along laptops. I emailed a February team member who successfully connected then but he had no tips.
This afternoon, as we served our last patient, a young boy of about to 10 years old fainted in the pharmacy waiting line and went into convulsions. With help from Dr Bill and others we carried him into the surgery area and started an IV. He responded slowly so we found some diazepam to inject and he did better. We ended up taking him into Jacmel to the Sister’s of Charity hospital and we will check on him this evening when we go in to town for dinner.
The bracelets that I brought along and the cars are a great hit. I get MORE smiles than ever when I put them on the children. Yes, I cry, a lot. I am a softy for these people. When I see these families with so many medical problems and financial problems it hurts. There is so much scabies again. I did get to see one of our February patients who got an Ivermectin treatment then and she was scabies free. That was a JOYFUL moment to know that what we did then really worked on a severe case. Praise the Lord!!!
Sounds like we will have a prayer service tomorrow morning and I am assigned to do the Agape service with Bruce and John. Justin will play the guitar and we have some CD’s for a sing along.
It’s getting about time to leave for town so I will be brief today. Sorry. There are some juicy stories to tell. Nancy & JC are you reading this??
You will be in our prayers.
Friday, May 26, 2006
TGIF
TGIF Something is wrong. I got done at 4:30 PM. Unheard of with this team. Guess we only saw 250 or so patients today and 268 yesterday. There are no new babies to report. There are lots of kids, lots of worms, lots of scabies. The new human form of Ivermectin is easier to work with. Thanks to John Preckshot at Preckshot Professional Pharmacy. You are a hero here to the pharmacy team. Our order from Illinois that we sent about a week and one-half ago came in and we jumped on the quinapril and docusate. We also got the shoes that Betty Schlacter mailed to Lynx air before we left.
I am forbidden to discuss Lisa’s wet spot and Jody’s hot ___. It will be up to them to explain how I got in the middle of that mess. I am an innocent participant who somehow got caught in the middle, but ask them to explain more of the details. I am trying to exit myself from me. Yes, my face is still RED!!
No major problems today but lots of patients and some unusual quiet periods when all of the providers gather around an unusual case and do not see patients. CJ is getting more medical experience than he may have bargained for but, again, I leave it to him to explain to whomever it concerns.
Everyone here is getting along well. Lots of fun and laughs. We do eat and meet later than February. Brice falls asleep in the meetings before I do so I have yet to get caught napping. No MAJOR out of stocks at the pharmacy but we are low on Benadryl and children’s cough syrup but we have 6 gallon of BB Sirop to use (UGH) and limited containers to dispense it in. My helpers are terrific and I am very happy with them. Lots of kids today and I am so happy that I brought the bracelets. I love placing them on the kid’s arms. I am working to get CJ to visit the high school next week and MAYBE I can duck out and visit Jean Dessin at his home. Tomorrow night, we go to downtown Jacmel to the Ambiance and Sunday to the beach at Ti Moulage. We had goat for dinner two nights ago and tuna noodle last night. Tonight is mystery dinner. I found out that the Mac & Cheese boxes got soaked with some sort of liquid and are unsuable. CJ is still crying about that. I did get my two bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and have emptied one in 2 days and the other is in the refrigerator chilling. Big rain storm last night and lots of water to clear off the second floor deck. HOT and HUMID today. I just showered and I am already sticky.
I have to find my Memory stick so I can transfer this to the main computer and post. I am still hoping to hear back from some of you.
I am forbidden to discuss Lisa’s wet spot and Jody’s hot ___. It will be up to them to explain how I got in the middle of that mess. I am an innocent participant who somehow got caught in the middle, but ask them to explain more of the details. I am trying to exit myself from me. Yes, my face is still RED!!
No major problems today but lots of patients and some unusual quiet periods when all of the providers gather around an unusual case and do not see patients. CJ is getting more medical experience than he may have bargained for but, again, I leave it to him to explain to whomever it concerns.
