Interns

This summer our clinic is honored to host a couple interns, one from Vanderbilt University, the other from Cornell.   Each will be working on a different project related to health care in the region that we serve.   Here is a email from Magdalena, who was born in Haiti:

Today I had an opportunity to go to clinic and meet all the staff and to see
the rooms. It is a busy day at the clinic. I was only 8:30 when there were
already 101 patients waiting to be seen, so everyone is working hard. Wish I
was a doctor already and could help, but alas not quite there yet.

Heather, the intern from Cornell and I visited the market today; lots of
good memories returned to me, especially of the tasty fruits. The people are
very friendly and the view of the mountains and the sea here is splendid!
Looks like this is going to a wonderful summer here.

Be blessed,

Magdalena

Marketday in Petite Rivierre

The Secret

Want to know the secret to success?   First you have to realize that it isn't that secret.  A Haitian farmer knows it as "Piti, piti, wazo fe, nich li".  Japanese call it "Kaizen".  US businesses talk about "continuous improvement".  Sports coaches quote Bill Riley "If you are not getting better, you're getting worse".   Even Ben Franklin expressed it - "Without continual growth, words like success ... have no meaning."   Still it's good to see concrete examples.  Today's email from our administrator brought one:  

"Being concerned about reducing as much as possible the load on the energy power of the clinic, I had discussed with the logistic tech of MSPP ... in order to see how we can change the system of the vaccine refrigerator to propane gas, and that MSPP would provide us those gas. The negotiations and agreement are successful, and last weekend the logistic tech came to change the system of the refrigerator .  ...  Ever since the load of the refrigerator was out of the energy system, the electricity stayed longer and never cut off until now."

Steps like this are the reason we have a reliable supply of vaccines for children.   It will probably also reduce our energy bills, because we have to generate all of our own electricity at the clinic.  And it's just one example of how our staff work to try to constantly make thing better.  

By the way, the Haitian proverb above can be translated as "Little, by little, the bird builds it's nest." 

Healing Hearts

Today's email is great example of how technology can have a big impact on medical care in rural Haiti.  These are echo-cardiograms of one of our young patients who might need heart surgery.  Our doctors picked up on the problem using time-proven techniques of just listening to childrens' hearts.  The next step was getting these "Echos"  which today were  scanned into our computer at the clinic and emailed to the US using our satellite Internet system.   We've sent them to a pediatric doctor at Johns Hopkins University, and she will be conferring with some cardiac specialists to help decide the best treatment.  When that step is complete, we will begin the process of getting visas and agreements to get the children to the US for surgery.  Meanwhile, its great to see the first steps going as they should.  None of this would likely have happened before the clinic was built.  

More Red Flowers

It's not hard to look around the waiting room at Visitation Clinic and see the special bond between mothers and children.  Invariably small children will be sitting or lying on their mother's lap.  If the children are older, they might be sitting next to their mothers.  But certainly not running around the clinic or  getting into something that they shouldn't.  All it usually takes is that special look from a mother to make a child sit more still and or wait more quietly to be seen by a doctor.  

  

In Haiti Mother's Day will be the last Sunday in May and Haitians have a special way of honoring their mothers - wear a single flower all day.  It will be red if their mother is still alive, and white if she has passed on.  You can help us bring more red flowers to Haiti on Mother's Day.  Just give your own mother, wife or daughter a special pack of flower seeds.  Details are here.  

How far?

Where do our patients come from?  Actually, the answer is surprising.  For several reasons.  Perhaps the biggest surprise is that we actually know the answer, in detail.  This is because Visitation Clinic is unusual in Haiti in that we maintain a computer-based medical record system.  Not only does it store most of our patient records, but we can access it from the US and quickly look for emerging issues, as well as long-term trends.  For instance, we can create maps like the own shown here which portrays how many patients came from which towns and villages in the month of April 2012.  Furthermore we can analyze this data quantitativly and ask questions like what is the average distance that our patients live from the clinic?  (Answer:  4.9 miles).  Or, within what distance does 90% of our patients live?  (10  miles).    s

Facing surgery

Why do these kids look so solemn?  Well, I wonder how you would feel if you've just been through a bunch of lab tests at the clinic you're familiar with, but now you find yourself at a crowded hospital in a nearby city.  You had to ride in the back of truck or motor bike to get here, which was exciting, but now they've dressed you up funny and are going to stick you with a needle and then you will feel really strange and confused, but you can still see and hear.  Then they will put you on a bed and roll you into a big room where a group of people with masks on are going to fix that bump on your stomach that you always wanted not to be there.  Then they want you smile for a camera?   Forget it. 

Four step dental program

Want to get an entire dental clinic to Haiti?  It's really quite easy and only requires a few simple steps.   Shown here is: Step 2, Acquire equipment, Step 3.  Box it up.  Step 4.  Ship it.   Now, perhaps the perceptive reader will note that Step 1 was omitted.  That is because it requires a bit more time and effort and the description "easy" no longer quite fits.   It is listed below. 

Step 1.  Raise the funds to pay for everything.