Haiti Mission Project

Leaving this Saturday!

This Saturday Alfonso Duran (MSIV going into family), Daniel Patton (MSIV going into ortho), Cosmin Cosma, Michael Wolcott and myself will be leaving to the Santo Domingo.  From there we will be meeting up with CURE international, and then traveling into Port-Au-Prince work out of our hospital!  Word is that we will be busy and useful!

Update from Allen Patee

I just received this from my classmate Allen Patee:

I’ve been in Haiti for the past 2.5 days and the experiences here have been amazing. There is so much opportunity to help so many people in so many ways. I spent 13 hours yesterday in the OR helping out with ortho cases. There was no OR nurse or tech present so I was helping out with those types of things. I would also periodically scrub and help hold limbs in various positions. When we were done with our cases for the day we built ortho trays and continued to organize the OR. Today I stayed extremely busy in a clinic/urgent care/ ER. There were literally hundreds of Haitians lined up since early this am. There was one Pediatrician, several RN’s, and me. I ended up seeing 42 patients on my own!! I saw lots of infections, asthma exacerbations, hypertensive urgencies, musculo-skeletal injuries, peds, peds, and more peds! I did have a Haitian translator to translate and document for me. Apparently this is how it has been every day. There is a good supply of antibiotics, and we provide full care. They have also been begging for people to work overnight shifts in the ED and in L&D. There is a couple of midwives and one OB GYN intern. Yesterday there were several deliveries, 3 C sections, and 2 patients in eclampsia (not Pre-eclampsia—these patients were actually having seizures)! The people here are all so grateful for the help that we provide. It is such a blessing to be here and to be able to help. There is definitely more than enough to do for all of our classmates, and I know that you would feel tremendously blessed if you are able to come.

Thank you for your continued prayers,

Allen

Going back to Haiti

Heading home for a few days

 

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

Sorry…

The US Armed Forces at HAH

 

It's hard to believe that it was only 7 days ago that we were moving our patients out of the hospital for fear of significant structural damage to the southwest wing, what a difference a week makes.  By the way, the Parkridge team is here safe and sound and were already in the O.R. doing cases this afternoon.  Thank you all for your continued prayers and support of our mission here at Hopital Adventiste d' Haiti.

 

Parkridge team leaving Ft. Pierce FL for Port-au-Prince Haiti

Scroll down for pictures of the 6 babies born here at HAH last night.

1/2 a dozen + babies born last night

 

Kids, Facilities, and Departures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Kim’s Update from Haiti

“The quakes keep rolling. Well they are more like little tremors that shiver more than shake, but the reaction everyone has is a reminder of how traumatic the memories are. Last nights’ late shift was fortunately calm without incident. That was in strong contrast to the earlier night shift in which we had 4 codes and so much of the group was pushed to emotional and physical limits. So far a more systematic approach to patient care and rounding has led to earlier identification of sicker patients, and the leadership is working hard to address some of the resource limitations that prevented us from being able to save lives earlier.

In other news, our little global village compound has been quite the press joint today, the Hope Channel was here. About half way through the day, a large convoy of trucks complete with VIP blinkers and bodyguards on foot made their way into the hospital and an American and French ambassador stepped out with a small press corp. Apparently we have all been working so well with the French that it has been reminiscent of those old guys, Lafayette and Washington. I don’t want to start any rumors, but we might be getting back together after that whole Iraq quarrel thing. I’ve already started calling freedom fries French fries again in anticipation.

I ended up sleeping away the afternoon after the late shift, but the exciting word for the collaborative operations is that a tent went up for the clinic at the Refugee camp at the University and the set-up for the satellite clinic is complete. There are big plans to continue the outreach spreading out from the hospital, and while there seems to be a steady flux of medical personnel to staff the hospital, with the expanding vision, new places to plug into the patient care are always coming into need. Just the other day as I was helping the team from Texas set up the clinic across from the hospital, we went out to spread the word and found that there were over 50 patients waiting at a refugee camp being seen by a few local nurses who were not capable of handling the suturing, and diagnosis necessary to treat the large gathering crowd. There is definitely a sense of excitement in being able to directly fill a clear need, and the opportunity to do that has only been growing with what to this point has been a great collaboration between Loma Linda, ACTS, the French Pompiers, the hospital administration, and the number of many other sincere volunteers who have been coming to the hospital. I can’t wait to see how our class will fit into this growing aid work, and am sure that we can make a contribution that will have a lasting impact.”

Diplomats & the Media