Everyone here is getting along well. Lots of fun and laughs. We do eat and meet later than February. Brice falls asleep in the meetings before I do so I have yet to get caught napping. No MAJOR out of stocks at the pharmacy but we are low on Benadryl and children’s cough syrup but we have 6 gallon of BB Sirop to use (UGH) and limited containers to dispense it in. My helpers are terrific and I am very happy with them. Lots of kids today and I am so happy that I brought the bracelets. I love placing them on the kid’s arms. I am working to get CJ to visit the high school next week and MAYBE I can duck out and visit Jean Dessin at his home. Tomorrow night, we go to downtown Jacmel to the Ambiance and Sunday to the beach at Ti Moulage. We had goat for dinner two nights ago and tuna noodle last night. Tonight is mystery dinner. I found out that the Mac & Cheese boxes got soaked with some sort of liquid and are unsuable. CJ is still crying about that. I did get my two bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and have emptied one in 2 days and the other is in the refrigerator chilling. Big rain storm last night and lots of water to clear off the second floor deck. HOT and HUMID today. I just showered and I am already sticky.
I have to find my Memory stick so I can transfer this to the main computer and post. I am still hoping to hear back from some of you.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Thursday's post
Thursday PM
The almost end of another day in Haiti. Our weather has been WARM and HUMID. We now have a temporary generator as our main one is not fixed yet. You feel sticky and sweaty all day long. The evening shower before dinner is delightful. This is the rainy season but we have only experienced a sprinkle last night. We are grateful for the generator as our Haitian power is off between 6 AM and 2PM (Haitian time so somewhere in that area). The electricity powers the fans and the fridge. This team has LATE suppers and LATE meetings so we do not get to bed before 10 and are up at 5. The nights are short nights, but restful.
Speaking of that, the rooster who was such an annoyance in February has yet to make a sound. I wonder? Did Donna really do something to that chicken? I don’t think so because Mama hen has a new brood of chicks that are about 1 week old. I saw them this morning when I had to go out to the crowd to talk with a patient about her medications that she wanted us to refill based on her prescriptions from Jacmel. I had NO idea what she was taking by the names. And she had no idea so I had her let in to the clinic as a patient.
Numbers? This crew is crazy. We saw over 300 patients yesterday. No wonder I am not getting done as early as February. And, yes, it’s a boy! His name is Gregory and he weighs 7 lbs. Mama showed up at 10AM and delivered at 11 AM. She brought along her two young girls. Dr Bill and Nurse Jody did a wonderful job. Baby Gregory is bright eyed and beautiful. His two older sisters had to set in the pharmacy for over 5 hours. I brought them suckers at first, the water, then breakfast bars (they did not get to eat lunch e=when everyone else did and Grandpa Ed was upset). Then I h=gave them the bracelets that I had brought along. The irony is that they had medical problems and were the LAST patients to be seen tonight. Damn. We should have seen them earlier but Mama was a little busy! Oh yes, I did get a present today from Suzette, one of my pill packers. She brought in a necklace and placed it around my neck. That is new!
Ed did cry a bit today. I have seen or heard of some problems but when they come in to me and I have to deal with them, that is a different story. I will not detail the problem but I spent quite a bit of time outside trying to help as bet I could and finally I had to get back but I broke down as I entered the area and it was very obvious to the three providers who were waiting for me to answer their questions. A good cry never hurts, and they gave me a little space.
My two team members who are helping me in the pharmacy are amazing. They are fun to work with, very cautious and conscientious, cheerful, and most helpful. It is fun working with them and they are doing spectacular work. I am blessed to have them but I told them that they are free to work in other areas to gain that experience also.
CJ was not feeling well last night, as his stomach was upset. We think he had not drunk enough water. He also did not care for the meal of tuna noodles and carrots so he ate some of the food he had brought along. As I had warned him, he would have lots of people to mother him and, you know what? He did. Today he is fine so not to worry. He has been helping out lots all over the campus. He went to town with Christine Meyer today and brought back some nice white wine for me. Yeah!
Our shipment from Illinois, that we sent here two weeks ago, came here today. We do not know how long it may have been in country and Lynx air did not notify us. I checked on it today and there it was. It arrived intact. Thanks, Mark Purcell!
The computer is free, the team is at the beach, and I can send this out right away. Thanks for the notes I got this morning. I had fun with Lisa Merry by telling her details of her sister that I discovered via her email address. I have not heard much from the folks back home so messages are most welcome. Thanks to Chris and nursekay. Oh. we miss cook Larry. We ARTE spoiled in February.
