Drama on the High Seas or Class 4 in Haiti

We made it! We are sitting in our air-conditioned room in Port au Prince!!! This hotel that seemed barely adequate last Sunday now seems five star resort!
But it's a very different picture from our day of travel. Our first vehicle left St Paul's at 7:45 this morning and we fnally arrived in PauP at 6:45 tonight. Is that a record?!?! Actually we finished crossing the river at 1:30 so it was only 5 and 3/4 hours to get the first fifteen miles. After that, it was slow but steady.
We had to take two trips to get to the river with our one vehicle from our Petit Trou hero. At the river, Dr Mo negogiated a great team of boatmen at a great price. Then Mike crossed with a load of duffels followed by Jenn and another load of duffels. At that point, Mo stayed on the Petit Trou side waiting for us which took another hour or two. Finally we arrived with Jean Well and Roosevelt to see us off. Yvonne and I were immediately hussled onto the boat. It was a dugout canoe with another very nervous Haitian who kept shouting that he couldn't swim. Yvonne and I were shuffled around in the canoe much to our distress and finally we began. The boatmen pulled us up river about 100 yards and then set us free. We zoomed down river and with their swimming help aimed for the other side. It all worked out fine except we landing in ankle deep mud and had to carry our bags out. Little did we know that everyone else including the guys were offered a piggy-back ride. Beverly's ride was even more special but more about that when we have photos to explain!
After the crossing, we made our way to Petit Reviere where we had a nice break an Manilou's Hotel. Lovely cold drinks and our tuna and crackers on the patio. Manilou's place looks just this side of decrepit but what a lovely man and what a lovely spot.
The rest of the day seemed fairly straight forward compared to the river crossing but more about that tomorrow. Right now, I need a bit of sleep! T Sorry no pictures tonight. Check this post again soon for some great river crossing shots!

Medical Team Goes from Clinic to Expedition to Epic

Sunday morning- I am waiting for the second ride to the river so have a few minutes to blog. We finished the clinic on Friday and then the rains came and came and came. Yesterday was a day of flooding and water. Our tent has two to three inches of water, the St Paul's campus has two or three inches of water everywhere, the entry to the dining room became a waterfall for the day and the road outside became a river.
Our wonderful driver, Bobby, took some of the translators home to Petit Trou yesterday morning and on the way his car flooded. It is completely useles without some major repairs. So we have no way to leave. The river is flooded so other cars can not come. So yesterday afternoon, we all went to look at Bobby's car and look for help. That's how I know the road is a river. We walked about two miles down the "river" to Bobby's car. Those who know the area, it was right by the arch to the entrance to Petit Trou. Well, there was indeed no help for the car. So we began to look for other options. We found a man with a lovely diesel pickup who was willing to help. AND, he gave us a ride back to St Paul's. Since it was dark and pouring, we were very happy. As we had walked out, people had joined us to help so the ride back had about 15 people in the pickup- Haitian style. Those of us riding in the back, made a tent of plastic bags and ponchos, we only had 10 back there.
So this morning, our hero with the pickup has begun to ferry us to the river. We don't know what it will be like when we get there or how we will get across. Wish us luck!

Thankful for hands to hold.

So sorry for the delay in posting, we are, as Mike will report, been a lean, mean team without lots of time for touching base with the outside world. So today, some musings from our team:

Mike's report-
It's way too soon to wax poetic or philosophic. I will need weeks to sort out my feelings from this complex and powerful trip. A few tidbits- The new style medical mission (Small, lean, fewer non-clinicians) has been a valuable learning experience. I and everyone here has been blessed by the amazing team of self-sacrificing, compassionate, uniquely gifted team we have become. Teresa's hard work and energetic spirit have been beyond amazing. And finally, Mo and I have been amused (maybe better-astounded) to share our humble room with a rat, so far unseen but very active- chewing up the leather wristband of my watch (Fortunately it was not on my wrist that night), nibbling my bar of soap drying on our table, a hole in my backpack to nibble some M&M's, and then leaving scattered pellets, reminders of his passing.
Thanks be to God that the downpour of Thursday did not repeat today. We worried... about the river rising but tonight (Friday), it's clearing so we think we'll get back to Port au Prince ok.
Saturday update: Rained heavily most of the night, We won't really know the status of the river until this afternoon when our second driver, Michael, second SUV return from Port au Prince as scheduled. We hope the report we hear of clearing skies today are correct.
I saw our friendly rat about 4AM. I was awakened by the clatter of my watch hitting the floor, falling from the window sill above my bed. A quick flashlight sweep showed a rather substantial and well-fed rat climbing out the open window. We are very close to nature here!

