There are about 60 kids at the orphanage we work with in Titayin. Before we showed up, they were sharing about 10 toothbrushes that got "rinsed" in the dirty bath water tub.
Sharon and I team-taught a lesson on dental hygiene; why teeth are important, how to take care of them, and what it means to "brush your teeth". Thanks to generous donations from previous volunteers and AmeriCares (http://www.americares.org/), we were able to give each child their own toothbrush.
After the lesson we spent a few hours coloring. Most orphans in Haiti never get the chance to do "arts and crafts". The kids were very excited, and wanted their photos with their drawings.
I'm having trouble loading photos from the slow internet connection here in Haiti. To see more photos, visit the photo gallery on my facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.228565127170138.78179.114686251891360&l=936c932d3b
~PJ
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The morning after (or, rather, the afternoon after)
5:30AM
Took two women (late teens/early 20s) to the hospital with injuries sustained from the landslide - one with a 5-7" laceration approx. 1" deep on her leg and the other was hit pretty badly in the back of the head by falling debris. No survivors pulled out of the slide itself thus far.
I could hear the boys pulling in, and had hot water waiting. A pot full of boiling water into a 5 gallon bucket of tepid water makes for the closest thing you'll find to a hot shower in Haiti. Just what the doctor ordered.
As Paul and Billy rotated through hot bucket showers, Nate and I sat on the porch talking. Last night / this morning he saw his first cadaver. You never know how someone's going to react to coming face to face with death. It can be pretty emotional - especially when it's a mangled mother, clutching her child. The second child was found nearby, also deceased. Last night, he and Paul recovered the bodies of a mother and her two young children from the bottom of the slide.
The kids were old enough to have survived the quake, only to be taken by a mudslide a year and a half later.
The adrenaline started to wear off, and one by one the boys fell asleep. Time for a nap, then we'll reassess.
9 AM
It's cloudy, but the rain has stopped for now.
Last night, the ground was super saturated by rain, rushing water pushing at the foundation of a house at the top of a ravine until it collapsed, taking out 5 or more houses as it slid downwards. The people who live all around the slide were very uneasy - they know it could have just as easily been their house, and their family lost in the slide. Sad thing is, it still could be.
The area we were at was very unstable - a freaking death trap. Areas of mud covered concrete, you take a step, then you're knee deep in quick-sand-mud. The guys had to use climbing gear and repel down the mudslide to dig and recover bodies.
President Martelly made a statement last night: "The president with all of his emergency teams are working all night to come to the aid of the victims of the heavy rains tonight"
The Haitian police showed up where our boys were working, but without training and gear, there wasn't much they could do. I know a lot of search and rescue gear was left here after the quake, but who knows what became of it. The police did do something amazingly helpful - they brought a gigantic spotlight.
Our boys were at a slide in Peguyville - between Petionville and Rue Frere - but there was more than one slide last night.
Noon(-ish)
At this point everyone I've talked to is in body-recovery mode, so I'm letting the boys sleep in... No survivors found, nor sounds from the slides to indicate there might be someone buried alive.
I've been getting emails all morning - people offering to be here in a day or two to help search for survivors. While the help is much appreciated, the reality is that there likely won't be survivors to pull out in a day or two. With all the water, the weight of the concrete, etc, anyone who actually survived the slide likely suffocated.
Of course, we will keep looking - there is always hope (lespwa fwa vive)
1 PM
Walking up to buy some bongu, it's clear that even people in our neighborhood (which didn't have mudslides) were rattled by the storm. I didn't get the normal chorus of "BLAAH" (blanc), instead, everyone asked the same question: "Savat?"
"Savat" I answer back with a sleepy smile. In kreyole, the word "savat" is both a question and answer, depending on the inflection. It means both "are you OK?" and "I'm OK".
I broke into the Starbucks packets for this "morning" and made a big pot of strong coffee, and toasted some bread on a cookie sheet. Billy, who slept in the recliner, was the first one up. "Bonjou Mom" he said to me and poured a cold glass of Coca Cola.
