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