Mo's report from Thursday:
It has been quite a week so far. Everyone is working very hard: lots of disease and pestilence. People here have a hard life but seem very enduring and open to any help. As a team, we are quite enjoying each other's company and comraderie. Dokte Mo

A final note for now-
Beverly's mantra today- Be thankful for hands to hold. We have done a lot of hand-holding in prayer, in healing, in just being close to each other.
Mike's report about the weather is true. It's 9:30 AM and raining hard. So we are working on ways to get across the river and all getting out our swimming suits! Traveling with a bunch of doctors, they all assure me that they have medicine to treat against anything that might live in the river. Actually, I wasn't worried, ignorance is bliss!
Sorry for the lack of photos but I have had trouble uploading them. I will continue to try. Until later then, today, tomorrow, Monday men tale, tale. (But soon!)

Every star we see, you see.

Today was a day of sorting out our systems and fining tuning our process. You engineers would be so happy. Let me start by saying that we realized we had a little issue on our hands around lunch time. Us chaos people always know how to create "issues". Yesterday Father Kesner came up with the idea to hand out cards to people waiting so that if you didn't get a card for that day, you could get a card for the next day and not have to wait in the hot sun, brilliant! And then I and some of the women volunteers went to execute the plan. I explained that we give a card to each person, not each family. Well, something was lost in translation, literally, and around 11:30 this morning I realized we had seen almost 50 people but only collected 21 cards. Unfortunately, I had already handed out the cards for tomorrow, another 50. Well, I came clean at lunch and we worked out a plan to speed up our consultations without compromising quality. Dr. Mike agreed to see the GH's (The generally healthy people who need a little TLC, tylenol, antacids and vitamins). He was doing great when I left. Dr Mo and Dr Yvonne then took the more serious cases and helped offload some of Dr. Jenn's peds. Like I said, when I left, they were all still standing and no one was looking daggers at me.
A few words about a few of our team. We have a wonderful new nurse turned pharmacist. Every day she adds to morning mediation with one of her daily healing mediation. And she sets the daily mantra. Yesterday "This is fun and we are having it!" Today "Rock and Roll is here to stay" This afternoon, I caught her at an emotional moment. She had around six people in her little pharmacy with her and lots and lots of chaos. She was just bringing some discipline to the situation and stopped with these thoughts. It makes her cry to see such gratitude when we have so little to give. The people are so wonderful to us and full of thanks. And she added (She has a tendency to be random, guess that's why I like her) that she loves looking out at the amazing stars here each night and knowing people all over the world are seeing the same stars.
We also have a new pediatrician named Jenn Hardy. Jenn is a ball of energy. She has mentioned numerous times what a great job she has (Only around 100 degrees and poor light) because she gets to handle all the beautiful babies. She can wax on enthusiastically about a child who has screamed bloody murder at her or kicked and fought every step of the way. She seems to adjust well to animals in the tent city, lizards in the bathroom and kittens in the dining room. But when it comes to mosquitoes, she is absolutely paranoid.
Many of you already know Dr. Mike. He began coming in 2008 and has been back four or five times. I will let him speak for himself in the next day or two but I just want to say, I have never met a more caring and honest man. He offers courtesy and respect to each person he encounters. And he can also look someone in the eye and with honesty tell them that there is a problem with the way things are going. He also is opened-minded and democratic in his leadership style when it's called for and definite and firm when needed. What a great leader, we are so lucky to have him.
Well, I won't bore you anymore, more about everyone tomorrow and a bit more about Dr. Mo and Dr. Yvonne.
Just got to say, my kreyol is getting better and better. M'ap travay avek bon moun yo! A demen! (I am working with the good people, until tomorrow!) I am afraid I forgot my card reader for my camera so no pictures right now, I'll try again later or tomorrow.