Stephanie - one of the girls who lives in the neighborhood - stopped by to say hello. She told Billy that last night the water was knee high. Inside her house.
Billy's girl called a little later - 2 more bodies found this morning. That puts the total to 6 for just that slide. (The boys found a male cadaver last night as well.)
~PJ
Took two women (late teens/early 20s) to the hospital with injuries sustained from the landslide - one with a 5-7" laceration approx. 1" deep on her leg and the other was hit pretty badly in the back of the head by falling debris. No survivors pulled out of the slide itself thus far.
I could hear the boys pulling in, and had hot water waiting. A pot full of boiling water into a 5 gallon bucket of tepid water makes for the closest thing you'll find to a hot shower in Haiti. Just what the doctor ordered.
As Paul and Billy rotated through hot bucket showers, Nate and I sat on the porch talking. Last night / this morning he saw his first cadaver. You never know how someone's going to react to coming face to face with death. It can be pretty emotional - especially when it's a mangled mother, clutching her child. The second child was found nearby, also deceased. Last night, he and Paul recovered the bodies of a mother and her two young children from the bottom of the slide.
The kids were old enough to have survived the quake, only to be taken by a mudslide a year and a half later.
The adrenaline started to wear off, and one by one the boys fell asleep. Time for a nap, then we'll reassess.
9 AM
It's cloudy, but the rain has stopped for now.
Last night, the ground was super saturated by rain, rushing water pushing at the foundation of a house at the top of a ravine until it collapsed, taking out 5 or more houses as it slid downwards. The people who live all around the slide were very uneasy - they know it could have just as easily been their house, and their family lost in the slide. Sad thing is, it still could be.
The area we were at was very unstable - a freaking death trap. Areas of mud covered concrete, you take a step, then you're knee deep in quick-sand-mud. The guys had to use climbing gear and repel down the mudslide to dig and recover bodies.
President Martelly made a statement last night: "The president with all of his emergency teams are working all night to come to the aid of the victims of the heavy rains tonight"
The Haitian police showed up where our boys were working, but without training and gear, there wasn't much they could do. I know a lot of search and rescue gear was left here after the quake, but who knows what became of it. The police did do something amazingly helpful - they brought a gigantic spotlight.
Our boys were at a slide in Peguyville - between Petionville and Rue Frere - but there was more than one slide last night.
Noon(-ish)
At this point everyone I've talked to is in body-recovery mode, so I'm letting the boys sleep in... No survivors found, nor sounds from the slides to indicate there might be someone buried alive.
I've been getting emails all morning - people offering to be here in a day or two to help search for survivors. While the help is much appreciated, the reality is that there likely won't be survivors to pull out in a day or two. With all the water, the weight of the concrete, etc, anyone who actually survived the slide likely suffocated.
Of course, we will keep looking - there is always hope (lespwa fwa vive)
1 PM
Walking up to buy some bongu, it's clear that even people in our neighborhood (which didn't have mudslides) were rattled by the storm. I didn't get the normal chorus of "BLAAH" (blanc), instead, everyone asked the same question: "Savat?"
"Savat" I answer back with a sleepy smile. In kreyole, the word "savat" is both a question and answer, depending on the inflection. It means both "are you OK?" and "I'm OK".
I broke into the Starbucks packets for this "morning" and made a big pot of strong coffee, and toasted some bread on a cookie sheet. Billy, who slept in the recliner, was the first one up. "Bonjou Mom" he said to me and poured a cold glass of Coca Cola.
Stephanie - one of the girls who lives in the neighborhood - stopped by to say hello. She told Billy that last night the water was knee high. Inside her house.
Billy's girl called a little later - 2 more bodies found this morning. That puts the total to 6 for just that slide. (The boys found a male cadaver last night as well.)
