I am back in the United States. I flew Saturday afternoon to Miami and then Sunday evening after spending a relaxing day with a good friend, flew back to Minneapolis.
Friday was a very draining day. I had to wrap up all the work I had done over the two weeks in Haiti. Although this was my longest trip, I felt like I had too little time to accomplish what I wanted. I needed more time!! However, I did the best I could and finished what I could.
Healing Hands for Haiti is in such a transitional period that our staff are on edge and confused and I hate to leave when they feel so uncertain. Thus is the reality of the job and the situation though.
Overall, I think a lot was accomplished. So much more to do, but I always have high expectations for my work. I have so much respect for my Haitian staff and know that everything will be fine and work out without me down there. I hope to get back soon.
Nap we la pwochen fwa! (See you next time!)
Monday, March 8, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
rain rain go away
Today was a very productive day. However, I am sure it is very uninteresting (not that my other posts are particularly stimulating reading).
Last night it started to rain...
It rained HARD....
Almost everyone was woken up by the very very heavy downpour. It hammered on the roof. It sounded like gun fire and felt as if the house was going to wash away. I used to love that kind of rain in Haiti. It used to be so fun to sit in the Guest House of Healing Hands for Haiti and observe the streets washing away and the huge water droplets colliding with the earth. It is a very exhilarating experience to listen to and watch the rain.
Last night, however, was not exhilarating and it was not fun. All we can think about is all of the poor people on the street sleeping under soaked sheets, on a ground that is washing away.
One of our staff members at Healing Hands for Haiti has her 12 year old son staying with her. She has been sleeping at the Guest House because she is the main cook and has to be here early to make breakfast for the team and late at night to clean up after dinner. I adore our Guest House staff and consider them to be my Haitian family. They are sleeping on a mattress on the patio of the Guest House. I had been thinking how although they are sleeping outside, they have it much better off than most. There is a tin roof over their head and facilities and food for them to use. It is 100 times safer than being on the street in the tent cities.
This morning I was speaking with my 12 year old Haitian little brother and I asked him how he slept. He explained to me that he didn't sleep because of the rain. He said that he slept sitting up in a chair. Although there is a roof and walls on 3 sides, the water rushes into the patio and drips through the roof. Tonight he fell asleep sitting with one of the volunteers in the Guest House on the couch. They covered him up with a blanket and let him sleep. His mom just came in and although I told her that it was ok for him to sleep there, she insisted on waking him up and bringing him out to the patio. I am completely sad!
Last night it started to rain...
It rained HARD....
Almost everyone was woken up by the very very heavy downpour. It hammered on the roof. It sounded like gun fire and felt as if the house was going to wash away. I used to love that kind of rain in Haiti. It used to be so fun to sit in the Guest House of Healing Hands for Haiti and observe the streets washing away and the huge water droplets colliding with the earth. It is a very exhilarating experience to listen to and watch the rain.
Last night, however, was not exhilarating and it was not fun. All we can think about is all of the poor people on the street sleeping under soaked sheets, on a ground that is washing away.
One of our staff members at Healing Hands for Haiti has her 12 year old son staying with her. She has been sleeping at the Guest House because she is the main cook and has to be here early to make breakfast for the team and late at night to clean up after dinner. I adore our Guest House staff and consider them to be my Haitian family. They are sleeping on a mattress on the patio of the Guest House. I had been thinking how although they are sleeping outside, they have it much better off than most. There is a tin roof over their head and facilities and food for them to use. It is 100 times safer than being on the street in the tent cities.
This morning I was speaking with my 12 year old Haitian little brother and I asked him how he slept. He explained to me that he didn't sleep because of the rain. He said that he slept sitting up in a chair. Although there is a roof and walls on 3 sides, the water rushes into the patio and drips through the roof. Tonight he fell asleep sitting with one of the volunteers in the Guest House on the couch. They covered him up with a blanket and let him sleep. His mom just came in and although I told her that it was ok for him to sleep there, she insisted on waking him up and bringing him out to the patio. I am completely sad!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
map boule
Another busy day...
Antonio and I had a meeting with our partner organization Handicap International. It was great to finally put a lot of names with faces. The meeting was very productive.
Following the meeting we drove to our new Healing Hands for Haiti/Handicap International Prosthetic and Orthotic workshop. At the workshop they were fitting another patient with a new limb. It is fun to watch the process. Al Ingersoll, his wife Deb and another woman met us at the workshop. They had just flown in to Haiti. Al is a Healing Hands for Haiti board member and runs the Prosthetic and Orthotic Program for HHH. He has been hired by the Haitian Government to manage the P&O coordination on the group. He is acknowledged to be one of the few experts on Haiti's P&O needs and conditions.