Life is good here, the days fly by, and the people are so appreciative of our services, the team is GREAT to work with, and the only problem is missing YOU at home. The wine should be chilled by now and supper is still quite awile off ( it is 6:43PM now) so I will have s glass or two and say a few prayers for you.
God Bless!
The almost end of another day in Haiti. Our weather has been WARM and HUMID. We now have a temporary generator as our main one is not fixed yet. You feel sticky and sweaty all day long. The evening shower before dinner is delightful. This is the rainy season but we have only experienced a sprinkle last night. We are grateful for the generator as our Haitian power is off between 6 AM and 2PM (Haitian time so somewhere in that area). The electricity powers the fans and the fridge. This team has LATE suppers and LATE meetings so we do not get to bed before 10 and are up at 5. The nights are short nights, but restful.
Speaking of that, the rooster who was such an annoyance in February has yet to make a sound. I wonder? Did Donna really do something to that chicken? I don’t think so because Mama hen has a new brood of chicks that are about 1 week old. I saw them this morning when I had to go out to the crowd to talk with a patient about her medications that she wanted us to refill based on her prescriptions from Jacmel. I had NO idea what she was taking by the names. And she had no idea so I had her let in to the clinic as a patient.
Numbers? This crew is crazy. We saw over 300 patients yesterday. No wonder I am not getting done as early as February. And, yes, it’s a boy! His name is Gregory and he weighs 7 lbs. Mama showed up at 10AM and delivered at 11 AM. She brought along her two young girls. Dr Bill and Nurse Jody did a wonderful job. Baby Gregory is bright eyed and beautiful. His two older sisters had to set in the pharmacy for over 5 hours. I brought them suckers at first, the water, then breakfast bars (they did not get to eat lunch e=when everyone else did and Grandpa Ed was upset). Then I h=gave them the bracelets that I had brought along. The irony is that they had medical problems and were the LAST patients to be seen tonight. Damn. We should have seen them earlier but Mama was a little busy! Oh yes, I did get a present today from Suzette, one of my pill packers. She brought in a necklace and placed it around my neck. That is new!
Ed did cry a bit today. I have seen or heard of some problems but when they come in to me and I have to deal with them, that is a different story. I will not detail the problem but I spent quite a bit of time outside trying to help as bet I could and finally I had to get back but I broke down as I entered the area and it was very obvious to the three providers who were waiting for me to answer their questions. A good cry never hurts, and they gave me a little space.
My two team members who are helping me in the pharmacy are amazing. They are fun to work with, very cautious and conscientious, cheerful, and most helpful. It is fun working with them and they are doing spectacular work. I am blessed to have them but I told them that they are free to work in other areas to gain that experience also.
CJ was not feeling well last night, as his stomach was upset. We think he had not drunk enough water. He also did not care for the meal of tuna noodles and carrots so he ate some of the food he had brought along. As I had warned him, he would have lots of people to mother him and, you know what? He did. Today he is fine so not to worry. He has been helping out lots all over the campus. He went to town with Christine Meyer today and brought back some nice white wine for me. Yeah!
Our shipment from Illinois, that we sent here two weeks ago, came here today. We do not know how long it may have been in country and Lynx air did not notify us. I checked on it today and there it was. It arrived intact. Thanks, Mark Purcell!
The computer is free, the team is at the beach, and I can send this out right away. Thanks for the notes I got this morning. I had fun with Lisa Merry by telling her details of her sister that I discovered via her email address. I have not heard much from the folks back home so messages are most welcome. Thanks to Chris and nursekay. Oh. we miss cook Larry. We ARTE spoiled in February.
Life is good here, the days fly by, and the people are so appreciative of our services, the team is GREAT to work with, and the only problem is missing YOU at home. The wine should be chilled by now and supper is still quite awile off ( it is 6:43PM now) so I will have s glass or two and say a few prayers for you.
God Bless!
