It was very clear that this was not Sr. Mary Jo's first rodeo. There was a definite plan, almost a science, as to how each clinic was set up and where everything went. I was amazed at how smoothly everything went and how well the group (who did not know each other before the trip) worked with each other. Each doctor had a translator that was with them for the whole week. I think one of the women translating was a nurse, and the other may have been a nurse, but I'm not sure. The pharmacy also had a translator who explained the medications to each person who came through.
Because there were limited supplies both for the week, and what could be carried in the trucks each day, we only saw around 100 people at the clinic. The way that each clinic worked was that 100 people (we could only do 100 because of time and limited medicine resources) would be given a small slip of paper and these people would come forward, give their name, age and complaint to a nurse or public health official from the clinic that we were working with, and then move to two workers from the hospital in Gros Morne to get AIDS tested. After that, they would move to triage, where they would get their blood pressure taken, temperature taken, etc. After that, they would wait for the doctor and after consulting with them, head to the pharmacy to pick up their medications.
I did a few different things throughout the week. I spent most of my time in what they called triage, helping take blood pressure, temperature, weighing babies and translating basic questions, like how many children women had and when their last doctor's visit was. At the end of the day, when we stopped checking people in, I would help the pharmacy explain medications to people or help Sr. Mary Jo figure out which glasses worked best for people who needed glasses. The last two days, I did the initial intake of patients because there was no local nurse or public health worker. I would take names and ages and write them down on the paper that the doctors would fill out to give to the pharmacy. Another aspect of the initial intake was crowd control, which, thanks to my days as a resident assistant at school, I was relativity prepared for. The initial distribution of tickets was compete chaos because numbers were given to children and the elderly first, regardless of the fact that 10 people may have been waiting there for an hour while the child had just arrived. In addition to this, people without tickets would wait around or try to get seen even though they didn’t have a ticket. I did most of this by myself, but every once in awhile, things would get very crazy and I would be totally swarmed by people trying to get in, and Barak, our handyman and driver (for this week), would come to my rescue and repeat what I was saying until people finally listened. The first day I did this, it was incredibly exhausting and difficult. The second day was a little bit easier because there was less of a crowd, but hearing and then writing people’s names was very difficult and I’m pretty sure I spelled 98% of them wrong. It was also really hard to have to tell people that they could not see the doctor. Throughout the whole week, we probably turned away several hundred people. Some of these people arrived to the clinic hours before it opened and waited there all day, and still were unable to see the doctor.
One of the most interesting parts of having these experiences is knowing what people come to the doctors for. Similar to my previous clinic experience, many people come in for general pain or stomach pain. Many women would come in with vaginal infections and children would have fevers or colds. We did have some different cases. For example, I waited with a young boy who was sent immediately to the hospital because he had meningitis. There were a handful of severely malnourished babies. One little boy had had a cerebral hemorrhage that had impacted his ability to walk, so he and his mom received a walker and some exercises for him to do to hopefully let him walk again.
I’ve surprised myself at how much I enjoy working in these clinics - to the point that I have actually contemplated it being a potential career path. But then I remind myself that I still want to pass out or throw up when I see certain things, and reality sets back in again. But still, working at the clinics has been an incredibly interesting aspect of the work I have done thus far in Haiti. It has given me insight into some of the needs that people really have, the toll that the lifestyle Haitians lead can have on their bodies, and how difficult health care is. It has allowed me to meet tons of people, both Haitians and Americans, and see more of the area surrounding where I’m living. I am constantly reminded how easy it is for me to take for granted not only my good health, but my access to bandaids and Tylenol as well as more intense health care. Having to firsthand deny access to people who were in need of care was very difficult, and it made me realize that while it is wonderful to have groups like this come in and the work that they do is important, there is still a need for a self-sustaining health-care infrastructure here in Haiti.
Twins!!! These two little guys came in with colds and fevers. I told their mom that I had a twin brother and asked if I could take a picture to send to my mom. She thought that it was so funny, but they were so cute I couldn't resist!
At one of the clinics, they gave us food. This is lame veritable (breadfruit) and something else. Just adding it to my ever-growing list of new foods that I've tried here.
Sr. Jackie surrounded by people checking in to see the doctor.
The little boy with the brain hemorrhage. The physical therapist was showing the mom how to help him.
It rained a few times on our drive back to Gros Morne - mind you, we were all sitting in the bed of a truck, totally exposed to the elements. Luckily, we missed the really heavy rains.
The crowds waiting.
Pharmacy - run out of several large suitcases.
These were at the guest house that the team stayed at. Goldfish had never tasted so good!!!
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