Monday, May 24, 2010

PAS GEN PROBLEME (No problem...)






Words from Emily
"Our interpreter, P. Roosevelt, taught me some Creole last evening at dinner:
Ki kote ugan dule? Where does it hurt? I used it a few times today. Mostly we rely on our trusty interpreters, but I have resorted to sign language, a bizarre mixture of Spanish, English and even some French which I am recalling from some faint recesses in my mind, learned in high school. Today started out with a flurry of activity as we had a toddler in status asthmaticus, a temp of 105 and seizing. The two pediatricians, Michelle, and Rich, were tied up in the newly cleared trauma room, which is also the storage room for the ED. We have already used it several times in the 2 days it has been set up. We couldn't get an IV started, so they finally started an IO line in his leg, then shipped him out to Miami Field Hospital, with another ambulance ride for Michelle. Meanwhile the Urgent Care tent was filling up with two long waiting lines full of people - lots of kids, babies...Mike waded in and saw most of the adults, while I helped when I could and also ran interference in the ED. I took care of some of the waiting babies - did we mention that they are CUTE? Rich finally got out to the tent and steadily worked his way through them, he and Michelle ended up admitting several. The nursery is now overflowing. There is a tiny six week old who was born several weeks premature, weighing 1.25 kilograms at birth. He still looks like a tiny newborn, and is being treated for diarrhea. He was taking a bottle but not very well, so they may start tube feedings.

Last night we went to dinner at L'Hotel Olaffson, antiquated and historic. Many famous people have visited over the years. The restaurant and lobby are full of wonderful Haitian art, some of it featured Voodoo symbolism. It took a while to get our dinner, it was pleasant to relax with our team as well as three of our interpreters.

A sad case in the ED this afternoon - a young woman who had a skull fracture from an assault. The ED team including Becky, Linda and Brad worked on her with Mark the ER doc, cooling her down to try to get brain swelling reduced, and preserve function, but the CT scan showed severe brain injury and they finally extubated her and let her go. She had no family except a baby daughter who had been left with friends, she worked as a maid, her employer accompanied her to our hospital. Her last experiences were of kind touch and concern.."

Trauma Queen speaks from Ukiah: Today Laura, Kristy, Dale, Tami, Leanna, and myself (Lynn) were all back from Haiti and working at UVMC (Ukiah Valley Medical Center). Leanna is wearing this gigantic Cheshire cat smile every time I look at her, like we are sharing some fabulous secret. I was floating around, trying to get grounded. When I close my eyes I see our Haitian babies and external fixators. I kept thinking there was a door in our hospital like the magic wardrobe that we could walk through and be back at the Hopital Adventiste d'Haiti. I am so glad our team 3 is there, carrying on the work, we all feel the link. I sat with Terry Burns our hospital president today. He is proud of our special little hospital that is sending 10% of our employees to volunteer at the Hopital. He sent a challenge out to the other Adventist Hospitals to beat us and send a higher percentage of their employees! We have another team of nurses and lab techs arriving in Port au Prince on Friday. I am putting the word out on the radio and everywhere to donate sheets, towels, and chux to send down. Dale has some more Bactrim suspension to send so Emily please pass the word to the Pediatricians.

Jean was my fabulous personal interpreter. He chose to work in pediatrics because he loves children. He is a mature, articulate professional. I am happy to say that we decided to give him a micro loan to start a language school. He went to linguistics school for 4 years and was a language teacher when the earthquake hit. His school and job are gone and he has been volunteering at the Hopital since the disaster. We are giving him a large tent and school supplies to start out. I have a sense of peace that our support of Jean will be a sustainable benefit of our volunteer work in Haiti.

Pictures: 2 brothers, Linda arriving with supplies, Lynn and Jean

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