~PJ
Caught beneath the land slide... For those of you not on fb or twitter, this was my night...
We've been in the middle of a tropical depression for the past few days.
The storm that hit last night was pretty wicked, and caused at least one deadly mudslide (no power so I don't know how many else other than the one we got called about.)
http://www.haitian-truth.org/torrential-rains-cause-bridge-collapse-and-road-closures/
8:45PM
The street outside our house is a raging river, at least a foot deep. The thunder is so loud I can't hear the music in the background, and it's making me jump. City power went out an hour ago. Nights like tonight make me feel grateful for a roof over my head. And grateful to not be living in a tent city.
We made Billy stay here tonight - not safe to travel home in this weather...
9:54PM
Got a call from Billy's girl - houses collapsed in a mudslide from the storm, she hears screams from inside. Our guys are on their way to check it out. Hoping the screaming is from the thunder and lightning, not people trapped.
(Note: 10:30-11PM, LP called - at least 5 houses totally collapsed/buried under a large mudslide. Dark, wet chaos. Hoping to find survivors. I called Howard (trauma medic who lives close by) and woke him up... Gathering gear to provide medical care to those pulled out)
11:50PM
Anyone know of any search and rescue teams presently in PAP?
Midnight(-ish)
Massive mudslide between Petionville and Rou Frere, homes buried with people inside. First corpse found minutes ago. *sighing* it's going to be a LONG night.
12:30AM
Second body found. Baby.
(Discussed situation with LP - likely no need for backboards and c-spine collars... This is going to be more "search" than "rescue"... Still seaking cadaver dog and rope for repelling)
2:45 AM
Recovered 3 bodies, possible 4th. Hand clearing ruble from a steep ravine, no way to get machinery in there. Guys repelling down the mudslide hoping to find survivors (thanks for being to prepared with rope, Howard!)
3:13AM
So far, just body recovery - 4th dead body found - no survivors uncovered yet. Hand clearing ruble and debris. Unstable terrain, still dark, still raining... Unless someone has a cadaver dog, we're good for people on-scene.
(Just spoke with Billy - he sounds exhausted and defeated. I'm sure our guys are all cold, wet, exhausted... They put in a full day of work, and we were settling into bed when we got the call.)
3:40AM
just spoke with Billy - one of our local guys - at the top of the mudslide, assisting with body recovery. I can only imagine the memories that this brings up for those who were in Haiti for the quake. My heart goes out to him.
Just read Jen Halverson's blog from the states... (Quoted below).
http://sleepydoctor.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-suffering.html
"I also received a forwarded e-mail from someone who has lived in Haiti for much of her life, saying these are the heaviest rains she has ever seen.
I have been in Port au Prince during massive rains. It is crazy how fast severe flooding occurs in that city. Port au Prince is almost completely deforested, has essentially no functioning storm sewer system, and has hundreds of thousands of people living right at sea level, with the city rising sharply upwards from the sea (meaning the floods roll downhill). Not to mention the hundreds of thousands still living in tents, many precariously placed on steep hillsides."
4 AM
Just got word that a woman was pulled out of the slide - being transported to the hospital now - first news of a survivor to be pulled from the rubble and debris!
4:30AM
Waiting for news on the condition of our survivor, and waiting to discuss a game plan with the guys. The terrain is so unstable - a few hours will bring daylight and give those of us who've been up almost 24 hours a much needed nap before continuing to search for survivors.
Normally rain washes things away; the air smells clean and fresh when it rains. Not this morning. This morning it smells putrid - like the sludge that forms at the bottom of a pond as living matter is decaying - it's as if the rain and mud slides is dredging up more than just memories of the earthquake.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
~PJ
The storm that hit last night was pretty wicked, and caused at least one deadly mudslide (no power so I don't know how many else other than the one we got called about.)
http://www.haitian-truth.org/torrential-rains-cause-bridge-collapse-and-road-closures/
8:45PM
The street outside our house is a raging river, at least a foot deep. The thunder is so loud I can't hear the music in the background, and it's making me jump. City power went out an hour ago. Nights like tonight make me feel grateful for a roof over my head. And grateful to not be living in a tent city.
