I had my first birth last night, wonderfully peaceful birth inside our big white dome. The construction crew has finally managed to fence off our area as hoards of curious on lookers from the neighbooring tent city would literally just come and hang out while our women laboured. I've been pretty hand off the last few births as the other volunteers here are just dying to catch Haitian babies - so rather than fight about it - I just set back and continue working on all the sorting of suplies and equipment and join in at all the mobile clinics we've been organizing. Marc ( our Aussie medic) and I have been hitting all the neglected tent cities, seeing hundreds of patients. I've never bandaged, sutured so many wounds or ever seen and treated so many scabies cases. I promise to write more very soon and I'm working hard at getting my million pictures up...slow Internet and not enough time with running electricity is seriously slowing the process down.
Off to the beach after a 12hr day. Well deserved, I'm aching for a good dinner and cold beer!
Thursday, March 25
Wednesday, March 17
Hello Jacmel...my new home away from home
Sara picked me up in Carrefour and after a chatty 2hr pick-up ride, we make it to her house in the outskirts of Jacmel. The maternity center is beautiful and I cannot wait to see it all set up with furniture and supplies. She had expected to receive a shipment of furniture a week ago, but there were delays as usual and the shipment is not scheduled to arrive to port until the end of March. Sara had called to give me the heads up as she was worried about me coming and being bored since none of the clinical activities can begin until we get the actual furniture.
Awesome that things always seem to work out despite changes in plans...
An NGO named Bumi Sehat had gotten in contact with me (word spread quickly within the midwifery community that a French speaking midwife was coming to Jacmel and staying for a couple of months). They asked me to come work with them ASAP. So it worked out perfectly as things with Sara's Olive Tree Projects will be slow until the end of the month.
I worked all morning with the people of Bumi, a gang of midwives all very eager to work and all sharing a philosophy of low-intervention births, which are the kind I love. They have set up this amazing dome tent in the middle of the field with beds and a full pharmacy. We have 6 consultation beds and do 2 days of pre and postnatal consults per week, seeing anywhere between 50 to 100 women per day. They all have charts with us and we offer them the option to come give birth at the dome when their time comes. Basic prenatal care, but oh so important. Love it! Felt right at home as this is what I had been doing in Carrefour, except that the set-up Bumi has is much easier to work in. There is still A LOT of organizing to do. Susan, the coordinator and I got along like 2 peas in a pod and she was impressed at how autonomous I already was. Really helped that I had been doing this in Carrefour, as I was back in my comfort zone of standard prenatal and postnatal care. My creole is getting better and better. My comprehension is 90% but I am still having a hard time speaking as I quickly revert to French as it is easier than to try and find my creole words. Anyways, my official application (a 4 page essay written late last night) was reviewed by the directors and approved and I got offered to come live at their huge house a couple of minutes walking distance from the dome. A comfy set up with meals included at no cost since they have taken me in as official staff. I am set up at Sara's for now but might take the offer and move in. They are expecting 8 births in the next couple of weeks and an average of 40 per month starting April. It would be most convenient for me to live with them as I will be expected to be on-call. I'm going to weigh my options and decide tomorrow. Got offered to stay at the assistant's directors hotel which is a couple of blocks away. Cheap but not free. I might just do that as I don't necessarily want to work, live, eat and sleep with the same people day in and day out for the next couple of months. Knowing myself, I will go a bit stir crazy if I don't have room to breathe. Anyways, gonna sleep on it and decide. Happy to have so many options. Everyone I have met so far has been hilarious and there is quite the mix of personalities at the Bumi Sehat House, so I'm looking forward to being busy there until things get more organized at Sara's. The beach is at walking distance and everyone meets there on Sundays for beers and BBQ. I really thought I was coming into total devastation and didn't bother packing a bathing suit as I thought that I would surely not have any time to even think of beach bumming...Apparently, it ain't so. We work hard, but SUndays are everyone's day off and all the expats come out from their guarded NGO compounds and meet at the beach. It's nice to see that there will be a healthier balance here. I'm really looking forward to the road ahead.
If you wanna know more about Bumi Sehat's work visit their blog: bumisehathaiti.blogspot.com
Internet access will be easier from now on and I will make sure to upload my pictures as soon as I can.
Love from Haiti,
T.
Awesome that things always seem to work out despite changes in plans...
