First week photos and experiences.

Here are a few pics from the first week

We are all looking forward to Coq Au Vin...

the Tap-Tap, the main mode of transport in Haiti

The cases to get done today and Pierre, the hardest working man in Milot.

Our compound backyard.

OR room #2

2/25/2010

It is now my fourth day here and I think I’m starting to acclimate a bit.  I’m sleeping through the dogs fighting and roosters crowing throughout the night much better.  Our compound, however, now has a goat.  He clearly did not appreciate the dogs  and emitted some of the most horrendous noises I’ve heard come from an animal last night.  He did seem to be alright this morning though.

Things continue to be quite busy here.  Phillips Electronic donated a fluoroscopy unit for “real-time” X-rays in the OR.  As a result we are able to see  just how bad some of the patients’ fractures are.  Our days  now filled with revisions of patients’ original emergent repairs.  It has been both a satisfying and frustrating experience.  Satisfying in that we are able to give the people a better chance of functional recovery, but frustrating in that the procedures are taking 3-4 times longer than they would in the US.  As a result there just aren’t enough workable hours to take care of everyone (and remain sane).   Our hospital currently has the most advanced technology in all of Haiti even though it would not be considered remotely adequate in a Western country.  As a result we have seen an influx of Port-Au-Prince residents helicoptered in daily for treatment.

All the patients coming through, it seems, have heart-wrenching stories to tell about the earthquake.  Most have lost at least one, if not all of their family members.  The majority do continue to be, for the most part, upbeat.  Sadly, there is not much I can tell them other than “m’regret” ( “I’m sorry” in Haitian Creole) as my Kreyol is not so good.  A nurse told me of a patient who was being flown back to Port-Au-Prince who started crying.  She asked why and the patient replied she had absolutely nothing to go back to.   

I am a bit apprehensive that once the media finds more interesting stories to move onto, they will cease coverage of the plight here in Haiti.  As a result, the influx of third-party and foreign aid will diminish. This country is highly dependent on foreign aid for its survival and the support of its people.  Without this aid, the continued rehabilitation of its earthquake victims and reconstruction of its largest city may all but disappear.

It is now 10 PM and having just transported our last patient of  the day on an army stretcher, across the dirt road, in the rain, to his current home in Tent #5 where he will spend the night with 50 other patients, I’m going to pass  out on my own cot. zzzzzzzzzzzzz