THERAPY ADVENTURES IN HAITI

Last Day of THIS Journey

2011-05-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day at the clinic. We are flying out tomorrow. Highlights of today were 1) the snacks and juice that Janet so graciously suggested that we buy and share with patients, families, translators, nurses and children who come to the clinic, and 2) the lapboard I found for Mr. Delille, who finally came back to see me. It was my last time to the supply closet. I thought that maybe, this time, I might not find what I needed. I kept looking and looking and a divine voice inside my head told me to get down on the floor, look under the shelf, behind a box and there I would find the very thing I was looking for—a plexiglass board that fits on a wheelchair to support his right arm. With some adjustments, Andrew (one of the translators and someone who would make a great physical therapist one day) and I attached the lapboard.

He had such significant subluxation that a shoulder sling was just not enough. To make such a wonderful find for Mr. Delille was a fitting way to end the journey at the clinic.

I extend my gratitude to Global Therapy Group for the opportunity to volunteer. I have left a piece of my heart in Haiti and look forward to the day I can come back to feel my heart become whole again.

Feeling Anxious

2011-05-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

From my journal: “Can’t sleep tonight. I am anxious about leaving. I am anxious about the patients we need to see tomorrow.” I especially was worried about Mr. Rousseau at the Pavillion Nursing Home because he was getting skin breakdown and needed a new seating system and schedule for pressure reliefs.

Raymond's Eyes

2011-05-13T07:13:00.001-07:00

Today, I cried for Haiti.

I cried alone.

I cried with Janet.

I was overwhelmed with sadness. Raymond, my patient with watery, sparkly blue eyes—he did it. We just connect. And I want to do so much for him and the others that I see. The patients and family members tend to be happy, resolved, welcoming and appreciative of the help that we give. They certainly do not exude sadness. I think my feelings come from a sense that there seems like there is so much to be done, not just with Raymond, but with so many people I have met.

Haiti may need a school to teach physical therapy. There is only training for rehabilitation technicians. My patients following stroke needed occupational therapy and speech therapy, too. I felt deficient in these therapies and longed for consultation with these other health care providers.

A friend from my church told me to keep a journal when I went to Haiti.
So, I did.
My friend told me to make sure I wrote down any of the times that I saw God.
So, I did.
Today, God was in Raymond’s eyes, in Janet’s hug and in all the stories.

Offering Hope

2011-05-09T07:09:00.000-07:00

It was on this day, that I felt compelled to write a quote from the Haitian-English Medical Phraseology text in my personal journal. The packet was left on the dresser by my bed to help us translate words like kanpe (“stand up”) and chita (“sit down”). These are the words, that after a few days of working at the Global Therapy Group clinic, I felt like I was beginning to comprehend: “You are here to offer hope to a people that has only too often resigned itself to death. The role of health care is to avoid or relieve suffering; there is more suffering here than in most places. “

Today was my first full day at the clinic. I loved seeing the patients—all of them. Their smiles were bigger, brighter and more numerous than I can remember seeing in one day…ever. My first patient of the day was a young girl with a club-foot deformity who needed a lift for her shoe, to help her compensate for a leg length discrepancy. I wondered if we would have anything in the supply closet that would give her the extra couple of inches that she needed. So, I went searching and found a cast shoe that was almost just the right height, one that she could use with different shoes and made her feel much better!

Trail Magic

About 10 years ago, I went backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, which traverses the mountains from Georgia to Maine, for about 5 months. On rare, surprising occasions, I was able to find exactly what I needed (or maybe just wanted)–such as a cooler full of sodas after hiking 15 miles or the tip for my walking stick to replace the one I wore out completely. This serendipity was coined “Trail Magic”. This is the feeling I had EVERY time I went up to the supply closet. Although the supplies were very loosely organized in some parts of the closet, my trips there always seemed divinely orchestrated and allowed me to provide AFOs, wheelchairs, cushions, canes, arm slings, air casts, splints, and elastic bands to my patients. At times, I might not have found exactly what I thought I needed, but was able to fabricate it, like an arm and wrist splint to fit my patient whose custom splint no longer fit his arm that was weakened by non-use following a stroke.

It seemed that so many of my patients following stroke had exceedingly weaker upper extremities than lower extremities. Not sure why that is. I think education on the concepts of learned non-use and the potential for neuroplasticity and recovery of function are ones that would benefit the patients and families, and possibly nurses and doctors.

The families have so much responsibility for their family member, from the moment he or she is admitted into the hospital and especially after the patient goes home. I had the pleasure of seeing one patient, Madame Marie Martha, from the day following her stroke in the hospital, and later in the clinic after she was discharged home. She was fortunate to have many family members helping her while she was in the hospital…3-4 different, genuinely caring, and concerned people in the room every day. The challenge for me was making sure everyone involved had the same education in order to provide the very best care for her. Everyone needed to know the precautions for protecting her arm during transfers, how to use the gait belt, and the importance of trying to encourage her to do as much for herself as possible during activities of daily living. Hope for recovery increasingly became a focal point of the family and patient education when I worked with patients following stroke. This made patients smile. I felt an increasing obligation to make sure I gave the best care possible so my patients had the best shot at regaining their lives.

Arriving in Haiti and beginning work at the clinic

2011-05-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

We arrived in the morning at the airport and our driver came to pick us up…he had stayed at the airport until late in the evening the night before waiting for us, so was glad that we had finally arrived safely. We had our first experience of being on the roads, scooting in and out and around the crowded streets of Port-au-Prince. Our trip was slowed by a funeral progression in the streets, with loud singing and dancing in front of and behind the casket being carried. It was a bumpy, exhilarating ride and I tried to soak it all in as I began the journey.

We dropped off our bags at Caroline and Henri’s house. They and all of their lovely children would be our hosts, companions and guides…each at different times, sometimes all at once…throughout the next two weeks. I was anxious to get to work at the clinic, since that is what we came to do and we were already late. Saturdays are a shorter day, but there was still time to see one patient, Ruth. She was the first of many patients whose sweet smile and gentleness made for an instant connection. Even though I did not know hardly any Creole, the translators helped me determine that she had some weakness and pain from a previous fracture in her leg. Being 14 years old, her main problem was that she could not run and play with her friends without hurting. So I gave her some exercises and Janet, my friend and fellow PT did some drawings for her home exercise program. I made Ruth laugh when I asked her if she was REALLY going to do the exercises. As she assured me that she would, I thought…I CAN do this (because I was worried about not being confident and not speaking the language well enough) and I that I might really be able to help the patients at the clinic.

Cynthia, a Canadian PT and seasoned volunteer at the clinic, then asked if I wanted to go with her on a home visit with a patient following stroke. Without hesitation, I joined her in the car with the patient’s son and their driver. I was slightly unnerved and concerned by the sight of the driver blessing himself before starting the trip, as well as by him making certain all the doors were locked in the backseat where Cynthia and I were sitting. But, of course, we made it safely, as I did many more times during by two weeks, as Alix became my patient. Before I volunteered, I was worried that I might not be able to help as much as a PT with more experience with patients with amputations, since that seemed to be the injury I heard most about happening after the earthquake. In the United States, I treat mostly patients with neurological problems and was surprised when Donna told me the clinic was seeing a lot of patients following stroke.

In Alix’s home, the porch rail became the parallel bar, the length of the porch became the gym and his very low bed became the mat table for exercises. Although he spoke Creole, French and English, his dysarthria and expressive aphasia led me to use more tactile and visual instructions than words, making spoken language less necessary for treatment. His son, Alex and friend Sonya were exceedingly helpful with physical and communication assistance. And when Sonya turned up the music a bit on the stereo one day, I danced a bit and shared a smile and a laugh, and later hugs. As my friend Janet noticed within hours of being in Haiti, smiles, laughs and hugs have no language barrier.

Charlotte and Janet's Journey Begins

2011-05-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

This was the day Janet and I were supposed to arrive in Haiti to begin our volunteer time at the Global Therapy Group clinic. But instead, the generous pilot and owner of the private plane we were in, Jerry Smith, decided not to land in Port-au-Prince at night. Seemed like a prudent thing to do. So, our next option was to land on the island of Exuma in the Bahamas…of course! This was not part of the adventure I expected, but I rolled with it and enjoyed an amazing sunrise before we left for Haiti…again. Highlights of the first day of my journey were seeing a beautiful rainbow with absolutely brilliant greens and purples from the plane—so close we could almost touch it…and later, listening to ABBA on XM channel 70’s on 7 while flying through clouds that looked like the glaciers of Alaska.

Ann in Haiti---Week Two

2011-02-28T15:14:00.000-08:00

It is the beginning of our second week in Haiti. Time is going so fast! I can’t believe that we will be headed home in just three more days! Friday was a special day. One of the patients who I worked with last year came for a visit. Anese was 6 months pregnant with her first child when the earthquake hit last January. Although she lost her L leg below the knee, she did not lose her baby. Isaac was born last April 14th. When I met Anese she was 8 months pregnant. She had had her leg amputated and had just been fitted for her first prosthesis by a prosthetic team visiting from the US. She was very determined and was never too tired to work with me. She asked me if she would be able to climb mountains with her new leg. I assured her that she would be able to do most anything if she was willing to work hard. In no time at all she had mastered walking with two crutches on level surfaces, then the stairs. By the time I left she was able to walk on level surfaces and stairs with only one crutch. Despite her determination, there were many obstacles for Anese. It was not just that she had lost her leg. It was that she had lost her leg, was 8 months pregnant, had no shoes, and had no home. When I met her, her entire family was staying in her hospital room because they had no tent and no place else to go. I managed to find her a pair of shoes to wear so we could walk outside. When we left Haiti, we managed to find a 2-person tent to give to her. One day when we were practicing walking, I asked Anese what she was going to name her baby. I was very flattered when she told me that her baby would be named “Ann” after me. I asked her what she would name the baby if it was a boy. She assured me that, “It will be a girl”.
When it was time for me to go home last year, it was hard to say goodbye. I felt a connection with her and this baby! I last spoke with Anese last April when one of the translators I had worked with called me from Haitian Community Hospital. He had gone there to work and found that Anese had had a baby boy! She asked him to call me so that I could name the baby since he could not be named “Ann”. I told Anese through the translator that she had been through so much with this baby and that I thought she should choose his name. She insisted that I was to name him. I was not sure what to do, so I told her “Ann means grace. Choose a name that means grace”. The baby was named Isaac. When Cholera hit Haiti, another of the translators tracked Anese down and was able to give me the news that she and baby Isaac were OK and had not gotten ill.
Friday, Anese and Isaac came to the clinic to visit. Anese had a new socket for her prosthesis and was walking with one crutch. We gave her some new socks to help her prosthesis to fit better as her leg had shrunk more. I showed her an exercise to do to help her not to limp. Then we spent time visiting and took turns holding baby Isaac. Anese told me that I was his godmother and that my daughter Maria who is here in Haiti with me was his sister. She asked me when I would be able to come back for his baptism. I told her that I thought that she would need to baptize him and that I would be there in spirit. Isaac and Anese looked wonderfully healthy! He is beginning to walk when someone holds onto his hands. Anese was very happy when I gave him some shoes that I had brought and two little outfits. (What is a godmother to do but bring gifts for her godchild?).
I asked Anese where she was living. She told me that she and her husband and baby Isaac were still living in a tent city in the tent that we had given her. She told me that neither she nor her husband were working. I asked how they were managing to eat with no money. She told me that friends, family and her church helped them. She asked me for money to buy formula and diapers. I gave her the 10 dollars that I had brought to the clinic with me that day.
I don’t know if I will ever see Anese or Isaac again. They don’t have a mailing address. I have a phone # for her, but since I don’t speak Creole, talking on the phone is not a really viable way to keep in touch. Clearly, the biggest mountain that Anese and so many of the people here still need to climb is the huge mountain of poverty, lack of work, and lack of resources. It can seem so discouraging. Even though I have been here twice, supported by lots of good people at home who have donated to pay for the cost of coming, and bringing equipment with me each time I come, it does not seem to be enough. I have so many resources in this life. Coming to Haiti makes me realize that even more and gives me even greater gratitude for those gifts. It also makes me want to do more for Anese and all of the people who I have worked with here. Despite at times feeling overwhelmed by all there is to do in Haiti and being unsure of the best ways to help. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to use my skills to benefit people here. I am also grateful for the opportunity that my daughter Maria has had to be here with me, to appreciate all of the gifts that she has been given, and to experience the joy of sharing the gifts that she brings to the world in being herself and in caring about others.

Ann in Haiti--- Day Three

2011-02-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

It was our third day in the clinic today. Bridgitte walked with her walker with a platform attachment 20 feet with only contact guard! She also put her brakes and footrests on and off by herself. Her daughter said that she needed minimal help to transfer. Bridget was very excited that we gave her the walker to take home! Progress!
Doing PT here can be a bit frustrating at times. Yesterday I worked with a man who had had a proximal Tib/fib fracture stabilized with an external fixate. He had -20 degrees of ankle DF, a lot of soft tissue scarring, and edema. After some edema massage, joint mobilization, passive stretching, wrapping with an ace wrap, giving him a night splint and gait training to try to keep his heel down as long as possible during stance, he went to see the orthopedic surgeon. He came back afterwards saying that the doctor said that he needed a different type of ace wrap. Since we did not have any other ace wraps, we decided to walk into the hospital and talk with the doctor, and see what he had in mind. The doctor wanted a wrap that went around the patient’s ankle to keep him from externally rotating. I explained to the Dr. that I felt he was turning his foot out due to his lack of DF Range of motion, which we are working on, and that I was not sure that wrapping the ace differently would help much. The Dr. was very pleasant, but insisted that wrapping would help. So the pt and I walked back to the clinic, and I wrapped the ankle again…. Clearly, the surgeon did not have much exposure to PT and was not used to working with another professional who might have expertise that was different from his. But, he welcomed me to come and see some patients with him on Friday. Maybe we can educate him about what a PT has to offer just by the exposure!
There is a definite need for PT here, but the patients and Dr.’s do not always realize what we have to offer because they have had little exposure. There was no history of rehab in Haiti until the earthquake when professionals from around the world came to help. Since then, however many of the patients hurt in the earthquake seem to have disappeared. The host at the guesthouse where we are staying says that many are just coping as best they cannot realizing that PT could help them more and that it is available. The more that we are here helping people to get better and helping surgeons to have better outcomes, the more the word will spread. Ultimately, there is a need to train rehab professionals in Haiti.
Tomorrow is another day! I am planning to show up and see patients with the orthopedic surgeon being very diplomatic in my suggestions!--- Ann

Return to Haiti ---Ann, PT

2011-02-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

After eleven months, I am back in Haiti. It is so wonderful to be here. Despite all of the chaos of getting around every day, there is something about this place that calls one back. I find things much improved in some ways and much the same in others. There are noticeable improvements in the airport. It was much less chaotic getting in, getting luggage, and meeting our ride. We had one bag that did not arrive. We were pleased to find that there actually was a procedure for tracking where it was and getting it back (which hopefully will happen tomorrow!). It did take me almost an hour to stand in line and fill out the paperwork; but still, our hosts tell us that we can actually expect to get our bag! There is much less rubble everywhere than a year ago. The hospital where we are working is now almost empty of patients. There have been repairs to the roof, and there are few foreigners to be seen.
What has not changed is that there continue to be people in need of basic healthcare. This morning we worked with a patient whose blood pressure was 200/105 at rest. She had BP medication but had not taken it in three days. It is not clear if this was due to lack of money to buy the medication or lack of understanding of its importance. Another patient who had diabetes complained about feeling dizzy. I asked her when she had last taken her blood sugar. She told me that she had done it the day before and that it was 250. She had insulin in her bag, but clearly did not understand the basics of monitoring her blood sugar and adjusting her insulin based on what it was.
I spent a fair amount of time this morning working with a patient, “Bridget”, who had had a stroke. Her daughter was also there for physical therapy because of back pain caused by transferring her mother. It became clear quickly that Bridget was capable of a more active role in caring for herself than she was currently performing. By the end of the morning, she was able to put her wheelchair brakes and footrests on and off by herself and had begun to propel her wheelchair with her unaffected arm and leg. We then spent time teaching her daughter how to transfer Bridget without compromising her back, and to encourage her mother to do as much as possible for herself. Hopefully some of this teaching will “stick”. I know, from my time here a year ago, that the culture of illness/injury here is that the ill person is passive and to be cared for. Changing such attitudes in both patients and families is not an easy or quick process. Never the less I have hope for Bridget as she seemed eager to do more for herself and quite proud of her ability to begin to walk with a walker and platform attachment.
There is much to be done in Haiti and it can seem overwhelming at times. When I am working with patients like Bridget and her daughter, I take solace in knowing that for these two people there is something that I can do to help to make their lives a bit better. Tomorrow is another day! There are many “Bridgets” here in Haiti who can benefit from the work of Global Therapy Group and the skills that I have to share. ---- Ann

Visiting the Cholera Tent - Lizandra

2010-11-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

It is Thanksgiving. And I am most thankful for the privileges I have that allow me to be here in Haiti in a time like this. I am thankful for the support of my friends and family behind me as I am here, and also for the wonderful people I have met in Haiti over the past two days.
Today started off a lot like yesterday. Awoke at sunrise to do sun salutations on the patio, then shower, breakfast, internet and off to the hospital. On our ride into we did all talk a bit about the fact that it is Thanksgiving and shared what our friends and families were probably doing. There were again 8-10 patients waiting for us, I started off with Pierre just as we had yesterday. I saw two of the same people I had worked with yesterday, and got to work with a couple of new ones. All with either hip or low back pain, so again very standard stretches and basic postures. They are so happy and thankful for the poses, and I hope it helps to ease their pain and discomfort some.
At noon when the patients had dwindled I decided to join the German doctor on a visit to the Cholera tent. Before we could enter we had to wash our hands in a diluted bleach solution and have the soles of our shoes sprayed. They do this on entrance and exit and also when moving between sections of the ‘tent;. The idea is to keep new germs/bacteria from being introduced either direction.
The group who set up and run the 'tent' are from France, and they are running a tip top program. I am calling it a tent -but it is really a tent community, with constructed temporary walls, hallways, and several separate tent rooms. They have a triage space, and then a tiered room system depending on the severity of the case. We saw about 25 patients in the different rooms, ranging in age from 1 to 50 years of age. The sicker patients of any age were very hard to see, the pain and discomfort very clear in every aspect of their being. The worst was some of they eyes. In some cases blank, and in some pain filled. There was one small boy who was very alert, but with the saddest eyes I have seen in a long time. It was heart-breaking. But at least they are being treated, and the German doctor said overall it was a much better environment than he has seen in other places. Most of the people we saw today will live, because they are receiving topnotch treatment.
The French are clearly following a well thought out and planned system and are working hard to get Haitian nurses and orderlies to work with them within their plan and structure. Each room has a nurse’s station where they take careful notes, and also dispense the basic medication, food and liquids. There are 2 doctors and 8 nurses and at least 15-20 orderly types who are disinfecting and keeping things in order. Everything is labeled and every room has treatment instructions and plans posted on the walls.
The tents are constructed quite well with some scaffolding and then also clever use of branches, small trees and ropes to help construct the walls. The German doctor was very impressed with both the operations as well as the care being provided. They are well staffed and well equipped. The only issue will be patient load. As long as the Cholera stays this contained level in the area they will be fine.
The Haitians are an amazing and resilient people, I really hope the resources will come together to help create treatment centers like this all over the country.

Au L'Hopital by Lizandra. Lizandra is a certified Yoga instructor who volunteered to assist our therapy team at the clinic this week.