An NGO named Bumi Sehat had gotten in contact with me (word spread quickly within the midwifery community that a French speaking midwife was coming to Jacmel and staying for a couple of months). They asked me to come work with them ASAP. So it worked out perfectly as things with Sara's Olive Tree Projects will be slow until the end of the month.
I worked all morning with the people of Bumi, a gang of midwives all very eager to work and all sharing a philosophy of low-intervention births, which are the kind I love. They have set up this amazing dome tent in the middle of the field with beds and a full pharmacy. We have 6 consultation beds and do 2 days of pre and postnatal consults per week, seeing anywhere between 50 to 100 women per day. They all have charts with us and we offer them the option to come give birth at the dome when their time comes. Basic prenatal care, but oh so important. Love it! Felt right at home as this is what I had been doing in Carrefour, except that the set-up Bumi has is much easier to work in. There is still A LOT of organizing to do. Susan, the coordinator and I got along like 2 peas in a pod and she was impressed at how autonomous I already was. Really helped that I had been doing this in Carrefour, as I was back in my comfort zone of standard prenatal and postnatal care. My creole is getting better and better. My comprehension is 90% but I am still having a hard time speaking as I quickly revert to French as it is easier than to try and find my creole words. Anyways, my official application (a 4 page essay written late last night) was reviewed by the directors and approved and I got offered to come live at their huge house a couple of minutes walking distance from the dome. A comfy set up with meals included at no cost since they have taken me in as official staff. I am set up at Sara's for now but might take the offer and move in. They are expecting 8 births in the next couple of weeks and an average of 40 per month starting April. It would be most convenient for me to live with them as I will be expected to be on-call. I'm going to weigh my options and decide tomorrow. Got offered to stay at the assistant's directors hotel which is a couple of blocks away. Cheap but not free. I might just do that as I don't necessarily want to work, live, eat and sleep with the same people day in and day out for the next couple of months. Knowing myself, I will go a bit stir crazy if I don't have room to breathe. Anyways, gonna sleep on it and decide. Happy to have so many options. Everyone I have met so far has been hilarious and there is quite the mix of personalities at the Bumi Sehat House, so I'm looking forward to being busy there until things get more organized at Sara's. The beach is at walking distance and everyone meets there on Sundays for beers and BBQ. I really thought I was coming into total devastation and didn't bother packing a bathing suit as I thought that I would surely not have any time to even think of beach bumming...Apparently, it ain't so. We work hard, but SUndays are everyone's day off and all the expats come out from their guarded NGO compounds and meet at the beach. It's nice to see that there will be a healthier balance here. I'm really looking forward to the road ahead.
If you wanna know more about Bumi Sehat's work visit their blog: bumisehathaiti.blogspot.com
Internet access will be easier from now on and I will make sure to upload my pictures as soon as I can.
Love from Haiti,
T.
Tuesday, March 16
Bye bye Carrefour...
First leg of the journey is done. I left the Carrefour Mission yesterday morning. A week earlier than I had planned because an NGO in Jacmel got a hold of me and was asking if I could come ASAP.
So I survived a total of 10 full work days in Carrefour. Splitting my time between home (tent) mother-baby visits, community health teachings in the tent cities and the Mission's home clinic during the day and working long nights at the Dikini maternity ward catching babies by the dozen. Amazing experience but exhausting at the same time. Stretched myself and my skills to the limit, having to provide primary care as well as dealing with complex obsterical complications I have never treated in my career before. Each day at the compound was different and I had to be flexible as things were constantly changing. The needs here are endless...
My last 24hrs in Carrefour were memorable. I was signed up for a day shift at the maternity ward which started at 7AM and was supposed to end a 7PM. Caught 4 babies in less than 8hrs, saw over 20 women with gynecological issues, monitored and medicated my 2 severe pre-eclamptics and helped a mom cope thru a spontaneous abortion at 16 weeks gestation... As my shift was ending, a new mom was wheeled in. She had given birth to a very premature little boy. There was not enough staff available that night to cover all the patients that we had so I offered to stay the night. This baby was on the brink. Not sure if he would make it thru the night as he was not able to breastfeed. I rigged him up with a gastric feeding tube and I offered to be the one to come feed him every 2 hrs. He just got to me. 1.5 kg, tiny little creature, hanging on to dear life. Mom was exhausted - had delivered by C-section and was still pretty out of it. The hospital does not have incubators and not enough staff to look after high need preemies. So I basically sat with him in my arms all night. Kagaroo care has been proven to help premature babies...Keeping them craddled helps them regulate their body temperature and vital signs. So I had him in my arms all night, feeding him every 2 hrs, slowly so he wouldn't regurgitate...a feeding could take up to an hour...The night turned out to be crazy with mom after mom coming in to birth and being short staffed, I had to help. I assisted the other midwife on-call during 2 deliveries with this little man still in my arms. By 3AM I was struggling to stay awake. Running to fetch labs, getting extra supplies, looking for meds we needed for our preeclamptics and taking new patients history as the midwife on-call didn't speak creole. All while having this little man strapped onto me. Not hard to do as his tiny body just fit perfectly only mine.
