Monday, Day 1

Hello from Haiti! We had a very productive morning at an orphanage. This was one of the orphanages I got to visit last year. It was so fun to see some of the same kids again! We started with well child checks and then saw members of the local community. Overall the kids were happy and looked good. Many of the children had scabies. This is easy to treat, but of course we did not have the medication they needed. We hope the caretaker might be able to get the cream from the pharmacy. Once clinic time was over "party time" began. We brought out our suitcases filled with toys, stickers, balls... It was so fun to watch them play and hear the laughing. This was a good day! I miss my little ladies! Cheers, Kerry._______________________________________ Hello, it's Johanna. Kerry did a great job summarizing the day. We set up two triage areas outside the building to see patients and get their complaints. If we could we give them the medications they needed then we would give it to them outside. Some patients we sent into be examined by the two nurse practitioners, we also had a "pharmacy" set up in the building as well. We saw about 30 kids from the orphanage. We saw about 60 adults. We are fortunate to be working with 5 GREAT interpreters, it is so nice to to have them. Two of the interpreters worked with us last year, it was nice to see them again. Tonight we are going to organize the medications for clinic tomorrow. Tomorrow and Wednesday we are heading to a tent city in Port-au-Prince to set up a clinic and see any of the 35,000 people that live there. Thanks for checking in today!_______________________________________________ Hi All - It's Sarah. Happy and well in Haiti! My experience was as one of the providers that gave well child examinations and treated the complaints and symptoms of community members. While anxious initially about how I would be able to draw from my skill set I was happy how quickly I fell into the routine and found similarities between patients issues. Obviously our treatments were rudimentary but I was also happy about how something little could be so helpful! Things I learned to diagnose and treat today: tinnea, scabies, UTIs, chemical burns to the eyes, & ringworm. I also recognized an arrhythmia in one of the boys and the s/sx of diabetes with a BS of 43 in another. While we were able to make referrals and provide prescriptions (a mere name, date, drug name, and signature on a blank piece of paper), I felt limited in my ability to serve and help even though I recognized the need. A couple of children complained of stomach aches that with further questioning we could only conclude was from hunger. Everyone was given multivitamin and of course a smile and some love. I was happy when we were able to given the children the treats we brought. I was wondering what they would enjoy the most and it made my heart skip a beat when the boys made a song out of the kazoos! The little girls let me help them play with the poppers. I will take these experiences with me and look forward to tomorrow.