Third Saturday in Haiti

Another week has flown by. Thursday we had clinic in the Tabarre 25 community and Friday we were in Croix de Bouquets.  Tabarre 25 was edged by some huge trash dumps that were being burned.  There was a very strong smell of plastic & rubber being burned.  I was having a hard time breathing, so I could imagine how hard it must be to live there.  I ended up diagnosing more cases of respiratory and skin allergies & asthma there than I have any where else so far.  I was very grateful for my HEPA respirator/mask.  I've now been using it whenever we are on the roads in the trucks.  The dust and exhaust is intense. No more simple masks for me.

Thursday we finally ran out of sulfur ointment (powdered sulfa mixed with petroleum jelly) for scabes. We've also run out of deworming pills for adults and antifungal meds for scalp fungus in kids (tineacapitus).  It's very hard to tell people that they have a very treatable problem, but we just don't have the medications.  Almost everyone has a poor appitite and belly pain due to worms.  Hopefully we'll get more from La Romana, Dominican Republic next week.  We had been trying to treat everyone for worms.

That day we were able to provide a very large family with a tent donated by REI for shelter.  Susan, one of our team members this last week, works at the REI store in San Francisco, CA.  This woman came with her seven children and two other women who are living with her & her husband and their kids.  The 11 of them have been without shelter of any kind since the quake.  The tent was never intended for that many people, but they were excited, especially since it had poured rain all night the night prior.  What a privilege for the team to be able to help in a simple but much needed way.

Thursday late afternoon & evening they took us on a tour.  We were expecting a tour of the destruction downtown, but we headed for the hills... Up through the "rich" part of Port au Prince to the fort at the top of the mountain.

The fort was built between 1804-1806 to defend Haiti from recolonization from the French.  The leader of Haiti ended up paying France a huge sum of money to buy off their freedom, so the fort and it's French & British cannons were never needed.

This stone fort is so strong that its first damage was this earthquake.  Amazing. I found out, as I began to see pine trees and other cooler climate plants, entered the fog layer & we began getting cold, that the fort is located over 2600 meters above the city, which starts at sea level (That's notably taller than Mt Kahtadin!)  After working in > 90°F all day, a drop to the lower 60's/upper 50's was a shock to the system.  Many were threatening to not take cold showers that night due to being too cold!  LOL.  Once down the mountain we warmed up pretty quickly.

Friday one of my first patients at Croix de Bouquets was named Marie Eva.  We both laughed as I was finally able to pronounce someone's name correctly the first try.  Of course I got a photo of us together.  I was able to help her get back on some blood pressure medication as hers had been lost in the quake.

I saw a 14 year old boy whose two complaints were difficulty sleeping and feeling anxious and afraid since the quake.  He moves to different places on the porch all night long trying to fall asleep.  All we have to help with sleep is some Benadryl, so I gave him some for a week nightly and the as needed for sleep.  Unfortunately only 30 pills. He was happy to hear that we had counselors to talk to and pray with.  I have no doubt that their time with him was more effective than mine.

I'm so greatful that God led the trauma counselors/full time missionaries to join up with us.  I can't remember how much I have said about them, but they had just finished three months in Rwanda working with war victims.  All of them have been all over Africa over the past several years.  What powerful prayer warriors they are.  An example for all of us.

Friday was finished with us bringing a woman who is 33 weeks pregnant to the General Hospital for preeclampsia.  She looked malnourished, too tiny to be 33 weeks along, along with her blood pressure was too high(170/100), headaches, swelling in her legs and urine protein too high to measure with our simple urine test strips.  Several leaving team members donated money for her for after the baby is born.  We fed her a good Haitian meal before taking her to the hospital.

Fortunately the OB is a Haitian/American so he was able to communicate with her & her sister in Créole. He was hoping to be able to get two days of steroids in her to help mature the baby's lungs before they induced her labor.  The first goal is to save the mom. They will do their best to save the baby, but there is no supplemental oxygen for use, let alone a ventilator or a Newborn Intensive Care Unit.

The OB said that he has seen lots of cases like this.  They just do their best with what is available in the tent hospital.  If you saw the CNN piece I posted about the night shift in Haiti, you'll realize that the rest of the hospital is made of the same tents, only the beds are jammed together to get as many patients in as possible.  TAMC, Cary Medical Center and our hospitals in the USA are seeming really luxurious to me right now.

Today was a day of relaxation.  I was finally able to drop by the World Food Programe office near where we are staying.  Unfortunately the older brother of an old friend from Congo works at a different office.  Fortunately I had been able to yell greetings for him to the driver of a WFP truck earlier this month.  The driver was going to see David Schaad in a few minutes.

I also had a chance to go by the MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) office and hanger today.  This is the missions organization my parents were with when I was a kid.  I was able to meet a retired pilot who joined MAF about the same time as my folks and remembers working with Dad in the late 60's.  I met several others who know Jim Abell, a childhood friend from Congo who works with MAF at the headquarters in the US.

What a great chance to see the Cessna 206's and the newly arrived MAF Kodiak airplane.  Samaritan's Purse is lending two more Kodiaks for the relief work.  What a blessing as the Kodiak is larger than the Cessna206 & runs on jet fuel, which is much cheaper and more readily available than the Aviation Gas used by the Cessna's.

I was able to take many photos of the hanger (a huge sheltering roof surrounded on three sides by shipping containers converted into an office and maintenance shop) and the palettes of food, water, water purification equipment, tents and medical supplies, all waiting and being loaded for flights up country for distribution.  With the portnon functonal, supplies needed for existance are not arriving for the entire country.  Supplies that do arrive in the country are oftenstolen, so MAF is playing a vital roll in the basic survival needs of Haiti right now.  If you have a chance, look them up on the internet.  Any donations to them will go directly to getting supplies to the Haitian people and out of corrupt hands.

If I forgot to mention last Monday, thank you to all of you who have made comments back on the blog. Your prayers and comments are so encouraging.  I hope to be able to get on the internet again this weekend if I may borrow a computer and time at Le Plaza Hotel to see more, but that may not happen.  If not, I'll read them after I get home in March.  Please keep praying as this next week will be my last here... For this trip.

Tomorrow will be my last church service here.  Church is scheduled from 07h00 till 10h00.  I'm looking forward to the music especially.  Then, a day of rest.

Well, as always, I finish these notes late.  It often takes me a couple of hours to type these out on my little phone before I email them.  Sorry this one was so long but there was much to share and so little free time this last week.  God's Blessings on each of you.

Comments

[Valerie]

I cannot believe you're in the last week! It seems as if you have done so much good in a short amount of time. This place will be in your heart forever. Hearing it first hand from a familiar person makes it seem so much more real than simply watching it on the news. You are amazing - the more you give, the stronger you sound. And you become a part of where you are so easily - I'm sure that's not so for everyone, but you connect so easily with people of all types. That is an awesome gift and does much to heal their pain as medicine.

[Debbie Lewis]

Eva, thanks so much for your postings. It sounds like it is not an easy task to share what is going on (typing into your phone). My heart goes out to the Haitians. I pray that God continues to strengthen you this next week as you continue to serve Him in this most wonderful way. :)