2010-11-24T18:18:00.000-08:00

Just back from the hospital. Wow, what an experience it was.
Most of the day was spent in the Outpatient Physical Therapy clinic. When we first got there I was unsure about my role. My thought was that I would just be like a PT assistant, and help how I could and keep my eyes open for yoga opportunities. As it turned out, I got to work with the very first patient we saw. Leslyn was working with him doing some basic leg stretches, so I joined her and started working with the patients breathing as he did the exercises. Then Leslyn was needed with another patient and so I finished up with Pierre.
From there I started seeing patients on my own. Of course, none of them were acute, they were all people with older injuries or basic back or shoulder pain. I worked closely with 4 other patients and it was amazing. We did a lot of a cat; and cow stretches, and child’s pose, and some forward folding seated poses and neck and shoulder rolls. It was a great experience and the patients were all so thankful. It was a day well spent for sure.
There were two highlights to the day. One was when I asked one of the men I had been working with how he felt afterward, and he did a little whole body shake, and said, “Much looser”. That was perfect, it was just what he needed with some chronic back and hip pain, he needed to loosen. The other highlight was when one of the PT’s, Madge, came over and asked me to work with a guy who needed to “find” his scapula muscle. He was recovering from a stroke and had not yet strengthened his scapula muscle. I worked with him very carefully, and it was amazing to find postures that would really engage that muscle and work with him to ‘find’ it and work on strengthening it. He was a tailor who really wants to get back to work and so motivated to do what he needs to heal.
While I was in the tent doing these basic stretching exercises – the other PT’s experienced some drama. A patient vomited while one of the PT’s was wrking with her, that patient ended up in the emergency room. Then that same PT was summoned to help with an acute repertory problem in the ER, and finally someone from a motorcycle accident was rushed into the area right by us, so all the PT’s jumped in to help out. Meanwhile, I was doing Sun Salutations with a young woman who has a bit of a palsy and some balance issues. What a day!
By 1pm the patient load had reduced to a only a few people, and so Pascale took me on a tour of the hospital. It is a community hospital that was built in 1984, by Haitian standards it is well constructed and also well equipped. By US standards it is not exactly a sterile environment. The PT’s who have spent more time in US hospitals than I, were a bit non-plussed by the conditions. But while not perfect, it is much better than not having a hospital at all.
At present the hospital is not at capacity. I saw a lot of empty beds and unused equipment. I guess that it is a good thing in a way, not too many sick people in the area. But of course one wonders about access and are enough people connected, and also cost. There is also a transportation issue, so many sick people in places that they can’t get to this hospital. I guess in the aftermath of the earthquake, the place was overflowing with people and also plenty of foreign help; it was a major center of relief work.
The Cholera has only just gotten to this area. The main hospital does not treat cholera, there is a separate Cholera tent run by a French group. Today there were 14 new cases, yesterday there were 25, we’ll see how many more there are tomorrow. I haven’t gone there at all, it is a bit intimidating to go “sight-see’ in such a critical environment.
We met a lovely German doctor who is here on a three-month rotation. He is working out in the remote villages and comes to stay at the Port Au Prince hospital for a bit of a ‘break’, while he is here he helps where he can. He is here with the German Red Cross, but he says that he really manages his own work load, going where he thinks he is needed and doing what needs to be done. So amazing and inspiring to meet him. So great to see people like him doing this kind of work.
OK, I am being summoned to the ping-pong table. The house we are staying in is nothing short of amazing. Today with the patients I stepped out of my comfortable bubble and felt like I was able to share directly with an important aspect of humanity I don’t always get to engage. All day long I interacted with Haitians where they were, in a fun and connected way. I am very thankful for that, In the evenings, I am back in a privileged and comfortable world, and I am also thankful for that.

Karen -Week Two

2010-10-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

10/21/10
We continue to be busy at the clinic. We saw 16 patients yesterday, which is not a lot for 2 of us for a full day, but they all come at the same time! I asked about making appointments, but that seemed a foreign concept – always first- come first- served. Tom and I are finally getting used to having our patients wait. Some hang around after they are finished anyway, so they don’t seem to mind. Even the toddlers are waiting patiently. Most of the patients arrive by 8:30 or 9:00. We rarely get patients in the afternoon, so we are usually finished by about 2:30.
We are enjoying our patients. We had 5 new patients yesterday, so we continue to grow. I am so glad that I am here for 2 weeks, because I have the same patients coming back this week and I can really see progress. I have one woman who is only 2 weeks after her stroke, so this week she is coming every day. She is very motivated and her family is very supportive. She arrives smiling, works hard, and leaves smiling and is making progress daily. It is gratifying to know that this would not happen if we(Global Therapy Group)were not here providing this service.
I have also had a chance to visit with our host family and our translators. On Tuesday I sat down to talk to the translators about my expectations, etc. and I specifically chose to sit in a low child’s chair. One of the interpreters commented to the others in Creole and they all started laughing. The only words that I understood were “voodoo doctor”. When I asked him about it later he said that I looked like a voodoo doctor because a doctor would always sit in a low chair. Of course I had to ask the question “Is that a compliment or an insult?" He laughed and said “Neither, just an observation”.

October Adventures - Karen

2010-10-31T13:56:00.000-07:00

10/9/10:
The patients have been great. They are very motivated and interested in patient education. We have seen many young, male stroke patients (40s and 50s), lots of upper extremity injuries, a couple of kids with cerebral palsy and a mix of other diagnoses – some related to the earthquake, but not all. One of our patients comes every day. He is an older man who has had a stroke. He comes with his daughter. They are at the hospital all day, every day in the heat, because once they are dropped off, they have to wait until the end of the day for a ride home. Talk about dedication. That is why it is such a pleasure to work with these people. Many of our upper extremity patients have frozen shoulders and extreme weakness due to prolonged immobilization and no follow-up or activity guidelines/patient education. I realized that one of the most important things that I had to do was to tell them that it was OK to use it- simple but critical. Most of our patients are pretty poor – they come with dirty socks and worn shoes, with casts and bandages that are falling apart - but some are working professionals. We have a couple of teachers who are not back to work because their schools are not yet rebuilt. I am glad for the diversity, as I think that will help spread the word about PT to different sectors.
It is a good feeling to know that I am providing care that would otherwise not be available if I were not here. Another great thing is the container of donated supplies arrived from the states about 2 weeks ago, after many months of waiting. There are lots of therapy supplies and equipment, so we are able to give patients theraband, hand splints, walkers, wheelchairs, etc. I had a patient who was elderly with very painful arthritis in her knees. She hobbled along with a cane, but I was able to give her a walker (a rollator so she could maneuver on tough roads)and it made a big difference. We are also able to refer patients for prosthetics or orthotics to a local group. I have also been able to distribute toiletries that were collected and sent via Barbara-Jo Achuff. The patients are so appreciative – we have an instant friendship.
Today we were able to go to an arts festival that was held on a former mill that processed sugar cane. I bought a couple of souvenirs. It was fun to see all the local art – paintings, sculptors, tin work, macramé, etc. What was most interesting, though, was the fact that the attendees were primarily the elite – a switch from who we see at the hospital. Everyone was clean, well dressed and with nice cars – a strange contrast.

Two Months of Challenges and Honors

2010-10-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

September and October brought excitement weekly for the Global Therapy Group. Both the good and the bad kind!
On the good side, Jo Ann and Donna were chosen as Alumni of the Year by their alma mater Washington University in St. Louis PT program and presented with an award in September. It was a wonderful honor, but also an opportunity to spread the word about our clinic and the need for volunteers and funding. Donna was excited to fully book our schedule of volunteers for 2010 by mid-Speptember and be able to open up dates for 2011.
The fall has also presented some challenges. A severe storm in late September tore the entire roof off our clinic. Our volunteers then struggled working in the hot sun all day. Thankfully, a PT friend traveling to Port au Prince brought us a new large tarp the next week, but it was then torn off during another storm! Luckily, the tarp was found and will be re-attached soon. Our container of donated supplies and equipment arrived after sailing from Texas, escaping the "black hole" of customs in Haiti, being delivered to the wrong place and lost for 4 weeks, then delivered to our hospital but sent back as it was labeled incorrectly. It finally arrived the day after the severe storm and had to be unloaded in just one day due to all the mix ups. Now cholera is in northern Haiti. We are monitering it closely and hoping it remains contained there and does not spread into Port au Prince.
We are hoping for a few weeks in succession without a crisis so we can begin to recruit help for fundraising, website development, accounting, etc. In spite of all the challenges, our volunteers continue to treat 16 to 25 patients each day and receive new ones weekly. People are improving in their function, have less pain, are able to return to work and are more independent. The volunteers all tell us what makes this an unforgettable experience for them, is watching the people of Haiti rise above all the challenges they are presented with. They are our role models and we know we can rise above our troubles as well!

Donna - August in Haiti

2010-09-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

Re-entry into everyday life in the US after two weeks in Haiti is always tough. Even after my third trip in four months, it still required some adjustment. I am just finding my feet and voice again three weeks later. And I am enjoying air conditioning more than ever. Haiti is HOT in August. Below are the highlights of my most recent trip and work at the clinic.

Teaching Clifford to play soccer with his new prosthesis. Watching the smile spread across his face as he kicked the ball back to me with his prothetic leg, made all the hard work and long days of the past five months worth it. He sums up for me the reason why this therapy clinic needs to be here and why what we are doing is important.

Watching Judeline dance. A new friend and handsome 20 year old man named Pascal volunteered to help at the clinic the weeks I was there. Judeline noticed him immediately and we asked him to practice walking with her with only one crutch. As the week progressed, Pascal took things a step further. One day he asked her to dance. Pascal is over 6’ tall and Judeline, when she stands fully upright without her walker, is about 5’9”. They looked so elegant gliding across the concrete floor of the clinic. Judeline looked beautiful and had a smile on her face unlike any I had seen before. For the first time in a long time, I think she felt normal. I suggested the next day we walk without even her crutch. She was very hesitant at first, but soon did well. I mentioned at the end of the therapy session that if she was wearing a long skirt or pants and did not have a crutch, no one would be able to tell she even had a prosthetic leg. She’d look like any other teenager. Judeline’s eyes lit up and I could see the light bulb going off in her head. Everyday from then on, she came to us asking for therapy and wanting to walk without a crutch. When my son arrived the following week, she was able to take turns dancing with two 20 year old men each day and her smile grew even bigger!

I treated a new patient with severe hypersensitivity in the nerves of his calf and foot after an injury in the earthquake. It had been several years since I had done any trigger point massage, but gave it a try and worked on him for 20 to 30 minutes. (Much to his dismay I might add, as it was painful!) After only 3 sessions however, the pain that had plagued him for the past six months was gone. He was so appreciative and said he had his doubts about this “therapy” that first session, but now believes!

Watching a dad and his young son with cerebral palsy work with a therapist for the first time. He lovingly began moving his son’s arms and legs through more normal movement patterns at the direction of Lindsey, a therapist from the Perkin’s school in Boston. The look of happiness on the dad’s face, all the questions he asked and the sweet way he smiled at his son told me how happy he was to finally have help. And hope. There were no services available to these children before and word of our clinic has started to spread from parent to parent.

Our volunteers always ask before they travel what items they can bring. The clinic can always use “things”, but I believe now more than ever, that it is our skills as therapists that are our greatest gift to the Haitian people.

We went back to visit Julien and the 100 children he is caring for at his make-shift orphanage. He had told us it was “right down the street” which we have learned is what everyone in Haiti says when you ask where they are located. The walk there is an experience in itself. We took a “shortcut” through the hospital fence, across a small cornfield, along the top of an 8” wide concrete wall, followed by a jump down onto the roof of a broken pick-up truck and a climb down the truckbed to the ground, up a hill, past the town dump and several pigs that had to weigh 500 pounds each, (they seem to be eating well in Haiti even though no one else is!), up a steep hill, past the local beauty salon where a woman sat on the ground and sewed hair weaves into the heads of her clients, around two more corners, down a hill and through a red iron gate. All the children greeted us with a loud “Welcome Global Therapy Group!” This visit we did not bring medical supplies, but instead brought twizzlers, fruit loops, crayons, paper, and rubber balls. I asked all the children to draw me a picture of something that makes them happy or would make them smile. Most of them drew a picture of a house. I guess living in a tent gets old fast. We sang songs, played soccer and laughed a lot. It was a great afternoon.

We discovered Haitian and Dominican rum this trip. The Haitian tastes a bit better, but the Dominican is half the price. Only $1.91 US for a 350ml bottle. Mixed with fresh mangos and juice, it was a great way to end a long hot day at the clinic. A new friend at the guest house taught us we could also mix the rum with a teaspoon of brown sugar and a fresh lime. Also excellent.

I enjoyed having time this trip to get to know more of the Haitian people on a personal level. It was so fascinating to discover all the ways in which we are different and so many ways we are the same. I was glad to have time to see more of Port au Prince. The crumbled buildings and large tent cities, but also the places where life is trying to return to normal. Haitian artwork is back along any open wall around the city in the hopes that tourists will stop by. People are once again busy buying and selling everything you can imagine along the sidewalks. Homemade charcoal, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables, meats, shoes, clothing, cell phones, champagne, beer, soda, sunglasses, watches, fans, plastic tubs, books, pills of any kind, and chickens. Guibson one of our translators was appalled to find out that most Americans would have no idea what to do with a live chicken. He offered to show anyone interested.

I have had many volunteers offer to travel this fall and have nearly all the weeks at the clinic covered from now until the end of the year. Our July fundraiser in St. Louis was successful and gave us enough money to pay the translators, clinic costs and cell phone in Haiti through October. But then the money runs out. Anyone out there want to organize another one? We have applied for funding through a variety of sources, but most of the purse strings in Haiti still appear closed. I am trying to just keep the faith that God will stay busy, and I’ll just keep sending the e-mails.

Donna

A few journal entries: Jean Peteet Two week volunteer in July

2010-08-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

7/8 A 22 young man came for bilat knee pain. Plays basketball- had a PA Strikers jersey on- had gotten hit in both knees. Looked at least like bilat medial strain to his knees. His passion was playing ball. Able to find an elbow elastic support that we turned into a knee support! He was so pleased. He told us how much Haiti needed volunteers from around the world and how grateful he was that we had come. Made me tearful. I told him how beautiful and courageous I thought Haitians were. He seemed surprised to hear that. That’s all I needed to make my day.

7/9 Seeing lots of generalized pain as well as job specific pain. 22 yo taxi driver came with acute low back spasms. Drives a manual transmission all day, old cars, poor support in the car seats. Another young girl, about 18 came in with neck/shoulder, knee, foot pain. Had bilateral flat feet. Has been unable to work. Her job was carrying heavy goods on her head- footwear in Haiti is so inadequate for the work they do. She really needs orthotics or at the least shoes with some arch support. I had brought a pair of crocs; we asked our Haitian speech therapist if crocs were considered fashionable in Haiti and she said no. Not surprisingly, the girl did not like them. No solution for her. A 60 yo woman can in with an old symes’ amputation. She had beat up high top shoes filled with rags to fill the space of her foot. Put her on the orthotics list but it will be a long time before they get to her. Diana Cherry from Mission of Hope came by to pick up some supplies left by Keith, the CPO who volunteered the previous week. She said MH is only able to make 3 prostheses a week. Given that there seem to be only 3 places in the area that are geared up to make prostheses, it’s going to take a long time to get everyone fitted. Many of the amputees are kids, too, and will need ongoing revisions to their limbs.

7/10 Glad that we had the clinic open on Saturday morning; no other clinics in the hospital are open on Saturdays. Two families came in and one woman who cannot come during the week. Henri, the host at the guest house invited us to go up to a high point where there is a wonderful view of the city and we spent the rest of the day into the evening with him and Vincent, his son. His cousin has a beautiful art shop in Petionville where we shopped. From there we went up the mountain and the view was striking. We could see many of the tents, and the density and lack of trees or anything green around port-au- prince was striking. He then took us through the worst of the earthquake. It was hard to look at it. It was like a bombed out city; block after block of collapsed or partially collapsed buildings. It looked like pictures of Germany and London in WWII. Street life has returned and people have set up stands outside the rubble selling bed frames, mattresses, used clothing, candy, used shoes, new shoes, new suits in plastic bags, as well as prescription drugs that Henri said have expired dates. We saw the partially collapsed palace and immediately in front of it is a huge tent city that stank of urine, so much so that we raised the windows. The tents are packed in with no room between and only a narrow path going down the rows of tents. People able to buy charcoal and have a means of cooking apparently cook just inside their tents. In the midst of this chaos, we passed by two wedding parties with people immaculately dressed and it was incredible to see with most of the people, how clean and neat their clothing was, despite the awful conditions in which they live. Henri says that the government wants to tear down the inner city that has been damaged and start over, creating an area for businesses and markets. He is pessimistic that this will happen; often the government starts such projects but never finishes them. Stopped in a grocery store; food and non food items are much more expensive than in the U.S. because the Haitian government has no way of collecting income tax, thus they tax things people buy in the stores. Also, everyone has to buy water and a ½ liter costs $1. There have got to be a lot of people who are chronically dehydrated.

Donna - I want a magic wand to make all that we need just appear!

2010-08-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

Julien, a dynamic man with an amazing smile, came to our clinic with a friend earlier in the week who had a badly infected finger. We referred her to another hospital for care. When he learned what we were doing, he told us his story. He has created an orphanage near the hospital for children who were orphaned after the earthquake, or simply had families who could no longer care for them. He has a two room concrete structure he found, and has set up 2 tents outside for sleeping. He is caring for 100 children from babies up to about 12 years. He said he only has room for 100 to sleep, but wishes he could fit more. He has another 50 children who he feeds when he is able to get provisions but they are on a “waiting list” so to speak to stay full time. He asked if we could come by and see some of the children as many have infected cuts and foot wounds. We gathered a bag of supplies today and walked down several dirt roads, over an abandoned truck, up a steep hill and arrived to the sound of children singing. Julien had the children practice a program of several songs for us, and they announced in their best English, “Welcome Global Therapy Group!!!” We created an assembly line to dress wounds and take note of children who needed to be taken to the free community clinic at the hospital as they were beyond our scope of help. One of the adult helpers had what at first appeared to be an infected pimple on his cheek, but after examination I think it may be a parasite infection. I had no clue how to address that and honestly did not want to try! We handed out vitamins, peanuts and M&M’s, and inflated blue rubber gloves as balloons. The children were all so appreciative and sweet. Julien told us he is able to find money to buy them bread most days, and occasionally rice, but he is struggling. JoAnn and Jane are looking into how to connect him with an aide organization. He is doing this all on his own and said he could not simply walk away from all these children in need. We wonder how many others are doing the same and how many children there are now alone in Haiti.
We discovered several of the “Lost Boys” that come to the clinic are on his waiting list. We have tried to make sure all the boys who visit us each day have a decent pair of shoes and eat at least one meal with us. And we try to “play” each day. Frisbee, volleyball with beach balls, Keep away, dancing. Anything to elicit a smile and make your troubles evaporate for a short time. I think we need it more than they do most days.
When my family comes next week, I will have my daughter visit the orphanage several days to sing and play with them. They are all so pleased to just receive the attention. We hope to come up with some food options at least for the short term. So much need here. We do the best we can and sometimes find we do not ask the questions as the answers are too heartbreaking. The children’s smiles are what keep us going daily.
Donna

Donna - Wednesday 8/4/10

2010-08-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

Clifford came to the clinic today!!! He received his prosthetic leg yesterday and today was walking all over our clinic with it and his little crutches. Best of all he had a big smile on his face. The sad and traumatized little boy we first met seems to be recovering.
Judeline walked with the assist of only one hand today, without her crutch. She did not do this to impress us as therapists, but because a handsome 20 year old man who was assisting us asked her to try. She just turned 16 and we have learned what motivates her best. We will enlist my 20 year old son next week!
We have had several new patients this week both in the clinic and in-patients at the hospital. They have arrived with various complaints, but asking for exercises to help make them better. Before we arrived, “physio therapy” in Haiti meant massage. Our first week patients arrived asking for massage and we tried our best to educate them about our version of therapy. The word seems to have gotten out now that exercise is what will make you better. Yeah!!!
Donna

Donna - Tuesday 8/3

2010-08-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

We are back in a rhythm at the clinic after just two days. It is so wonderful to see some of the patients we cared for back in April and May again and celebrate with them all the progress they have made. The hospital doctors welcomed us back and thanked us for continuing to run the clinic. An orthopedic surgeon sent us a referral today on a complex patient and when I stopped by to thank him he said,” I knew I could count on your group to help her. You are all so wonderful.” Encouraging words like that from one of the doctors makes all the hard work worth it. We also received big hugs from the nurses we had become friends with. Marie Nichole, one of the head nurses, still wears the scrub top I gave her every day. Another great moment yesterday was receiving a referral from one of the doctors for a woman who had a new stroke. She had come to the hospital the day before we arrived. When we asked the family if they were moving her at all in bed they responded, “The nurses told us we have to roll her over every hour.” Hooray!!!!!! JoAnn’s inservice teaching about preventing bed sores was effective if the nurses are now instructing the families themselves.

