by Naomi Shields:
Chickenfeet ruled the roost late night after dinner as we learned Ruth’s domino game. Competition was fierce with moans and cheers as the dominos were laid. The ultimate victor was Majid,. Some of the team fell asleep early despite the heat, humidity, sqeaking ceiling fans and the barking dogs.Breakfast began with a lively discussion of what we could do. Reorganizing and taking inventory in the supply room and OR soon embarked with
a frenzy of “ what’s this”, “do you have any of these”, “lets move these boxes”, “wow, they have a lot of these and people don’t need to bring any more for a while”. An amazing amount of supplies have been brought down the past 10 weeks. After 4 hours of work, the equipment and OR were shaping up.The sutures and dressing supplies took a little longer. Carlos organized the casting/dressing supplies. Water, Coke and Crystal light were in order. Lunch was served with rice/beans with a sauce, a sp
icy carrot and onion slaw. After lunch discussion was held about going to the beach about 10 minutes away. As we were trying to decide who and what for the afternoon, when a truck pulled up and a man raced up asking us to look at his mother who was very sick. She was sweating, running a temperature and looked ill. After discussion with her son, a teacher at the American school in St. Marks, we felt she either had a kidney infection or malaria. An IV was started, antibiotics given and a cot prepared. As we were finishing, a truck pulled up unloading a young male who had been swimming at the beach with his friends. He drowned and they had pulled him from the water, driven him the 10 minutes to the hospital and screeched into the hospital entrance.
icy carrot and onion slaw. After lunch discussion was held about going to the beach about 10 minutes away. As we were trying to decide who and what for the afternoon, when a truck pulled up and a man raced up asking us to look at his mother who was very sick. She was sweating, running a temperature and looked ill. After discussion with her son, a teacher at the American school in St. Marks, we felt she either had a kidney infection or malaria. An IV was started, antibiotics given and a cot prepared. As we were finishing, a truck pulled up unloading a young male who had been swimming at the beach with his friends. He drowned and they had pulled him from the water, driven him the 10 minutes to the hospital and screeched into the hospital entrance. He was in full cardiac arrest, his face covered with vomit and his airway filled with blood. We worked for about 1 hour surrounded in the hallway with his friends and other Haitians who came in. His employer with him and translating, kept asking us to try another 5 minutes. If we had a difibrillator, we might have been able to 
save him as we did get a heart rate back for a short period of time but could not keep him out of vfib. Despite intubation and O2, his O2 saturation was hard to keep up. He had significant frothy bloody pulmonary edema and we suspect that he had been without O2 for a while between the water and the drive to the hospital. The friends carried him out the truck and we covered him with drapes. After a while, with heads bend, they slowly drove off. One commented to Susan “he survived the earthquake but not the party to celebrate surviving”. This was truly a team effort with everyone involved. The children were hugging everyone afterwards.
Work continued and then most of the team went to the beach for an “hour of bliss”. During the walk back up the hill, Carlos and others went by a church with local music ech
oing forth. Arriving back to the compound, dinner was served, evening rounds done and the evening has resumed the “chickenfeet” dominos. Carlos frequently needs “therapy” for his collection of dominos.
Tomorrow Jessica, June, and Jennie are headed to the University of Miami hospital to assist with their anesthesia needs. We may get several patients from them over the next week. Tomorrow we see clinic in the morning. Xrays are available Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Working with LeeAnn, a nurse from Pennsylvania who has been here for a week and Dr. Tim Pratt, FP fellow, who has been here almost a month has been great for patient continuity. They have been a wealth of do’s and don’ts!
The children have learned our names and we have been teaching them important things, like “Louie, Louie”, the Arkansas “sooooohewie” call, and an assortment of other sounds and songs. Yolanda enlisted their help this morning in cleaning up the little courtyard! One little boy then threw a gym wrapper on the ground…and the other kids shook their heads.
Trash is a huge issue here as there is no organized trash collection system. Trash burning in piles is the main method of disposal. Smoke from behind the compound wafted thru the air this afternoon. There is no seperation of medical waste and we’ve been told “we don’t want to know where it goes”.
The team has gelled well and await orthopaedic patients to treat!
save him as we did get a heart rate back for a short period of time but could not keep him out of vfib. Despite intubation and O2, his O2 saturation was hard to keep up. He had significant frothy bloody pulmonary edema and we suspect that he had been without O2 for a while between the water and the drive to the hospital. The friends carried him out the truck and we covered him with drapes. After a while, with heads bend, they slowly drove off. One commented to Susan “he survived the earthquake but not the party to celebrate surviving”. This was truly a team effort with everyone involved. The children were hugging everyone afterwards.Work continued and then most of the team went to the beach for an “hour of bliss”. During the walk back up the hill, Carlos and others went by a church with local music ech
oing forth. Arriving back to the compound, dinner was served, evening rounds done and the evening has resumed the “chickenfeet” dominos. Carlos frequently needs “therapy” for his collection of dominos.Tomorrow Jessica, June, and Jennie are headed to the University of Miami hospital to assist with their anesthesia needs. We may get several patients from them over the next week. Tomorrow we see clinic in the morning. Xrays are available Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Working with LeeAnn, a nurse from Pennsylvania who has been here for a week and Dr. Tim Pratt, FP fellow, who has been here almost a month has been great for patient continuity. They have been a wealth of do’s and don’ts!
The children have learned our names and we have been teaching them important things, like “Louie, Louie”, the Arkansas “sooooohewie” call, and an assortment of other sounds and songs. Yolanda enlisted their help this morning in cleaning up the little courtyard! One little boy then threw a gym wrapper on the ground…and the other kids shook their heads.Trash is a huge issue here as there is no organized trash collection system. Trash burning in piles is the main method of disposal. Smoke from behind the compound wafted thru the air this afternoon. There is no seperation of medical waste and we’ve been told “we don’t want to know where it goes”.
The team has gelled well and await orthopaedic patients to treat!
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