To date BUMC has treated 460 patients in 3 1/2 days! We have all been truly blessed by the people of Haiti this week.
Our medical student, Melannie White, has met all the requiremets for graduation. Our outstanding med student has treated 7 wound care patients & given multiple IM injections.
On Wednesday we saw 60 patients in the morning then toured Port au Prince in the afternoon. The fact that we survived the car trip is a feat in & of itself. Our first stop was Doctors w/o Borders orthopaedic hospital. This is where we incurred our most interesting site yet--Haitian clowns to cheer the patients up. They were quite comical & Missy almost joined their entourage!
From there we went to the Matthew 25 guesthouse where we enjoyed ice cold 1/2 L Coca Cola's in LARGE glass bottles--mmm mmm good! We spent quite a bit of $$ at Matthew 25 buying gifts for "family" (mostly for ourselves:).
Afterwards we toured Port au Prince where we saw the heavily damaged Presidential palace and many churches that had collapsed. The most touching moment we experienced was the Holy Trinity Music School that was practicing in a make shift building for a performance this Sunday, Palm Sunday. It was truly moving--such beautiful music amongst such devastation.
On our way back to Blanchard we drove through Cite Soleil, the poorest area in the city -- thousands upon thousands of tents, trash, etc. There were several pigs & goats having dinner amongst the garbage.
Once back at the clinic, aka our home away from home, we enjoyed dinner, conversation intertwined with Office Space jokes. Missy does great impersonations!
Thursday we saw all the patients that came to the clinic which was about 130. Currently we are sitting poolside at Visa Lodge enjoying our graduation dinner. We have outgoing Chief Resident Dr. Tony & incoming Chief Resident Dr. Jim & our secoond medical student soon-to-be Dr. Melannie! As an aside, Steve needs to grow a little taller for the next visit..ha ha :) See Steve for details.
Dr. Kris has seen several interesting gyn cases throughout the week, at least 60. NP Ruth has seen all patients big & small. Triage & pharmacy specialists Steve, Mollie, Melannie, Early & John have held the hands & filled the medicines of all 460 patients. Although Dr. Jim would say he has seen 459 of the patients himself.
Our translators have been fabulous & we have grown close to many of them. We will miss them when we leave. God Bless them.
Family Health Ministries (FHM) is a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to developing long-term relationships with underserved individuals, families and communities to help them help themselves in culturally-relevant ways.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
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