Clinic Work

It's been a challenging few days but I have never felt more alive. So sorry our posts aren't more frequent but we have been very busy.
To give you a brief overview of the last few days, let me begin by saying it is Tuesday afternoon around 4:00 PM and I snuck out of the clinic to write this. We could go on for hours but Dr. Mike said we will stop taking in new patients at 3:00 because yesterday we waited until 4 and didn't get out of the clinic until 7. And as those of you who have been here know, it was quite dark.
We traveled on Sunday starting at 6:00 AM but needed to wait for a money changer. So we weren't on the road until 8:30 AM, typical Haitian time! We left Port au Prince behind. It was so difficult seeing the buildings where we know people died. Our driver helped explain many things and showed us the government buildings that were destroyed.
We also heard the story of Jacqui, our travel agent in PauP: How she survived, how her best friend did not.
The trip took six and a half hours, very slow going. We were hot and tired by the time we arrived in Petit Trou. It was Sunday afternoon and we hadn't met with the clinic staff or set up the pharmacy. So we did the best we could and decided to finish Monday morning and open the clinic in the afternoon.
Monday morning went very well. We have the six new village women helping us and they were all trained on the blood pressure cuffs and thermometers. They have been absolutely amazing but more about that later. The pharmacy took shape and Beverly, our nurse/pharmacist began to form a team with her large group of helpers. It takes some time to develop a team with lots of guys who don't speak English and a new pharmacist learning her way. But I think they are doing great today the second day into the clinic!
So when we started the afternoon, our first clinic, we were all ready and pretty excited. I do have to say that six hours later and sixty six patients later, we were a bit frazzled. But it was great to finally see the team working after the preparation from us and everyone at home and the three days to get here. I think we all felt accomplished.
At the same time, we feel the overwhelming need. It seems we are only a drop in the bucket and there is so much more we could do. But as we decided this morning at prayer, we are at least a drop in the bucket, the first drop these people have had. And for every person, we sit with, we are very important. And we can feel the whole arms of CHP wrapped around us. We are only a little part, yes, but we are part of a much bigger partnership with the people of Petit Trou.
Today has been long and hot but I think we are starting to develop a rhythm. Father Kesner is here now and he took the huge job of speaking to the people waiting outside to be seen. They were angry and it was so, so hard every time we opened the door. Well, he had never been out there before and it was so good to have him see, to speak with the people and to come up with a new plan to help with managing the crowd.
About the village women. We have changed some things in the clinic this year. We have fewer of the translators and staff from before and now have six of the women trained in public health by Warren Berggen. This has been the best change. They are delightful to work with, eager to learn and very helpful. Two of them have the incredibly hard job of staying outside with the crowds. They had to choose the very sick from the general population and usher them in first. This was a heroic thing to do. At least they are my heroes! The rest work amongst us at the clinic, with providers, in the pharmacy and two or three at check-in. I feel like we are melding as a team.
On a personal note, I have helped now with two minor surgeries and it's been so exciting. Actually, I'm pretty sure the patients didn't think it was exciting at all and probably want nothing more to do with us: A little girl and a little boy.
That is it for now, please be patient with our lack of communication, there is very little time and it's difficult to get on line. Teresa

On the way to Port au Prince

The stay in Miami was easy and uneventful. The airport was quite a scene as we had to move our twenty 50lb bags from one area to the other amongst lots of travelers going home to Central America. We will be on our way in the next hour and hope to have someone waiting for us in Port au Prince. Wish us luck and send your prayers.

A new start!

We are underway again! Five weeks later after the tragedy in Haiti, CHP is sending out a medical mission to Petit Trou.
We are a new group, just two of the original group, Mike Earnest the medical director of CHP and me, Teresa Henry, the chief gopher. and a wonderful group of new providers. We have Mo Fauvel, a family practice doc from Nederland, Jenn Hardy, a doc who will be working with the kids at Petit Trou Yvonne Whitt, a physician assistant specializing in general medicine and surgery from Denver and Beverly Lyne, a nurse specializing in patient education and clinic start-up from Boulder.
We have made it to Miami and are leaving for Port au Prince early tomorrow morning. Just wanted to get started and hope to be able to keep in touch throughout our week. Please forward to friends and family who are interested in what's happening in Haiti and specifically Petit Trou. Teresa