Muddy waters

These five hard-working women are some of our most valued employees.  Ordinary you would find them cooking, cleaning or washing something.  They are the reason that visitors remark about how impeccable the clinic looks. 

But this past week they had other things on their minds - their homes had been flooded by the spring rains.   With the cholera bacteria loose in the land, we and they were justifiably worried that they sanitize their houses properly,  As our administrator Killy (right) emailed us "the clinic decided to donate some items to them in order to help them in their process of recovering the organization of their houses where all stuffs are spoiled with dirty water. Laundry soaps to wash their clothes&sheets, and hand soap liquids that can be used to wash many other stuffs were donated to those employees this morning before they started to work. Those items were donated to VC by either Direct Relief International(hand soap liquid) or by Doctors of the World Belgium(laundry soap) to which we are addressing our sincere thanks."

Their response?  Many smiles and Janitor Yvana Louse was translated as saying, ''This is an excellent gesture to us that proves how much Visitation Clinic cares about its employees welfare, and I'm proud to have been working here since the opening''  

Can't fool the rain

There is a Haitian proverb that a leaky roof can fool the sun, but it can't fool the rain.  It means, of course, that there is a big difference between looking good and actually being effective.  Well, this is the rainy season in Haiti and yesterday the storms were heavy and flooding occurred.  In most communities people have to fend for themselves in times like this.  But our staff at Visitation Clinic don't think that their concerns stop at the clinic's boundaries and they have once again demonstrated how effective they are.   Here is the email and photos that our administrator just sent: 

The rain of yesterday afternoon caused lots of flooding in Petite Riviere de Nippes, mostly in Dupuy I and II, Charlier and Laguimond near the Clinic. 7 families near the cemetery are the most vulnerable and need emergency response to decontaminate their house since water from the cemetery go down to their house and may cause disease.
Dr JF and I just met with some members of a Civil Protection Crew of PRDN and discussed about what can be done quickly for the 7 families most affected(see attached) and how Visitation Clinic can help them with the disinfecting of their houses.

In my intervention I defined a quick action plan that can be implemented:

1- Set up a representative core committee between them to meet with leaders or institutions for help
2- Draining the water from families victims near the cemetery ( talking to the company Vorb&Fils for help with their bulldozers)
3- Set up an executive crew for the decontamination process with chlorine and cleaning in removing mud from the families house.
4- Proceed with the decontamination(disinfecting) and cleaning before the families can use the houses.

Help from Visitation Clinic:
- Donation a big bucket of chlorine
- Donation of 3 big sprays for pulverization

And the children keep coming

This week we are again hosting a team of pediatric surgeons from Maryland and California who have years of experience working in developing countries.  Even though Visitation Clinic doesn't yet have an operating room, the group was previously so impressed by our clinic and staff, that they wanted to use us for everything except the actual surgery.  This includes patient screening, lab work, pre-op meetings with the children and parents, and post-op follow up. 

Many of the children require ambulatory surgery for a variety of issues including umbilical hernias, hydroceles and undescended testis.  In the US, these conditions are common and are treated before children are a year old.   But in
Haiti, its a different story and we have a list of over sixty children who need help.
Right now, we are actively planning on adding a surgery and other hospital facilities.   You can help us write a new story for rural Haiti by donating here.

Deserving

Why do so many volunteers who visit our clinic want to return as soon as they can?   For instance, this week we have a group of surgeons who first visited clinic two months ago.  Even though they had to raise the funds for travel and supplies, and even though they have to commute for an hour or two to use the operating room in an overcrowded hospital, they wanted to stay at Visitation Clinic.  Moreover, they wanted to focus on our region's children who have a long-deferred need for surgery.  So the children are making the commute too. 

Well, part of the answer is simple enough.  Visitors quickly see how deserving and endearing are the young people who live in our part of rural Haiti.  For instance, if they need care,  they and their families will come to our clinic early, dressed in the their cleanest clothes, and wait patiently for hours to be seen.  This photo is a candid picture taken during a recent pediatric dental mission.  There were so many children that morning, that were probably quietly waiting for hours when this picture was taken.  Later on, we figured out a way to pass out tickets so that they knew when to come back.  After all, kids like this deserve a break, and we, and our volunteer visitors, are trying our best to see that they get it.

After hours

It's hard to describe to people in the US how much difference a well-run clinic can make in the lives of families in Haiti.  In so many rural areas of Haiti, medical care is hours away.  And late in the day, or on weekends, most clinics are locked and help may not be available at all.   At Visitation Clinic it's not unusual to see scenes like this.  Even though it is after normal hours, when these worried parents arrived with their daughter, our staff re-opened the clinic to help. 

It's also notable, and not unusual at all, that both parents have journeyed with their child to get help.  Parents in Haiti will do anything for their children and they work hard trying to earn the money to pay for school tuition, food, or health care.  They know that Haiti is changing.  They see it in the quick spread of cell-phones, motorbikes, the new road, and in Visitation Clinic.  We've been open for over four years now and the community, which has seen other groups come and go, seems to have a new confidence and they are daring to dream of a better live for their kids.  You can help make this dream continue by donating here.       

Video Now Online

We've just posted a high resolution video that pictorially tells the story of Visitation Clinic.   You can see it by clicking here or copy the following into your browser address line:  http://s833.photobucket.com/albums/zz251/artfj1/?action=view&current=PS2011_FinalLghtC.mp4