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Hello, finally. from Haiti
Hello from Haiti
Today is Wednesday and it is 6:15 PM. We just finished the pharmacy line and the team is relaxing (?) in the kitchen area. From the sounds of it they are having a wild time
I need to start at the beginning. On Sunday evening, at 6 PM, I started with dinner at the Fish House, my favorite place to eat. Donna and I were joined by Harold & Emma, our guests from Arizona, CJ Ray, my 16 year old team mate from Missouri, his mother Nancy, and another team mate, Bruce Steiner along with his wife Carol and their son, Dan. Dan, Carol and Bruce had been on the February team with Donna and me. We had our usual great meal and at the end, Donna drove the company to our home. I failed to hear that I was to follow so I stayed quite awhile at the Fish House before I realized that something was wrong. No matter, we car pooled to Bloomington, and after two times missing the street where I was supposed to turn, arrived at the team leader’s home around nine. Funny, we were the only ones there. Did I forget to listen again? Every one arrived by 11 PM and we held a brief prayer service lead by the pastor of john’s church. It was a nice thing. Ext we reweighed the totes and bags and redistributed the items to other bags for those weighing over the 50 lb limit. We ended up with two over weight bags and paid the extra $ 25.00 at O’Hare. Around midnight, we car pooled up to Chicago’s O’Hare airport and arrived at 2 AM. We reweighed the bags on an American Airlines digital scale and reconfirmed our weights. At 4 AM, we were the first in line at the International ticketing counter, where we were supposed to check in. That was a first as we usually show up at the wrong counter. Check in was a breeze and we were to gate H 8 and got that needed cup of coffee. We took off from Chicago, right on time, in a very full plane. We arrived at the A concourse at Miami and would be leaving from same. That was strange. No 3 mile walk this trip? After a nice lunch at the Mexican restaurant, we went to our departure lounge to wait for 2:25PM to come around. Well, it came and went. Suffice it to say that we did not leave until 4: 30 PM which was the time we were to arrive in Port-Au Prince. Oh, No. That is not a good thing. As we sat in the lounge, being the only Blancs (white people) on the plane, some of the Haitians engaged us in conversation. One of them, a girl from Port-Au-Prince, is a student at the University of Notre Dame and I shared my World Youth Day experiences, my Haiti experiences, etc with her. It was neat. Her parents run a factory in PAP. She offered to help us as it was likely that we will be stuck in PAP this night until I told her that there were 20 of us. She did not have that much room but the offer was most kind. When we arrived in PAP, it took a very long time to get through customs. It was exceptionally SLOW. Our bags had just arrived when run through the next customs check. Some of the newbie’s got caught, but passed through okay, and we finally got through and we collected the carts and began to to race for the small airport. Never mind, we are too late, the planes do not fly at sunset as there are no lights at Jacmel airport and a trip over the mountains in the dark would be risky. So we took a bus to Wall’s Guest House. It is run by a Canadian organization and it was clean and comfortable and we had a simple meal and some Prestige beer. I had been up for almost 36 hours, so the passing trucks and pedestrians barely disturbed my sleep, Up at 5 AM, we are off to the small airport to be on the first flight. It finally takes off at 7:15 AM. Cabintair (the airline that hauled us in February and the same pilot). Dick is waiting for us at Jacmel and soon we are at the clinic. Seems that the bags have arrived so, after our oatmeal breakfast, we started to unpack and get underway. Around noon we are ready to go(???). We set up 3 stations, John at one, Sue at the other, and me at Pharmacy. We sent the newbies through in groups and explained what happens in the areas and what was expected of them. So, after our beef log lunch, we start. I have two employees helping me, Justin Locke and John Meyers. They have been on previous teams but never in the pharmacy but they are brave and do not complain. It was herem that it was evident that I was Not ready to be open. We were in a state of catch up all day long. We saw 87 patients and did not get done till 6:30PM. Our line was full al day long and it took awhile for us to find our groove. I am so pleased with my two helpers. They listen, they are cautious; they learn well, they are fun to work with. I miss Carol Steiner, but these two are the best replacements I could have asked for. Most went to the beach after the clinic and the on to Son Son’s bar. We did not get dinner till late, then our team meeting afterwards. Yes, it was after 10 when I finally hit the bed. I am in the early riser’s room, on the bunk that Larry Shank usually takes. It is very comfortable. Thanks Larry. UP this morning at 5AM. Bruce has the coffee ready. The electricity shuts off at 6AM and the generator is broken so we need to get it brewed. Oatmeal breakfast. Papa Dick cooked. Wow!
Down to the pharmacy at 7: 30 AM for another busy day.