My ride was coming to pick me up at 8 AM but I was nowhere near being done my shift. I ran all over the hospital trying to find someone who could help me figure out where the baby could be transfered because our hospital was definitely not equipped to deal with such a premature baby. I couldn't bare to leave without knowing what was going to happen to this baby. Took me an hour, my ride waited patiently and at 9AM I got the final answer that this baby had found a new home in a feeding center closeby where he could stay with his mom and receive the TLC and medical care he would need to have a real chance.
Needless to say that I walked back into the compound and went straight to sleep in my tent. 2 hours later I wake up in a puddle of sweat, with my heart racing and feeling dizzy. Completely dehydrated, overheated (so tired, I fell asleep in a boiling hot tent with little ventilation) and too exhausted to understand what was going on with me. Thankfully Cheryl and Rodney acted quickly and I was put under a cold shower, clothes and all and fed bottle after bottle of gatorade. I slept for the rest of the early afternoon, indoors this time...I had to postpone my ride to Jacmel to the next day as I was definitely not in a state to travel.
Woke up the next morning, rested and rehydrated. Packed all my stuff, did a couple of last home visits to check up on my babies and said my goodbyes. Happy to go off on a new adventure but to say goodbye to everyone I had been living, working and sharing in this experience with...
So I survived a total of 10 full work days in Carrefour. Splitting my time between home (tent) mother-baby visits, community health teachings in the tent cities and the Mission's home clinic during the day and working long nights at the Dikini maternity ward catching babies by the dozen. Amazing experience but exhausting at the same time. Stretched myself and my skills to the limit, having to provide primary care as well as dealing with complex obsterical complications I have never treated in my career before. Each day at the compound was different and I had to be flexible as things were constantly changing. The needs here are endless...
My last 24hrs in Carrefour were memorable. I was signed up for a day shift at the maternity ward which started at 7AM and was supposed to end a 7PM. Caught 4 babies in less than 8hrs, saw over 20 women with gynecological issues, monitored and medicated my 2 severe pre-eclamptics and helped a mom cope thru a spontaneous abortion at 16 weeks gestation... As my shift was ending, a new mom was wheeled in. She had given birth to a very premature little boy. There was not enough staff available that night to cover all the patients that we had so I offered to stay the night. This baby was on the brink. Not sure if he would make it thru the night as he was not able to breastfeed. I rigged him up with a gastric feeding tube and I offered to be the one to come feed him every 2 hrs. He just got to me. 1.5 kg, tiny little creature, hanging on to dear life. Mom was exhausted - had delivered by C-section and was still pretty out of it. The hospital does not have incubators and not enough staff to look after high need preemies. So I basically sat with him in my arms all night. Kagaroo care has been proven to help premature babies...Keeping them craddled helps them regulate their body temperature and vital signs. So I had him in my arms all night, feeding him every 2 hrs, slowly so he wouldn't regurgitate...a feeding could take up to an hour...The night turned out to be crazy with mom after mom coming in to birth and being short staffed, I had to help. I assisted the other midwife on-call during 2 deliveries with this little man still in my arms. By 3AM I was struggling to stay awake. Running to fetch labs, getting extra supplies, looking for meds we needed for our preeclamptics and taking new patients history as the midwife on-call didn't speak creole. All while having this little man strapped onto me. Not hard to do as his tiny body just fit perfectly only mine.
My ride was coming to pick me up at 8 AM but I was nowhere near being done my shift. I ran all over the hospital trying to find someone who could help me figure out where the baby could be transfered because our hospital was definitely not equipped to deal with such a premature baby. I couldn't bare to leave without knowing what was going to happen to this baby. Took me an hour, my ride waited patiently and at 9AM I got the final answer that this baby had found a new home in a feeding center closeby where he could stay with his mom and receive the TLC and medical care he would need to have a real chance.
