Friday 2/27 It's the last day of clinics, and I am the first one up. The moon has long gone, so the early morning sky is stunning, and the Milky Way is bright and breathtaking. On the last day of my first trip here, I remember feeling so anxious...what else can I teach in one day? What if I run out of time? I wonder if I can come back? This time feels a lot different, there is much less of that anxiety. I will teach as much as I can, I will definitely run out of time, and I will absolutely be coming back. I am also thinking about how much this trip has prepared me for my upcoming trip to Honduras, in the fall. As I may have mentioned, I am a "Big Picture" thinker and I do not need instant gratification to be happy. This trip has given me so many ideas of what to do next with my life,what to study, what skills and training to focus on, all to make me more useful and productive on my future trips. There is nothing I love more than a future full of possibilities and oppo...
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Thursday 2/26 Judging by the increasing number of people on the roof this morning, I think a lot of team members have given up on sleeping in here. All of our mornings begin with coffee and tea, which is usually served on the rooftop, weather permitting. Breakfast is served at 7:00am , and Pastor Osamee or Pastor Dellamy will usually have a morning devotional at 7:30 , before the clinic opens. Religion is extremely important in this country, with the top three being Christianity (in various denominations such as Methodist, etc...), voodoo, and Catholicism. Haitian Catholicism is a combination of Catholic and voodoo beliefs. At 8am , all of the school children meet in the school courtyard for the raising of the flag, then they march, single file into their classrooms. The school uniform for Terre Blanche is a blue checkered blouse or shirt, and dark pants or skirt. It is remarkable how meticulous the students look, the Haitians take great pride in their appear...
Wednesday 2/25 My alarm clock this morning, at around 4:30am, was the sound of a woman screaming outside of the clinic. Barbara (my fellow early riser and a retired Labor and Delivery RN), said it had the distinct sound of a woman in labor. I could see the flashlights, and hear the sounds of the clinic staff moving her into the Annex building. Another exciting day in Terre Blanche has begun...Bon Joo! I have come up with a plan of attack, for Mme. Bluette's training, now all I have to do is make it work. As with the last trip, I am already dreading having to leave here so soon after my arrival. So much unfinished business, and there is so much more I could do, if I could only stay another week...or month... It's a slippery slope. The sun is just starting to rise, and the kitchen staff has made tea and coffee, so I am going to have a cup of tea, watch the sunrise, and mentally prepare for the day. The morning with Bluette went so well! I find that I am consisten...
Tuesday 2/24 I am actually writing this at 5 am, Wednesday morning , from the rooftop. Yesterday was a loooooong day, and I was just too tired, and thick headed, to write last night. Monday was so chaotic in the clinic, that I never had a chance to train, or even speak with, Madame Bluette. One, actually two, of the reasons, were that we had two babies born at the clinic. They are healthy, and so darling! I cannot wait to post the photos back in the states. Bluette had to stop seeing her other OB patients, in order to deliver the babies, which almost created a riot of hormonally charged women! We have an OB/GYN on this trip, however, the Haitians are very tenacious about which provider they wish to see. It's quite a ruckus when we change that, and I found out later that Pastor Dellamy had to break up a fight outside the clinic on Monday, just because of the delay. The plan for Tuesday, was that I spend the morning with Bluette, and the afternoon scanning hospital patients. Unf...
Monday 2/23 It's the first day of clinics, many patients came yesterday and spent the night in the church and school rooms. The singing began at 3:30 am ....yes...am. In spite of the lack of sleep, there is a high level of energy and excitement this morning. We've all heavily caffeinated ourselves, had some breakfast, had our pre-clinic meeting, and we are off and running! It's typical that we are delayed in the morning, waiting for the Haitian Physicians to arrive, due to the transport issues I've mentioned before and the general concept of Haitian time. So, there is a short period of "Hurry up and wait", the physicians arrive, a quick orientation is done, then it's Game On. We have survived the first day of clinics. At the debriefing we discovered that we treated 201 patients today, as a team. I'm pretty sure I broke my personal scanning record today. I forgot to mention that Pastor Dellamy decided to announce to the entire congregation, on...
Sunday 2/22 It's official, my internal clock automatically resets to Haitian time when I get here, and I wake up between 4:30 and 5am every morning. I'm sure it has something to do with the local critters being very chatty. The wind pushed most of the clouds away, so the morning sky was full of stars, a beautiful site to see first thing in the morning. Sunday is big breakfast and church day, so we had pancakes, porridge, sausage, bananas, and fresh papaya laid out on our buffet, and most of us ate on the rooftop. There is no specific start time for church, so we all eat, dress, and chill, until we get the word to head over to the church. While we were waiting for church to begin, we had a rare treat, a Ra Ra band came through town. Ra Ra bands are voodoo followers, who parade around playing loud music to "distract" the Christians. In Port au Prince, these bands are sometimes accompanied by scantily (or not at all) dressed women ... Now, that's distracting! J...
