Haiti: Day II Derac

Day II: First day of field operations in Derac. Just south of Fort Libertie across the border form the Dominican Republic.

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=19.549976&lon=-71.888511&zoom=11&q1=haiti

The first thing that struck me was that the roads are actually paved. Outside of takeoff and landing at the airfield, this is the first time I’ve done over 25 miles per hour in Haiti. Unbeliveable! Remember that I am in the north far away from the quake zone which our hosts tell us is still to treacherous to access outside the controlled zones.

Still we saw a few people from Port au Prince for wound care and so forth. Our surgeon Dr. Rob Jones, had such a light touch and a good bedside manner, people started asking for him. Word travels fast. Dr. Jones’ addition to the team has definitely been a stroke of luck/ Rob Coker turns out to be an engine of healing and, despite his initial reservations about how effective he might be, turns out he took to the work like a fish to water. Dr. Moon and Dr. Niedich too just plowed through patient load in astonishing fashion. All in all the team has gelled and we’re ready for round two tomorrow.

As far as the pathology, I’d say the patients are sick her than I’ve seen in the past. We found what is most likely inflammatory carcinoma of the breast in one young lady and are trying to get her to a surgeon for management. Another gentleman came in an collapse with an incarcerated hernia and he wound up stat transported to the hospital for emergency surgery. I think that was like my third patient of the day. Heck of a way to start out.

We saw a few children with protein malnutrition and one lady came in screaming, had to be carried to to my area and after 1 tab of Naprosyn raised her hands to Jesus in thanks. She went away a happy camper. I’m still not quite sure what happened to her, but I have a feeling she’ll be back tomorrow.

All in all a successful day, though not without it’s challenges. My nephew tells me he’s exhausted. I replied before I thought:

“There are a lot of days in your life that you’ll become exhausted, but very few where you’ll have done as much good getting there.”

Dang I’m philosophical.

In all seriousness, it IS true and it feels good to be this tired for a good reason.

Tomorrow, back to Derac!

K