Hopital Ste. Croix

Friends,
We are both back in Haiti and hard at work. After being home in the luxury of the USA, it’s a bit of an adjustment. I flew in on Wednesday, but went back to Port au Prince on Thursday to try to find phones and internet. I found out that a store will only sell one SIM card (It makes a phone work and gives you your number) to a person. So I had to go to two stores to get two phones. Then when I wanted to buy an internet cell phone modem so we could have internet connections here at the hospital, I learned that the cell phone modems that plug into your USB slot do not work with Windows 7. Since that is what new computers come with, and we have new computers, we can’t use them. The store sent me to a competitor of theirs that has a modem that works with Windows 7, but when I got there and they found out that I live in Leogane, they couldn’t help me because they don’t have service in Leogane. This is standard operating procedures in Haiti, and an example of why things are so hard to do here.
But all is not lost. The hospital is working hard also. There are 8-10 Cuban doctors working in the hospital along with some of our Haitian doctors. They are competent. We are referring all surgical cases to Doctors without Borders, who are working in the field behind the hospital. Our doctors are working in 3 tents and in the Hospital chapel. One tent is doing tetanus vaccinations, the chapel is seeing pediatric patients, and the other two tents are seeing the rest of the patients. We are seeing about 200 patients a day, but with no long lines, because the patients are spread out around the yard. Our pharmacy is open and passing out drugs. We are running low on some drugs, but expect to get some this afternoon.
The area has plenty of trauma care. Besides the Dr without Borders hospital behind HSC, there is another 50 bed hospital over at the nursing school across town. And there is a group of Canadians with a small field hospital about halfway in between. Most of the broken bones have been casted and most of the stitching up has been done. The town of Leogane has never had so much medical care! Our needs for the long term are going to continue, however. Haiti has an enormous problem with high blood pressure and gastric problems. Mothers continue to have babies, and babies continue to get sick. Plus there will be a huge need for artificial limbs and physical therapy.
John and I are working on re-establishing a guesthouse for visiting groups of doctors. Perhaps we can find some PT and prosthetic folks to come and do some work. We have taken over the former nurses lounge. It has a kitchen area, a pantry area, a large gathering room, and a bathroom. Right next door is a divided ward where we think we can put 12 beds with another bathroom. Our ‘house’ will be two private rooms (think small) with a connecting bath that is across the hall from the dormitory. Then there is an open area where we have some salvaged living room furniture that everyone can share. It won’t be like the former guesthouse, but will suffice. The entire area doesn’t have water or power yet, but maybe in a couple of weeks, we could be operational. So start looking around for your friends to come for their Caribbean vacation, Haitian style.