Fall 2014 - Returning to Haiti

Our team is preparing to leave for our trip October 24 - November 1. The American contingent is small, but powerful, and includes Dr. Dianne Pizey (our medical director) and Russ Stephens from St. John's Minneapolis, Dr. Bob Rosenthal from DC, Bob's sister-in law Jeanne Simon from CT, and Deacon Juan Sandoval and me from Christ Church, Norcross. Jeanne and Russ will be working with me in the pharmacy. Juan, who is a Registered Nurse, will be working in triage and the lab at different times. This is the first trip for Juan and Jeanne and we are excited that they are joining us. I am especially excited that Juan will be representing the clergy of Christ Church. Pere Kerwin has asked Juan to assist in the Sunday service and to give the sermon.

We are continuing our goal of increasing our Haitian staff. We will be joined by Evens Joicin, the nurse who does monthly follow up care with our patients, and five nursing students which he will supervise as part of their clinical studies at FSIL, the Episcopal Nursing School in Leogane.

Clinical Director Evens Joicin (the tallest one!) and his student nurses

 

Myrline Richeme, another nurse, will work with Evens and Juan. Dr. Rudolph Richeme will join us only one day, we believe. He is working at Doctors Without Borders as part of his orthopedic residency, so he can only devote one day to work with us. His brother, Dr. Rolph Richeme, will join us the other days. Rolph worked with us a few years ago. He is a joy to have with us. We expect a new doctor, Gamiel Pierre, who lives  in Leogane. We also will have Laguerre Guerry, our optometrist, and Emmanuel Bastien, our dentist, and his wife, who will assist him, with us. We will have 4 translators to help those of us whose Kreyol is petit petit. Our translators are those we have used in the past, including Peter as lead to  work  with Juan, Peterson to work in the pharmacy, and Valeri and Marcos to work with Bob and Diane.

Our team at the end of the clinics

Our plan is for the four traveling groups from Atlanta, Minneapolis, DC, and NY (CT) to meet in Miami and take the 12:30 flight together to Port au Prince. Friday night, we will stay at the Palm Inn Hotel in Port au Prince, where Steve, Chip, and I stayed in the spring. It is very close to the airport, so is convenient for the guesthouse to pick us up on Saturday morning.

For the first time, some of us are spraying our clothes with permethrin to help repel the mosquitoes because of the risk of catching chikungunya, which is new to Haiti. It will be interesting to see if this is helpful.

Otherwise, things are about the same as in the past. We continue to buy as much as we can in Haiti, but are still faced with each taking 2 large suitcases full of meds and supplies, as well as our carry-on bag for our clothes and other personal items. Maybe one day, we will be able to buy everything in Haiti and will no longer need to add to the support of American Airlines by paying to check the extra bags.

Meds ready to sort and package in Haiti with some of the many suitcases.

As in the past, I will try to update this blog daily, but that is totally dependent upon the internet, electricity, and my condition after a hard day of work. So, remember, no news is good news.
Terry