In Haiti There's A First Time For Everything

The clinic at Canaan has been up and running for 2 weeks now. I can tell that the people living there are used to foreigners or "Blan" coming and going often. They are not used to a clinic being a permanent setting in their tent city. The first week we saw very minor complaints, but the second week we saw a few more serious cases. One man with active TB and fullblown AIDS, a few young children with Cholera, a machete injury that had to be stitched up, and another man with a serious wound infection. Most of the time with these more serious problems we end up transporting or referring patients to the hospital or an outpatient program that may have more resources.

One day, another organization helped transport one of my patients to a cholera treatment center (CTC). I hopped in the back of the open-air pick-up with the other nurse, an EMT, and the patient and we were off to the CTC. Once there, we were called to see a few girls at the hospital who's schoolbus had been run into by a MACK truck. The girls were too ill to be transported, so they stayed at the hospital and we headed home. As we were driving by the airport in Port-Au-Prince, the driver slowed down to drop off a package. A young man came running up to us from a crowd of people yelling that someone had been stabbed. My heart raced as I hopped out of the back of the pickup and ran towards the mob of people. I remember throwing a quick prayer up to God as I stepped into a potentially dangerous situation. The nurse and EMT were able to calm the group of people gathered around a man laying on the ground. We managed to clear a path and get him onto a backboard and into the back of the pickup. He had been stabbed with an icepick. We were turned away from the first hospital we visited, but he managed to get into the ER at the second hospital. I could not believe they turned us away saying they had no bed for a man who was bleeding from his abdominal stab wound. But hey, I guess theres a first time for everything in Haiti.

I am excited for what this week will bring. A new team arrived tonight and will join me at the clinic tomorrow.

I got a mesquito bit on my arm that I think I am having an allergic reaction to. I took to benadryl just in case. Consequently I am off to bed now.
Kiss Kiss, Hug Hug.