We spent time this afternoon with all the young boys who hang around the hospital. Anyone with shoes that were worn was given new ones. Little David who I wrote about before, was thrilled with his new sandals and had a smaller pair of pants on today so could run better. He asked me often today for water and I poured many drinks into his mouth. We marveled at how children that young run free in Haiti. He appears to be about four. Does he have a family? Where does he sleep at night? He was so grateful for the attention and shoes today that he wanted to help us put all the clinic supplies away. He insisted on carrying big items, one in each arm, and would not allow us to refuse his help. He seems to have already learned at four that if you make yourself useful to others, you may find a way to receive what you need. We brought out a Frisbee and taught everyone the game. Little David was the best of all of them! Jane, another OT volunteer, blew up blue surgical gloves and made volleyballs for everyone to play with. We shared a box of Fruit Loops which no one had ever heard of. Even the translators enjoyed those.

We had a meeting with the main hospital administrators Monday afternoon and are working out details for a partnership to ensure the clinic can continue long term and eventually without us. I am encouraged, but know much work is still ahead.

We bought some sugarcane from a sidewalk vendor today to enjoy for dessert. We are finding the mangos and avocados delicious and found a new fruit of white banana tasty. It is still rather hot and humid, but I guess Kansas City was 105 today so I feel better! Granted you all have a/c, but we are managing fine with just our fans.
We have decided the Haitian beer Prestige is far superior to the Dominican beer Presidente and will now move on to rum tastings.

Bon Nuit!
Donna

Donna - Haiti in the summer? Not as hot as I expected!

2010-08-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

I am back in Haiti for the third time in four months. I feel a calm this time that I know is partly because things have become familiar and easy, but also seems to come from the city of Port au Prince itself. The chaos that existed after the earthquake has been replaced by the even rhythm of everyday life. The airport is more organized. Some of the rubble is starting to be removed. More sidewalk space is open for people to sit everywhere again and sell their wares. The hospital is quieter with fewer patients and no foreign medical volunteers in sight today. Except for us that is. What a welcome we received! Our translators were so happy to see us and the children full of smiles. Judeline is still staying at the hospital, but will be traveling soon with her mother to the US for follow-up surgery on her hand and rehab. She giggled when she saw us, and then looked nervous when she realized we would make her begin working hard again! She was happy to show us the progress she had made with her left arm and hand as long as we did not want to touch it and stretch those tight joints and tendons ourselves. She is able to walk with only one crutch now with assistance, but still tries to get her mom to put her prosthesis on for her. JoAnn did not let her get away with that today!

The previous teams have done a great job of organizing the clinic and our supplies. We have several rows of chairs now for the waiting area and a few chairs for the therapists as well. We have a new metal “check-in” table and a set of parallel bars created for us by college students from Canada from what appears to have once been a red iron door frame. We have two treatment tables and neither of them wobbles when a patient climbs up on them! We have a new supply of wheelchairs to give out as needed and found many supplies today we thought had been lost, but only misplaced. It was like coming back to your house after a vacation and finding someone had cleaned, redecorated and added great things. Unfortunately, the rains continue to take a toll on our tarp roof. There is a large hole in the center again, but it’s still standing.

Our new guest house, in the home of Caroline and Henri, is just lovely. It is 3 rooms of beds and a bath, with a large outdoor patio and eating area surrounded by tropical plants and flowers. It is less than a mile from the hospital in a dense, wooded, park-like setting. It reminds me of Central Park in New York. An oasis of nature and calm in the midst of a busy urban area. Tina and Oreo their sweet dogs greet us in the evenings and Cassie the kitten chases the lizards. We have learned the lizards in the morning are dark green, and the ones that come out at night look almost albino they are such a pale green. And there are no tree frogs here to keep us awake with their mating calls all night!

We visited the JP-HRO camp to speak with their medical director today. JoAnn was very disappointed that Sean Penn was not around. She is still kicking herself for not going with me the last time and missing his great smile. What a marvel of organization they have created in a small area serving over 50,000 people. They are in this for the long haul and it’s obvious how hard everyone is working. We also visited with the heads of Healing Hands for Haiti and learned the Red Cross has awarded them funding to build a major rehabilitation and prosthetics center over the next 18 months. We are so excited for them. They were serving the people of Haiti for years before the earthquake and I know this will enable them to provide the services in a way they had only dreamed about before.

Best Haiti moment today: The hugs and smiles from the translators and children at the clinic. It was like seeing family again.

Saddest Haiti moment: A new little boy of about four I had not met before was wandering around outside the hospital. He is wearing pants too large for him, so he must hold them up while he runs. He has a pair or sandals with the front piece torn off one foot that he carries most of the time and occasionally is able to re-attach. After tripping over the broken piece for about the 10th time today he stopped in front of me, looked so frustrated, and simply pointed at them as if to say “I could really use another pair of shoes lady!” In my feeble creole I said “lundi” meaning Monday. He shrugged his shoulders, picked up the broken rubber front flap, grabbed his pants and moved on. One of our previous volunteers Mary, had sent many pairs of sandals with me for the children, so we decided Monday will be “New Shoe Day.” I will also use one of our Velcro straps to create a belt for him. With new shoes and a belt, walking or running can be effortless for him again. Isn’t that how it should be when you are four?
Donna

July Update

2010-07-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

It is the first week of July and thanks to our amazing volunteers, we have been able to staff the clinic without interruption since April 5th!
We were concerned mid-June when one of our volunteers had a death in her family and had to cancel. Another volunteer stepped up to take her place, only to have to cancel herself one week later when her father had a stroke. It was Sunday, June 27th and we had only Jean, a PT who would now be at the clinic for two weeks alone. How would she be able to handle the 25 people a day who were arriving for treatment? What were the odds we could find another therapist who could travel on 5 days notice to assist her? Astronomical at best.
And then I received an e-mail Monday morning from Anne, an OT who had booked a trip to Haiti leaving 7/4. She was traveling with her sister to help at a convent, but wondered if there might be a need for an OT somewhere in Port au Prince. She did an internet search and found us. When she heard our story and needs, she paid a hefty airline change fee and volunteered to stay and work at the clinic with Jean until July 17th! Would you believe she also lives in the same city as Jean and they worked in the same hospital 30 years ago? Once again, whatever we need continues to fall into our laps.
We do not have a team yet for 7/16 to 7/31 but after the events of last week, I feel confident that everything will once again work out. (Still, I will sleep better once it has all fallen into place!)
Bondye Bon—God is Good.

Kim and Tyler Day Six.

2010-06-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

We have just finished our sixth day at the therapy clinic. Words really can't describe the week we just lived. The Haitians are wonderful people and they have been so kind and helpful to us. They really appreciate the teams that are coming to the clinic. We have seen quite a few orthopedic and neurological conditions (including three cases of bell's palsy which I found a bit unusual) and we have seen some interesting conditions as well such as the young man who came in with right and left foot drop from tuberculosis. We were able to find a brace for his left foot but then we were not able to place his foot back into his shoe with the brace. My son has feet the size of a clown so he was more than happy to give his tennis shoes away. It was great to see how much better he walked with his new brace and he loved his new shoes. Others have come to the clinic to seek medical advice because you must pay for medical services in Haiti and many can't afford care.

Kim and Tyler -- Louisville Kentucky to Port au Prince

2010-06-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

We have just finished our second full day of work in the therapy clinic at the Haitian Community Hospital. My eighteen year old son Tyler is with me as are two physical therapists. We have been fairly busy so far. The patients are so happy to see us. We have seen a lot of fractures from the earthquake, five stroke patients, two patients with bells palsy and an assortment of aches and pains. They have ranged in age from three to seventy. We have a pediatrician from one of the missionary groups coming to work with us tomorrow to consult on some of our cases. I am excited about that because he brought some prednisone with him which may be helpful with our bells palsy cases. I have needed splints on several occasions and we have enjoyed getting creative with the bits and pieces of splint supplies. Tyler is using the candy we brought to entice the children in therapy to reach and stretch a little bit further.

He also has been entertaining the “lost boys” and there are usually about 8-12 of them hanging around him. Today we brought an extra gallon of gatorade for them to have. It is so sad to hear a child tell you that he is hungry and thirsty. We are going to acquire some shoes for two of them because their shoes are completed filled with holes on the bottom. They also found out that I have band aids so we covered many of their cuts.

We spent time with the missionary groups that were here this past weekend. They included us in all of their service work. We helped to pass out fifty pound bags of rice and we played with some children at an orphanage. It amazes me to see the joy and appreciation the Haitains have given their extremely challenging living environment.

I have found out the hard way that it can take three days to dry our clothes around here (hand washed clothes may I add). The first two days they hang in the bathroom and remain completely moist because there is so much humidity in the air. The third day I got smart and hung them outside only to start the whole procedure over again when the late afternoon five minute storm hit.

Seven Weeks! So many successes and such immediate challenges.

2010-06-04T14:14:00.001-07:00

Two months ago today, Jo Ann, Eliott, Judy and I arrived in Fort Lauderdale and excitedly began repacking bags in our hotel room so we could fit more crutches in them. Who knew there were entire rooms filled with crutches already awaiting us in Haiti!
The Global Therapy Group clinic has been open for seven weeks now and is already seeing 20 to 25 patients a day. The teams who followed us did such a marvelous job. They expanded on what we had started and began new ideas of their own. One team created an outreach program to a nursing home behind the hospital and began holding group exercise classes there a few afternoons a week!
Our immediate problem is that we are coming to the end of our scheduled volunteers. Our last team leaves June 19th and as of today, I have no team in place to follow them. The idea of the clinic sitting empty for 2 weeks makes me so worried and sad. Patients will come each day and no one will be there. Will they ever come back? Will they just assume the volunteer therapists have now gone like all the other medical teams?
I have some therapists scheduled for July, August and early September but need many more. I have had lots of email inquires from volunteers asking for more information, but few have made a formal commitment to dates. I just keep trying to have faith and put one foot in front of the other each day. (Or one finger in front of each other as most of my work for this project concerns sending hundreds of emails!) I keep waking up at 4:00am worrying, say a prayer, and then try to go back to sleep.
Jo Ann and her husband have been busy working on our website and hope to have it up and running by this weekend. Try typing in www.globaltherapygroup.org soon and hopefully pictures of some of our wonderful patients will appear.
Judy has volunteered to host a fundraising event for us at her family’s new venue in south St. Louis called “The Warehouse”. Save the date for July 17th at 7:00pm. It will be a great party with music and a silent art auction featuring photography from an artist who just spent a month in Haiti.
Things have come together over the past 2 months in such an amazing way. We just need to find a way to keep it going!
Donna

Catherine, Lynn and Sandy: Amazing time in Haiti since May 22

2010-06-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

We realize that our time in Haiti will come to an end this weekend and feel we are just beginning to hit our stride. Yesterday we had 24 therapy sessions with both inpatients and outpatients - both referred by doctors and others who have received care at the clinic. Catherine is thrilled to see children with disabilities who have been referred to the clinic by doctors and their friends, while Sandy and Lynn have taken on the inpatients with strokes and other acute conditions.

Judilene, the youth with the BK amputation and reflex sympathetic dystrophy has made great strides, now ambulating with her walker independently AND tolerating a splint on her left wrist (she would not even tolerate light touch of her left hand). Last week a reporter from a Dallas newspaper came to the clinic last to photograph Judilene in therapy with Sandy and Lynn in hopes that this story might generate support for the care of earthquake victims.

We continue to see a stream of patients who have not been seen since the earthquake and who continue to present problems associated with immobilized limbs. But we also see people with more recent trauma who are as eager to restore their body function for their jobs, ranging from sellers in the market to professors who lost their job because the university is demolished. Daily we benefit from the blueprint provided by Donna and those who have helped assemble this busy clinic before us.

What we did not expect during our trip here was the opportunity to travel to downtown Port-au-Prince near the epicenter of the earthquake to see the miles of collapsed buildings. Major facilities used the government, business, and educational sectors supporting the community lay in rubble across the city. These sobering sites are contrasted to the magnificent views from the mountaintops that we were able to see during our Sundays off from the clinic. Haiti is absolutely beautiful; the people are caring and appreciative; and the experience here is indescribable.

Along with Donna and others in the Global Therapy Group, we see that our efforts are truly making a difference and we hope to sustain these efforts while the Haitian people regain their footing and open their own therapy clinics in this beautiful country.

Lynn OT, Catherine PT, and Sandy PT

2010-05-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

Our impression of Haiti began in the air and is evolving daily. We are in awe of the country's beauty and the devastation it has suffered. We were oriented by Mary Beth and Jeff after arriving on Saturday, May 22nd. The patients we have seen are so gracious and appreciative. Many travel by one or two tap-taps or walk to the clinic for therapy. We generally give a home exercise program and find that these have been done religiously. Family support is incredible; each patient has at least one family member that is devoted to their care. The translators warmly welcomed us in the clinic and are providing essential communication for the clinic's operation. This is our first opportunity to use the Internet as weather conditions dictate connectivity. Stay tuned for more...

Mary

2010-05-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Darn! Why did I come here and have to follow Jennifers Blogs. She is the funniest person ever and now I have that pressure. After looking thru our photos from the last few days, I have reflected on all the good that has come from this trip. My first day, I hit the ground running. It took a couple days to figure out the System, NOT! There is no System. All you need to know is how to be a Doctor, Administrator and how to do Physical Therapy. Actually the Hospital Administrator, Josian, really knows the ropes and can do anything. We did not pull that card so many times not to be able to ask again. We have had the best environment in the Clinic this week with all the Feng Shui type arrangement of equipment. The Translators have been wonderful and feel like our Boys. Sometimes you encourage, keep them on track, track them down, threaten or just beat them silly (not really). Just like your own Kids. With out them, we would not have as much fun or be able have fun with the Patients. It was pretty funny trying to persuade one Patient that as I did Soft Tissue Release I discovered that he was white underneath the dark skin. He did not know that he had been born a white child. I know this is almost as good as Jennifers but, I will stop now and pick up again tomorrow.
It is my last day in Haiti and I am already sad to leave all of my new Friends and the good that I know I can do. Jennifer has been here for 2 weeks so, she feels the same but, ready to get back to her Loves in the US. The MU Professors come in this Morning for the "Orientation". I am excited for that. I wonder if MU pays for their travel. As for me, my lovely Husband has held down all of his Jobs (Parent, IS Director etc.)so that I could be here. Today I will measure the feet of the Lost Boys so I can send shoes back to them and see what our Translators would value most (Wet Wipes I am pretty sure). I will post again.

Comfort and Music- Jennifer

2010-05-14T18:32:00.001-07:00

Here on Day thirteen, Mary introduced me to two amazing comforts: How to freeze your water bottle at night so it's frozen the next day for your water, and the fact that our seats in the Arnoldmobile recline a little bit so you can chill on the way home. There is a big group staying at the guest house now. Forty-five people from a mission in the US. So, last night I was the expert at where the restrooms are, and where the hidden light switches are, how to find the water, and things like that. I hatched a plan to tell them how mean Dr. Bernard is-- a real tyrant, and not to look him directly in the eye. I tried to convince him it would be fun to be like Hitler for a day. I'm sure he will follow through. I showed him how you can see his house and the pool on the GPS and he was amazed.
Today we continued the ongoing of our legacy of bringing American Slang to the clinic. Today's glossary includes: "Take a load off", "What the heck are you doing", "Chillax", and "That sucks." So the guys went around saying, "that socks!!" Translator Quotes of the Day: "Cats and dogs will be raining tonight!" and "Jenny-fer will be gently to you."
I exchanged addresses with two of my female patients today. They are so sweet and so beautiful and we love each other. They are fighting so hard to recover from their serious injuries. I told them that even if it takes twenty years, they need to come to my doorstep and stay at my house. One of them is named Elita, and she asked me if I could give her something to remember her by and I told her I would. Then Mary and I sat around racking our brains for something we could make her or give her. In the process of doing that, the "lost boys" (five or six children that befriend us daily) saw us playing with a few colored paper clips and immediately wanted to construct something with these interesting new objects. We showed them what they were used for, but we were struck by how these children's brains are so active, creative, ingenuitive...moreso than priveleged children in the US, and how noteworthy that is. What a lesson.
Guibson is continually and tirelessly recruiting patients for us. He is worried that if we don't grow as a clinic, he will not have work. Today he hit the jackpot with a four year old boy named Junior that lives near him who has a below-the-knee amputation. He has no crutches, so for two months he has been hopping on one leg. He is excellent at it, but we gave him a pair of crutches to use for when he gets tired, and we showed him how to make his limb stronger and ready for a new leg! We are in the process of connecting Junior to a prosthetist because I know he will be one of those who instantly puts it on and runs around.
I've decided they need more music here. At night, in the tent cities, I am told there is lots of music, singing and dancing. I think music heals the soul and I want some big name musicians to set up on the street and play free concerts here right in the middle of town. I see how popular my ipod is with the young men and young patients here, how they want music that lifts them up, and empowers them. They know the words to popular American music and they crave it. It is this hunger and perseverance that will rebuild and heal things here. It can only get better, that's for sure.
Haiti Dum Dum Sucker Flavor of the Day: Sun-dried Fish
Craving of the Day: cottage cheese and pineapple
Haiti Myth #212: You should use caution when passing on the left, when on a curve, when on the side of a mountain.

Jennifer Thoughts...

2010-05-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

It is day twelve for me. I feel like this is where I live now. It is routine, in a good way. We feel interested and eager to see what comes our way each morning. I have feelings of not remembering my life at home and the strange priorities I had there. At first when I arrived I was afraid of not knowing how to provide care to my Haitian patients. I had an anxious feeling when Guibson handed me his "intake", and I was left to diagnose and discern how I could help. I so quickly wanted to become comfortable with the structure of things. I was excited when I saw something obvious, like a knee injury with a known healed fracture, versus an unknown, such as a possibly unhealed fracture, or someone with vague pain all over from multiple sources. So now I feel pretty much comfortable with whatever comes along. It took about three or four days to know the storage room, to develop my alternative hand cleaning regimen, and to know how to do patient education with pauses. For Translation. So that. The translators could. Understand what I'm. Explaining to the patient. Without forgetting what. I said.
We say incredible things such as,"I am a shoulder therapist." or "Today I am a pediatric therapist." or "I am a wound care nurse" or "Today I evaluated cranial nerves." (I actually don't know how to do that.)
Today at the end of the day a man appeared in a wheelchair. A hospital worker brought him out to the clinic and said he was waiting for a ride, then he left the man there. The man seemed dazed and he had some sort of a splint and bandage all down one leg. After Alex talked to him we realized the man did not know where he was. Apparently he was hit by a car in Port-au-Prince but instead of being taken to a nearby hospital, the ambulance drove him all the way to our hospital. He was far from home. OK, first things first. Can we get you some crutches. (I know how to do that.) The man was grateful, shocked that we would offer. Inside the hospital they said he couldn't have any. OK, crutches are done. Now, hmmmmm.....he wanted to use my phone. OK, that's easy. Long story short, he made three calls over an hour and a half, finally got a hold of his family who had been worried sick and had not known where he was for 24 hours. After an additional 45 minutes, they arrived to get him. He had to walk, on crutches, about a half mile to catch a tap-tap to get back home. Mary and I so badly wished we could do more. Still, he had a face of eternal gratitude. I took a picture of him crutching away.
At first I felt like I was not making much of a difference, and that I was not doing enough. Then I thought about that well known story about the boy on the beach, who finds a starfish and throws it back in the water to save it. The man approaches and says, "What are you doing? There are millions of them here, you cannot possibly save them all." The boy replies, "I can save this one." It really speaks to those of us who have come here. It is by far the most emotionally difficult thing I have done.
Mary heard from Clifford's mother that they are in need of a tarp. Mary asked Arnold to buy one with her money so he did. He is such a cool dude. It seems like many of us who have come, have that one thing we do that we cannot NOT do. This is Mary's legacy for Clifford. Mine is to get him onto YouTube next week. :) It was really hard yesterday when I took him into the doctor's office, laid him on the table, took out my phone and called Josaine, handed it to the doctor and said, "Talk to each other." Please. Talk to each other about what he needs. It was a risk, because I looked like an idiot. A desperate interfere-er. Eh, who cares. Today he hitched a ride to a children't hospital, that's all I care about. When his little one legged body laid on that table, as the doctor and the administrator talked in Creole for ten minutes...blah blah blah blah...I put my head on his little head and I cried. I tried not to. I told him I loved him.
Judeline is much the same. She is walking farther, showing initiative to come to therapy on her own (we choose our battles with her), but she still will not work her left hand. We put vitamin E oil on it now, my hand chases hers with the little pill capsule until it drizzles on it. Then she gingerly rubs it in with one finger. I tell her she can listen to Brian Libeer's cool music if she will walk, so she is eventually lured into my trap. I gave her mother the number of the LEAP group who will be here doing surgery this weekend. Together we fire that flare into the night sky.
This is the week of referrals. It feels good to have a tentative new prosthetic contact. We sent about eight of our patients names to a new source via e-mail. We hope that works out and that some faceless man will respond.
Mary, Amy and I have decided that if we could combine the compassion, devotion, strength and dedication of the caring Haitian family members with the equipment, environment and technology of our American medical community, we would have a perfect healing utopia. I read about previous teams and their observations of how families watch our care, absorb our techniques in positioning, turning, skin care and the importance of mobility. It is so true. They know nothing else other than
being by their families side, protecting until death.
I knew I would eventually figure out why I was here. I definitely did not know before I came. Some do, I did not at all. I thought it would be more like and a-ha moment, or a light bulb thing. But its more like a maze that takes time to wind through, and you don't know what you've done until you're done. I'm sort of mad because I was homesick for 5 days, then happy for 5 days, now something new is happening and its getting raw and twisty again. Pain of leaving. Grief. Loss. Life. Wishing. Seeing. Smelling. Touching. Tasting the last few days....

