It's the Last day ... time to say goodbye to our Haitian friends

Its time to say….so long for now to our Haitian friends

We had another very hot and humid day but have enjoyed our last day in the heat. We had planned for this day to be a day of cleaning up and sorting the supplies that are in the clinic. A few follow up pts came back today for various treatments. The lady that has been coming back 3 times a day for her antibiotic treatments is showing signs of healing in the ulcers on her legs. She is walking much better and it is so good to see her health improving.  The little boy we saw the first day with the traumatic cataract was back and it looks like he will be able to get his surgery in Petit Goave and the Haitian medical staff here will continue to organize that. Many of the team today went to Petit Goave which is a city about 10 miles south west on a good highway although narrow and winding. It gave us a great view of the mountains and some of the beauty in Haiti. While in Petit Goave we toured the local hospital where we had referred several patients to during our time here. The conditions of the hospital were very unlike anything you would imagine to be a hospital. The beds were about a foot apart with no divider curtains, not gender specific, and most beds had no sheets. It seemed the criteria to be in the hospital was to have an IV although the IV bags and tubing were all empty and full of air. No one complained about hospital food as there was none unless your family brought it in to you. Some patients wore masks which seemed to be their isolation technique.

Patient being showered outside hospital.

Tour of Operating Room

While the rest of us toured, Dr Dennis and Teresa stayed back to fix the teeth of 5 translators we had worked with.  The translators got complete care….the largest case getting 3 fillings and 6 extractions. They had a very busy morning.

Goats and chickens arrived at the compound today and we had the pleasure of giving them to their new grateful owners.

 One of the elderly ladies was so grateful she planted a great big kiss right on the  donors lips!! He was some surprised!!

    Thanks to the donors who made  
             this possible.

Teresa finished making the signs and Martin and Rick  got a couple of them installed.  


Thanks again to JB Printing for these beautiful signs.

Tonight we went to Mondy’s, a local Haitian restaurant and had the choice of goat or chicken entrees.  Coke in the big bottles were served thus the restaurant is known as Goat and Coke. It was very delicious with the beets in the potato salad giving it an interesting color.

 

From there we walked to the ocean to watch the sunset. It was an interesting walk back thru town as it was dark and the community members were coming out to the streets to socialize. Most homes do not have power, so the occasional solar street lights give some light to visit by. We passed many homes that had a pot of something cooking over hot coals.

Dr Braam gave one last lesson to the Haitian doctors about ECGs. They are so excited to learn. Dr Braam is such an incredible teacher and they are such eager students.

Tonight Dr Fritz and Dr Jacob, along with Leah made a special trip back to say good bye and gave us such beautiful thank you cards. We were very touched at their thoughtfulness. They want us to come back in 2 months!



Dr Jacob, Administrator Leah, Dr Fritz

 The day concluded for some with a lively game of up and down the river with none other than Papa Noel.

Blog by team effort.....