For the last few weeks we've been deep in a dark dungeon known as a computer trying to do some data mining on tens of thousands of patient records. We wanted to see if we could show whether Visitation Clinic was making a difference in the overall health of our patients. This can be difficult to ascertain because most people don't come to the clinic unless they are not well. So we came up with the following scheme. We looked over the past three years to see what were the top dozen diagnoses and whether they were changing or not. What we saw is most encouraging. Some of the most common diseases are trending down. A few dramatically so. For instance, the anemia rate is down by 50%, IGU (urinary track infection) is down by more than 50% and malaria has decreased by 90%.
There is actually another piece of important news in this chart. And that is that we have it. Visitation Clinic is unusual in that we not only aspire to provide good care. But we are also committed to putting in place the tools that let us measure how good a job we are doing. The clinic's records are acquired on a solar powered, networked computer system that we can access remotely and we can monitor daily. This is incredibly important. These days smart donors want to know two things: first that there is a need, second that we will be effective. The need in rural Haiti is undeniable. We think we have just as compelling a case for our effectiveness.
On any given day, a wide variety of people come to our clinic's doors. About the only thing that is predictable is that there will be a good number of children. This is especially true on Tuesdays when we offer free vacinations. Even parents who are poor and cannot read or write know the importance of this. For instance this little girl is about five, and her only previous visit was when she was one and came for her shots. Even today, she was just accompanying her mother for her little brother's vaccination. She was happy until we asked her name, but this made her afraid that she would get a shot too and she wouldn't tell us. So we were calling her Moppet because she was fascinated by the mop and rolling bucket; perhaps never seeing one before. When we 
found out her real name, it was surprisingly appropriate. Her last name is Cherubin. Her exact age is unkown, because like many of the poor, there is no record of her actual birthday. Not that she isn't cared for. Her clean dress and carefully corn-rowed hair speak to that. And her mother's smile was radiant when we showed her these photos. But you can tell when children come from the poorer homes - she was barefoot, small for her age and didn't have any plastic barrets in her hair. So even though she will never have a birthday party, we can help her have a healthy and happy life. Is there anyone who deserves it more, or less?
