As you can imagine, sitting around cutting, packaging, and labeling pills allow for varied conversations among the group. Sharing coffee before beginning our day, does so, as well. This morning, a few of us were up early and talked about the value of our medical and dental care to the communities we serve. Our Gressier community has the opportunity to get medical care in Leogane, about a 45 minute drive away. Of course, that access is limited by financial resources, including the funds for transporation, as well as care and the presecriptions. The Jasmin community where St. Joseph's is located (and where we will have clinics on Tuesday and Wednesday) has no access to other care. The communty's remote location as well as the extreme poverty of the people contribute to this situation.
The churches ask that the patients pay about 25 cents for the care they receive. There is no charge for the medicine. If someone cannot pay, then they are not turned away.
Despite the care and the overall improvement in the health of the communities, our coffee group agreed with Steve Steinberg when he declared that the most important thing that we bring to our communities is love. Our repeated trips allow both us and our patients to recognize and enthusiastically great each other. I remember when I met with the Bishop Duracin, Bishop of the Diocese of Haiti, when Christ Church was deciding whether to enter into a partnership relationship with St. Joseph's. Bishop Duracin told me then, that the relationship is more important than any money that we can send.
One of the high points today was enjoying the pumpkin soup which Madame Laborde prepared for our group of more than 20 for lunch. When I wandered over during a lull in the pharmacy action, Madame Laborde was not in the house. After I ate, I sought her out to thank her for the wonderful meal. I thought she'd squeeze me to death, as we hugged each other hello (a southern and Haitian tradition for you Minnesotans reading this post). While our lives are very different, we have connected.
Our clinic saw about 200 patients today, and our dentist treated 12 patients (at least 12 teeth were pulled!) The heath seemed generally worse today than during our spring trip. We attributed this to our being at the end of the rainy season, with much higher incidences of malaria and scabies. As is often the case, we saw several people with very high blood pressure and various infections. We are able to treat chronic issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes with a 6 month supply of medication and have an arrangement with our Haitian doctor to visit our patients again in three months to adjust meds as needed.
One little girl, whom we had seen before, asked specifically for one of the knitted bears from St. Mary and St. Martha. I was excited to be able to fulfill her wish. The medicine bags were greatly appreciated and are so much nicer (and environmentally freindly) packaging than a plastic bag. Since the kids were not in school yet, we gave the photos of the children from the last trip to the headmaster to distribute to the children when school begins
Several members of the Port au Prince Daughters of the King chapter journeyed to Gressier to meet with Leslie and me this morning. Unfortunately, because of the clincs, we had only a few minutes to greet them and talk about the meeting planned for Thursday to introduce Pere Kerwin's 7 parishes to DOK.
Tomorrow we are off to Jasmin, where 200 people have signed up for clinics each day and there is a request that we return for a third day of clinics on Thursday. We will have to see whether we have meds available for that before we commit.
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