Sunday, February 14, 2010 

Final thoughts from Team B



Team B has returned after a week in Haiti. The level of acute trauma has decreased but there are still many people affected by the earthquake. Haiti now has a population of amputees, people with poorly healing wounds, and an incredible number of displaced families without a home to return to.
Areas that were not as severely damaged are now feeling the affects. People from the Port-au-Prince area have moved in with family members in areas such as Les Cayes, the area of southern Haiti where Forward in Health has primarily worked. We have received reports of a family 8 cramped into a small home now trying to accommodate a total of 40 people. Food, water, and medical care in Les Cayes and the surrounding area is in short supply.
Forward in Health is planning a response by sending a medical team of 18 at the end of April. This will depend on commercial flights flying into Haiti. We will coordinate care with the minister of health in Les Cayes to know where our efforts would be best suited. Our directors in Haiti Lex and Renee Edme are will begin planning work this week.
Finally a subtle change in how white Americans are greeted in Haiti. Whenever a pickup truck of white people would be seen driving through town children would always shout, "Blanc, blanc," Creole for white. It was never meant in a mean way, just pointing out that white people, a rare sighting, are driving by. Since the earthquake the shouts of "Blanc, blanc" have changed to shouts of "Thank you" and "God bless you."

1:18 PM | |

Saturday, February 06, 2010 

Joy in the Midst of a Refugee Tent City




Forward in Health's second medical disaster response team, dubbed Team B, spent a day at the church and severely damaged orphanage of Mission of Hope in Grand Goave. This was a busy day with many patients still needing care of wounds from the earthquake.
In the middle of the camp was a 4 day old baby girl. She was born in one of the makeshift tents. The infant had not yet been named. Trip leader and FIH co-founder Paula Mulqueen offered some suggestions. Unfortunately the mother quickly rejected the name Paula and so other names were offered. Paula and FIH translator Alexis approached the mother with Gabriella which means God is my strength. After some thought the mother agreed.

4:51 PM | |

 

Day 1 in Haiti for Team B
















Team B flew from Santiago, Dominican Republic by charter landing on a road in Leogonne, Haiti. They immediately traveled to a village 45 minutes away to work out of a tin roofed chapel. Among the patients to arrive was a 53 year old woman injured in the earthquake 3 weeks earlier. She was brought to the chapel in a wheelbarrow by her husband. She had a bandaged leg and it was determined that she had a fracture of her femur, the long bone in her leg. The leg was casted, however the orthopedic surgeon on the team, Dr. Marshall Katzen, determined that her best chance for a full recovery was to have a metal rod surgically placed in her leg. Team B made contact with US army personnel and started plans to have the woman transferred to the USS Bataan hospital ship. All paperwork was completed for future transfer when space became available on the ship.
The team saw a mixture of patients including wounds, some healing better than others, and many with infectious diseases such as colds,, coughs, and intestinal diseases.

4:05 PM | |

Monday, February 01, 2010 

End of first day in Haiti for Team B

Received a quick call from Paula Mulqueen. Team B arrived at about 10:30 PM in the Dominican Republic after a long day of travel. Up early they were flown into Haiti and immediately went up the mountain to St. Etienne. Conducted clinic where the most talked about person was a 53 year old woman brought in by a wheelbarrow pushed her husband. In the earthquake she sustained a fracture of her femur, the long bone in her leg. After the evaluation it was determined that she requires a rod to be surgically placed in her leg or she would never walk again. The team has made arrangements for her to be transferred to the hospital ship Comfort.

While the team was touring the visitor center at the beach house of Mission of Hope destroyed by the earthquake, the sailors camped on the beach asked our team for help. They had come across a 13 year old girl with a badly infected hand from an open wound sustained during the earthquake. The team determined that the hand would need to be surgically opened and drained. The navy again made arrangements for her to have the surgery on the ship Comfort.

Paula has been traveling to Haiti since 2002 and has made over 15 trips. She is in shock at what she has found, particularly the number of tent cities seen while flying in and the condition of Port-au-Prince. The entire soccer stadium in Port-au-Prince is a mass of displaced people. The need in Haiti is far from over as the number of people displaced from their homes without a place to go is tragic. Medical need will likely change but continue as infectious diseases and malnutrition takes off.

7:37 PM | |