Last week, Angel Missions hosted a team of 13 medical personnel from Roanoke, Virginia. I got to work wtih them daily, running clinic and a mini pediatric ward on Delmas 24 at the site of the soon-to-be Surgery Center. We had 2 inpatients, discharged from the USNS Comfort to us: Christopher, an infant with hydrocephalus, and Ois, a 9 year old who suffered a broken femur and a severe head injury. When we picked him up, he was mostly non-responsive and very lethargic, but by the end of a week with our stellar team, he was obeying commands, communicating his needs, bonding with his caregivers, and sometimes being downright demanding! It was a very emotional group of Americans who saw him off to another hospital when it came time to leave.
The team did a great job balancing the needs in the ward with the daily work in the clinic. We had at least four docs or nurse practitioners seeing patients at all times and each one had a nurse assisting with meds and dressings. For them, I think it may have been a bit disappointing that most of the complaints were simple everyday Haiti issues, but for me, it was a wonderful sign that we are recovering. More heartburn and less gruesome wounds!!
Since their departure, I have heard several patients asking for the "white doctors" and many more expressing their gratitude for the many days of clinic. And now we await their return to Haiti!
6 comments:
Who knew 13 would be "Lucky" & so awesome? Thanks for the update via Adam on Ois! Very exciting news! Keep up the Great Work! Peace, Hugs & Blessings~
Sondra
I would love to come back Kez..thank you for the pleasure of working with you. I miss the people of Haiti very much.
Kez, thank you for the mentions. We had such a wonderful time. Completely enriching and rewarding. We hope we were able to provide at least a small bit of comfort to such wonderful people. We miss you all and hope all is well.
Yes, there seemed to be a lot of heartburn cases.
Kez
Just wanted you to know how much I am enjoying your blog and even more the chance to meet you. You are truely inspiring and can't wait to come back to work with you again soon!!
We had a little reunion on Sunday, it was good to hear from you through Adam. Continue to keep us posted. If you see or talk to Christine tell her I think of her every day. Hugs to Ois. Hope we can see you in May!
Missing Haiti, hoping the rumblings are few.
Jenny B
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