by
Website Editor
| Mar 21, 2010
Another earthquake hit Haiti last night and we heard some people died in northern Haiti.
Back to work today. We went to a new village Mapou Bussonier to hold a mobile clinic, with a very short staff, because both Dr. Stephen and Fred had gone to Port au Prince for meetings.
Today was Sunday and we interrupted church services under the trees with apologies to the pastor. Our enthusiastic interpreters led the last part of the service and we all joined in with some hearty hallelujahs (the only part of the service we could understand).
There was a huge tent city (mostly sheets and curtains) on the side of a hill with some pretty spectacular scenery in the background. Despite it being Sunday, a large crowd showed up for the clinic. We were almost overwhelmed and VERY glad when Kris came back from a morning of playing guitar at a local church and helped in the clinic. Then it was a big relief when and Stephen and Fred returned early from Port au Prince and were able to fetch medicines when we were running out and add extra medical help at the clinic.
Since it was a Sunday, we had a shortage of interpreters and several local residents helped us with translation. A village leader was helping me with triage and intake and was VERY indignant when I asked teenage girls if they were pregnant before we could administer worm medicine. I had to get one of our regular interpreters to explain to him it wasn’t an insult to the girls, but a medical necessity to ask the question.
We had to rush one lady to the hospital with a possible gall bladder attack. We had a couple of cases that could have been hepatitis and two others that may have been tuberculosis but can’t be positively diagnosed in a mobile clinic setting. (It made me a little nervous when I realized they had breathed into my face).
Martina said she had “instant gratification” when she irrigated a black bean out of a little girl’s ear.