April 7, Wednesday:
This is the MIDDLE of the line greeting us as we pulled up.
This morning was quite similar to yesterday morning minus the suitcase hauling. When we made it up the mountain to Gramothe there was a huge line waiting again. Britney said she could see the line from down at the guest house. It's intimidating pulling up to a line like that and knowing some will be sent home to return later and others can't be helped at all. We got to work a lot faster since we were starting off a lot more organized.
As far as the pharmacy went, it was more of the same today. Being more organized meant more down time which was in turn utilized for reorganization. Hopefully by the end of the week the pharmacy will be easier to navigate. I spent a bunch of time rummaging around the supply closet digging out hidden meds and things that needed to be used up first. I think there's enough antibiotic ointment to cover all of Haiti, but there are other things we don't have at all.
Getting out of the pharmacy a little today meant a little more exposure to the patients, but I'm still feeling a lack of hands on time. On one pop out of the pill box I noticed Haylee searching for formula for a teeny little baby I'd seen come by the pharmacy window. Apparently the baby hadn't eaten for sometime since the mother has some kind of mental problems and won't breastfeed. Haylee was trying to get him to eat, but he wouldn't suckle for more than a few moments. I pointed out that he probably isn't even sure how since he's obviously not eating much at home. Eventually he worked up some steam and she got the bottle down him, but it's hard to know what will happen from there.
Couple who came at the last minute. The kids were sent home with scabies meds.
We were ahead of the game for most of the day until the last half hour when all the complicated prescriptions came in at once. We were getting a little stressed by that point. It's quite a bit of pressure too because by the time the patients got to us they'd been waiting out in the sun all day and you just want to get the drugs together as fast as you can and send them home. Just as we were finishing the last prescription and heading out the door at around 4:30pm a couple with a baby and a little girl came up. The girls both had scabies so we dug out some cream and sent them home with it with instructions on how to apply it. Willem said the couple said that they might make it home by midnight if they walked very fast. It's heart breaking to think that as many as 200 other people were turned away in the morning. That said, we did help 191 patients in the clinic and over 80 in the eye clinic. Back at the house Willem said there's even more need right now because there used to be doctors all over Haiti, but now many have left Haiti because of the earthquake. It's difficult to even know where to start.
On arriving home we went to check on Betsie, one of the nurses, who had gone home sick in the middle of the day. Apparently she had been vomiting all afternoon after arriving back at the house. This is definitely a good time to be surrounded by medical professionals. After some consultation, Marcia and Nancy headed back to the clinic on an ATV to get supplies so they could start her on an IV. When they got back everyone took a turn at trying to get it going, but after about 4 sticks they decided that she was too dehydrated for even that. After some medication she was finally able to get down some fluids and we let her rest and went down to dinner.
The evening hasn't been too exciting. Pretty much just hanging out and swapping photos. I feel a little aimless today. I don't even want to think about the fact that I'll be leaving soon. My heart and mind are still up at the clinic. Rolling around in my mind are thoughts of all the things the supply closet does and doesn't need. Mostly I feel inadequate. I can't understand how anyone, especially a medical professional, wouldn't want to be here now doing this.
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