Saturday 2/21 So far, no internet access... This morning greeted me in true Haitian style, a 4:15am wake up call from the rooster and donkey alarm clocks. I stayed in bed, drifting in and out of sleep, listening to the critters of Terre Blanche come to life, and finally headed to the roof at around 5:15am to appreciate the cacophony first hand. It was quite windy this morning, with a cloud cover that has kept the temperature in the 70s and low 80s today. After an early breakfast, we all headed downstairs to the clinic, to prepare for the conference. The event is open to Haitian medical professionals of all levels, and a small group of RNs were already waiting to register. The proposed starting time was at 8am , but that's American time, which is quite different from Haitian time. One of the roadblocks to Haitians getting anywhere in a timely manner, is the fact that many of them are dependent on other people and rarely have their own mode of transport...
It's Tuesday afternoon, and we finally have internet, so I will attempt to catch up on my posts... Friday 2/20 Greetings from Haiti! There has been a change in the Internet service here, since my last visit. As of now, the Internet is not available at night, but should be available in the morning. I've decided to try to write every night and just post it when I can. I met up with my new group at JFK airport, and no surprise, they're lovely. On my last trip I heard all about Janan and Levi, Dr. Joe and Linda's daughter and son-in-law (they are both RNs), who happen to be in this trip, along with some of their friends. HFH is hosting a Medical Conference tomorrow, so this team is loaded with Medical professionals. To back track a bit, we all flew into PAP (Port Au Prince) without problems, our Haitian staff wrangled all of our luggage, we loaded into the trucks, and hit the road. I spent half the trip in the back of one of the Jeeps, until I became frightenin...
Well, last night was an adventure in itself, and I haven't even left the country yet! My flight into JFK was a bit late, the luggage even later, then a short wait for the shuttle (that felt really long, thanks to -30 degrees with windchill!). By the time I was checked into the hotel, I had about 4 hours before I had to be back on the shuttle. Needless to say, considering my lack of beauty sleep, I'm not so much of a beauty this morning! :) I had a great talk with my volunteer coordinator (Jamie) at MTI, during my layover in Minneapolis. My position as a volunteer is rapidly evolving into more responsibility and depth, which I love. I am going to try to help them design an assessment and training protocol specific to Ultrasound for these types of trips. It's very exciting for me, but a lot to figure out in a short time, even with the "Tool Kit" they've given me. For a number of reasons, I'm glad that I'm returning to Terre Blanche for my first assessmen...
Tomorrow morning, the morning you'll be reading this, I will begin my journey. I'll be flying into Minneapolis, with a couple of hours layover, then on to NYC for the night. My bags are packed, I'm checked in on my flight, all I have left to do tomorrow is water the plants and fill the bird feeders...so the squirrels have something to eat while I'm gone. ;) I'm so excited to see the Haitians I worked with on my last trip. They were all so lovely and gracious, and I don't know if they know that I'm coming back with this team. I'm going to try to get a good nights rest, so I'm signing off and leaving you with some photos from my last trip. I'll post again from NY! Ox
Friday the 13th...packing day! Admittedly, this experience dragged on much longer than I expected it to. I had some last minute laundry, the post office mistakenly held my mail from HFH (my Malaria meds!), so I had to pick it up, last minute prep errands, you know how it goes. In spite of everything, I am now, officially, 98% packed. Whew! I did take my first dose of the meds this evening, not my favorite. For those of you who haven't ever had the joy of taking Malaria meds, I take a dose a week, starting the week before I get to Haiti, until a few weeks after I return. The meds have a plethora of side effect options, typically some freaky hallucination-type dream, which would not be great for a Monkey-brained bad sleeper such as myself. Lucky for me, my first dose just gives me a brain splitting headache and nausea that hits me like a freight train. Last time I found that the first dose was the worst, with every dose after that getting progressively better. I was prepared for it t...
In just 8 days I will begin the trek back to Haiti. This second mission trip has such a different "feel" than my first trip. There is both a comfort and surrealism to my excitement, which I will try to explain further...and better! I love travel and adventure with every fiber of my being, so the excitement of any trip (be it overseas or a local road trip) is a comfort to me. The surrealism is realizing that I have made a dream come true for myself. From the moment I decided to return to school for Medical Ultrasound, I began looking for an opportunity to do something like this. I am a "Big Picture" person, I do not need instant gratification to be happy, I simply need something to work for. The path I chose during school, the type of job I looked for when I graduated, every opportunity I have to learn something new, has all been in hopes of using my skills and knowledge for something of this magnitude. Every success and hardship has been a step towards this. I found...