We made Billy stay here tonight - not safe to travel home in this weather...
9:54PM
Got a call from Billy's girl - houses collapsed in a mudslide from the storm, she hears screams from inside. Our guys are on their way to check it out. Hoping the screaming is from the thunder and lightning, not people trapped.
(Note: 10:30-11PM, LP called - at least 5 houses totally collapsed/buried under a large mudslide. Dark, wet chaos. Hoping to find survivors. I called Howard (trauma medic who lives close by) and woke him up... Gathering gear to provide medical care to those pulled out)
11:50PM
Anyone know of any search and rescue teams presently in PAP?
Midnight(-ish)
Massive mudslide between Petionville and Rou Frere, homes buried with people inside. First corpse found minutes ago. *sighing* it's going to be a LONG night.
12:30AM
Second body found. Baby.
(Discussed situation with LP - likely no need for backboards and c-spine collars... This is going to be more "search" than "rescue"... Still seaking cadaver dog and rope for repelling)
2:45 AM
Recovered 3 bodies, possible 4th. Hand clearing ruble from a steep ravine, no way to get machinery in there. Guys repelling down the mudslide hoping to find survivors (thanks for being to prepared with rope, Howard!)
3:13AM
So far, just body recovery - 4th dead body found - no survivors uncovered yet. Hand clearing ruble and debris. Unstable terrain, still dark, still raining... Unless someone has a cadaver dog, we're good for people on-scene.
(Just spoke with Billy - he sounds exhausted and defeated. I'm sure our guys are all cold, wet, exhausted... They put in a full day of work, and we were settling into bed when we got the call.)
3:40AM
just spoke with Billy - one of our local guys - at the top of the mudslide, assisting with body recovery. I can only imagine the memories that this brings up for those who were in Haiti for the quake. My heart goes out to him.
Just read Jen Halverson's blog from the states... (Quoted below).
http://sleepydoctor.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-suffering.html
"I also received a forwarded e-mail from someone who has lived in Haiti for much of her life, saying these are the heaviest rains she has ever seen.
I have been in Port au Prince during massive rains. It is crazy how fast severe flooding occurs in that city. Port au Prince is almost completely deforested, has essentially no functioning storm sewer system, and has hundreds of thousands of people living right at sea level, with the city rising sharply upwards from the sea (meaning the floods roll downhill). Not to mention the hundreds of thousands still living in tents, many precariously placed on steep hillsides."
4 AM
Just got word that a woman was pulled out of the slide - being transported to the hospital now - first news of a survivor to be pulled from the rubble and debris!
4:30AM
Waiting for news on the condition of our survivor, and waiting to discuss a game plan with the guys. The terrain is so unstable - a few hours will bring daylight and give those of us who've been up almost 24 hours a much needed nap before continuing to search for survivors.
Normally rain washes things away; the air smells clean and fresh when it rains. Not this morning. This morning it smells putrid - like the sludge that forms at the bottom of a pond as living matter is decaying - it's as if the rain and mud slides is dredging up more than just memories of the earthquake.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
~PJ
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
All sorts of excitement yesterday...
Yesterday was a good example of what I've been saying for over a year: Haiti is not nearly as dangerous as the media makes it out to be. But things can rapidly escalate into being dangerous, and THAT can be dangerous if you're not prepared.
Sharon, Howard and I left the house about 11am. We took a couple tap taps, walked the streets, all very peaceful. At the gates to the tent city, we saw the cousin of a friend of mine. Hugs were exchanged, then we went on a nice walk through the same tent city that I've been in a hundred times. Hands down the safest (and most well known) tent city in Haiti.
