Words Like Flares: Cholera Camp

On July 21st I woke up and followed my usual morning routine at the team house. I came downstairs prepared to head out to Canaan to run clinic. Instead, we received a call from our partners in NW Haiti that there have been 100 new cases of Cholera since the day before at the cholera treatment center (CTC) in Beraca Hospital. We immediately began packing and preparing.
Three Haitian nurses, Nick (a volunteer EMT who is here for a month), and I left Port-au-Prince around 3:00 in the afternoon carrying cases of gloves, IV catheters, IV serum and anti-nausea medications. After 5 hours on some of the bumpiest roads known to man, we arrived at Beraca Hospital in Lapointe. As our white Land-Cruiser pulled into the hospital, crowds of people parted and one man shouted in Creole "Cholera is killing us here!" We stepped out of the Land Cruiser and straight into a disaster.
Patients spilled out EVERYWHERE, no longer just isolated to the CTC. They had over-run the entire hospital. Cholera cots packed every hallway and every open area, the lawn included. As we walked through the hospital staff informed us that since the morning, the number of patients had risen from 100 to 250. There were five Haitian nurses and one doctor working on the night shift. They ran frantically, trying to keep people alive. I looked at Nick and said "I think we need to work night shift."
Thank God for sending Nick! On his birthday, the day we had planned on having Chocolate cake and listening to a Cuban orchestra, turned into night shift at the Cholera Camp!
We started in as soon as we had our supplies ready and from that point on the whole week meshes into one long night for me.
Cholera is a horrible disease caused by the bacteria Vibreo Cholerae, generally transmitted through contaminated water sources. Cholera affords no dignity to anyone. The profuse vomiting and diarrhea is so severe in some cases that it can cause dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and death within less than 24 hours.
I honestly can say that only the hands of our merciful Lord held me up that night. I ran non-stop from patient to patient, changing bags of IV serum, checking pulses and blood-pressures, and inserting new IV's in patients who would have died without IV fluid replacement. By the next morning we had over 300 patients, even after discharging those who had gotten better.
We fell into bed exhausted. We had given all that we could, and some had still died. We were running out of IV catheters and fluids. I fell asleep with prayers on my lips and the knowledge that many were praying with me.
The next night Fabienne our medical coordinator arrived with three more nurses and a load of more supplies. At some point during the week our patient census reached 340. This outbreak of Cholera developed much more rapidly and severely than last time, but thankfully did not last three months.
I continued to work night shift, combing the hallways and back corners for critically ill patients. We set up a critical care tent for the most serious cases and God enabled us to keep the deaths to a minimum. Out of 1,500 patients we treated that week, only 10 died.
I remember reaching my breaking point about the third night, around 3:00 in the morning. A father rushed his critically dehydrated 2 year old daughter into the triage tent cradled in his arms. She was barely conscious and so dehydrated that none of the nurses could get an IV started in her little veins. We tried everything... her arms, her feet, her scalp... to no avail. Every minute that passed she slipped a little farther away. I was crying... my heart was breaking for this poor little girl who had been poked so many times... and for her parents who stood within minutes of losing her. Finally we had to turn to doing an intraosseus IV (this is an IV that goes directly into the bone).
I began praying over the hands of the doctor as I held this little girls leg and he prepared to insert the IO needle. I felt helpless, exhausted, and frustrated beyond belief. I did NOT want this baby to die! And I felt Jesus... standing right next to me, whispering "even the sparrows..."
As I prayed the father and mother of the little girl joined me. The doctor inserted the needle just below her knee, and with one quick "pop", it entered the proper space. "Merci Jezi," flowed from my lips. Family members, doctors, nurses and bystanders followed with shouts of praise and thankful singing to Jesus. A wave of gratitude and utter relief flowed over me. We poured fluids into this little girl as fast as we could. In about 30 minutes, the light had come back into her eyes. She sat up. I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to sit with my brothers and sisters and worship our God for the precious gift of life.

This case appears to have been an isolated outbreak. The city water source was found to be contaminated after a rain-storm. Once they sanitized the source, the outbreak came to a standstill. After about a week and a half I returned to Port-au-Prince. Today only 6 patient "fill" the CTC.
We continue to partner with Beraca Hospital, and have assisted them to set up a new CTC next door that can accommodate higher numbers of patients for future outbreaks. I have attached some pictures for you viewing pleasure :)

The New CTC Set-Up