Jessica Reports From Haiti!

I agree with Sarah. I do feel like I’m running around all day. One hour to make sure blood gets drawn for a CBC (finding the people to get the materials, finding others to translate, attempting to draw it myself, failing miserably and being concerned my patient would leak like a sieve after many unsuccessful attempts, getting a translator to help me ask a Haitian nurse for help, watching as she attempted to collect the drops of blood on the patient’s skin in a vial for the lab when she too was unsuccessful) – check. Someone did eventually succeed, the blood was sent, and now I’m staring at a hemoglobin of 6 that I’m not entirely sure is accurate. If we do decide to transfuse him, his family (who don’t come often) will have to take a prescription to the general hospital, pick up the blood and bring it back, which, as you can imagine is not a fast process, nor is it one that will be happening tonight.

1.5 hours to follow up on someone getting their pain meds (finding the nurse, finding the other nurse, attempting to communicate, finding a translator, finding a better translator, talking with the nurse, talking with the patient, talking with the sister of the patient who insists the patient already received pain meds and is worried about giving her more…etc.) – check.

I think some education and motivation might be helpful for the Haitian nurses, but honestly, I don’t know how much I would get done either with as many patients as each carries and the whole ordeal one has to go through just to get the medicine from the pharmacy, mix it up and give it. Nevermind the fact that orders are written in English and the doctors aren’t always used to going over every order with the nurse to ensure it gets done. Some nurses are wonderful to work with, but then there are the ones who fall asleep when taking watch in the ER or who don’t give any of the night-time antibiotics on any of the patients with osteomyelitis. It’s a systems issue just as much as anything. Either way, little by little, and people are getting better.

The people who have been making our food are called the Supreme Masters of Chang Hai. They are vegan, have been here for a long time since the quake and have cranked out 2-3 meals a day for 1000 plus people (the volunteers, Haitian staff, patients, and people in the surrounding community). They have been amazing, but the last meal they made was last night.

Today, the Haitian staff began cooking again. They can’t crank out quite the volume, but it certainly it is tasty and it’s important to start turning things back over. No dinner tonight though and there aren’t enough meals to feed both volunteers and patients, so they’re coming up with a system to either split the meals or rotate them. I say, patients first and we can buy ours down the road from the grocery store. All the Haitians who know me from when we came in 2008 keep telling me how much weight I’ve gained. I think I look fine, but maybe by the end of this trip I’ll be back to an “acceptable” size – ha.

Supplies are in both great supply and demand, but not necessarily in a way that matches up conveniently. An example, we actually have wound vacs, but not so many cartridges that can be changed out. Solution: drilling holes in the “disposable” portion of the wound vacs, draining out the rancid smelling liquid with a syringe (whatever is being sucked out of the wound – blood, pus, etc.), then covering the holes with tegaderm…daily. Any guesses as to whose job that might be

It is highly likely that many of the supplies needed are here but just haven’t been reached in the unpacking and organization process. Some of the hallways are literally piled from floor to ceiling. Some of the volunteers are working full time to get the situation under control.

Engineers from Project Hope have been here all day working with some of the Haitian staff and many of the representatives from Loma Linda to help assess and make recommendations for the hospital. Tomorrow there will be a meeting to discuss some of the future plans for the hospital – much prayer needed!

Sleeping on the roof – a little scary in the rain, but we have a tarp (set up in the rain), and the best view of everyone (a little ocean, lush mountains, beautiful sunsets). A great place to escape from it all for a few minutes.