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Repairs |
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Loading |
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The Team |
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Dr Elysse Edmond and Dr Penina Edmond on the line |
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At the dispensary |
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The end of the day |
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Unpacking |
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The doctors at the end of a long day. |
a report from team member Dr. Elysee Edmond, M.D.
March 17, 2012 The second mobile clinic at the village of Jouanau
We left Croix-des-Bouquets around 8 45 AM and we get there at 9:30 AM .I was very concern about the road because we are in the rainy season in Haiti and I wanted to used our SantéBus yellow bus. I have chosen to go back to Joaneau for two reasons: first Joaneau is the place that I
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The Team en route |
would like to have our SantéBus Base in Haiti and because my brother Dr Bonnet was planning to be there with me. I wanted him to see and to experience what I used to tell him about that needy place. We went with two cars our SantéBus one and another that we get from one of the most famous leaders of Joaneau. The road was bumpy, fill of water floured somewhere.
First, we unloaded everything from our cars, we installed two tents outside the church and we placed the pharmacy inside the church. We went faster with the good help of our friend and brother Dr Jean- Paul. We got three doctors Dr Elysee Edmond my wife Dr Penina Edmond and for the first Dr Jean-Paul Bonnet, three medical students Dr Mompremier, Dr Gloria both of them are in their last year in the medical school and Dr Ruth who is in the second year of medical school, a nurse Marie Andre and two helpers from the church Past Ricardo and Marcellin.
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| Dr Mompremier |
The three doctors plus one of the medical students were seeing patients under the tents and the rest of the team worked in the pharmacy. The two helpers helped to organize everything like calling patients make sure that patients got a number etc. We were so much happy to wear our SantéBus T-shirts and used our new blood pressure machine, blood sugar machine and other stuff that Dr Bonnet has brought for us.
There were about 500 hundred people waiting for us. This time we had the most common leaders in this community ready to be seeing by doctors. Fortunately we were prepared for that we brought more medications and more doctors, because we learned from the first mobile clinic. We had a lot of kids, Moms with 4 to seven kids; dad with one to two kids some old people in the waiting area.
We started seeing patients around 10 Am. We saw the patients and we shared the Gospel with them because the plan is not only to help the patients with their body but also their soul. This is why I had in my team Christian people only. Dr Bonnet asked a lot questions about the community, I guest he found many answers of his questions about this community. Dr Bonnet went to see the land that three leaders from this community are willing to sell us. I guest Dr Jean Paul got some pictures of that land. We are still in the process to buy that land. The plan is to build a clinic, a school some houses. We planned also to promote the agriculture system in this area.
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Dr Jean-Paul, Dr Elysee |
As soon as the doctors finished seeing patients around 5:30 PM, they went to the pharmacy to help because the team members from the pharmacy could not keep up with the flow of patients that the doctors were sending to them.
We brought different type of medications like antibiotics, vitamins, pain medicine, fungal and antibiotic creams, cough medicine, worm medicine, iron, eyes and ear drops, pedialyte, and Gerber, skin lotion for fungual, scabies etc, hypertension medication, antacids, iron, diabetes medicine and Aqua tab for the water.
As I told you before there is absolutely no medical center to see patients and to delivers babies. There are many kids in each family. You can see in the pictures a lot of woman with many kids. I met a lady of 30 years old who got 8 kids, a lady of 20 years with 5 kids .You can see in the pictures the type of houses they live. Those people experience large post-partum complications. The ones who deliver babies do not have any medical education so they cannot face the very common post partum complications. They have many kids, without a job or money to get food or send them to school. Malnutrition is therefore very common among of a big population of non-educated people. Vaccination is a big concern .Water is also a big concern. The water they use to drink is the same they use to wash their clothes and bath. This water is not clean at all it is a big source of a large variety of infections. The kids and adolescent (from 0 to 16) represent 50 percent the youths (16 to 40) represent 30 percent and the adult and very old people represent 20 percent of the population. They don’t have shoes and clothes. Take a look at the pictures.
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A little patient |
The agriculture system is not developed enough with poor infrastructure due to a lack of agriculture instruments. Polyculture is common, like rice, plantain on very small parcel of land. The water drainage system is not exist, on rainy season or rainy day the road is totally non accessible and the water get into every single house .Since the houses they live are not strong some of them disappear after or during the rainy season. There is only one church and one school in the village of Joaneau and some other churches and school with very poor infrastructure. The environnement is extremely vulnerable. Most of the people do their needs on the ground during the rainy seasons everything is drain to the small river (canal).
The most common diseases that we saw were :Lower and upper respiratory infection , gastro-intestinal diseases , malnutrition ,scabies, diarrhea , impetigo, fungal infection ,hypertension, cataract , visual problem, UTI, Vaginal infection, infection with tinea capitis, Malaria, typhoid, gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcer, Hernia and Hydrocele, worms, teeth problems ,this time we saw many arthritis and chronic conjunctivitis. We left the place it as already 7 PM .We were very happy because we served this time every single people. We realized we saw more than 500 patients at the end of the day. Our SantéBus is in bad shape because of the road. The front door is blocked and broken at the bottom because it has been hit by a big rock. Anyway I will send it back to the garage.
This time, this mobile clinic gets a large positive impact in the population. Everybody is happy. They are waiting for us to buy the land and build the clinic and the school. I hope we will find enough financial support to buy the land as soon as possible. I heard the Haitian Government plans to remodel the Joaneau road. We will need also to have very strong cars for our mobile clinic like the white Toyota Lancruiser or a Defender. Those are very strong cars that we can go anywhere with. That was a blessing for us to be able to help the poor. The ones that cannot help us back. I hope that our Lord Jesus will help us find enough support to keep having more and more mobile clinic everywhere in Haiti.. |