When we saw the UN, Haitian police, some guys cuffed in the back of a truck and a crowd starting to form, we picked up the pace - sometimes stopping to assess a situation can delay you long enough to really put you in harms way. We had passed the crowd, the school, crossed the creek, and had just climbed the sand-bagged-gully to the main road of the IDP camp when the shots started firing.
Pop pop pop, pop! We stuck together, speed-walking to reach the security checkpoint at the top of the camp. There was a different sound - not a shot fired, but something exploding. My lungs started burning - not from the walk, but from the tear gas that had been shot into the crowd below us. Shirt over my face, I was about to tell Sharon to do the same when she turns to say her eyes were burning.
A few more meters to the security station. A friend of mine was working security, his eyes got a little wide when he realized where we came from. We passed the checkpoint and ducked behind some trees to catch our breath. (Note: the UN was firing up in the air to disperse the crowd, not actually at people. Since we were uphill of the chaos, we made sure there were large tree trunks between us and the line of fire.)
Howard was able to fish out a surgical mask from his backpack for Sharon - who gave it to the man carrying his screaming child towards the makeshift tent hospital. The child was screaming - probably partly in fear, partly because of the tear gas. You could see the school from where the tear gas had been used.
Sweat pouring, adrenaline pumping, we made it safely to our intended destination - the pharmacy at the hospital.
Like I said, this is a perfect example of how rapidly things can change here in Haiti. As I'm reading over this journal entry, it sounds way more dangerous than it actually felt. The biggest danger to us was being hit by a stray bullet from the UN since "safety" was on higher ground. Or maybe it's just that I've lived in Haiti too long...
~PJ
Sharon, Howard and I left the house about 11am. We took a couple tap taps, walked the streets, all very peaceful. At the gates to the tent city, we saw the cousin of a friend of mine. Hugs were exchanged, then we went on a nice walk through the same tent city that I've been in a hundred times. Hands down the safest (and most well known) tent city in Haiti.
When we saw the UN, Haitian police, some guys cuffed in the back of a truck and a crowd starting to form, we picked up the pace - sometimes stopping to assess a situation can delay you long enough to really put you in harms way. We had passed the crowd, the school, crossed the creek, and had just climbed the sand-bagged-gully to the main road of the IDP camp when the shots started firing.
Pop pop pop, pop! We stuck together, speed-walking to reach the security checkpoint at the top of the camp. There was a different sound - not a shot fired, but something exploding. My lungs started burning - not from the walk, but from the tear gas that had been shot into the crowd below us. Shirt over my face, I was about to tell Sharon to do the same when she turns to say her eyes were burning.
A few more meters to the security station. A friend of mine was working security, his eyes got a little wide when he realized where we came from. We passed the checkpoint and ducked behind some trees to catch our breath. (Note: the UN was firing up in the air to disperse the crowd, not actually at people. Since we were uphill of the chaos, we made sure there were large tree trunks between us and the line of fire.)
Howard was able to fish out a surgical mask from his backpack for Sharon - who gave it to the man carrying his screaming child towards the makeshift tent hospital. The child was screaming - probably partly in fear, partly because of the tear gas. You could see the school from where the tear gas had been used.
Sweat pouring, adrenaline pumping, we made it safely to our intended destination - the pharmacy at the hospital.
Like I said, this is a perfect example of how rapidly things can change here in Haiti. As I'm reading over this journal entry, it sounds way more dangerous than it actually felt. The biggest danger to us was being hit by a stray bullet from the UN since "safety" was on higher ground. Or maybe it's just that I've lived in Haiti too long...
~PJ
Friday, May 20, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
If there is ever a problem with my eyes, please contact Dr. Charlie Agnone in Ohio. She is an amazingly talented ophthalmologist - eager to teach and to learn - and is very down to earth. Most importantly, she truly listens to her patients, finding the "zebras" that other providers miss.
This is the fourth time I've had the pleasure of working with Charlie, and it always ends up being memorable... She always finds the "starfish"...
