The team left this morning. Christian, RN, Jeremy, PA, and I are the only "Blanc" (white people) left for the weekend. The three of us will be the "constant factor" over this entire month. It's 21h00 (9pm) and all is quiet. All the lights are out and most are asleep here in the compound. I hear the sounds of the overhead fan spinning, vehicles driving & honking on the street outside the stone wall & steel gate of the retreat compound....
21h48 Well, the honking was for the sentry to open the gate. There was a medical emergency at the gate. The pastor came running down the blackened hall, asking if I was a doctor. Apparently an 18 year old woman was having difficulty breathing and chest pains. Somehow they had heard that a doctor was here and her family rushed her over in a car. After a quick evaluation and a broken history in French & Creole, translated into broken English, I figured out that a stone or brick had fallen on her upper back during the earthquake.
Tonight she was drinking some milk when she had sudden sharp chest pains. By the time she arrived here her heart was racing at 130 beats a minute, breathing about 30 breaths a minute and a normal BP. The pains in her mid back and ribs were bad enough to put her into a panic attack and the combination terrified her along with everyone around her.
Only after a quick prayer for God's guidance and no response to a puff of albuterol (asthma medication) did I evaluate her spine and ribs. Doing OMT (Osteopathic Manipulation Treatment) to her ribs and back allowed the pain to subside enough for her to calm down from the panic attack. I liked her breathing calmly & deeply at 18 breatha a minuteand a pulse of 92 much better than she had arrived.
A Tylenol for the remainder of the pain and instructions to her mother & friends to keep her focused on breathing slowly were given before the Pastor prayed again for healing and calmness. They all drove off a few minutes later after profuse thank yous and a sleepy smile from Fransca.
It was beautiful how, even though no one understood English, they all joined in in prayer when I started to pray for guidance.
I learned tonight that in an emergency I could do OMT on someone reclining in the front seat of a small sedan with about 20 concerned people crowding around. If I had any doubts about being able to help with OMT while I was out here, those doubts are now gone.
It is now dark & quiet again. All but I appear to be asleep. Goodnight.