Day 7

Let me start by saying if I ever have to eat another protein bar, it will be too soon. I tried a variety of different flavors...it doesn't matter, I still feel like I'm eating a horse treat.

I started off the day at mass. The music today was particularly beautiful. There was a young woman there who had a gorgeous voice. I ran into her later and was able to tell her so. The homily today was about letting go of hate, grief and anger because it only weighs you down. It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, which happens to be on my fridge. It's an Emerson quote, "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered by your old nonsense."

Today was an interesting day and it was our last day. For the most part it was pretty slow. Betsy and I did an organization project with the sedatives, pain meds, and ACLS meds. At the end of our shift, a woman who had been there a couple of hours coded. It seemed to take a bit for people to react. Although it was apparent there was nothing that they could do for this patient, they were able to do a lot of ACLS teaching. While they were doing this code, another young woman came in who was unresponsive. At first I was freaked out because all the doc were busy with the code and I was unsure how critical her situation was. It turns out her vitals were fairly stable. Reportedly, she had ingested bleach but no one had witnessed this and no one knew how much she drank. At first she did not open her eyes, but eventually she had tears streaming down her cheeks in response to our questions. Here in Haiti she would be described as catatonic but she did not fit the criteria that I'm familiar with. It just about broke my heart. Something obviously happened to make this young lady to make her want to hurt herself and I have no idea if she will ever have the opportunity to talk to someone.

Father Rick and Conan came for dinner this evening. I have to say from a public health standpoint, it's pretty fascinating what they have been able to accomplish. It's hard to keep doctors in Haiti and most of them have no interest in working with the underserved population. It turns out they have hired many young men who have very little education, but they are the x-ray techs and IT people. They went searching for these young men in the toughest neighborhoods, many of them were involved with gangs. The majority of employees at both the pediatric and adult hospitals are Haitians. And in terms of healthcare providers, there is some interest in starting their own PA program to fill the gaps in the system. Right now the ratio is 1 doctor per 15,000 patients.

Well, I best get some rest, tomorrow is going to be a long day. Bonne nuit.