First of all, this is a FUN team. There is no tension or politics. It is just like the February team and that is Wonderful. I love it when people can work, play, eat, and recreate together.
A note to CJ’s mom, He is quite a great young man. He jumps in when ever anything is needed, is praised by everyone, and I am most proud of him. I have been so busy in the pharmacy; I really do not know all that he has been doing so I will leave it up to him to detail it. WE are glad he is along!
Today we saw around 200 patients and it was smoother (??) than yesterday. We are dealing with a baby issue at the Jacmel hospital and I can now report that the baby will be able to die with some dignity at the Sister’s of Charity hospital. The baby had been dropped of at the Jacmel hospital by the police and NO ONE was caring for it. The people who run the orphanage next to Tina’s school got us involved. Dr Bill, a pediatrician, went to see the baby yesterday and we arranged the transfer today. You do not want to hear the medical problems with the baby because I cry when I try to write about them, as does the team. Suffice to to say that the baby will ‘die with dignity” sometime before we leave for home but will have been cared for and loved for at least a part of her short life.
I apologize that I have not written. No one’s wireless is working at that makes us mad. We have tried and tried. Our cards connect but our computers do not. I wrote this on a Word document and will carry it to the main computer to send to you. It is open for the moment so I will do a quick spell check and move it out/
I miss all of you, especially Donna and my family. I am safe, sound (?), happy. And tired but so full filled.
Please keep us in your prayers as we are praying for you. God bless you, Ed
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Haiti At A Glance
From Maimi Herald 5/18/06
Poverty and Income Distribution:
• 75-80 percent of
• The poorest half of the country survives on average on $0.44 per day.
• The wealthiest 20 percent take in 68 percent of the nation's income.
Health:
• Half the population has no access to safe drinking water.
• Life Expectancy at birth is between 49 and 51 years
• More than 5 percent is estimated to have HIV/AIDS.
• 23 percent of children suffer from malnutrition, 13 percent from acute malnutrition.
• Under-five mortality rate is more than 12 percent.
Education
• Half the population is illiterate.
• An estimated 500,000 children do not have access to primary education.
• Less than 60 percent of children are in primary school.
• Only half of
Infrastructure
• Only 10 percent of the population has electricity, often for just part of the day.
• In a 10,667-square-mile territory, there are only 380 miles of paved roads, most in terrible condition.
• In the capital, only 20 percent of households have piped water.
• Only 20 percent of the capital's inhabitants have telephones, much less in the countryside.
Economy and Land
• Only 45 percent of adults are employed, two thirds of them in informal jobs.
• Nearly 25 percent of household income comes from remittances from Haitians living abroad.
• 97 percent of the country's forests have been cut down.
• 80 percent of farmers -- half the country's working population -- cannot satisfy the basic needs of their family.
Government and Justice.
• 80 percent of prisoners in
• 4,500 under-equipped, under-trained police officers patrol a country with the population of
• The national police chief has estimated 25 perce
Friday, May 12, 2006
Packing for Haiti once again
The Friends of The Children of Haiti team for May 2006 is about to leave for another medical mission to Cyvadier, Haiti. The political climate in Haiti is less volatile than we encountered in February so we may not get stuck there on this trip. The weather promises to be hot and humid. Here in Peoria today it is cool (45 degrees) and windy. Not a very nice spring. This team has 20 members and Dick & Barb Hammond are already in country. We will have 9 medical providers so I will be busy in the pharmacy. I am returning on this trip as no other pharmacist was available to travel at this time and I would have sat home and worried about the team instead of relaxing. Yes, I do not seem to be able to say no most of the time. I will have the pleasure of escorting a 16 year old young man on this trip. His father is a business colleague of mine and he lives in Missouri. He plans to be a church missionary. This will be an experience for him, working in a poor third world country. This is a 10 day mission trip so it will be shorter and faster than our 14 day February trip. I will take along my laptop so I can hook into the wireless network there and publish to this blog. That is fun and, with the laptop, I will not have to wait so long in line to get a terminal. I plan to take my web cam so I can connect with Skype phones and I also plan to take the good digital camera and try to attach photos as I write.
Please keep us in your prayers. Please write back. I enjoy hearing from you. God Bless You!
Please keep us in your prayers. Please write back. I enjoy hearing from you. God Bless You!
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