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As time Goes By -----
As the weeks pass and the atmosphere in the Church and the OR changes, we are once again humbled by the incredible resistance of the Haitian people. We are seeing fewer new patients coming in, but those who do have wounds that are now already one month old, and they are in terrible condition, needing drastic attention.
Stories are still amazing -- one patient who did not seek help for a very serious fracture because she thought there were others far more urgent than hers, will be operated on today and will hopefully not loose her leg. Others are more fool hardy with people climbing into collapsed buildings trying to find objects or even looting, and having the buildings fall on them! One father came in with his child who had been thrown to him by his grandmother, who couldn’t move quickly enough – he and the child escaped with various injuries, but the grandmother was crushed.
The smiles of patients who are healing are heart warming, and we have all had a few laughs watching the first stumbling steps of little ones on crutches. Theirs are the biggest smiles of all! Balloons of blown up surgical gloves with faces drawn on them have been batted around the space, and some coloring pencils and paper have made long hard painful days a little easier. Some of the apparatus being used to pull these shattered legs together are amazing to see, I certainly would need a long course to understand the workings of them, but the patients are really accepting and now that the severe pain seems to have abated they are starting to get up and about with various means of support. I think it is also very healing to be able to go outside under the beautiful trees, breath the fresh air of the country, see the fish and enjoy the beauty of the full flowering bougainvillea!!
The incoming teams of surgeons and nursing help have been constant and their work and assistance beyond value. Their enthusiasm and dedication is a credit to the medical world. We have had a team of 15 from Duke here for the last two weeks and they will leave tomorrow. The next teams arriving will come in from Ireland and will also stay for two weeks.
Many patients have been allowed to go home if they have some family or friends to go to, and an assurance of ongoing care for wound dressing etc. We are still waiting for promised tents, and with the numbers of displaced persons growing by the day they are badly needed. All of these arrangements are being made from PIH Boston with connections and implementations here, and all are doing an incredible job.
The wee small hours of the morning are often very fruitful, as was a recent one for me. I was wondering how some of our young arm amputees would be able to manage with only one arm, and figured that if we could design a sling bag to facilitate carrying etc. that could help a lot. Talked about this to Jackie, who immediately set about making such a creature and off we went up to the church to try it on one of the patients --- much excitement all around, and we now have five very happy people who are proud to display their hand made bags from the Art Center!!
My work down on the farm has been a wonderful stabilizer being the positive side for the future. Our emergency program is underway and we have had several meetings with the local farmers who will benefit from this first phase. I am really encouraged by their excitement and willing participation, and great to see the more advanced form their committees and choose leaders. We have actually prepared and sown our first crop of ‘precocious’ corn on the farm, and the spinach beds are ready and will be planted today. I really think that the most beneficial thing, or at least going hand in hand with the agriculture, is the promise of a future, the thought that not all has been abandoned, and that we Zanmi Lasante/ Zanmi Agrikol are not going to run away and disappear but are here with support and encouragement for the long term.
Paul was here on the weekend, and of course spoke eloquently at church on Sunday. Documentation group filmed the whole service (manches longues) --- it would be lovely if we could get some of the footage as all the choirs were in great voice and Fr. St. Louis delivered an outstanding sermon. Certainly casting nets and fishing for people being the main topic was appropriate for us all here. Paul is obviously working 24/7 with incredible dedication to this adoptive/adopted country of his. We are all hoping and praying he will have a large say in the way in which the country will be re-built.
We have had non-stop visits from the press, in all ways, shapes and forms, and as one can never count on their versions we are hopeful that a fair and just assessment will be made of the work being done here, and no crazy sensation seeking incorrect stories.
I may be heading home this weekend so, please pray for safe travel. Gillaine
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