Reflections from Gandou

The trip was intense. Intensely joyful, intensely hard, intensely challenging, intensely rewarding.

We went to the same village that I went to last year but the people who live there have done so much work that I hardly recognized it. It was a joy to say I didn’t know my way around this tiny village that I love. The school that was half built before the earthquake was now rebuilt and functioning and they have power. Last year every time I wanted to do a EKG in the clinic, all construction had to stop because we only had 1 generator. Now they have solar power that runs the clinic and school. They even have intermittent internet access. The day I received a email from Zorange I sat at my desk and cried. It is difficult to describe how remote this village is.

This year we brought a mobile clinic to Gandou. This village is cut off in the rainy season when the river is too treacherous to cross. The ride in is an hour from Zorange up steep mountain trails. Some of the hardest 4 wheeling I have ever seen and you know how I like to ride my ATV! We saw many people with incredibly high blood pressure. (its hereditary there, not due to lifestyle obesity and smoking is almost non existent in Haiti) One lady we saw was 50 yrs old and had already had a stroke at home, no medical care, and was having mini strokes currently. How her husband will continue to care for her is a mystery and miracle.

We have a midwife Kim traveling with us. She saw many pregnant women who have not received prenatal care. 3 of them were in a critical condition, preeclampsia. Kim was able to treat them there and likely saved the lives of the moms and babies. Thank goodness that we will have a clinic there in the near future. We saw many, many people that day. We were not able to see all of them.

Back at the clinic in Zorange I saw a woman that had the worst case of shingles I had EVER seen. These are incredibly painful. She came wrapped in a towel because she could not stand to put a shirt on. In the US she would have been hospitalized. I gave her what I had: Tylenol. She never complained. By the coconut grape vine (amazing Haitian hard work/connections) medicine would be brought to her the following day from Port au Prince 5 hours away. She tested positive for HIV. Yes, we have limited lab capabilities. I referred her to the nearest HIV clinic but the only transportation is walk or motorcycle ride. It is unlikely that she will be able to get there and the clinic that I referred her to needs a lot of improvement. She will likely die. Those are the sad stories.

The joyful stories have to do with the Haitian people that are running this mission. What a joy to be with people who work hard and care about their work. With so little, they do so much. As before they welcomed us into their homes and their lives. For this I am incredibly grateful. Every night there was a prayer service and they would sing in strong beautiful voices in the mountains these voice travel straight up! We had so much fun playing games and sharing music.

- Marlene Rickert

Seeing Haiti for the first time

There are 3 of us on this trip experience Haiti for the first time and we wanted to share some of our thoughts. Port-au-Prince was hot, congested, and taking in the sights was overwhelming. The truck we took from the airport, lovingly known as "The Beast" brought us safely to Jacmel through the amazing mountains which are lush and green with palms trees scattered throughout the countryside. It was a relief to be at our first stop. The hotel there was beautiful and the sights breath-taking. None of were expecting the next leg of the trip and what that entailed. We knew we were going to cross the river, we didn't know it actually meant IN THE RIVER. We crossed 14 times and the Jeep got stuck twice. We made it though and each of us is stronger for it :) Meeting the people of Zorange was like seeing old family again. They were so welcoming with big smiles, kisses and hugs. Relief set in again. Arriving on the second day at the mobile clinic in Gandou brought several hundred people and a little bit of anxiety to us. How would we see all these people? How would we know who to see first? What if they needed further medical care? The anxiety was quickly washed away by our fearless leader and the others who supply such amazing leadership to this group. We did it. We saw the patients and left with our hearts filled with love for these amazing people that do and give so much with so little.

Finally we are able to post

The week has been flying by. We had a great day of clinic in Zorange on Monday. Dr. Kim trained Nurse Magdoline on how to conduct eye exams. Pamela and Kim S. saw several pregnant women with Nurse Luska using the portable ultrasound machine. The permanent ultrasound machine arrived safely, but the probes are missing, making training next to impossible! Ultrasound tech Pamela will have to come to Zorange again. Sara saw a lot of kids, and everyone was grateful to have a pediatric NP on the trip. After clinic, Marlene did a classroom training with the nurses on removing objects from the ears, with one of the translators serving as the patient. The nurses had lots of questions on all subject matters, mostly having to do with difficult cases that they don't have the ability to treat in Zorange. What should be done for these people? Marlene was great at giving them tips for first aid and stabilizing the patients to send them on the long journey to Bainet, Jacmel or beyond.

Yesterday and today (Tuesday and Wednesday) we headed to Gandou and set up a mobile clinic at the future site of HFHF's second clinic. The distance is only 5 miles from Zorange, but it is an hour trip over very rough turrain. As we got bumped and bruised as we were tossed about in the car, we could not imagine how sick patients manage to make their way to the Zorange clinic. We saw about 65 patients the first day, and had to send some people home to come back today. This morning when we arrived, there were hundreds of patients waiting to be seen. It was difficult to know that we could not see them all. The need for a clinic in the area is clear.

We saw so many people with high blood pressure...really high! This included many pregnant women with blood pressure so high they were in danger of have a seizure. We worked with the resources we had and Kim Sniffen even made a consult call to the US. We saw a woman whose husband said she was fine 5 months ago except that she had high blood pressure - well 5 months ago she "fell out" and has not been able to understand words or speak other than saying "oui' - but not purposefully. She had left side weakness and her pressure was still 170/110. We treated her but it was sad to tell her husband that we could not fix the damage that had been done. She was only 50.

Meanwhile in Zorange, Nurse Luska had several pregnant women and eye patients who arrived while we were in Gandou, and told them to come back tomorrow. So we will have another full day of clinic in Zorange tomorrow. We will also train with the nurses after clinic on seizures, bacteriology, and pediatric treatment questions.

The team is great, and everyone is up for one adventure after the next. Whether we are pushing vehicles through the river, riding like a cowboy in the back of a jeep, learning line dances, playing Yuker, dodging tarantulas, or wrestling with the difficulty of seeing severely ill patients, everyone has remained in high spirits and is enjoying themselves. The nursing team in Haiti continues to do an amazing job. It's hard to believe we just have one more full day here in beautiful Zorange before we make our way back to Port-au-Prince.

The dorm is amazing!!!

Hopefully some of the other girls will post next...they are off rapelling cliffs or something...GO GIRL POWER. First mobile clinic to Gandou - ALL GIRLS!!!

See ya,
Lydia and Kim S

Day 1

Good morning everyone! We arrived safely in Jacmel last night and will be heading up the mountain via the riverbed this morning. Getting a late start due to car trouble, but we are making great use of this time. Mirlande, the clinic director, met us here and we are going over many things with her. The web is such an awesome way to share information with the Haitian nurses. Thanks to all of you who made Internet in Zorange a reality! I can feel Gods Presence covering all of us this morning! The new travelers are anxious to get to Zorange and the rest of us old timers can't wait to get to our "home" in Haiti!! I am sure we will have some wonderful adventures to share in the next few days!

Kim Sniffen