Scabies Saturday

Sunday, March 21, 2010

I spent three days this week at the Rousseau site with a really good crew. People worked hard in the heat, were sensitive to all of the kids and people in the area, and there were good conversations. By Friday I had run out of tshirts to wear, since they've either been stolen or were in the wash (probably waiting to be stolen). It's kind of astounding to me that an organization can fly into a disaster area, set up a decent sized operation, yet thinks it an insurmountable task to keep people's laundry in their own possession...oh well.

On Friday I did an orientation at the Nursing school next door where Notre Dame and the Worldwide Village and the Filariasis study are running daily clinics and a field hospital. I shadowed Eleanor in the afternoon, who had been working as an interpreter (fluent in French, picking up some Kreyol).

Yesterday I went back to help out. My Wilderness First Responder training is helpful, but language skills would be more helpful. I started in triage taking people's blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. Within a couple minutes Gabe came in and sat down to do the same work, but faster and with more experience. I helped interpret.

I had worked on a lot of vocab before coming in Saturday and went from there. When I clearly couldn't understand something I could pull another interpreter from a few feet away. Lots of fever, diahrrea, loss of appetite, etc. We saw cases of scabies, women unsure of pregnancy or unwanting, a man with a large swollen stomach, and a case of measles.

Early in the morning a woman brought her two year old son in. He was unresponsive. We checked to see if he was breathing, which he was, but decided to run him over to the field hospital. There he woke up and started crying. His stomach clearly looked problematic, but whether it was malnutrition or something else, I don't know.

We returned to our spot in the clinic where a chicken decided to lay an egg in our corner, about four feet away. It was annoying to say the least.

I took a short break for lunch and returned to find a turkey wandering into the tent, which I then had to chase out. I don't think I've actually seen a turkey in Haiti before, but there were three of them hanging around our door.

I left the clinic/hospital/nursing school feeling good about the day, but it's definitely heavier work than smashing rubble. Rubble work has its moments, especially when you find personal effects, or family members tell their story, but you mostly focus on the work. The work at the clinic is work that shouldn't be there in a lot of cases. These people come in with easily treatable diseases that have festered for years due to a lack of health care.

Switching gears a bit, I've received all of my offers from grad schools and I'm weighing them. It's hard to do until I know about a few financial applications which won't come for a few weeks, but I'm leaning toward U of London SOAS due to cost, length of program, and quality. Nothing's set of course.

My friend Andy and his wife are coming out to visit today. Next week I have to take at least 3 days away from the base for mental health. Andy invited me to Santo Domingo so if that offer still stands I should be spending my first time in the D.R. I haven't had a huge desire to go, but why pass it up? Time to grab an egg sandwich e bannan ak pikliz. orevwa.

Labels: Haiti, Leogane, Worldwide Village