Thursday Night

It's after 10 and only the night owls are still up - Sandra, Bob, and me. We had a long day of organizing and getting prepared for the next trip. In the late afternoon, Dianne spent some time up at her partner, St. Phillippe and St. Jacques, learning about their plans to add a 10th grade (Secondary 1) in the 2016-2017 school year.

Yesterday was another eventful day in Jasmin. It seems that at each clinic there is at least one patient who is gravely ill. This day, it was a 17 month old boy, who had pulled a pot of boiling water over onto himself that morning. Luckily, our clinic was operating and Dianne was there. The young mother was understandably upset, and the little boy was in a great deal of pain. After giving the boy some Tylenol, Dianne had to abrade some of the burns, and then cleaned, treated, and wrapped the burns and blisters. The Mom told us that she lived close to the church, and lived in a house with a dirt floor. Dianne was concerned about dirt and the risk of infection, but unfortunately, this is the situation.  Although we gave her medicine and more dressings, the dressings needed to be changed daily, and Dianne told the Mom to take the boy to the hospital for this. We hope and pray that she is able to do so, but the closest hospital is where we stay which is about 1 to 1 1/2 hours away by 4 wheel drive vehicle. This mom was barefoot when she came to our clinic carrying her son. It is so difficult to describe the conditions in this mountanous community if you have not seen it. Her best hope of getting to the hospital is by moto. So, just try imagine what it would be like to carry your 17 month old toddler who has sustained second degree burns to his torso, arm, and back, down an extremely steep and  bumpy road, on the back of a moto, before reaching the main highway to get to the hospital. Then, think how easy it is for us to access medical care in the US.

Today has been an interesting day. The results of the Presidential election were announced in the late afternoon. There will be a runoff in December. There was concern about unrest after the announcement. Pere Sonley had been in Port au Prince, and said that there were some demonstrations, but things in Leogane are calm. We enjoyed a walk around town before the announcement and hope to be able to go to Jacmel tomorrow. We shall see how things are in the morning.

Everyone has now deserted me, so I am heading to bed, also.