Mary

2010-05-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

OMG!I am shocked that I made it to Haiti without any problems. Everything went as planned. Coming to Haiti was a shock due to the collapsed buildings and I have not even been near the epicenter. Contrary to the brokeness is the beauty of the Haitian people and their strength to recover. I am reminded of my Mission trips to El Salvador in a lot of ways.
When I got here I was driven right to the HCH Hospital and started PT treatments pronto. It is the kind of experience that lets you know why you decided to work in this Profession. It is the basic functional care that everyone deserves. Our Translators are great and my Teamate, Jennifer, has just the kind of Sarcasm that I really like. It cuts right to the heart of the matter and relieves everyones tension. Jennifer speaks the truth in a way that all ears can listen. That is, if the tranlations are accurate. Our Patients have been ones that for me cause me to dust off my brain. Recalling Inpatient type skills is a challenge.
The first day was long and tiring due to the time change but, today was very managable. I am looking forward to each day as an adventure. Hopefully we are doing some good and not just bandaide treatment. More when my brain is rested.

Jennifer Week 2

2010-05-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

Amy boarded her plane this morning and made it safely back to the US. Passing her in transit was Mary, and I was very excited to see her when she arrived at the clinic at 10am. Mary hit the ground running, as we were well into a busy morning of patients already, when she arrived. I oriented her as we treated and tried to take care of everyone.... things from joint contractures, healed and healing fractures, arthritis,
We spent the second half of the day working with inpatients ranging from a CVA, a diabetic, a man with sacral ulcers, and of course Judeline and Anise. Today Anise left the hospital with baby Isaac. I wish those of you who started her off could have been there to see her off, but we were emphatic with her that she continue to return to see us to keep up with her wearing and ambulation! She has been ill the past three days, so she has not been wearing her shrinker as she should, which is a concern. I think that is the hardest part for me, how an inpatient returns "home", and has no transportation, yet desperately needs our care and attention. I'm glad we confirmed her phone number so we will be in contact. On Saturday, Amy made a video of Clifford walking, my favorite video ever!! It is on Facebook, if you send a friend request to me or Amy you can see it too. In the foreground is Clifford on his little crutches, but you cannot see from the video that there were 6 videos right before it of him just standing there like a tiny statue, refusing to walk in his silent defiance. Then he carefully, adorably walks through the clinic, and Judeline is in the background listening to my ipod and refusing her therapy. We had kept her there a good part of the afternoon stretching her knee and her heelcord and watching her put tiny dots of antiseptic gel on her sensitive hand. She likes my music a little too much and keeps wanting me to listen with one earphone so we can dance. I cannot resist!!
Mary brought up something interesting today. She noticed that in her crutch training, she had forgotten once or twice to address the patients stairs. She was reminded of this when her last patient mentioned that she had a whole bunch of stairs to climb. At that moment, I too realized I had not addressed stairs with my crutch walkers!! We laughed together and I realized I had still not figured out how to transition from my familiar environment to this one....should I ask if they have a sturdy handrail?? Do I tell them to do their exercises on their bed? No, I say, "Do this where you sleep." Amy figured out last week not to say, "Stand at your kitchen counter," and instead say, "find something to hold onto." We hope our translators figure out what the heck we are saying....you would think by now, watching us teach the same things over and over and over, they would be used to explaining this. Still I am not sure. As we send them back into their environment, whatever that may be, we do wonder...is it a tent? A second story flat? A little curtained room? Or the same house they were in before? We continue to search for words to say, ways to understand what they are going through, and I knew I had been here a long time, because today the ride home was a little boring. That says a lot if you have ridden these streets!!

Amy

2010-05-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Today was yet another great day! After a very busy morning, the afternoon slowed down and we were actually able to finish up relatively early today.
My morning began with a discussion on the age of our patient, Clifford. Clifford is a "three-year old" patient whose leg was amputated after the earthquake. Yesterday when I first met Clifford, his mom told me he was five. However, all previous documentation indicated that Clifford was three. When I asked her about the discrepancy, Clifford's mom stated that she did not know why everyone was documenting his age to be three since he was, in fact, five years old.
Today, Clifford and his mom were back at the hospital, this time to see a pediatrician. When Clifford's age was brought up again, Clifford's mom told us that she was sure he was five, but that she did not actually know when he was born.
So, he's three or he's five...that's a big difference in age. We are skeptical that Clifford is actually five. For now, we don't have an age for this beautiful little child. Our translator Alex asked me, "How can she not know when her own child was born?".
Since we finished up early this afternoon, Jenn and I took our first trip to downtown Port au Prince. So much damage, so much rubble, so much trash and so many tents. We wondered, how will they ever be able to repair this city? How long will these people have to live in tents? There is still so much to do before rebuilding can even start.
We were driven through streets of downtown PAP by our driver, Ernold. Despite the tents, rubble and damage, Ernold was so clearly proud of his city and his home. He was so excited to point out different monuments, museums, the soccer stadium, the "largest hospital in all of Haiti"! When we asked Ernold how he felt about his country, he told us, "It's my home! I'm proud to be from Haiti!".
This is what I love about the Haitian people...they don't dwell on the earthquake and the damage it caused in their city. They don't ruminate on the injuries they sustained in the earthquake. They still see the beauty in Port au Prince and in life itself. They still go about their days and try to make a living. And they do it with laughter and smiles.
Ernold also walked Jenn and I through one of the tent cities. Jenn had two small bottles of bubbles, so we gave them to a couple of the children we passed by. They were so delighted and their parents very appreciative.
After we returned to the guest house, we went down to the orphanage for the first time loaded with donations from us and from our wonderful friends. The children were so excited to see us and were tugging at our clothes. We spent just a little bit of time with them, as it was almost 7pm bedtime!
As fully expected, we fell in love with the kids! I told Dr. Bernard that I'm not quite ready for kids yet, but once I am ready, I'll definitely be returning to Haiti to adopt!!
Every day here has been so rewarding and so fulfilling, but today was such a special day for Jenn and I. We feel so fortunate and grateful that we are here to help, but we both agree that the Haitians may be nurturing us even more!

Jennifer Moments

2010-05-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

Well, you may be wondering why so long since posting? Well, our internet is very very patchy the past few days, very slow and inconsistent, or, not here at all!! Maybe clouds? There are many theories passed around...
Wednesday brought a slow clinic day, only about 9 patients total, which was good, because Amy was all by herself in the afternoon so I could go to the NGO (Non-Government Organization) meeting in the afternoon. There were what seemed eight to ten countries represented, presenting and discussing issues related to a new proposed document for Emergency Aid Plans. There was lots of talking and discussing, much in French and Creole. Hopefully the minutes sent to Donna will be in English!!
Today is Thursday, which we had heard was market day, but apparently our many many patients needed us more than the market! We saw nineteen patients today including three inpatients. Yesterday and today I became a hand specialist, which is a first. I practiced my joint mobilization, distraction and ranging techniques with three patients, all earthquake crush victims. They are so tough, sitting there letting me do my thing and gritting their teeth. I am glad to see them progress and be able to use their hands in small functional ways in only a few days. My moment of the day came at the end, when I went to see an inpatient stroke victim who came in over the weekend. She is a fairly dense hemiplegic and we had only been able to sit her up or stand her twice. Her family had been attentive but I knew she needed so much more than we could provide. I went to work with her and to my surprise the nurses said she was being discharged today. I took a deep breath, scooped up all my emotions and set them way over to my right. I grabbed Alex and told him to "buckle up" (new slang I'm teaching) that we were going in to try to do some basic teaching for her family. Our translators have been having some issues with modesty with inpatients who need care but have little in the way of covering...they are not comfortable and we are trying to work on this. We ended up together, me, Alex, our patient and her son and daughter, helping them quickly learn how to dress her, transfer her to a wheelchair which I found in the storage and gave to them, discussed turning and supporting her arm, and most importantly coming back to see us as soon as possible. Thankfully, we know from others who have gone before, they will return to our clinic, and they will care for their mother. I am told there is only one nursing home in all of Haiti.
I have a new understanding of the previously explained concept of "Lost in Translation." My favorite new examples are when our translator will have a rather lengthy exchange with a patient, back and forth a few times, clarifying a question I needed answered. For example, I might ask, "How long has it been since he has not been able to walk?" They discuss it for a long time, I will then ask the translator, "What is he saying?" He will say, "Two weeks." Hmm...I know there was more there....
Oh well....
Days are hot, but more bearable than I'd imagined as long as we drink water. We are very busy, and I have learned the Creole words for "Sweaty" and "Flies" and "Squeeze it!"
Amy and I laughed hard on the van ride home, singing some American songs to Arnold and pointing out the polar ends of the spectrum of beauty on the Haitian streets. Tonight we are listening to one of the house workers play his guitar and sing for us. I will remember this...

Jennifer-First Days

2010-05-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

Amy and I arrived on Monday morning eager to see what this airport thing was all about. It was indeed quite a crazy scene!! I did accidentally hire a nice young man, mostly because I had a duffle bag I was very tired of carrying and he knew that. After some negotiating, we agreed on $2 and half of my airport sandwich. Next time I will repeat to myself, "Get the cart, get the cart." We arrived at the clinic around 10:00 and began a whirlwind day of seeing patients, orienting to the storage areas and small intense conversations with Donna and JoAnn about communication, translators, culture, documentation. My head was very full and we were very tired from our 3:30 wake up!! All of us rode back together through the unbelievable streets of the market, packed with wall to wall people (who walk in the streets dodging cars like a video game). There was one puzzling detail about the ride. A woman riding with us needed to get out to buy some garlic. We sat for 15 or 20 minutes and waited for her. Donna named her the garlic lady. She never came back so our driver said, "We will leave." Interesting. So we left, then 15 or so minutes later she called and (of course) needed a ride, so we turned back to get her, through the market streets all over again!! I was taking many pictures of this unreal scene of pill sellers and vendors. On Tuesday we arrived at the clinic 2 hours early to accomodate Donna and JoAnn getting to the airport on time. I enjoyed practicing walking around and saying "Bonjour!" to the staring faces and watching them light up and respond to that. It is important to me that they understand we want to help them. We had a great day, the translators were eager and willing to be present and helpful, we saw many orthopedic patients, back pain, a man with an ACL tear from 7 years ago who was swelling, lots of hand trauma (thank goodness we had an OT there from another therapy effort nearby.) Many patients are returning from being seen before. They are very compliant!! Amy helped one woman I had seen the day before and diagnosed her bad kidney infection that I had missed. She handled it great. She and another PT who was visiting got her a lab test and she will return tomorrow for results. After the day, Gibson told us that we had seen more patients that day than any other day yet!! We were excited about that. The most exciting thing was at the very end of the day an enormous shipment of bottled water arrived. Everyone from the entire hospital came out to see. Cases and cases and cases of water. Hospital workers were carrying water inside and the workers unloaded it into a huge mound of cases of water right at the loading dock. We were hoping some of it would make it to the patients. We were a little distracted as we thought about where all those 50,000 plastic bottles would end up. Let's just say its not in the local Deffenbaugh recylcing center. All in all I was very happy to get our first day under our belt, no pun intended!!

Donna

2010-05-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Driving through the streets of Haiti this afternoon, JoAnn and I had a great conversation about what is it we enjoy about this country. It is ungodly hot, the traffic horrid, there is no infrastructure or organization to anything (we do not believe the word “organize” exists in the Creole language!), the poverty and lack of medical care is appalling and yet there is an energy here that draws you in and you find you don’t want to let go or back away, but only embrace it. We decided it is the connectedness between the people that helps them to survive as a group. In the US we have such a focus on independence and individualism, but I think at times that separates us and maybe leaves us feeling a bit alone. Here in order to survive, you must function as a collective unit. One person on their own would never have the means to make it. I drive through Port au Prince at 5:00 pm after work on streets as crowded as those in New York City, but the people here interact with each other completely and with an energy you want to share. There are no masses walking quickly and anonymously, ignoring each other.
The traffic here is so bad with the drivers nearly hitting each other and the pedestrians every minute or so, but there is no “road rage” or anger ever seen. JoAnn asked why in the US where life is comparatively easy, do many people have such anger? We decided it was because people in the US often feel so isolated, alone and maybe afraid. The Haitians may be poor, but in terms of spirit they are so rich. When you come here that spirit is intoxicating and you want to join in and connect to that collective energy. It has been hard for each of the teams so far to leave Haiti and the “re-entry” to US life has been a struggle. I think leaving that feeling of belonging to something bigger than yourself and drawing your energy from that on a daily basis is difficult.
On a lighter note, these were my favorite “only in Haiti” moments today. We passed a sign that advertised Plop Plop service. JoAnn’s best guess was a plumber? We passed an old woman with a T-shirt on that said “Sexy Diva.” I am guessing she had no idea what it said in English. At the hospital another grandma had one that said, “Too sexy, Too smart, Too much attitude.” Seeing that on a small woman with sagging breasts, stooped shoulders, knocked knees and grey hair was great! We saw a goat “mowing” the lawn in front of the Gold’s Gym building. Yes, they have a building that says “Gold’s Gym” on the top with paintings of muscled men and women on the sides. It appears to have been turned into a government building of some sort as it has a “No Parking” sign in front. Not that anyone pays attention. People here also carry everything on their heads. Baskets, water jugs, food and things you would expect. As well as toilets, cinder blocks and what appeared to be a 50# bag of charcoal by a 5’tall skinny little woman.
Nothing seems impossible for the people here. They do what they have to each day to get by. And they do it with smiles on their faces and a song on their lips. I will miss them.

JoAnn

2010-05-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

JoAnn
Early this morning, while waiting for out-patients, a group of men arrived to check out the water purification tanks that had been set up for the hospital immediately after the earthquake. Apparently they had trained several men in the process however no one was following through! (and no one knew what was in those big black tanks!!)
I still can’t believe the two large water tanks just outside our clinic could have been providing drinking water the whole time we’ve been here! Most days have been a challenge just to wash our hands. Once a water filtration system is in place this will make a huge difference for the patients, their families and for us.

Today we had two additional P.T. volunteers from Quisqueya that are in town but without a place to work. We were quite excited to have them until we realized that May 1st is a national holiday in Haiti (similar to our Labor Day) and NO patients came to the clinic all day!! Judeline was treated to the undivided attention of three P.T.s and two new translators (very handsome male medical students). She relished the spot light and made amazing progress. We worked on standing tolerance, posture and balance without any UE support followed by walking with only one crutch held with her uninvolved arm! She is looking so much better and stronger! We’re hoping to have a prosthetist look at her tomorrow for adjustments and to progress to her permanent prosthesis. Her hand continues to improve slowly but steadily.

At the end of the day another soccer ball mysteriously appeared for our young friends who show up at the clinic at the end of every day…we will post pictures of Guibson, Alex, Emmanuel and the kids at a pick up football game.

Adventures in Haiti is our theme and our latest happened today while returning home from the clinic. We were about half way up the mountain when the car stalled with smoke pouring in through the vents! Donna and I were ready to jump out of the car right then but Ernold and his buddy said…”wait…wait” while they attempted to restart the engine…Ernold got out and, looking under the hood said, “get out”!

Some things happen the same way all over the world….three men, a broken down car, the hood propped open and long serious discussions. One of the mysteries of life! Donna and I watch as they look at the dip stick…even we can tell there’s no oil in this vehicle. We gingerly suggest that maybe…just maybe… the radiator needs some water too….seems to fall on deaf ears…really?! Just as they finish adding the 4th quart of oil, Alex (our knight in shining armour) pulls up behind us and sweeps us into his AIR CONDITIONED car to take us home! On the drive he recounts some hilarious conversations he has had with Sean Penn!!! He tells me he will take me over to the country club tent city to meet him soon!
More adventures to come!

Donna

2010-05-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

We went to the clinic this morning and no patients showed up. Turns out May 1st is a national holiday kind of like our Labor Day. You would think someone might have mentioned this to us! No hospital staff, none of our translators, no patients, no one at the guest house said a word. I guess they all assumed we would know somehow? There was no traffic today with the holiday, so that was one nice change. We had a team of 2 PT’s from another volunteer organization join us. Four PT’s and no patients! We had them work with our in-patients and I re-organized the storeroom of donated supplies. It was kind of nice to have a relaxing day with a different pace than usual. Emmanuel one of the translators and I found boxes of new crutches, a bunch of canes which we desperately needed, many new hand and finger splints, shoulder supports and pressure cushion options for the bed- bound patients. I did not know any of that was available before as there are so many boxes just piled up of donations. Emmanuel saw one of the arm slings was of a different design as we were unpacking them. I put it on myself and explained to him how it would be useful for a patient. He smiled and said that one of JoAnn’s out-patients Emil had a problem with his shoulder just like I described and could use that sling. He is learning so much already! I told him he is a true PT in the making. Guibson brought us 6 ripe mangos today and I brought him peanut M&M's. We both thought the trade was terrific.
On the way home the car began to smoke from the engine and stopped in the middle of the road. Luckily it was right in front of a small store with a sign in English that said, “Auto Parts Supply.” The driver, a passerby and 2 men from the store stood over the engine and discussed things. It looked a lot like men in America. It takes a group to discuss engine or tool malfunctions and come to a consensus. It was decided that there was no oil, and this was confirmed when they were able to empty 4 quarts in before it was full. Then they began to add water to the hot radiator which immediately became a geyser spewing the hot liquid. JoAnn and I backed up and commented to each other that at least we knew better than to do that and we are not auto mechanics! Just when we had our doubts that we would ever get home, who pulls up behind us but our new friend Alix who lives at the guest house. He chauffeured us home in his car with AIRCONDITIONING!!!! It was lovely. Once again whatever we need here in Haiti just appears right in front of us.
We spent about an hour playing with a group of 8 boys hanging around the hospital today. They have learned they must stay away from the clinic while we are working during the day, but can come by after the patients have gone. JoAnn gave them a soccer ball and they had such fun playing in the hospital parking lot. None of them spoke English, but somehow we learned that they like the music of 50 Cent, Rhianna, Beyonce, Akon (they could sing his songs in English or Creole) and Michael Jackson (one little guy did an awesome moonwalk!) They like Jackie Chan movies and liked my imitation of his karate moves, James Bond, Spiderman, Batman and Shrek. Most of these boys do not have shoes, food or water but I guess they see American movies somewhere. We shared water with all of them and the kitchen has started feeding them the leftover food this week at lunchtime. They taught me all the body part names in Creole and I taught them the names in English. It seems the boys go out and roam the neighborhoods during the day and I assume the girls stay at home. Two of the boys had on Croc shoes. We see these all over Haiti on adults and children. I think it is because they last so long, but many of these Crocs have seen better days. I have started taking pictures of all the feet I find in them and thought I would send them to the Crocs company to let them know their product lives on even if the market for it in America has slowed significantly. Tomorrow we plan to sleep until noon if we can and just rest! Watch the Extreme Makeover show for us!