After showing Al around the workshop we headed back to the HHH property to drop off Al and crews bags then drove off to a meeting of the Disabilities work group which is the Haitian Government and other organizations working with the disabled population in Haiti. Today was focused around P&O so it was truly a P&O focused day for me.
We came back to the Guest House, ate a late dinner and I jumped on a board meeting....LONG day and I again feel like I haven't finished what I need to accomplish. I have 2 days left to get work done before I head back to the US. So much more to get done!
Bonne Nuit
Antonio and I had a meeting with our partner organization Handicap International. It was great to finally put a lot of names with faces. The meeting was very productive.
Following the meeting we drove to our new Healing Hands for Haiti/Handicap International Prosthetic and Orthotic workshop. At the workshop they were fitting another patient with a new limb. It is fun to watch the process. Al Ingersoll, his wife Deb and another woman met us at the workshop. They had just flown in to Haiti. Al is a Healing Hands for Haiti board member and runs the Prosthetic and Orthotic Program for HHH. He has been hired by the Haitian Government to manage the P&O coordination on the group. He is acknowledged to be one of the few experts on Haiti's P&O needs and conditions.
After showing Al around the workshop we headed back to the HHH property to drop off Al and crews bags then drove off to a meeting of the Disabilities work group which is the Haitian Government and other organizations working with the disabled population in Haiti. Today was focused around P&O so it was truly a P&O focused day for me.
We came back to the Guest House, ate a late dinner and I jumped on a board meeting....LONG day and I again feel like I haven't finished what I need to accomplish. I have 2 days left to get work done before I head back to the US. So much more to get done!
Bonne Nuit
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
a day at a Haitian hospital
Last night before going out to dinner with Dr. Nau one of the Healing Hands for Haiti volunteers started feeling a little sick. When we returned from dinner it was worse. The team had given her pain meds (with the blessing of the Doctor on the team) but she was extremely uncomfortable. I called and notified our Operations Manager to inform him that she was not doing well and told him that there was a possibility we would have to take her to the hospital
The next morning I was awaken by another volunteer saying Lisa, I think we need to take her to the hospital. I got out of bed, Gail called our van driver, one of our Haitian doctors and our Operations Manager. We took her in the van over very shaky roads to the hospital CDTI which is partly owned by Dr. Nau.
CDTI is one of the best hospitals in Haiti. It has modern technology and some of the best doctors and surgeons in the country. Right now there are American doctors and nurses working round the clock caring for the many earthquake patients.
The hooked the volunteer up to an IV and started giving her fluids. To keep a long story short, following an ultrasound, she was diagnosed with gall stones. They said that she would need surgery. The Haitian general surgeon and some of the American doctors suggested that we could "delay the emergency" by treating her pain and getting her back to the United States where she could be home with her family during surgery. Although I would say that on a typical day I would not be nervous to have a surgery at CDTI. Unfortunately, there are not normal conditions and the surgical need in the country, although decreasing, is still huge and hospital beds are greatly needed. This means that there is little time for healing before the patients are sent "home".
The volunteer was sent back to the Guest House with ample doses of morphine to be administered by the doctor here and the nurses. She will fly back to the US tomorrow and she will be fine!
Later in the afternoon, I returned to CDTI with Antonio (HHH Operations Manager) to witness a patient receiving the first Prosthesis from the collaboration between Healing Hands for Haiti and Handicap International. HHH supplied the equipment and Haitian staff to get a Prosthetic and Orthotic workshop set up and working. Handicap International is employing our staff and covering many of the costs. They found a large space close to downtown Port-au-Prince.
There were three amputees who were interviewed by international media. One received his prosthesis and the other two were measured for their future limbs. It was exciting to see their excitement of the possibility of walking again after their lives have changed so dramatically.
One of the patients had an injury that was not attended to that resulted in a serious infection and treated with amputation. The doctor who amputated attempted to save her knee but saved too little of her lower limb, so the knee is useless and non-functional. This means that the prosthesis will have to be an above the knee (ak) prosthesis. The creation of this limb will be very complicated.
Only 3 days left and still a lot to do....
The next morning I was awaken by another volunteer saying Lisa, I think we need to take her to the hospital. I got out of bed, Gail called our van driver, one of our Haitian doctors and our Operations Manager. We took her in the van over very shaky roads to the hospital CDTI which is partly owned by Dr. Nau.
CDTI is one of the best hospitals in Haiti. It has modern technology and some of the best doctors and surgeons in the country. Right now there are American doctors and nurses working round the clock caring for the many earthquake patients.
