Thoughts by Vinay Sathe

Written by Vinayak Sathe on the way back to Little Rock

I am now on a special jet flying back from Fort Lauderdale to little rock as this is being typed. Feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of this mission. Cant believe that Team 10 has finally made it happen. Just over 7 days ago this journey began with lot of trepidation , excitement and hope that we can do something for the people of Haiti. We all worked hard and achieved something and on the way gained invaluable experience and made some good friends back in HAITI.

This was a time for all of us to show that we can work in a group as a team. We all jelled together very well and the alien conditions helped in a way towards that. The week passed with smoothly but with some highs and lows too. Purely from Orthopedic surgeons view this was incredible as we had to work in some difficult conditions and with an OR setup which was totally different from what I was used too. Dr.Thomas, me and Naomi Shields had to work together keeping our egos behind for the cause of the patients.

My first day in running the clinic was unique as I had to see patient with a large inguinal hernia, post mastectomy and some peditric cases thrown in for some variety. Several patients were from Earthquake time, who had been operated by another time and we had to make sure the follow up was taken care of. On the 2nd night of our stay a truck came through at night and parked right in front of hospital. There were 2 casualties and after triaging them we had to operate of them with multiple fractures. Again it was an unique experience treating them with no X rays, CT scan and the usual investigations one is used to having, working in USA. Luckily both patients made good recovery after several operative procedures.

Luckily on day one, as soon as we arrived in Pierre Payen, all the team members put in the effort to organize all the surgical instruments and implants and medicines so that those could be found easily when we needed them. Unfortunately, the main autoclave broke down but we did manage to find another just in time . Getting some blood transfusion for our patients too was hard but somehow things worked out so that we could go ahead with surgeries without problems.

On our last day the Team went to Club Indigo which is decent place from where we were staying. For 20 US $ we could have a buffet dinner, free swim in a nice pool and get some clean fresh water to drink., plus the cool sea breeze with sandy beach thrown in for free. This is recommended if one wants to break away from the daily grind.

The interpreters and the local Haitian were very helpful and I felt safe leaving my belongings in the residential rooms, while I was away at the hospital working. Pierre Payen is a place certainly for someone who wants to do some charity work, use their knowledge of medicine for the benefit of local people and on the way take home some great memories of the place.

I would like to Thank ALL the team members who helped each other and made my first mission trip worthwhile. We are landing back at Little rock and time to go back to our routine and mundane life.