Donna

2010-04-30T17:31:00.001-07:00

I was inspired by the people around me at the clinic today. This morning one of our translator/aides Guibson told us he encountered a woman trying to walk up the hill toward the hospital as he was walking to work. He noticed she was swaying and having trouble holding her balance and asked her what was wrong. (He is learning to evaluate a person’s gait already!) She told him she had not eaten in 2 days and did not feel well. He helped her to clinic and had her wait in a grassy area behind the hospital. After lunch, when the kitchen staff was cleaning up, he asked if he could help them scrape the baked rice from the large rice cooking pot. They were happy to turn the chore over to Guibson. He asked me if he could take some water from us and he used it to loosen the baked on rice and fill a plate for her with it. He scraped some bean sauce from a second pot and made her a plate of food. He then asked if he could fill an empty water bottle with more water and give it to her. We told him he overwhelmed us with his generosity toward her and he said that God and we, had been generous to him by providing him this new job. He felt he wanted to pass God’s blessings on. He told us he saves a portion of his pay each week for the future and uses a small portion to help those he finds who are in need each week. He told us he believes if you give to others it will come back to you. Some ideas are universal.
One of the children presented me with a hand woven bracelet that says, “I love Haiti” and thanked me for being there helping today. I told him I would accept the gift if he would allow me to present him with a gift tomorrow. He smiled from ear to ear and nodded “yes!” That smile and the light in his eyes just brightened my afternoon.
The head nurse who attended JoAnn’s inservice yesterday came by as I was working on Judeline’s hand and Judeline was obviously in pain. She stopped to talk with her and encourage her and then left and returned with a soft rubber ball for Judeline to work with. I was so happy to see one of the nursing staff being encouraging and also being willing to work with the therapists for the good of the patients. JoAnn’s program really seemed to have the desired effect of making us part of the team now!
What an amazing world it would be if everyone spent their days looking for those in need and then helping them, thanking others for their service, encouraging someone during a difficult time or just bringing your wide childish smile to a melting team of tired and hot therapists.

Donna

2010-04-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

Two days of amazing meetings! JoAnn and I went to the Haitian government Injury and Rehab group meeting yesterday and talked with colleagues I had met 3 weeks ago, as well as meeting several new and exciting people. After I spoke about our clinic, one of the participants introduced herself as a representative of the US aid program who was in Haiti for 2 weeks on a fact finding mission. She was looking for places where congressional money could be spent to further rehab services in Haiti now. She looked at me and mouthed, “We need to talk!” We met after the official meeting, told her our story, and she has agreed to come tour our clinic! Access to some congressional funds would be awesome. We also met with a PT who runs a program at Albert Schweitzer Hospital who had much advice on starting a Rehab Tech school to begin to train local Haitians to take over the clinic eventually. Lastly, the wife of one of the heads of Healing Hands for Haiti was there and said she was in the country to be with her husband and did not feel very useful as her specialty was business not medicine. We told her we would love to have her advice as we know nothing about business, but appear to have started one! She may be able to come to the guest house to meet with us this weekend. So many wonderful contacts and offers of help.
Today I found a volunteer to drive me to the Petionville Club where Sean Penn’s group is serving the now 50,000 living in a tent city there. I met with the medical director and chief ortho doctor and Sean himself came to sit next to me to listen in on the conversation and my description of our new clinic and services we can provide. (He has a great smile!) Another of my, “How did I get here?” moments in Haiti.

Anise and Isaac are both doing very well and Isaac is growing stronger each day. I found a donated portable baby crib and stroller in the back of the storage area at the hospital and we presented them to her yesterday as gifts. They are planning to leave soon. I would like to write they are going home, but unfortunately they have no home to return to. She is still unsure where they will live once she is discharged, but at least little Isaac will have a bed to sleep in.
Joslyn, who had a severe stroke passed away this morning. It was a blessing as her body had been failing over the past 2 weeks and her bedsores multiplying. It is an interesting ritual here when a patient dies. All the family gathers outside and they accompany the men with a stretcher who go in to pick up the body. They parade out wailing and crying and talking to the deceased about how much they will miss her and how sad they are. We have watched this several times and the intensity of it is always interesting to me. Funerals and death in the US are such quiet affairs. Here their grief is cried out loudly. Something about that seems healthier for the grieving process.
JoAnn presented a great inservice to the nursing staff today on body mechanics and the prevention of bedsores. The nurses here have been very wary of us since day one, but today went a long way toward breaking down that barrier and moving toward working as a team. They seemed genuinely interested in learning how to prevent back injuries for themselves and how to move patients more easily. Once JoAnn got them all involved in practicing on each other, there was much laughter and some real teaching going on. We told them we were here to help them however we can and I am hoping they will now feel comfortable enough to ask.
So many wonderful things going on that it is almost possible to forget how unbearably hot it is. Tomorrow is to be 101 with a heat index of 114. With no AC or even fans to move the hot air, it is tough. JoAnn and I have taken to walking past the ER and ICU as often as possible as there is AC in those rooms and some of it slips under the closed doors and out the side edges. We often find we need to consult on a patient as we are passing by and must stand there a few minutes to talk!
I am encouraged this can all come together and believe we can truly create a sustainable clinic here in Petionville. Things continue to appear in front of us just as we need them, so I know God is still busy. I am trying to keep up and not melt in the process!

Donna

2010-04-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today was filled with many “Only in Haiti” moments.
I went to walk with Anise this morning and found little Isaac lying beside her and nursing. (Yeah!) He was dressed in 2 layers of t-shirts, with thick sock booties on his feet and a blanket over him. I was hot just looking at the little guy, as it was like a sauna in their hospital room. I suggested we at least remove the booties, but Anise would have none of it. She showed me today how to squeeze his nose to make it grow in a more pointy shape as wide flat noses are not considered attractive in Haiti. I suggested that maybe she was hurting his little nose and that I did not think that would actually change the shape, but she looked at me like I was just clueless. I can’t say I’ve ever seen any nose re-shaping take place anywhere before. Thankfully, Isaac is nursing more and seems to be stronger. They will most likely have to leave in a few days and I hope Isaac can grow just a bit more before they need to leave. I held him for over an hour this afternoon and marveled at what survival against the odds looks like. He is only about 5 pounds but has a head full of hair and the sweetest disposition.
I watched a 9 year old pull a double-edged straight razor blade out of his pocket and begin to carve a piece of wood into a top. I asked him if he was worried he might cut his finger and he showed me where he had done just that in the past. You don’t see too many kids in my neighborhood playing with razor blades.
At lunchtime today I watched two large pigs sprint up the hill beside me, and 2 baby goats graze on the scrub grass. I watched people carry chickens home holding them by their feet upside down and swinging them as they walked.
We had to eat lunch in shifts today as the kitchen had plenty of rice and beans but limited plates and spoons. And, JoAnn and I were so thrilled today to find a place before lunch to actually wash our hands with soap and water. We found a garden hose attached to a spigot near our clinic! Hand sanitizer only goes so far with the grime we deal with daily. Somehow there is black stuff under all my nails by noon everyday and I wear gloves often! Every sink we could find in the hospital is broken or without water including by the nurses station and in all the patient rooms. We keep wondering where (or if?) the staff wash their hands. Running water, even non-potable water is a luxury here.
While waiting for our ride home this evening, I asked Guibson, one of the translators what he was planning to cook for dinner. He looked at me in a confused way and answered, “I cooked and ate this morning before I arrived for work and I ate lunch here at the hospital.” Only in Haiti are 2 meals a day considered fortunate.
I have to keep telling myself to stop thinking like an American. We just take so much for granted.

Donna

2010-04-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

Well, President Preval must have payed his bill to Hugo Chavez because the gas shortage is over today. Good for the people I guess, but bad for us because the traffic is back again. It was nice for a few days to not have to sit in bumper to bumper standstills twice a day.
The children made the day wonderful today. Early this morning a mother brought a 3 year old little boy named Clifford to our clinic. He lost his left leg above the knee and she had brought him to the hospital because of a tiny blister on his stump. People in Haiti have no idea what therapy is or that it is available so she never considered any service other than having his stump checked. I taught her how to place a special sock on his stump to help shape it for a future prosthesis and pump some of the swelling out of it and she caught on so quickly and was so happy to be able to help him. I got out several pairs of children's crutches but they were all too big for him! We finally took one set apart and rebuilt them to fit. They were red and yellow and he was so delighted when I put them on his arms. He must have watched others walking with crutches as he seemed to know just what to do. He put them out in front of him one at a time and then took a little hop. In just a minute or two he was hopping all over the clinic and little beads of sweat were rolling down his face. Having not walked for months now, he must have been so tired, but did not want to stop! We asked mom to bring him back in 2 days and hope to be able to refer him to a group that fits children with prosthetic limbs. If I did nothing else here this week, giving him back the ability to move on his own made me feel so good!
Then I went to see Isaac today and he is so much better! The little limp boy I held just 2 days ago has been replaced by a stronger one who moves his arms and legs often and tries to hold up his head when I lift him. Anise says she feeds him often now and I am so happy she finally understood how important that is. Her milk supply has increased and I know Isaac is now getting the quantity he needs. When she and I went for a walk she told her husband to watch him closely and be sure no mosquitoes bit him. I told her mom's in Haiti have so much more to worry about than in America and that she was doing such a great job. We talked about breastfeeding more today, sore nipples and c-sections. To the translator's credit,he never faltered or was too embarrassed!
JoAnn and I are trying to relax at the guest house this evening but the frogs are so noisy. They do not sound like frogs back home, but more like a group of drunken ducks quacking and laughing. It is not a rhythmic sound but more chaotic and bizarre. Last night a small red and blue colored frog fell out of a tree onto our balcony and scared JoAnn enough that the owner of the guest house heard her screams and came running to see what was wrong! We found the frog dead this afternoon and I had to peel his suction cup legs off the tile floor. Something else to add to our list of things that you will experience only in Haiti.

Jo Ann

2010-04-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

This is my first entry on our blog and I happily dedicate it to...the professor and Mary Ann!(you know who you are)
It's hard to believe that my first experience in Haiti was on April 5th and that by my return on April 23rd I felt like I had come home. Even the airport no longer provokes anxiety!
This is unlike anything I have ever done before and I can honestly say it is the highlight of my 30 year career as a P.T.
I'm sure Donna has written about the little boy we saw this morning with an amputation from the earthquake. We had the gift of giving him his first pair of crutches and watching him stand and take his first steps!Can anything really top that?
I watch what a few weeks of therapy can do and see the difference of a life lived independently vs. dreams forever lost.I have never questioned my career choice,but somewhere between the hospital administrators,productivity ratings,billing and insurance company's I forgot the joy of doing what we do best...treating patients.
I hope others will take advantage of this opportunity for Haiti and for yourself.
Time for sleep now so I'll be ready for more fun tomorrow!
(Jeff, sorry for any errors...but you are not here to edit for me!)

Donna

2010-04-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

Were Baaaaack! JoAnn and I returned to Haiti just 8 days after we left. Walking through the airport we kept saying to ourselves, “Didn’t we just do this?” Upon exiting the airport, our driver was not waiting for us as planned. But directly in front of me was Ruben, a nice man who we paid to assist us the last time we arrived and our driver was not there. His eyes lit up when he saw me and he came and gave me a big hug and the kiss on cheek that is the traditional Haitian/French greeting. He waited with us again, and when it was obvious our driver was not just simply late, he offered the use of his cell phone. I tried to give him $1 for his service and he refused saying, “We are friends now. No, No.” While waiting for the driver he kept asking me in a roundabout way if I was coming back and if people from the US could bring things. Much gets lost in translation here as the Haitian people do not like to directly ask for favors. I have learned to just cut to the chase and ask “What is it you need?” His answer was, “a tent.” He said he and his siblings sleep on the ground and as he put it, “When it rains hard on you, it wakes you up and you cannot fall back to sleep.” It rains almost nightly here now as it is the rainy season and he said they are all very tired. JoAnn decided to bring a few tarps with her this trip, “just in case” and she gave one to him. The smile on his face reached from ear to ear. I now know we will have permanent friend and helper at the airport for years to come!

Walking through the hospital and into our clinic felt so much like coming home. The last 2 teams have grown the clinic and its services greatly in this short time and all the patients have progressed so well. Seeing Judeline donning her own prosthesis and walking herself to the outdoor clinic took my breath away. Alex, Emmanuel and Guibson our translators are now much more than that. They are true therapy aides and have embraced their new jobs with such passion. I taught Guibson what the phrase, “You have really stepped up your game!” means and he told me he has tried so hard to do just that. I told them all when I left that this could be more than just a translator job for them if they were interested, but I do not think they fully understood the opportunity available at that time. Over the past 2 weeks they have come to understand what could be. They asked the last team for books to learn more about the body and have begun memorizing the names of the major bones already. JoAnn and I brought them each a basic anatomy book and presented it to them yesterday. They were so pleased! What made my heart sing was hearing them describe that before we arrived they did not know that “therapy” existed. They have watched us work with Judeline since day one when she cried continually and refused to even sit up in bed on her own. “In just 3 weeks she is walking!” They said. They told us they see therapy as like a miracle and they love the idea of being part of making that miracle happen for patients. “It makes you feel so good inside to help people like this!” Alex told me. “That’s why we love our jobs.” I replied. They really get it now and they are hooked! They love being a part of this and tell us they eventually want to become therapists like us.

Saturday was a tough one emotionally. We said good-bye to Janean, Heather and Kirsten in the early morning and then walked into the hospital to learn that Luc Pierre had been discharged! The last X-ray from 3 days ago showed his lower leg bones displaced again despite the external fixator and it appeared the lower leg was still infected. He told the surgeon he really did not want his leg amputated so they told him to go home and return in 22 days! 22? Why not 7 or 100? We do not believe he will even be alive in 22 days with a displaced lower leg bone and an infection and can you imagine the pain he will suffer in that time. Emmanuel went to his chart and found his phone number for us, but there was no answer. Alex and Emmanuel told us they were touched by the tears in our eyes and could not understand why the Haitian doctors did not care about Luc the way we did. Like I said, they get it now!
Later in the day, I went to walk with Anise and found her sitting in the main hospital lobby. We walked to our outdoor clinic and she sat to rest while we worked on Judeline’s hand. When I realized it had been at least 2 ½ hours since I found her, I asked if she wanted to walk back to her room as it must be time for Isaac to eat. When we got there she did not seem to have any interest in feeding him. When I asked her when the last time she nursed him was she answered, “I feed him when he cries.” I asked her if I could hold him and picked up this limp and flaccid little baby. He still has an IV drip, but did not seem to have the energy to cry or even move his arms. I did not see any rooting reflex or apparent desire to feed and realized this baby was failing. Through the translator I came to realize that Anise thought the IV was feeding Isaac and she did not need to nurse often. This is her first baby and it appears no instruction is happening from the nursing staff at the hospital. I told her Isaac needs to eat at least every 2 hours and that the IV was doing very little for him. She and her husband seemed very surprised and I am not sure fully believed me. I tried to teach her that her milk was what would make him grow strong and her husband told me he was concerned that Isaac had lost weight since he was born. I spent much time teaching but we are never sure what gets through and what is lost in translation. I am praying often for Isaac and hope he can hold on until Monday and we can teach even more then. JoAnn and I decided we need to have a conversation with Josiane about options and the need for more aggressive breastfeeding instruction with the new moms. Judy sent several new outfits and an adorable hat as a gift for Isaac and we need to make sure he grows big and strong so he can fit into them!
It is so hard not to bring our expectations of American standards of medical care down here to Haiti but watching a 70 year old man suffer and die in severe pain, or a newborn baby die should not happen anywhere. Prevention of suffering and healthy babies must be the minimal standard anywhere in a civilized world.

Heather - Friday

2010-04-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

It is funny how many things can get lost in traslation. You never know if what you said was the point that was really made. Especially with a people who want to please and say oui, oui (yes, yes) and shake their heads. Today brought a laughable situation. I had a patient from the Dominican Republic (who had shot himself accidentally in the foot. ) People from DR speak Spanish. So I found myself explaining scar massage and range of motion from: English to Creole, Creole to Spanish.. Another of my pts stood in as translator and we created a 4 peson path from therapist to pt. Ha!

We distributed water again and peanut butter sandwiches. (To give a little fat to the children) Everyone is grateful, and did not take more than one for themselves so it could go farther.

Jefferson was not at the clinic when we arrived this am. He showed up later with a gift for me- a pair of sandles he had made out of a cornflake box. Beautiful. I would have worn them all day if they would have stayed on. He asked me who would taake cae of him when I was gone. I told him to pray to Jesus to meet his needs, even to the poit of bringing someone else to him. He is a christian boy, so he understood. As the truck pulled away he cried.

They translators were in a mix of joy and sadness. They did not want to see us go. They have learned about hope and Jesus' servant attitude. And have taught us more than they know. The joy comes from the connections that are being made to create a therapy school here in Haiti. So many are in need of our services.

This trip was very spiritual for me. I am learning about listening for Gods voice, following His will and showing His love and mercy. Thank you for all who have prayed for our teams.

Now I must go, Deet myself one last time, and head back for the US.
Heather

My 7th (and last day in Haiti) - Kirsten

2010-04-23T21:00:00.001-07:00

Bonswa,
Today is my last night in Haiti. I have really had a life changing experience during this trip. We leave for home tomorrow. I will leave with gladness and sadness. I have met some outstanding people here. Hatians are a very proud people and are true survivors, despite the tragedies they have suffered. Maya Angelou has written many books and poems. One of my favorite poems is titled: And Still I Rise. That completely covers the feeling I get from the Hatian people.
,
As I said, today is my last day. I will miss so many of the people I have had the honor of working with. As I said goodbye to those I have come to know for this brief length of time, I will always be grateful to them for teaching me. The conditions have not been optimum, but I have loved the challenge of using classic OT skills to provide creative ways to help those in need. This position has reminded me why I love OT, and why I love working with people in need.

Bonjour,
Kirsten

Janean

2010-04-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

Bonswa!

My time in Haiti is nearly over; I can't believe that it's been two weeks already!

Today, I saw a 9 year boy named Bernard. His house fell on him in the earthquake. He had a compound fracture of both bones in his lower leg. He first had an external fixator, and then another external fixator, then a cast, and two days ago had his cast taken off. He did not have any crutches, and so his mother has been carrying him on her back for over three months. All he needed was crutches! They both had huge smiles on their faces when they walked out of the clinic.

Judeline did something today that brought tears to my eyes. She got herself out of bed, put on her own prosthesis, and walked by herself (with the walker)out to the physical therapy clinic! No one helped her! It was a beautiful site to see this precious 15 year old girl smiling at us with a new confidence and determination. That girl grabbed my heart on day one, and it was tough to say goodbye to her. I told her I would continue to pray for her.

Alex, one of the translators, said that he had been thinking all last night about giving the water away yesterday. He said, "Why did you do that? Why are you giving things away?" He had just gone with me to give one of the nurses one of my scrubs tops. I told him again that God has given freely to us, and so we are supposed to freely give to others. He said that we were a great example to him and that it encouraged him greatly in his walk with the Lord. He is also very interested in becoming a physical therapist, and he used Judeline's progress as an example. He said, "I saw Judeline at the beginning, and I see her now, and it's a miracle! It's a miracle beyond miracles! She would not be anywhere without what the therapists have taught her, and I feel so proud to be part of it. I want to do this for others." Wow, Alex, also made me cry today!

Today was a day of goodbyes....to the patients, to the translators, to people in the hospital like the administrators and the pharmacist, to our guest house friends, and to the country of Haiti.

What have I learned? That poverty has a face.

To God be the glory,

Janean

Hedda Thursday - Heather

2010-04-22T18:58:00.001-07:00

Today began with a question last night: "what are we going to preach tomorrow?" Although we laughed at prospective topics, God was preparing us for the day. People were everywhere in the streets this morning along with the goats, chickens and pigs. Market day. We arrived at the clinic to find 2 out patients, both were hands. So the sermon began.

Let me start by saying that our interpreters have told us that they are Christians. We had a discussion about this. Come to find out they did not know about the true grace of God through Jesus Christ. They have a VERY legalistic view of Christianity. Works are everything. They felt like being poor they can not do "enough" good works to get to heaven. An hour discussion ensued. We had a Bible, which they were familiar with, and we seached scripture for answers.

Great gains were made in Judalines hand today. She relaxed and allowed Kirsten to do the treatment. She now has visible knuckles and increased flexion in her hand.

Don't let my teammates fool you. They readily went along with my plan. We actually had 60 gourds in one of the guys pocket to pick up a tap-tap. But they were all full. When we got to the to of the hill, Janean said to me: "Gibson says iti os very dirty and we cannot buy or eat the food. So what are we here for." That is when we bought a bag and then bought water bags from the vendors. Don't worry, Emmanuel lifted the bag to the top of my head. My hand go quite a rest today. The people laughed and clapped, and then were all happy for some water. It was 96 degrees with 100% humidity. God allowed us to bless his people. We wear bracelets that say "God's work, our hands." We say this in a mighty way today.

My son was at the clinic when I arrived and had made me a bracelet for me. He spent the rest of the day making another. They cut plastic from a bottle and then wrap it with string and weave a design. It was a loving gesture on his part.