The hooked the volunteer up to an IV and started giving her fluids. To keep a long story short, following an ultrasound, she was diagnosed with gall stones. They said that she would need surgery. The Haitian general surgeon and some of the American doctors suggested that we could "delay the emergency" by treating her pain and getting her back to the United States where she could be home with her family during surgery. Although I would say that on a typical day I would not be nervous to have a surgery at CDTI. Unfortunately, there are not normal conditions and the surgical need in the country, although decreasing, is still huge and hospital beds are greatly needed. This means that there is little time for healing before the patients are sent "home".
The volunteer was sent back to the Guest House with ample doses of morphine to be administered by the doctor here and the nurses. She will fly back to the US tomorrow and she will be fine!
Later in the afternoon, I returned to CDTI with Antonio (HHH Operations Manager) to witness a patient receiving the first Prosthesis from the collaboration between Healing Hands for Haiti and Handicap International. HHH supplied the equipment and Haitian staff to get a Prosthetic and Orthotic workshop set up and working. Handicap International is employing our staff and covering many of the costs. They found a large space close to downtown Port-au-Prince.
There were three amputees who were interviewed by international media. One received his prosthesis and the other two were measured for their future limbs. It was exciting to see their excitement of the possibility of walking again after their lives have changed so dramatically.
One of the patients had an injury that was not attended to that resulted in a serious infection and treated with amputation. The doctor who amputated attempted to save her knee but saved too little of her lower limb, so the knee is useless and non-functional. This means that the prosthesis will have to be an above the knee (ak) prosthesis. The creation of this limb will be very complicated.
Only 3 days left and still a lot to do....
Monday, March 1, 2010
anpil travay
Monday...the start of a new week. Today felt like it was a full moon. Lots seemed to go wrong today. People were moody, not showing up for work and lots of not fun information revealed.
The high point of the day was my surprise dinner date with Gail Buck and Dr. Ben Nau. Dr. Nau took Gail and me to dinner at a nicer restaurant called La Reserve. The food is amazing, the atmosphere very pretty and open air and the company wonderful. Much needed debrief and time away after a tough day.
Not much else to write. Yesterday Gail took the Portland Healing Hands for Haiti team out around town. We stopped at the Hotel Oloffson where the popular band Ram plays and where famous people like Mick Jagger and others have staying at the famous hotel. We had some sodas/beers/rum punches and continued on our tour of destruction around the city. We stopped to buy some stuff from the artisans and I bought a fun painting.
The other day in the clinic, the team saw our first really malnourished child. His mother brought him to the clinic and he was just completely covered in bruises. The kids we have been spending time with from the neighboring bidonville (slum) have been hungry but not malnourished. This boy was so utterly skinny... We gave him some vitamins and had to send him home. The mother continued to sit there, I'm sure hoping we would do more and provide some food or some miracle to make him better.
It is so hard to hear and see these people that you wish you could do so much for them. The other day at one of the orphanages I played with a little girl with cerebral palsy who has not had stimulation or attention probably her whole life. She wouldn't let go of my hand and giggled as I touched her face. She was soooo excited to have someone there with her. I literally break into tears picturing the look on her face as we walked out. It breaks my heart how little I did and how much that meant to her. I know I could not at this time in my life take care of a special needs child but it kills me to think that that beautiful little girl will live her whole like with no kisses, no attention and no hands to hold.
The high point of the day was my surprise dinner date with Gail Buck and Dr. Ben Nau. Dr. Nau took Gail and me to dinner at a nicer restaurant called La Reserve. The food is amazing, the atmosphere very pretty and open air and the company wonderful. Much needed debrief and time away after a tough day.
Not much else to write. Yesterday Gail took the Portland Healing Hands for Haiti team out around town. We stopped at the Hotel Oloffson where the popular band Ram plays and where famous people like Mick Jagger and others have staying at the famous hotel. We had some sodas/beers/rum punches and continued on our tour of destruction around the city. We stopped to buy some stuff from the artisans and I bought a fun painting.
The other day in the clinic, the team saw our first really malnourished child. His mother brought him to the clinic and he was just completely covered in bruises. The kids we have been spending time with from the neighboring bidonville (slum) have been hungry but not malnourished. This boy was so utterly skinny... We gave him some vitamins and had to send him home. The mother continued to sit there, I'm sure hoping we would do more and provide some food or some miracle to make him better.
It is so hard to hear and see these people that you wish you could do so much for them. The other day at one of the orphanages I played with a little girl with cerebral palsy who has not had stimulation or attention probably her whole life. She wouldn't let go of my hand and giggled as I touched her face. She was soooo excited to have someone there with her. I literally break into tears picturing the look on her face as we walked out. It breaks my heart how little I did and how much that meant to her. I know I could not at this time in my life take care of a special needs child but it kills me to think that that beautiful little girl will live her whole like with no kisses, no attention and no hands to hold.
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