Two days of clinics and 550 patients later

Our first two days of clinics were very successful; although Monday at St. Phillipe and St. Jacques was a very long day. Monday, we had a wonderful new clinic set up. We used the entire "old school" building, plus the new kitchen for the pharmacy.

As those of you who have  worked in the pharmacy previously will recall, the pharmacy location at St. P and St. J has been less than optimal in the past. Working in the new kitchen with meds on the counters was like heaven! Triage and lab was set up in the first large room  in  the school, then the docs were paired 2 by 2 in classrooms, with our optometrist and dentist each having their own rooms. It was much more spacious than in the past. The patients must have thought it was wonderful, too, because 300 of them came for treatment!

Dentist Emmanuel Bastien and his wife who serves as his assistant

Optometrist Leguerre Guerry

Dr. Rudolph Richeme and patient

We did not get back to the guesthouse until 7, and had to have dinner without showers so that the cooks could stop working after their longer day.  After dinner, we decided to get to  work, and poured meds until 10:30. During that time, we discovered there was no water. That paired with no air conditioning made the night less than ideal. Then, thankfully, just as I was considering a shower using wet wipes, the water came on! And about that time, the generator came on and  we had a/c. All was well!

Today, we made it up the mountain, but the Daihatsu would not make it up all the way to Jasmin because the brakes were not working well. We were very glad  they knew that before we got up there! So, some of us rode up in the 4 wheel drive Land Rover and others walked up from the halfway point. Russ was an incredible trooper. He has been feeling bad all week, and  decided to join the youngsters walking up the mountain. Then on the way home tonight, he rode in the  back of the pickup truck with the translators!

It was significantly cooler in Jasmin, than yesterday in Collin. Bob has a fabulous watch which tells the temperature, altitude, and other things, in addition to the boring time. So, we  now know that it was 96 at Collin, and 88 at Jasmin. A cold front came in!

One highlight for me today were seeing Sofini again. Sofini comes to see me every clinic and today was no exception.

The second  highlight for me was when a old man brought us two herbs as a gift. One is citroen and is used for a tea and  the other is a leaf and is chewed for acid. I  was really touched that he would take the time to pick these and bring them to us.

Yesterday, a man came to the pharmacy and talked on  and on about how much our medicine had helped his stomach. As some of you know, it does not take much for me  to tear up in  Haiti, and these conversations were no exception.

We saw about 250 patients today. Dr. Rudolph had to go back to work at Doctors without Borders today, so he called a friend, Frantz Codio, who was a really nice guy. His English, which he said he  learned in Port au Prince from visiting Americans at a neighborhood orphanage, was incredible. He spoke like an American. He  told us he goes to  the States frequently and he works for a US based NGO.  We were able  to make it back to the guesthouse by 6, so Jeannine, the  guesthouse manager,  was happy!

We only  had to do a few pill preps tonight, and now we are all relaxing, listening to the thunderstorm. We are back  to Jasmin tomorrow to see the patients who walk to us from Nicholas, which is farther up the mountain.