Please continue to pray for us as we are to leave Haiti. Also pray for God to clearly show us what is next in His great plan.

It was nice to speak to my family last night. Thank you for giving up your mommy and wife.
Love to all,
Heather

My 6th day in Haiti - Kirsten

2010-04-22T18:57:00.001-07:00

Bonswa,
God's blessings and provisions continue. We are so spoiled in the US with ample everything available to us. This trip has reminded me of the ample blessings we enjoy without even thinking about it. Simple, basic things such as food and water. Just plain basic survival. In Haiti, food is minimal and water is scarce. Because we were slow this afternoon in the clinic (it is market day so they are busy buying food). We ventured to the market with our interpreters and purchased hundreds of bags of dlo. We passed them out to the venders, shoppers, passersby, at the nearby orphanage and at the hospital. The people are so grateful for all that we do. It cost us very little money, but made such a difference in the llives of a few who have suffered such a tragedy, and who struggle now for basic life necessities.

Tomorrow is my last day at the clinic. I will be sad to go, because I have met some very proud and grateful people. It has been an honor to be here and to do have I have been able to do.
Later, Kirsten

janean

2010-04-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

OK, I just want to start off by saying that it was all Heather's idea. We have been so well received with handing out water at the end of the day, that Heather decided we ought to step it up a notch (a big notch) and walk to the market (over a mile), buy tons of those little water bags, and hand them out to people. So, we did! Our three translators went with us and were very protective of us, staying right by our side.

**Before I go on, I have a retraction from last night's email. We miscommunicated on the price of water with our translators. The little water bags (about a cup and a half) costs about 2 gourdes; therefore, we purchased about 100 of them for $5.00, or 20 of them for a $1.00.

So, anyway, Heather starts by buying an entire vendor's bag full of water and puts in on her head for a picture. Everyone starting laughing and clapping. Then, she started handing them out and the people came from everywhere. Kirstin and I also starting handing them out, and we probably handed out 300 water bags there. We bought about 100 more and gave them to the kids at the orphanage just down the street from the hospital, and we gave about 100 more to all the patients and staff inside the hospital. Alex (my translator) and I had a great talk on the way back from the market. He said that he couldn't believe how generous Americans were; he said that meant more to him than anything we had done this week because we spent our own money to give away something free to the poor. He said, "I think you really care about Haiti." I told him that since we are Christians, it is our privilege to share with others and that's what God has called us to do. Besides, I told him, if he is a Christian and I am a Christian, we are brother and sister in Christ, and as a family member, I am called to help when he, and his country is in trouble. That seemed to really touch him.

I can't say that I was entirely comfortable; it was dirty, smelly, and there were flies everywhere. But there were people there too; valuable people to God, whom we were able to share with in even a small way. We made some pretty feeble attempts at "God Bless You" in Creole, and overall, I was so glad we went. So, thanks again, Heather, for pushing me WAY outside my comfort zone. (I'm kind of glad tomorrow is our last day; if we stayed much longer I'm afraid she would try to get us to ride a tap-tap!)

Luc Pierre still has his leg; they ordered an xray today to have a look at it. He was in good spirits and sat on the edge of the bed for some exercises.

Judeline did great; she walked with one crutch and mod assist on the other side today. She also did some really good stretching on her hand with Kirstin and Heather.

Anise had a fabulous day, walking over 250' with only one crutch. She is a beautiful, proud woman with a great smile, and such a joy to work with.

It is going to be so tough to say goodbye tomorrow. I'm dreading that...alot. Although I miss my family and friends, air conditioning and anything to eat besides beans and rice.

Blessings to you all,

Janean

Hedda Wednesday - Heather

2010-04-21T19:11:00.001-07:00

There is no "TH" in Creole.
When our translators speek quickly they cannot say my name.

Today my son Jefferson needed new shoes. I asked the translators how much shoes are and gave him 5 dollars to go buy some and return to show me. He had very thinly worn flip flops that the had rigged a metal wire to hold the strap on the bottom. He did not even put them on until I had seen them. He was gone for several hours and probably had to walk a long way.

We were in the truck to go home and behind a tap-tap, but it only had a few people in it. I asked Janean and Kirsten if they wanted to get out and get on the back like the Haitians and take a picture. Janean was horrified that I even had the thought. Then we saw the patien had an externl fixator on her left lower leg. What a perfect time for some home health! I wanted to give her a business card, but they will not be here until Friday. I did get them to stop and actually get out to buy from some art vendors. It was fun and we were able to give to the Haitian economy, which has become important to us.

We don't go to the kitchen at lunch for beans and rice. Frankly, it is too hot to eat that kind of thing. (95 today). I also have difficulty eating when the children have nothing. The xray tech keeps bringing our lunch to us and we keep taking it to the kids. It is enough to feed 3 kids on each plate. Our translators don't like us to give it to them, but we do anyway.

I had an intense conversation with Emmanual about God's perfect plan and will for our lives. I see hope in him, but it is difficult in Haiti because there is no money. Day to day is a way of life. I am seeking information about providing therapy education here.

I has a tough discussion with our 15 year old about her hand. She needs to work it if she is going to be able to use it. She did some self mobilization and even relaxed her wrist on the armrest to listen to music. I saw my guy that had a long leg brace. I was able to mobilize his knee to 80 degrees with a therapy ball--my favorite technique at home! He really wanted to practice his English, so I was able to distract him enough to get his knee to move more.

I blew up some gloves and the kids played with them for quite some time. They are very good about giving to one another. This is what strikes me about Jefferson, if i give him anything he shares with his friends. It reminds me of the woman who gave much by giving a penny, but it was all she had. They give to one another like Christ would have us give.
(Luke 21:1-4)

One last thought: I asked one of the children how old he was. He said he didn't know. So we decided that today he is seven and he should add to that every year. This brings to mind the point about individualization. This is lacking here. We have a 15 year old girl that 3 therapists are working to make her more functional. It is an American approach...each person has value. Here there are so many with so much need,even a child does not know how old he is.

Tomorrow I will speak to our onlookers about God's love for them, each as individuals. Just like Christ would seek one sheep. I may make the point better if I say GOAT.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers,
Heather

Day 12 - Janean

2010-04-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Day 12

Today we had a goat wander into our clinic. Enough said.

Today, Heather coaxed me way, way out of my comfort zone and we got out of our van in Port au Prince and bartered with street vendors for some Haitian art. Let's just say I'm not too good at that. I purchase my item for half of what he started at, but he probably would have gone lower, I was just wanting to get back in the van!

Judeline did great again today; she let Heather put her hand in a bowl of water! She squealed a bit in pain, but then calmed down while listening to the ipod again. Later, I took my hair out of my hairband and she actually ran her LEFT hand through my hair a couple of times. Yeah, Judeline!

Luc Pierre did not have his surgery today. The hospital did not have electricity all day. His two daughters came and talked to the doctor. I'm not exactly clear about what was said, but I think the surgery has either been postponed or cancelled, but I'm not exactly sure.

One of my outpatients today agreed to let me soak her foot and tons of dry skin came off in chunks, all the way down to a stitch that had been left in from her previous surgery. I sent her to the plastic surgeon who was in clinic today, and he removed her stitch and told her how good the original wound was looking. Then she relaxed a bit and did some stretching and walked out of there looking and feeling alot better.

Anise walked several hundred feet today, and she walked about the last 100' with only one crutch. I told her that she has to start doing that so she has one hand free to carry baby Isaac. She looked so tall and proud to be walking with her prosthesis on the left leg, the crutch on the right side and a free arm to carry him!

Water is such a scarcity here. We bring in to work each day six water bottles full (three for us, and three for our translators). In addition, we carry in two gallons in jugs. The patients are not given water in the hospital because they don't have clean water. (The pharmacy has gallon jugs that you can get if you really beg. Claude told me yesterday that he is working on a water purification system and hopes to have one up and running in a few weeks.) Anyway, we have street children hanging around every day and patients, both in and outpatient, that all need water. A small bag of water, pint sized, costs .30 on the street. We have seen Judeline's mom walking down the hill from the hospital to buy water several times. How do these people do this day after day? Keep in mind that the average Haitian gets by on $2.00 per day.

The Scripture says, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me." Matthew 25:35-40.

Lord, help us to be obedient to your Word!

To God be the glory,

Janean

My Fifth Day in Haiti - Kirsten

2010-04-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Bonswa,
Today was a slower day for us, but steady. Not as many people waiting, just more steady. I am grateful for working with a good team. Heather and Janean are great to work with and we share the load well.

I think this GlobalTherapyGroup team has a first. We now have a mascot of a baby goat. A baby goat wandered onto our outpatient dept today. How many other outpatient dept. can say they have a goat as a mascot.

The IPOD continues to work for our 15 year old as a distraction. More gains daily as the music keeps her occupied.

There are so many burns here as well as fractures and nerve injuries from crushing. I have seen many burn injuries needing scar massage. Many hand injuries as well. The people are so brave and resilient. Some of them travel a great distance to get to us. Despite their hardships, they come smiling, and are so grateful for everything we do. They wait patiently for us when we are swamped, and never complain. I appreciate this experience so much and know that I will never be the same.
Kirsten

Haiti Day four - Kirsten

2010-04-21T07:05:00.001-07:00

Bonswa,
My fourth day in Haiti has been full of more blessings. People continue to come to the free therapy clinic. I am so busy, but the patients are very patient. They never complain about waiting for me to see them. So many people with UE/hand fractures and crushing. The buildings in Haiti are mostly made of cement. Many of the people have nerve damage due the buildings falling on them. Some of them trapped for days under the rubble. OT's are a very important part of this treatment team and have a unique way of helping these people. I do hope that other OT's join the GlobalTherapyGroup team and help restore function to these people. For many of them, their hands are their liveilhood. If they are unable to work, they will not be able to eat. There is no unemployment compensation here.
Thank you (merci) for all your prayers for us in Haiti. We know that the prayers of the righteous are so important. Please continue to pray for us as we do God's work with our hands.
Kirsten

Janean

2010-04-20T19:15:00.001-07:00

Bonswa!

Well, I started the day by slamming Heather's right thumb in the door. She already has a wrist brace on the left, so I felt really bad; she was a trooper though and didn't complain a bit. We had a busy outpatient morning (but not quite as bad as yesterday). Alex (the translator) and I went up to the storage room to get a walker and platform for a patient and someone locked us in! We had to call Emmanuel (the other translator) to come up and rescue us; everyone had a big laugh out of that one.

Judeline had a big day. Her walking is not nearly as difficult as it used to be; she is walking the distance from her room to the outpatient clinic without that much effort; stand by assist only. The big news is that she let Heather completely hold her hand, clear to the fingers, and she let her work her fingers and wrist a bit. Kirsten was massaging her forearm scar, while we put her left foot in a bucket of water to soak the huge chunks of dead skin off of it. Judeline and I were sharing ipod headphones and listening to Kirk Franklin while all this was going on. We told her this was true spa treatment - her hand and arm massage, foot soaking, and listening to music! Tomorrow, we are going to try to soak that hand in water; at first, she said no, but the ipod music is a good "carrot" and much more high tech and hip than stickers! :) We asked Donna to bring nail polish on Friday, so we'll see.

Please pray for Luc Pierre tonight. His leg is badly infected and the ortho surgeon is taking him to surgery tomorrow. If it is as bad as he thinks, he will have to amputate below the knee. He is not a young man, divorced, with two daughters. One of them is coming to be with him tonight.

Down the hall, I had a partial hip replacement patient yesterday. She was 92 years old, with dementia, and was toe touch weightbearing because the ortho doc found a crack in her femur after surgery. She was being discharged home on post op day three! Anyway, the head of her femur was in a jar in her room; not kidding. I guess they wanted to take it home and show the neighbors or something. Anyway, Heather and I had quite a time loading her into the small SUV with a walker, wheelchair, her abduction wedge and about 5 bags of clothing.

We had lots of interesting outpatients today; again, lots of crush injuries and fractures. Our clinic is quite a busy place, especially in the morning, until about 1 or 2pm, and then we'll go see our inpatients. We usually have several family members, and spectators, and some street children watching since our clinic is outside. We are next to the ER, so we see lots of people coming in after motorcycle or car accidents (no, in Port au Prince?). Heather asked one of the street boys why he wasn't in school today and he said he had a tooth ache. She found out that his father is dead, and his mom lives in the country, so he lives with his 19 year old cousin. Heather paid $5 for him to see a dentist, although he wouldn't do much treatment without the mom's permission. We were able to give him some tylenol.

We have decided to begin our day with prayer in our clinic and invite anyone who is there if they want to join. We have decided to end our day by sharing any water we have left with the inpatients. We just take the milk jugs of water and go room to room filling pt's cups until we run out. Great feeling to see their faces light up with a free cup of water.

Blessings to you all,

Janean

Heather - Tuesday

2010-04-20T18:52:00.001-07:00

Bonswa.
So many connections are leading to other connections that we are now making a list. The thread of God's presence is everpresent. I am in awe daily.

The team barista has been making coffee about 5 am. We are all morning people. We have a secret stash of Dunkin Doughnuts coffee grounds and if I am luck I can get there before someone else makes the coffee we are better off. No such luck today. You would not believe the amount of dry creamer you have to add to lighten it even a little.

It is very hot. At one point we were standing together in the clinic and were covered with sweat. Lots and lots of water. It is sad to see lines of people waiting to fill up their water bottles. It costs $1 for a 3 gallon bottle, which is an average half day wage. Patients family has to walk at least a half mile to buy the patient some water.

I had an adopted son today. His name is Fredrickson Bennet. He is 14. Actually, I met him on Saturday. He was the boy that was filling up all the balloons and gave his away. He said he had a toothache. I looked in his mouth and one tooth was half deteriorated and the other had a large cavity. I found out that the hospital has a dentist, but he has no money. I paid $5 US and received some Haition change. He needs his tooth pulled, but it can't be done without his family permission. He is currently living in a tent home with his 17 year old cousin. I feed him my hospital lunch and bottled water. He was with me at the clinic all day. When we were winding down, he sat next to me and I rubbed his back (along with another boy). Small gesture of attention that we take for granted. I gave them our granola bars ad airplane peanuts before we left.

I am the Judaline whisperer. If no other reason existed for my wrist fracture, it would be ths girl. She has on a wrist splint similar to mine. Yesterday we compared notes on pain and she allowed me to touch it only a little. Today, we had 2 super treatments. Her arm is very sensative and she did not want anyone to touch it. I was able to grasp all of her fingers and even put my thumb between her fingers and thumb. All while Kirsten did scar massage down her arm. AMAZING! Maybe it did have a little to do with Kirstens IPOD. No, it was me!

Translators have learned the upper body bones. Emmanual says he is my body guard. I quiz him everytime we go to the supply closset, which is often. One time today i sent him to the closet and he was looking for a box of 4x4s. Janean and Alex got locked in the supply closet. Good thing they had a phone and called us to come get them.

Again, I feel that I haven't touched what went on today, but must share the computer seat.
Heather

Oh yeah...Janean shut my thumb in the car door this morning.

My third day in Haiti - Kirsten

2010-04-19T21:00:00.001-07:00

Bonswa,
Haiti is such a colorful place, despite the rubble. The population is massive and the overcrowding is obvious.
The clinic was busy this am. The word is getting out about the clinic and more people are coming. I am meeting so many concerned doctors and nurses from the US who are here to help as well. A hand surgeon is here now and wants to refer patients to me. One patient I saw had shoulder impingement with pain and edema. After about a half an hour, I was able to mobilize his scapula and range his arm to approximately 60 degrees. He was happy and left, to return tomorrow. He actually returned a few hours later after being hit by a car on the same arm that I worked. I referred him to the ER. More OT's are needed here. I am constantly busy with hand, shoulder/ UE injuries. There is plenty to do for OT.

The rainy season means more humidity. We are outside covered by a tarp, but the heat and humidity are great. We drink lots of water to stay hydrated. Today I used the hospital bathroom. If I don't already have thighs of steel, I will by the end of the week. Warning: carry kleenex with you and hand sanitizer!

The trauma from the earthquake is still evident in the people. The children are fearful of returning to school due to fear of the building collapsing on them. I admire the grace and tenacity of the people I meet. So humble and grateful for the care they receive. I wish some of our patients in KC could have the same attitude.

Each day is a new experience here. I am learning and growing because of this experience and will never be the same. More tomorrow.
Kirsten

Heather - Monday

2010-04-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I started my message and was interrupted by lack of internet connection. I blame Janean,she was hogging our blogging seat! On Sunday, I was unable to get a message because it was raining...really raining.

I am really enjoying this work. People come and sit and wait at the side of our clinic until the next person is available to see them. They are very grateful.

My first patients included: a lady from Saturday that has nerve damage on her R side from laying in rubbel. She wants to go without a cane, but she is not ready yet. She came to our prayer circle with our ministry team and a team of doctors. Her smile was so big to be included.

I then saw a 6 year old girl. (I have a six year old girl) She had a stroke when she was 7 months old and has had no access to therapy. She ambs with a CP type gait and is functional, but her mom was hoping for more. I gave her some exercises and Kirsten was really what she needed for her hand.

Next, a pt with a severe foot contraction. I spent over an hour "creating" a custom made foot orthosis to increase the weight bearing surface area. I must have went to the storage closet 20 times for something else in this process. Let me just say : It was great! It was made out of rapid splint anf formed to her foot, then I built up the heel with casting material. In the end, she didn't want it. She thought I was going to give her "special shoes. I fit her with forearm crutches, and used bandaids to make a new rubber stopper stay on her cane. It makes me laugh to think about.

I also saw and amputee who I sent to Handicap International for prosthetic refitting; a man who was just out of a long leg cast (hip to toe) We made a treatment table on the floor using our therapy sign and I worked his motion and taught him how to do it himself. He would benefit from daily therapy, but he lives too far away. He said he would try to come back on Wed or Fri. He lives in a tent city and with our gas shortage can not access transportation. Tap-taps are full of 20 or more people, not conducive to a stiff leg. Other pts were wounds and soft tissue injuries. My team mates are very good about not letting me lift and staying on top of my hand. Kirsten gives me private OT for chocolate.

So much happens in a day that we feel we can't get it all down on paper. God is seen in everything we do and I am excited to discuss this with my family and friends when I return.

Oh, one more thing...our interpreters (most of them) stick to use like glue. Yesturday Emmanuel learned all the bones of the leg, how to treat sweeling and that you can make something from odds and ends in a storage closet. We did disagree when we found that he did not translate to our patient with an external fixator that he may need an amputation. He said "I know my people, better to tell the family."

Blessings to all.
Heather

Janean

2010-04-19T18:37:00.001-07:00

Bonswa!

We are exhausted after today; we had the busiest outpatient clinic to date. All three of us were running around like chickens with our heads cut off for at least 5 hours straight. It was crazy! We saw stroke patients, car accident patients (no surprise there with the traffic), earthquake victims with fractures, pain, swelling, difficulty walking. I saw a 7 year old boy with a soft tissue injury on his arm; I asked if he was in school and his mother said he is too scared to go back. His old school collapsed in the quake. Kirsten was a great help because we had lots and lots of upper extremity patients today.

Judilene did great today; there was a reporter here from the Miami Herald doing a special story just about her. They took some pictures, and got most of her story from Josianne, the hospital vice president. Heather really worked with her this afternoon on her arm, after she walked with me. Heather recently broke her wrist and is still wearing the splint, so she was able to show Judeline how stiff she was and that she had to work on it to get better. Judeline really focused on what Heather was saying, and Heather had this soft voice and soft touch and Judeline really responded. She moved her fingers and wrist more than I had ever seen to date. Yeah!

Our translators are doing great and learning more all the time. Heather has taught some CEU courses so she has taken it upon herself to teach these guys some PT lingo. Today, she was just grilling them on RICE - rest, ice, compression, elevation. She was also reviewing the bones of the lower extremity and they were just eating it up. They consider this not only a job for them, but a way to continue working in the rehab field for years to come.

We had a sad situation today right by our outpatient clinic. A pickup truck pulled up with a patient lying in the back and a couple of people back there with him, one holding an IV. A doctor came up to me and said that the patient had a high fever, and was probably septic and they needed a surgeon. We showed him the ER entrance, and told him that the surgeon had just left. By the time he got back to the truck (only a minute or two), the man had died. His family stayed in the parking lot, with their dead relative covered with a sheet in the back of a truck and wailed and cried for several hours until finally at the end of the day, an ambulance came to pick him up. It was so sad.