Needless to say that I walked back into the compound and went straight to sleep in my tent. 2 hours later I wake up in a puddle of sweat, with my heart racing and feeling dizzy. Completely dehydrated, overheated (so tired, I fell asleep in a boiling hot tent with little ventilation) and too exhausted to understand what was going on with me. Thankfully Cheryl and Rodney acted quickly and I was put under a cold shower, clothes and all and fed bottle after bottle of gatorade. I slept for the rest of the early afternoon, indoors this time...I had to postpone my ride to Jacmel to the next day as I was definitely not in a state to travel.
Woke up the next morning, rested and rehydrated. Packed all my stuff, did a couple of last home visits to check up on my babies and said my goodbyes. Happy to go off on a new adventure but to say goodbye to everyone I had been living, working and sharing in this experience with...
Tuesday, March 9
Made it...
Been meaning to update the blog but my schedule here has been insane. Its been 5 days and yet I feel like I've been living here for months. Splitting my time between daytime community outreach clinic and night-time hospital births. Definitely sleep deprived and learning to function on 2 meals of rice per day. Feeling great though!
I promise to post more details as to what has been happening here but for now, here are some pictures...I'll post more as soon as I can. Love you all!
I promise to post more details as to what has been happening here but for now, here are some pictures...I'll post more as soon as I can. Love you all!
Saturday, March 6
What it really means to hit the ground running
Made it! Safe and sound and exhausted but thrilled to finally have arrived.
My first 24 hrs in Haiti...
"Expect nothing and prepare for anything"- my mantra.
Land in PAP at 9AM: emotional landing as we could already see the vast fields of tents and rubble and military tanks. Looks like a war zone with thousands of refugees in the streets and fields. The US military is everywhere and UN tanks regularly driving down the streets. The airport is busy, cargo planes, military helicopters and now commercial flights. Feels unreal to have this setting as a backdrop.
Took almost 2 hours to push and shove our way thru the piles of luggage and masses of passengers running around all over the place. Hallelhuia for us making it thru customs without much trouble. luggage was a blast. Felt right at home in the chaos - pushing and shoving your way, hoping to find your bags intact. Mine were (thank God - all that tape held and
noone broke the locks). I smoozed myself thru customs, busting out the little creole I know and putting my haitian accent to the test. Turns out it worked and I managed to get Molly and Cheryl to go thru without any glitches. Then the wait. Someone was supposed to be picking us up. We end up getting a hold of one of the chauffeurs and after a couple of hours of waiting patiently, he finally arrives to take us to Carrefour. Crossing the arrivals gate to go into the street was quite an ordeal as everyone just grabs at the luggage - offering to take it to the Jeep for us in exchange for a quick tip.
Bumpy and not too long road to Carrefour. It's actually hard to tell the difference between
the temporary shacks that were set up after the quake from those that have always existed. Aside from the massive piles of rumble one sees every few blocks, the streets look the same as
they always have and people are going about their daily life so non chalantly it's strange to think of how much loss they have suffered and are still grieving since the quake. Resilience,
strength and powerful faith. The markets are open, vendors are selling, buses and traffic as usual.
My first 24 hrs in Haiti...
"Expect nothing and prepare for anything"- my mantra.
Land in PAP at 9AM: emotional landing as we could already see the vast fields of tents and rubble and military tanks. Looks like a war zone with thousands of refugees in the streets and fields. The US military is everywhere and UN tanks regularly driving down the streets. The airport is busy, cargo planes, military helicopters and now commercial flights. Feels unreal to have this setting as a backdrop.
Took almost 2 hours to push and shove our way thru the piles of luggage and masses of passengers running around all over the place. Hallelhuia for us making it thru customs without much trouble. luggage was a blast. Felt right at home in the chaos - pushing and shoving your way, hoping to find your bags intact. Mine were (thank God - all that tape held and
noone broke the locks). I smoozed myself thru customs, busting out the little creole I know and putting my haitian accent to the test. Turns out it worked and I managed to get Molly and Cheryl to go thru without any glitches. Then the wait. Someone was supposed to be picking us up. We end up getting a hold of one of the chauffeurs and after a couple of hours of waiting patiently, he finally arrives to take us to Carrefour. Crossing the arrivals gate to go into the street was quite an ordeal as everyone just grabs at the luggage - offering to take it to the Jeep for us in exchange for a quick tip.