She set up an eye clinic for the week, and has had a crowd waiting for her each day. Several days ago, a grandmother brought in her 3 year old grandson (Joseph Carl) to be seen for the photophobia that started three months ago. He buries his head into her - unable to open his eyes in the light without excruciating pain.
Joseph has a rash all over his body, worse on the extremities. It started when he was 6 months old as a black, raised, itchy rash. They tried to treat with calamine - no change - then tried galocur (sodium benzoate), thinking it was scabies. The itching got better but 2 and a half years later the discoloration is still present (but not raised). He's also clearly malnourished - orange-ish, brittle hair, dry skin, skinny and small.
The light was too painful; she had to have him come back the next day to be sedated to do the eye exam.
Charlie and I sat around the dinner table the night before the exam bouncing ideas off each other. Our initial differential diagnoses include: syphilis, leprosy, leptospirosis. My money's on the leptospirosis (caused by rat urine in the water http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/leptospirosis_g.htm).
In the exam we could see big white raised patches on his eyeballs. It came on too fast and the sclera was too shiny for vitamin A deficiency. Charlie did some corneal scrapings, and we started him on ceftriaxone IV (treatment for lepto).
No definitive diagnosis yet (lab cultures in Haiti are not easy to come by), but today he opened his eyes to look at me - in the daylight... It's amazing what a few days of the right medication will do. His grandmother smiled and put her hand on my arm. "Mesi anpil" she said, as her eyes welled up.
PS. One of the OR nurses asked to watch me make the antibiotics for Joseph Carl - she didn't know how to make a dose smaller than 1gm from a 1gm vial (very common in Haiti). Teaching moments like this are one of my favorite things about being in a hospital. Of course, the syringe pulled out of the vial in the middle of the "lesson", and I got sprayed with an antibiotic that smells like rancid cat urine... Another teaching moment - how to wash your scrub top in the OR scrub sink while still wearing it...
~PJ
This is the fourth time I've had the pleasure of working with Charlie, and it always ends up being memorable... She always finds the "starfish"...
She set up an eye clinic for the week, and has had a crowd waiting for her each day. Several days ago, a grandmother brought in her 3 year old grandson (Joseph Carl) to be seen for the photophobia that started three months ago. He buries his head into her - unable to open his eyes in the light without excruciating pain.
Joseph has a rash all over his body, worse on the extremities. It started when he was 6 months old as a black, raised, itchy rash. They tried to treat with calamine - no change - then tried galocur (sodium benzoate), thinking it was scabies. The itching got better but 2 and a half years later the discoloration is still present (but not raised). He's also clearly malnourished - orange-ish, brittle hair, dry skin, skinny and small.
The light was too painful; she had to have him come back the next day to be sedated to do the eye exam.
Charlie and I sat around the dinner table the night before the exam bouncing ideas off each other. Our initial differential diagnoses include: syphilis, leprosy, leptospirosis. My money's on the leptospirosis (caused by rat urine in the water http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/leptospirosis_g.htm).
In the exam we could see big white raised patches on his eyeballs. It came on too fast and the sclera was too shiny for vitamin A deficiency. Charlie did some corneal scrapings, and we started him on ceftriaxone IV (treatment for lepto).
No definitive diagnosis yet (lab cultures in Haiti are not easy to come by), but today he opened his eyes to look at me - in the daylight... It's amazing what a few days of the right medication will do. His grandmother smiled and put her hand on my arm. "Mesi anpil" she said, as her eyes welled up.
PS. One of the OR nurses asked to watch me make the antibiotics for Joseph Carl - she didn't know how to make a dose smaller than 1gm from a 1gm vial (very common in Haiti). Teaching moments like this are one of my favorite things about being in a hospital. Of course, the syringe pulled out of the vial in the middle of the "lesson", and I got sprayed with an antibiotic that smells like rancid cat urine... Another teaching moment - how to wash your scrub top in the OR scrub sink while still wearing it...
~PJ
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