The missions group here, the 410 Bridge, has an idea to start a women's industry by teaching Haitian women to sew burlap coffee bags into a cute little back pack to sell in the US. They needed help with the prototype bag, even though they said the instructions were supposed to be idiot-proof. What do you know but Kirsten owns her own purse-making business and is spending this evening helping them sew the first prototype! She just came back and found that they were getting 3 purses out of each burlap bag, but Kirsten showed them how to get 5 purses out of each bag.(Thank you God for orchestrating that!)

Also, Dr. Bernard mentioned that he was looking for a female translator for his guest house. I talked to Fabian today, who used to translate at the hospital but was recently laid off when most of the teams pulled out. I gave her Dr. Bernard's number, she called him and she has an interview tomorrow! She is so excited, she came up to give me a hug and said she had go home and wash her clothes and get ready for tomorrow. Her mother keeps her two children during the week while Fabian tries to get work to support them. Her mother lives up the mountain, not too far from Dr. Bernard, so she will get to see them more often as well! Yeah God for giving Fabian a job!

That's it for today; can't wait to hop in the shower!

To God be the glory!

Janean

PS. The fried plantain we for dinner last night was delicious!

My second day in Haiti - Kirsten

2010-04-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

Bonswa!
My second day in Haiti is a day of rest. Church, then playing at the orphanage with the little ones. They are such beautiful children and I hope they get adopted soon. I understand that they are given up for adoption in hopes that will have a better life than their parents can provide for them. We held babies during church and fed them lunch afterward.

We were told of the "brothels" now in the tent cities. I can't imagine having to do that to provide for my family, but if my child was starving I will never say I wouldn't. I am grateful that I live where there are more options for me. Thank You, GOD!

I keep thinking about the hospital conditions here. Small rooms with as many cots in the room as they will hold. The families are responsible for bathing and feeding the patients. Lunch only is provided. The only medication dispensed is Tylenol- no matter what the condition. Anise just had a c-section 3 days before I saw here and they would not give her even Tylenol. Imagine enduring the pain of a c-section and an amputation without meds. The patients are so grateful for all that we do. After I stood her, she thanked me graciously. Even in church this morning, we were frequently thanked for coming to help. Dr. Bernard used the story of Lazarus' death and the grieving of Mary and Martha for his sermon this morning. Our just being here was part of our helping the Hatians to deal with their grief. I am grateful for being a part of the solution and for being able to help the beautiful Hatian people go through the grieving process on to healing.
Kirsten

My first day in Haiti - Kirsten

2010-04-18T16:02:00.001-07:00

Bonswa!

My first day in Haiti has been such an amazing experience. I have a unique perspective from the other therapists that have come because I am an African American Occupational Therapist. The first OT to come. The first thing I noticed was that the Haitian people are such a beautiful people. I watched women walking with large baskets on their heads, totally full of grace and beauty. What posture and balance they must have to walk the streets without holding on to the items on their heads. The city of Port-au-Prince is such colorful place. Not many billboards, they just paint colorful advertisements and signs right on the walls of the city and on the buildings. It is so colorful and bright. The rubble and destruction lay among this and it is hard to see.

I got my first sight of the Physiotherapy clinic. What an amazing structure or part of one) in such a short period of time. Only GOD could have put the right people in the right place at the right time to erect a wall and tarp on top. It was amazing. The patients were so greatful for all we could do for them. I know why OT needs to be here. I saw so many hand and UE injuries from crushings. Lots of nerve damage. They are eager to do what they need to do to get better.

We are tired from the heat and humidity, but throughly blessed. GOD is awesome!
Kirsten Brooks

2010-04-18T12:50:00.001-07:00

Janean

It's Sunday afternoon, and I finally have time to try to recap the last two days. Saturday morning started off by saying goodbye to Ky at the airport; she is a "kindred spirit" and she was wonderful to share my first week with. Her incredible sense of timing to say something humorous in the midst of some sort of stress was a great blessing to me! (Is humor a spiritual gift?) We headed back to the hospital and I saw 5 outpatients in the morning, set up the outdoor PT clinic and walked with Judeline. Our two new therapists arrived around noon; Kirsten is an occupational therapist and Heather is a physical therapist. I gave them a quick tour and they were seeing patients within the hour; they just jumped right in and went to work! Alexandra (12 yrs old) came back today and we had a very special gift for her. Ky was gracious enough to leave her tennis shoes, and so Alexandra was able to wear her new AFO with tennis shoes. She mentioned that she had slipped and fallen because the bottom surface of the AFO was slippery even with the surface we had afixed to the bottom. The family had taped cardboard there and it was slippery too. So, Alexandria's face just lit up when she was able to have tennis shoes. Thanks, Ky, you're the best!

The ABC team was picking up the two amputee girls and so they were running late in traffic (really? in Port au Prince?) and didn't arrive until 2. They wanted Judeline to walk back and forth with her walker, behind them as they filmed the two girls. Bless her heart, she walked FOUR TIMES, about 40' each time. Finally around 4pm, I told the producer that she just couldn't do it any more; I had bribed her with 10-12 stickers and a bottle of gatorade, and she did her best, but was simply exhausted. When we took off her prosthesis, her sleeve was soaked with sweat. She did great, and I was very proud of her and told her so. Alexandra was in the background for a while, working with Heather and Faustine was working with Kirsten. They had each of us say something on camera about how the prostheses will help children in Haiti. Who knows what they will use and what they will cut to get their 60 second update. The whole thing took two days of prep and 4 hours of shooting, for 60 seconds of airtime. Crazy. Heather brought 200 long balloons and a pump and entertained many of the street children that were hanging around to watch. She was swamped with kids for more than an hour and went through 100 of her balloons but the producers were happy. Hopefully it helps the hospital and helps Haiti. (I did take a picture of the producer with a crazy balloon hat on his head; I told him this morning that he can have a copy, but I just have a few requests for Haitian Community Hospital first.....). :)

I saw Luc Pierre in the afternoon and he was drenched with sweat and out of water; his wife was not there; she was out looking for food. I offered to bring him water, but his roommate (another patient) said he would share his water. Grace in the midst of need. Luc Pierre told me that he could feel God's grace in my hands through the way that I changed his bandages because I was gentle. He tells me every time I see him that he is thankful for me, but I tell him that I am thankful for him because he demonstrates to me patience in the midst of suffering. It was kind of funny that we were tripping over ourselves trying to out-thank the other!

We finally left the hospital around 5:30 and arrived at the guest house by 6:15; had dinner around 7, and collapsed from exhaustion after our showers, around 9:30.

We had a wonderful Sunday morning service; I recognized two of the songs - "How Great Thou Art" and "As the Deer". I love hearing them sing and worship. We shared the holding of the orphan children with the team here with the "4:10 Bridge" - titled after I Peter 4:10 which says "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." The team is working with an elderly widow of the church, who walks 45 minutes to church each Sunday. Her home is farther up the mountain and was destroyed in the earthquake. Her daughter, who is also a widow lives with her. The 4:10 Bridge group is helping to rebuild her home this week.

Dr. Bernard's message was about Jesus comforting Mary and Martha at the time of Lazarus' death. He thanked us and the many people who have come to Haiti to console and encourage Haitians in their time of grief and loss. He said that the personal presence of someone is sometimes all it takes to feel comforted. Then he said that there are thousands and thousands of Marys and Marthas out there that will need comforting in the months and years to come. How true; for Haiti and for other places around the world.

When we got back, we went to the orphanage and played with the children. Heather worked her balloon magic again and had kids swarming all around her. I held one little boy for a long time who just wanted to sit on my lap and have his back rubbed. After a while, we went in to the small baby area and we each fed a small child their lunch, which was a bowl of rice and beans that looked somewhat pureed. Words can't express the satisfying feeling of just holding and comforting an orphaned child, or feeding them a meal.

Now, we are relaxing, and preparing for another week. Thank you all for your love and prayers!

Janean

Missing Haiti

2010-04-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

It has been two weeks to the day since we set off for our Haiti adventure and I am now sleeping in my own comfortable ,bug free bed! I still smile whenever I think of the dedicated and giving people we met but especially of our Haitian friends. Donna so eloquently chronicled our first week and I so enjoy the blogs written by the new rotations of therapists. I have a story to recount involving our famous friend, Judaline. She was having difficulty even touching her left hand and would not attempt any self range. Just prior to her visit I had worked with an 8 year old boy with bilateral hand contractures. At the end of the session he was using one hand to range the other. I praised him for his bravery and his technique. The translator relayed this episode to Judaline who promptly cried, "I am a girl!" I explained that although she is a beautiful girl, she needs to be as brave and strong as a boy to regain use of her hand. I over heard her mother say, The women in Haiti are as strong as men, but we don't have the same rights. As in the USA, there is much that deserves change in Haiti.
I want to encourage therapist from clinics large and small to sign up for a rotation. It is so satisfying to provide therapy in a setting where the need is so obvious. May the gods continue to smile on our endeavor! Judy

Heather- First Day in Haiti

2010-04-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! Today was a crazy day, and great. Kirsten and I got off the plane about 10:30 am spotted that flourescent pink sign for Bethal Guest House. We were swooped away to the hospital and began seeing pts within a half hour. Extreme Makeover was there with some great little girls that were fitted with new prosthetics by Limbs for Life and Range of Motion Project. It was a LONG day! They kept shooting and re-shooting. We were told 4 hours of shooting for 60 seconds of TV. Kids hang out at the clinic, but they were watching and grouping too much by the shooting. So I took out my balloons and ball pump and we headed for some benches. They crowded around and eventually made a line and we went through 100 balloons in 45 minutes. Hats! (thank you Chris) They loved it. Even our interpreters were facinated. The boys were running up and down the street with these balloon hats kicking a ball around.

We finally wrapped up the day, drove through the city,passed many chickens, a tent town and landed in our wonderful Guest House for dinner and a shower.

God has blessed us with a nice breeze to cool off the night.

Tomorrow we have church and a visit to the orphanage.

Heather

My Last Night in Haiti

2010-04-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Good evening / Bonswa!

There have been some wonderful moments this week, and today was no exception. The preparation for ABC was completely fabulous!! Even having experienced it, I still can't believe it. Thank you all for your prayers...that is the only explanation for today's events! A brief summary: about 9:00 last night we received a call that the 2 children we were expecting for the taping were not going to make it. The children were at the border in the Dominican Republic, displaced after the earthquake, and there was no way to get them back to Port-au-Prince in time.

An hour of scrambling ensued! Even as we left for the hospital this morning we had no idea how things would go. About 7:45 AM in walks a precious 8 year old girl with a pair of primary colored crutches and an orange t-shirt that read "pretty cute." Pretty cute, indeed. The prosthetists arrived about 30 minutes later, and by noon Reynan was walking up and down stairs on her new prosthetic limb. While waiting, she was jumping rope on her one remaining limb, and about 10 minutes after they fit her new leg, she was jumping rope with 2 legs. I've never seen anything like it!!!!

And if you think that was amazing, about noon another adorable angel arrived, a 4 year old girl who one of the hospital translators remembered from their time working in a tent city. He had gone out on a motorcycle taxi at 10:00 last night to the tent city, found her tent, asked her if she was interested, then went back today to pick her up. By 4:00 she also had a new leg! This little girl, Lorusemie, lives in a tent city, yet her school uniform was bright white and ironed, and her one shoe was shined. What a mother she has!

We could not have found 2 more delightful girls if we had this planned months in advance. It was a long hot day for them, yet they were smiling, cheerful, playing with everyone, and incredibly patient with the entire process. This small segment will air at the end of the Extreme Home Makeover Show on May 5. Mark your calendars!

We also celebrated our first day seeing patients in the new outdoor PT clinic. It was nice to have a breeze and more light (hardly any of the lightbulbs in the hospital work, and occasionally there is no electricity anyway!). One of our outpatients has been coming all week, and after we did most of her treatment, I wanted to take her indoors for a few minutes to finish a few things with her lying down (only chairs outside). She balked, then told me she was scared to be inside because the ceiling fell on her in the quake and she preferred to be in open air. Even being here, I still underestimate the ongoing emotional toll...

Please continue to pray for my amazing friend, Janean. She will be in Haiti through April 24. Her throat is occasionally scratchy, but overall she is feeling better (thanks for the prayers!). She is an awesome therapist, and it's been a real blessing to share this special time with her! Our co-worker, Heather, and her friend Kirsten arrive tomorrow. I know they also will treasure your prayers.

This has been quite a week, and I leave Haiti with incredible memories. Tears of joy, admiration, compassion, and wonder have filled my eyes frequently. The people here inspire me, and I can't wait to show you all my pictures!

Bondye bon! God is good!!!!

Day 6 - Janean

2010-04-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hello from Haiti!

Well, we have a serious gas shortage in Haiti, and our wise guest house owner (just like Joseph and the grain in Egypt) has stored gasoline on the property,and although we have gasoline, many people in Haiti do not. There was a line over 2 miles long at the gas station, on our way into town today. This has also affected our patients; we had several that did not come in today. The entire outpatient area was only about half as full as normal due to the shortage. There was less traffic over all, but more people riding tap-taps. Let me describe a tap-tap; it is usually a Nissan truck with a camper shell and benches on either side. There are about 15-20 people inside, and hanging onto the back. We actually saw a man in a three piece suit sitting in the back and also a women in high heels with a laptop on her lap riding a tap-tap. We heard that it costs anywhere between .15 and .50 to ride.

Judeline did absolutely great today; she walked 50' and with a much better gait pattern. She let me massage her forearm and I gave her lotion and she massaged her palm. She has a long way to go on that arm. She did let us put a different brace on it today that actually puts a tiny ("piti-piti")bit of pressure on her palm and that is a good step.

Anise had her baby yesterday by c-section and the baby girl turned out to be a baby boy and she named him Isaac! We all celebated wth her and she had lots of family in to see him.

We have discovered that cream or lotion is a big deal here. Just like Americans want a pill for everything, they want cream. Ky and I lovingly call it "magic cream" amongst ourselves because they all want a little bottle of Eucyrin. And you know what? After we have done everything we can, we give it to them, because it might make them feel just a tiny bit better.

Luke Pierre was a good story from today; he is in his 70's and has a badly fractured left leg with an external fixator. He has four wounds that we are dressing once per day. At first, he was just lying in bed all day, but he has done better everyday and today he ate lunch sitting up in his wheelchair and he hopped 5 steps with the walker. One of our translators recognized him yesterday as a man that used to sell vegetables on the street!

You can pray about the Extreme Home Makeover thing. They have a story they want to tell; we just want the people of Haiti to benefit and the Haitian Community Hospital, because of all the free care they provide. The producer, the prosthetist, and the prosthetics provider will all arrive tomorrow. They are all staying here at the guest house. Twelve people on a missions trip also arrived here tonight.

"The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns has been a recent inspiration for me. He quotes Rick Warren in chapter seven:

"If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done. God will use anybody if you're available."

To God be the glory!

Janean

Pics from Ky:

Janean and I with Darlene, the woman who wrote and sang us the beautiful song!

Janean and Judalene...a 15 year old whose concrete ceiling collapsed on her....she is so traumatized! She and her mom have lost everything....

And finally, one of all of us with our translators and our makeshift banner.....sorry about the plant in the foreground. It was hard to find someone who knew how to use a camera!

Haiti 4/14 - News from Ky

2010-04-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Bonswa / Good Evening from Haiti !
Another beautiful day in Haiti ; another evening of rain. We are praying for those in tent cities as we listen to tonight’s downpour. We are so aware of the ongoing emotional toll on this country, as well as all the physical inconveniences post-earthquake. We were working with a patient today and I brushed up against the bed as I reached to straighten her pillow. She looked panicked and told the translator she could feel the bed shaking, wondering if it was another quake or aftershock. The fear is so real and the people are so brave!

We saw 2 patients today who were both trapped for 3 days in the rubble after the quake. One, a 12 year old girl, lost her mother, and the other, a 24 year old woman, had deep, deep wounds on both hips that are still healing. Yet both patients today were smiling and encouraging each other and so thankful for therapy and the braces we were able to give them. They both walked down the hall with classic Haitian elegance.

Plans also continue to progress with our outpatient clinic and the team from ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover. The prosthetist and people from ABC will arrive on Friday and tape a segment on Saturday. It all seems very surreal and very exciting!

We continue to be so grateful for the support and prayers from all of you. God is SO good!

News from Second Team in Haiti

2010-04-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Below is the latest news from Janean Clark and Ky Zeiger who are the second team at the new Global Therapy Group (GTG) clinic. I awoke this morning in a panic. The enormity of what I have taken on hit me and I dissolved into tears thinking, "My volunteers run out in 6 weeks, I have payroll to meet weekly now and I have to return in 2 weeks and don't even have funds for a plane ticket yet!" As has been the pattern since this adventure began, I asked and what I needed was dropped in my lap multiplied by 100. Three hours after my mini-breakdown I received a call from Eric Neufeld a prosthetist who is a friend of a friend in Chicago and runs a foundation setting up prosthetic clinics in South America. He said he had a proposition for me. Extreme Makeover Home Edition wanted to take some prostheses from a young woman here in the states who wanted to donate them to be re-fitted to a child in Haiti . The show was having difficulty finding a place to plug in down there and needed to film this Saturday. He asked if we could make that happen at our new clinic. I made some calls and sent e-mails this afternoon and by dinner we had children identified, the Rainmaker Fund-raising group of guys who were to leave tomorrow changed their tickets to Sunday, they are ordering a big Grand Opening! sign for our clinic, will send it down with Eric and our clinic will be the site of their TV special. I have requested they allow us to put out a request for PT's and OT's nationwide to volunteer to staff our clinic for the next 1-2 years. Isn't God amazing?

Donna,

Well, we had an absolutely amazing day! I don't think much can top this, as far as our experience goes. First, Judeline is doing well; she transferred with min assist today, bed to w/c. We put an AFO on her with an ortho shoe and she was able to use her left leg to pull herself down the hall and she is getting to therapy much quicker. She walked about 12 feet this morning and about 18 feet this afternoon WITH MINIMAL ASSIST! Anise's c-section was put off until tomorrow, but she did take a long walk today. Darlene, who is in the same room as Judeline was discharged today after Ky took her for a long walk and up and down stairs successfully. She told the translators that she had a gift for us and so we went to her room. She told us that she had no gift to give us but a song that she wrote in our honor. So, she had us sit on the bed, and she sang a song to us, with Gibson translating. Basically, she said how much she appreciated our loving care, and that we showed God's grace in the way we worked with people. She thanked us for coming to Haiti and praised God for His people everwhere. We just sat there with tears running down our cheeks, deeply touched. All we could say was "merci, merci" and hugged her. Sadly, we were so moved, we forgot to take a picture.

Then, I went to the meeting at 2pm with Josiann and Edith, and Barry W Borror, director of Star of Hope. Here is the synopsis of the meeting:

Barry states that Star of Hope's primary donor countries are Sweden , Finland , and the US , with the US being the smallest donor. They work in 18 countries, and were established in 1979. Josian's brother is on the board, and her sister is also on the board, representing legal issues. They have been in Haiti for 24 years. Currently, they have 13 projects in 10 communities in Haiti . First, he offered to build two new operating rooms, at European standards. This includes training staff in the utilization and organization of resources and equipment/supplies. Secondly they offered to bring Cyrec in as a partner to build a prosthetic clinic. They have partnered with them before on several clinics. Cyrec is out of Bogota , Columbia and is the leading prosthetists in all of South America , seeing 3,000 patients per month. They use computer aided technology to make the prosthetics. They are also heavily invested in teaching locals to eventually run the clinic themselves. I told them that our translators would be very interested in training for the clinic. They also provide skills training (computer, office, etc) for the amputees, support for the families in training how to help the amputee patient, and community outreach/accessibility/education. Edith asked if they could send a team down quickly because she knew of three children who needed prosthetics right away. He said that he could, but they were most interested in building a clinic for the long term, not just a short term fix. We would still run the physical therapy for inpatients and outpatients, but they would handle the amputees only. Josian and Edith were going to take it to the hospital board and then, assuming they said yes, they would have the team from Cyrec come in immediately for a meeting to make definite plans. With Josiann's siblings on the Board, I think it is a done deal.

So, we walk out of that meeting and we are met with Larry, who tells us the whole "Extreme Makeover" deal, and they need three kids under the age of 12 for the taping. How cool is that? Edith and Josiann immediately got on their phones and starting calling; the kids will be here Friday to meet with Eric and the film crew. Brad designed a logo for Global Therapy Group and ordered a huge sign that reads "Grand Opening" with the logos of CTG, HCH, and Rainmakers on it. HOW COOL IS THAT? He will send it with Eric. Plus, the extra coverage that the hospital and GTG will get may help you recruit more therapists! We were totally blown away by God's provision yet again. All the translators said "nothing is impossible with God" and they were high fiving us all over the place!

