Beth's Post: Haiti Trip Day 3

April 5, Monday:

More organized than when we came in.

Started a little late this morning seeing as Willem was spending the day making trips back and forth from the airport bringing in the rest of the team and there wasn't too much we could do yet. Britney, Hannah (a team member from Mexico), and I spent the morning over at another guest house sorting out supplies for the clinic, the children's home, and other destinations. Many of the hotels and guest houses fell in the earthquake and the ones that didn't are jam packed with aid workers and others coming into the country for various programs. This led to various houses and other buildings being pressed into service as guest houses and bed and breakfasts for visiting workers. This house is one that MTM has been able to get access to and Beth said both houses have been packed since the earthquake. The house itself was very nice and would be considered quite fancy even in the US. Of course, down the street people are living in shacks, but that's Haiti. Our task there was to come into a stack of meds, equipment, and supplies from various sources (including a big load from Morocco which had info only in French and Arabic), figure out what they were, and arrange them into suitcases and bags to be transported to various locations. After sorting the meds we took the various toiletry products and made up "health bags" to be passed out at the clinic. We used up all the supplies, but I'm sure we will run out of them sooner rather than later.

More supplies waiting to be loaded.

When we got back to our house Beth went off with the newly arrived medical director, Marcia, to look over the equipment and meds and come up with a game plan for tomorrow. We spent the afternoon getting to know the new team members and feeling a little useless. After dinner the last group of people arrived and then we had orientation and discussed jobs and assignments for the next day. Britney will be working with children -- she has the fun task of covering them with cream to treat them for scabies. Yay! I will be working in the pharmacy, but breaking away as needed for whatever support the nurses and doctors need.

I'm looking forward to finally getting up to the clinic and getting to work. Should be an exhausting, but rewarding day. I'm pretty sure I'll know a lot more about medication and medicine in general by the end of the day...