Haiti Cholera Relief January 2011.html

BOTTING NET

NEIL'S HAITI CHOLERA RELIEF January, 2011

I volunteered to return to Haiti to work on the cholera outbreak in the fall of 2010. I was selected for the January 15 - February 5, 2011 rotation with Project Hope. I had to add a few new vaccinations and a new TB test to my record and take a BLS class and was then ready to go. The assignment was to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the Artibonite Valley, about 40 crow-flies miles North of Port-au-Prince. I packed for the conditions of that assignment and was on my way early the morning of 1/14 to overnight in Miami and then go to Haiti, and on to the hospital 1/15.

But, as I was settling into my Miami hotel room, I received a phone call from a Project Hope official telling me he had sent me an email setting out a change of mission that had occured that morning (Michal eventually got the email to me via the hotel). The PH official explained that the Hospital had cholera under control but he would like to send me and one other volunteer RN to Cap-Hatien to work with The Missionaries of the Poor mission there. Our assignment was to assess the location for suitability for PH volunteers and need of possible additional PH personnel and to help with the patients and help train the lay care givers. That sounded like an interesting assignment and off we went 1/15 to Northern Haiti. It turned out the mission was cut short, but I don't regret the experience one bit.

Teller County Medical Reserve Corps Cap arrives in Haiti	Susan, RN cancer care NY, waits with me for flight to Cap-Hatien	Our "Salsa" Air transport North
Leaving Port-au-Prince	No need to close door	Gate to patient area ahead- our similar gate off to our left
We arrived during special ceremony for departing Brother- in-charge, so we joined in. All in Creole	Later after dinner, got to room: sink (not potable), fan, new mosquito net, nice towel.	From room terrace toward one of two locked gates between Brothers Mission and Nuns quarters and school. (Yes, each night I was told: ;-) "get thee to a Nunnery".)
Each morning the local aids wash the mattresses	One of the aids helping bathe an AIDS patient	The dining porch adjoining the Brother's cloistered area. 5 lay people dined here while the Brothers dined inside

The local aids receive a small stipend, rice and other food for their families, and their children are sent to school by the Brothers. (Schools charge a fee.) They are trained in their tasks of bathing and feeding patients and cleaning matresses, bedding, and the facilities by the Brothers. They do a good job. The patients who are able, also assist each other. For example a blind patient and a patient with a mental disability were teamed to help each other. The Brothers are in the patient area 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon - the periods when they are not engaged in spiritual or community management activities. We were required to keep those same, limited, patient contact hours (and that was a bit frustrating).

Ceiling above the lay visitor dining area. This was once the stage Pope John Paul II used in 1979 in Shea stadium. This is the underside of the then stage.	Gate from Brother's area to Nuns area and their school for deaf and dumb children. This is one of the locked gates I had to pass thru to get to my room. We had one set of keys for 3 people, so had to coordinate our trips back and forth.	View over the wall from the adult patient grounds to adjoining homes in Cap Hatien.
Grotto on the patient grounds	Construction of a septic tank to handle some new expansion. The Brothers have their own well and waste disposal in the compound.	Smoke from neighbors outside the compound burning garbage. The Brothers burn their garbage too.
Brothers constructing a roof over 3 shipping containers to increase food storage.	Mark, one of the 3 lay visitors, works on container roof. He was also working to establish a new local school that will be high tech and bookless. The school will make use of Medika Mamba a high nutrition, locally made food.	Locked gate to the patient area
On a lighter note: my favorite lightpole!	Men patients' dorm area	Common porch area for adults. This is used for patient exams, and treatment; feeding (see large pot in center); and patient fresh air and exercise.
Lunch time. These patients, about 120 adults & 65 children (in a separate area), are all without any family or abandoned by their families	Street scene just outside Nun's street gate	Mission done. Heading back to Port au Prince. Much of the country is without vegetation