Amazing! To God be the Glory!

Janean

Greetings from Haiti!

2010-04-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Haiti !

Donna, Joann, Judy, and Elliot left today so Janean and I were on our own. It was not as overwhelming as we feared!! God continues to show us that he is in charge and we are thankful for that!

We spent our day at Haitian Community Hospital seeing both inpatients and outpatients. A lot of the people we saw really just needed encouragement and permission to begin moving / weight-bearing. Janean had great success with a girl who was both injured and emotionally traumatized in the earthquake. The patient is a young teen with a below-knee amputation, an injury on the other leg, and an injured hand. Some therapists from Sweden who saw her in March sent a brace especially labeled with her name with another group from Sweden . A very global connection! The brace helped a lot, and Janean's gentle touch really made a difference with her spirits as well. Janean will be here in Haiti for 2 weeks, so we are hopeful that consistent care and lots of TLC will yield great results.

The patient Donna mentioned last week--the pregnant woman with an amputation--was having contractions today. We are hoping there will be a baby tomorrow for us to hold!

Big news about our clinic. Donna and her team accomplished amazing things last week and we are hoping to complete the task this week. The tarp is now up over the clinic!!! We are looking forward to getting outside where the air moves and seeing patients in the big beautiful space out there. Janean and I are working on a giant banner tonight so outpatients will know where to find us. We are VERY excited!!!

We also made a good contact for potential OP referrals....we met a nurse at church yesterday and she was looking for a place to send people who might need continued therapy. We met some of their team today and they were quite excited to hear there was somewhere to send their patients for follow-up. We even met a PT from Georgia who may come back with our team later this year.

We are excited to see what tomorrow holds and thank all of you for your support and prayers!!

As they say in Haiti , Bondye bon....God is good.

My First Day in Haiti -Janean

2010-04-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hello from Haiti ! Well, it has been a long day, but a good one. We arrived around 11:30am, and the airport experience was CRAZY, but we eventually found our driver, and drove to the hospital. The traffic here is absolutely chaotic; there are no lanes, people are honking their horns and yelling, there are UN trucks going by with guys with machine guns on top, and at the same time, goats, pigs, and dogs wandering the street. There are ladies walking with buckets of water on their heads and lots and lots of rubble and tent cities.

We were oriented at the hospital from 12:30 to around 6:30 pm, and it is quite overwhelming. I am getting all the names of people mixed up, between the patients, the employees, the administrators, and the volunteers. Toward the end of the day I started to feel a little more comfortable, but Monday is going to be interesting in the least, without Donna here. She told me that she already told the administrator that I would go with her to the meeting on Tuesday (with all those important people - the Haitian Minister of Health, the World Health Organization, etc, etc). She thought that I was the obvious choice since I am here for two weeks and so I can go to two meetings.

We have three interpreters who are going to stay with us the whole time. (that' the good news). The bad news is, we have to pay them privately at the end of each week. The hospital had been paying them, but that ended today. Their agreed rate is $4 per day, and they are working Mon-Sat. So, I am expected to pay each of them $24, and then give them a $20 tip, each week. Ky and I will split the costs for all three interpreters. They are pretty important though, and make the work easier. My personal interpreter's name is Alex; the other two are Gibson and Emmanuel.

Donna has already changed the name of our group to "Global Therapy Group" - does that surprise you? :)

I saw two inpatients this afternoon, one of which was the pregnant woman who is an amputee. She has not had her baby yet, but it will be any day. Her stump is much better (not as swollen), and she walked about 100' with a walker today. The other patient will be my special project. Her name is Judilene and she is 15. She has a below the knee amputation on the right, and an ankle injury on the left and a severe wrist injury with a tendon transplant on the left. She was just curled up in the corner not moving and not talking to anyone 4 days ago, and now she is walking about 15' with the walker and moderate assist. She has a long way to go, and she is kind of moody and suspicious of us, but begrudgingly does her therapy if she gets two stickers afterwards to decorate her wheelchair. I'll do my best to win her over. :)

The construction guys put up the center wall of the new outpatient clinic today, and they are putting the tarp (the roof) on tomorrow. They had two largepieces of tarp that needed to be sewn together. There were no needles, so they pounded out a nail and made an eye in the top, and made homemade needles. So we spent the last two hours or so sitting on the top of the hospital roof (that's where they are camping out), sewing by hand this large tarp. We finished and then sealed it with duct tape. The ribbon cutting ceremony is tomorrow, and we open the outpatient clinic on Monday!

Our driver came at 6:30, and it took us about an hour to get up the mountain to the guest house. It is very pretty up here, and cool. The city was very hot today and the hospital didn't have power all day, so we had no fans and no lights. Dinner was very nice; fish, green beans, rice, and a kind of warm potato salad. Then we had about an hour downpour of rain.

I'm pretty tired now; it's 10:10 here, but it's been a very long, but fun day. We have church tomorrow (3 hours long) and then we are going to visit the orphanage, so that should be fun.

Blessings to all!

Janean

Last Day in Haiti

2010-04-11T23:41:00.001-07:00

We said all our goodbyes today and it was so difficult for us and for our new friends!!!

We began the morning by hiring a work crew to clear all the old broken medical machinery, debris, standing water and trash from the concrete pad that will be the floor of our clinic. We went on a treasure hunt throughout the hospital and “procured” a desk, file cabinet, folding chairs and a frame we will drape and use as a screen for patients who must disrobe. All the items are broken in several places and covered with rust but still functional. We placed some brightly colored duct tape in star patterns on things and all the children watching declared “tres belle” (very beautiful.) At least it distracts from the rust. We made a temporary sign and took pictures of ourselves and all those watching and helping today. We will make our official sign tonight. This morning I said, “Now we need to make a sign” and turned around to look for a piece of cardboard. Directly behind me was a four foot tall roll of white vinyl. Just what I needed multiplied by 100. Why a roll of vinyl would be sitting in the doctor’s lounge in the hospital I have no idea. We unrolled a piece 20 feet long and will use black duct tape to make a large sign that says “Physio Therapy” that will hang over our entrance. One of the Haitian helpers told us to just draw a pair of crutches on the sign and the people here will get the idea. They have no idea what Physio Therapy is yet, but we are hoping that will change soon!

Alex our translator came in today, on his one day off, without pay. He said it is because he is so excited about the new clinic and keeps telling us, “Thank you for what you are doing for the people of Haiti .” He told us today he went home and began some of the exercises he had learned this week with his grandmother. It turns out she had a stroke and is paralyzed on the left side. We told him he must have the family bring her in so she can be one of our first patients. He also asked today if we had any books at home that we could bring to him so he can learn the names for the bones and muscles. “I want to learn as much as I can so I take full advantage of the opportunity you have given to me.” He said.

We asked Alex to recruit a few of the children hanging around to hold our sign in our official first picture of the clinic. After we were finished, we asked them if they would like a lollipop. Their answer was,“ We are hungry.” We all cried on our way up to where our backpacks were stored and brought them each several protein bars and a lollipop.

At lunch today we sat outdoors and ate the rice and beans the hospital kitchen provides. We were full after eating half a plate and I kept watching a young boy about 5 hanging around just behind us. I suggested we just leave the paper plates on the cement and walk away and maybe if he was hungry he would come and take it. Instead he followed us, tapped me on the arm and asked in his limited English “For me?” while pointing at the plates. Even at only 5 years old and so hungry, he was respectful enough to not take anything without asking. He fully encapsulates the people we have met this week who daily bring us to tears. We have to keep looking at each other and saying “Don’t start crying or we will never stop.” I just take a deep breath and we move on.

We hugged and kissed on each cheek all our new friends and promised we will return. We will begin making fliers next week and all the young men told us they will start passing them out in the community. “Build it and they will come.” keeps running through my head.” It has begun!

Donna

Day 4 & 5

2010-04-10T23:09:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

The past 2 days have been a whirlwind of planning and activity. Today our construction hero's with Rainmaker raised the frame for our temporary therapy clinic. It was like a barn raising with many of the volunteer Haitian staff at the hospital pulling on ropes and helping to hoist and place beams. I took many pictures and will post when I get home. The men then took some thick metal wire, flattened one end with a hammer, drilled a hole, sharpened the opposite end and made large needles. Talk about inventive! They laid out four huge tarps, duct taped them in some fashion so rain will not leak through, drilled holes through the duct tape and fabric and we have all spent time at the end of the past 2 days with needles and pliers sewing them together. Tomorrow they will cover the structure and begin work on our walkway and ramp. We plan to have an official "ribbon cutting" in the afternoon. (They have some string and orange construction tape so will again improvise!)

I have hired three translators this week and they are so eager to learn and helpful that we have begun to train them as our therapy assistants as well. Gibson is 37 and can read and write English which is a rare skill here. He will be our "intake coordinator" when we open Monday, taking down names, cell numbers (everyone has one here or knows someone who can pass on a message), and take a short history of the person's problem. We will train him to discern who really needs our help and who just has minor complaints of knee or back pain. Emmanuel and Alex are handsome young men in their twenties and have been quick to pick up on our patient teaching. After translating just once the proper way to walk with crutches, Emmanuel began to just tell patients himself to "stand up tall" and "lean on your hands not your armpits." We had our first "staff meeting" yesterday and informed them this would be a long term job for them if they were interested. As there are few jobs available here, they were elated. They hugged and kissed us good-bye today and kept expressing how grateful they were that we had created this clinic for Haiti and this wonderful opportunity for them. We told them we would try and recruit some beautiful younger therapists to come so they would not have to spend all their time with middle-aged women like us. Their eyes lit up and they shyly said that would be fine with them. Men here are so respectful of women and they told us "players" are frowned upon.

When I mentioned yesterday to Brad, one of the Rainmaker men, that I needed to create a website soon he immediately got me online and began looking at domain names. He informed me we needed to come to Happy Hour that evening and we would collectively vote on our new name. The Rainmaker group is "camping" on the hospital roof. Tents, port-a-potty, kitchen set-up and internet access. It was decided we should not limit ourselves by using "Midwest" in the name as we hope to recruit therapists from across the US . So we are now officially the Global Therapy Group.

Annette has not yet had her baby and I am so sad I will have to leave and not be able to hold it. The doctor said yesterday she needs an ultrasound but it costs $15. Most people here make less than $2 a day, if they can find a job. She told us that for her the ultrasound was impossible. Today at breakfast Judy, one of our team who is working with Annette, pulled $15 out of her pocket and said, "She will have it today". We are trying to do what we can, but have learned it needs to be in a quiet way or you will be overrun with requests.Many more stories to tell, but I am too tired to keep my eyes open. Your prayers are keeping me strong but I must sleep.

Our second team arrived today and they are so excited to take over, but I think a bit overwhelmed as we were with the enormity of what we have taken on. I have told them not to think too much. God has just made his plan and the solutions so obvious that all we have to do is put one foot in front of the other and follow along. I don't think they believe me yet, but I am confident He will be as present with them as He has been with us.

Bon Nuit! (Good night)

Donna

Day 3

2010-04-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Day Three was very productive for us!

We met the hospital’s founder and VP today and she expressed that an out-patient rehab clinic needed to be the priority for the hospital at this time. One member of our team had become friends with a volunteer on a construction crew in the hospital doing concrete work. We sought them out this am to ask for advice on construction options for an open air clinic next to the main building. They informed us that they were actually on a fact finding mission and just doing some small projects to keep busy. The hospital was not aware as yet that they were committed to staying for several years and helping the hospital rebuild and grow. When we told them our out-patient rehab clinic plan and they immediately went outside to the site which has a concrete slab, got out their tape measures and walked off the space for the clinic. They will begin building an entrance walkway and tarp roof for us tomorrow. They told us they are having 2 ambulances flown in on Monday and will build benches on one so it can be used to transport patients from the community for us. They want to meet later to discuss plans for a more permanent clinic building they can construct for us.

We met with all the in-house Haitian doctors and they told us they had many patients who had strokes after the earthquake. They had to just send them home as no therapy option existed. The doctors asked if they could contact the patients and have them begin to come 2-3 days a week for therapy. “Give us a day to get a tarp roof up and we’re ready!” we responded.

Our lady with the amputation has still not had her baby, but tells us she feels better being able to walk around now that we have been able to move all of the swelling out of her stump so her prosthesis can fit again.

I still find it unbelievable that 4 days ago we walked into a hospital and asked if they needed any therapy services and now we have an out-patient clinic being constructed. Everything we have needed has just fallen at our feet. Rather than having to make decisions, I feel I am just putting one foot in front of the other each day and God is moving everything into place. It is kind of cool. Keep praying for us. As you can see your prayers have been a powerful force!

Bonswa,

Donna

How did I get here?

2010-04-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Bonswa Everyone,

Today was a very surreal day. We had a meeting in the morning with the director of the hospital and she agreed we were very useful yesterday and should stay and work. (Yeah!). She had a visit, while I was in her office, from a representative of Handicap International. He invited both of us an “organizational meeting” in the afternoon at a hospital by the airport. I agreed to go and at 2:00pm found myself at a large table with the Haitian Secretary of State, the Minister of Health, a rep from the World Health Organization, the head of Handicap International, representatives of rehab groups from Israel, Japan, Belgium, Germany, Sierra Leone and France, the directors of two hospitals and me! I kept thinking, “How did I get here”? Thank goodness we had already decided I was with the “Midwest Therapy Group” so at least I sounded official. When I introduced myself and said we were hoping to partner with HCH to set up an out-patient center for rehab, the eyes of several people at the table lit up. What I learned is that right now everyone is being released from the hospitals and rehab centers into the community but there are no organized services for them to follow up with therapists for injuries, wheelchair fitting or prosthetic fittings. Several representatives wanted my information so they could begin to send patients. One man from Germany told me he has many all terrain wheelchairs he is having shipped from Turkey and wanted an out-patient facility to send them to as they would be most useful for community mobility. It turns out he is the head of the German group that has been at Hope Hospital ! He said they brought one PT with them but could not find any other PT volunteers to come from Germany . I told him we were to work there, but now have established ourselves at HCH. We may end up at both places!

The HCH director was open to setting up a prosthetic follow- up clinic at the hospital and I have a contact in Chicago who has set up clinics in Guatemala . He may be able to do that for us. The director is planning to send out people to the tent cities to find patients with rehab needs and begin to bring them to us at HCH. So we’ve got to get ourselves organized soon!

This has quickly become so much bigger than me or anything my imagination could have contemplated. I think we can do this, but will need more funding and therapy volunteers. I am confident we can organize and have a clinic in place by the time the first three teams are done in April. I need to find a team for April 23 to May 9 so we do not have a gap in services just when we are getting going. Pray for some volunteers for me or send your friends some
e-mails!

Our team’s best moment today was when one of the translators who is working with us told us he was so impressed with how we are interacting with and treating the patients. He said, “You look in their eyes, you touch them, it is so obvious you truly care.” He said the Haitian doctors and nurses do not treat the patients that way. He told us he just wanted to say “Thank you” on behalf of all the people we were helping.

It feels so right and so good to be of service here.

Please keep us and the new Physio Therapy Clinic in your prayers,

Donna

Our First Day

2010-04-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

Bonswa Everyone!

It is 7:00 pm here in Haiti and we just finished dinner and are relaxing after an exciting first day of work.

The Bethel Guest house is as beautiful as I remember with lovely cool breezes blowing through the windows. We were actually cold under our blankets last night with the ceiling fan on! It is a busy place as a group of 50 from a Nashville church mission team are here. They are the first team and will send teams through the summer. The guest house has ramped up services to serve everyone which is wonderful. They have a delicious buffet for breakfast and dinner and we all eat out on a covered patio. Dr. Bernard’s 33 babies/toddlers from his orphanage are housed in the second building and many of the teenagers are playing with and caring for them this week. There is a fridge in the first floor kitchen you are free to use, lots of drinking water available and filling all your empty bottles each am is fine. The showers are nice and hot but remember to bring your own soap.

We had trouble finding our driver at the airport as all the terminals are moved around. (You will now turn to the right to find the cart rental). We are having a large sign made that will say Bethel Guest House for the driver to hold up. When you exit the terminal walk to the edge of the red iron gates and look for the sign. Stay within the gates just to keep it simple. It is not dangerous, but you get too many offers of help if you go out.

The driver will most likely be Arnold . He speaks passable English and is very sweet.

My team had been researching alternative hospital options the week before we arrived. The most promising was the Haitian Community Hospital (HCH) in Petionville. Amazingly, we passed by it on our drive from the airport to the guest house so had the driver stop. We met with the acting medical director (the first was on vacation) and he agreed to allow us to come today and see how things went. It was an interesting meeting in that he kept asking us what group we were with. I had been asked that before by Heart to Heart and others and decided on the spur of the moment that to have some legitimacy we needed a name so we sounded official. Sooooooooo we are now the Midwest Therapy Group or MTG for short! Everyone we met with seemed to like writing that down and then listing our services and teams. We connected up with a group called LEAP that provides volunteers in the hospital for now. Linnea is the leader and was referred to me by the Heart to Heart International director who has an office nearby. The administration is in the process of transitioning from chaos with volunteers back to their old hospital services with paid staff. Linnea has helped to convince them that PT/OT services are needed and since there is no one here to hire, our teams would be good. They found us a corner to work in for today and gave us each a volunteer Haitian translator to help. They are all young men and we so helpful and friendly. We found a few volunteer nurses and doctors who spoke English and told them we were available to take pt’s and they were so thrilled. The hospital has maybe 30 in-pts and then they line up outdoors starting at sunrise and the out-patients funnel in. We saw a 15 year old with a R BKA, fx L shoulder and fx R ankle who had only a week of PT after surgery and had been in bed since. I saw a woman who was a L BKA and had just been fitted with a prosthesis but due to the fact she was pregnant and had no shrinker sock her stump was now too swollen. When I asked her when her baby was due she answered “He is pushing now!” We gave her some compresso-grip and told her we would try tomorrow after the baby was born. (I can’t wait to hold the new little one.) We saw many people who had ankle fx’s but no follow up, so now the ankles were contracted. The smiles on their faces were so wonderful when after some gentle mobilization, teaching ROM/stretch and how to use theraband they saw some movement start in the ankle. They were all afraid they would be like this forever and we so happy to know how to improve things.

We also just walked around and sent our translators around in the morning to just look for people with obvious need. If we just said “Physio Therapy?” and they would follow us. By afternoon they were just sending us people with their X-rays, we’d read them, dx the fx or confirm a healed one, clear our treatment idea with the ortho doc ( CAM boot, ace-wrap) or cast removal, and then run with it. It was fun! They have an entire store room of supplies from around the world and we found just about everything we needed. There is a pharmacy to get them pain meds and we distributed Ibuprofen ourselves to the out-pts and sent them home in rubber gloves as we had no ziplock bags today!

We will meet with the medical director in the am and she is to decide if they will begin an official rehab clinic with us to run it for now. We have offered to train some of the translators to do rehab as they learned so quickly and really acted as assistants today. Everyone we met from lunchtime on said, “You are the PT’s, we need you so badly.” So I am hopeful. The best comment came from a volunteer American construction group who began repair work today. One of our team talked with one man at the end of the day and he said “Oh, you are a therapist? Everyone is talking about you today!”

The hospital is safe with much security around, everyone we met was very friendly and helpful and really worked together with us, it is warm but not uncomfortable, they provide free lunch of rice and beans which was delicious and there are lots of supplies. We could not have asked for something better. I just pray they will allow us to continue to help them.

The most exciting thing today was connecting with a man who is a pilot and Haitian. He and his son came to volunteer and translate at the hospital. He found a 17 year old girl who had been there for a month and has a genetic dx that they do not know how to treat. The nurses told him she will die soon. He found out she has a mother and sister in Miami and arranged to have her sister and boyfriend have her dc’d from the hospital. He asked for our help to transport her the back of his Subaru SUV and he planned to drive her to the ER at the airport hospital and felt that hospital would most likely airlift her to Miami as she has family there. She is so weak and her heartrate skyrocketed when we just tried to sit her up. A w/c ride was out of the question so we found a backboard in the storeroom, hand carried the IV and did a 4 man lift out the doors, over broken rebar and holes in the concrete down a ramp and into cargo space in the SUV. Her sister and boyfriend had tears in their eyes they were so thankful and kept blessing us. It was quite an end to our first day.

I’ll keep you posted. Pray for us in the morning!

Donna