Bumpy and not too long road to Carrefour. It's actually hard to tell the difference between
the temporary shacks that were set up after the quake from those that have always existed. Aside from the massive piles of rumble one sees every few blocks, the streets look the same as
they always have and people are going about their daily life so non chalantly it's strange to think of how much loss they have suffered and are still grieving since the quake. Resilience,
strength and powerful faith. The markets are open, vendors are selling, buses and traffic as usual.
Friday, March 5
Here goes...
6:25AM Fort Lauderdale Airport
Sipping my dunkin donuts coffee.
Met Cheryl and Molly last night at bagage claim. I am so happy to be going as a gang, at least for the first part of this tri. We'll be working together at the carrefour hospital. We got to the hotel at 1AM. Unable to fall asleep though and laughing as we were setting the alarm for a mere 3 hours later. We're tired but pumped. Molly is my age and also aspiring to work with soca without borders. We clicked right away. Cheryl has kids that are our age, very sweet and maternal. We are going to be eacothers main support for the next 10 days. I'm really glad we're all in this together and it's reassuring to see that i am not the only one who is not to sure what to expect once there. Our NGO has been more a source of confusion than a reassuring entity. We are the first ones from this NGO to got to Carrefour so we shall discover as we go...
I'm actually excited. I feel pumped and ready to hit the ground running. The past few days of mad rushing and last minute everything have been insane! Thank you Matt for sticking by me and helping. The scene at Seattle airport was a classic. Over the weight limit (I was expecting it)...kneeling at the counter, taking out stuff on by one, syringes and meds flying all over the place as I open my carefully, tightly packed cases. I have a thing for chaos I guess. I think that's why I'll find something familiar while in Haiti...that chaos that forces you to step out of comfort and deal with whatever comes your way...
I feel ready! Wish me luck!
PS: thanks to Matt cause that was not an easy goodbye. Add the drama of me realizing I had left my engagement ring at the motel...
Sipping my dunkin donuts coffee.
Met Cheryl and Molly last night at bagage claim. I am so happy to be going as a gang, at least for the first part of this tri. We'll be working together at the carrefour hospital. We got to the hotel at 1AM. Unable to fall asleep though and laughing as we were setting the alarm for a mere 3 hours later. We're tired but pumped. Molly is my age and also aspiring to work with soca without borders. We clicked right away. Cheryl has kids that are our age, very sweet and maternal. We are going to be eacothers main support for the next 10 days. I'm really glad we're all in this together and it's reassuring to see that i am not the only one who is not to sure what to expect once there. Our NGO has been more a source of confusion than a reassuring entity. We are the first ones from this NGO to got to Carrefour so we shall discover as we go...
I'm actually excited. I feel pumped and ready to hit the ground running. The past few days of mad rushing and last minute everything have been insane! Thank you Matt for sticking by me and helping. The scene at Seattle airport was a classic. Over the weight limit (I was expecting it)...kneeling at the counter, taking out stuff on by one, syringes and meds flying all over the place as I open my carefully, tightly packed cases. I have a thing for chaos I guess. I think that's why I'll find something familiar while in Haiti...that chaos that forces you to step out of comfort and deal with whatever comes your way...
I feel ready! Wish me luck!
PS: thanks to Matt cause that was not an easy goodbye. Add the drama of me realizing I had left my engagement ring at the motel...
Wednesday, March 3
Last 24 hours in Canada
Oh me, oh my! Words cannot describe how I am feeling...Departing in 12 hours....We left Tofino two days ago, with enough time to stop for more supplies and some last minute personal shopping. Picked up a last bin from Kim in Victoria (so happy to finally meet her in person) and then made it to Seattle this afternoon to pick up the last of the equipment I had ordered and shipped out to the Midwifery School. 4 extra boxes including some more donations from Rhode Island. Packing was like a complex game of Tetris and I am soooooooo glad everything fit and I won't have to leave anything behind other than a box of 1cc syringes and a couple of bags of speculums (already have 10 packs).
Alright, time to get some sleep...Last night on a comfy mattress...Gonna wake up extra early tomorrow to take a last long hot shower...
All packed and ready to go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)