Olympic prep?

On any given day, there is no predicting how many patients will come to Visitation Clinic for help.  Neither can we foretell who the patients will be, or how far they will travel, or what their needs will be.  So our staff is accustomed to the unexpected.  But this past week, we were all surprised to receive a particularly unusual patient with an fractured wrist.  The patient was our own medical director, Dr. JF.  Everyone who knows him recognizes that he is probably the most risk adverse person in VHF.  He is known for his safe driving, for his promotion of preventative medicine and educating the staff and patients about reducing risk and exposure to disease.  And how did he sustain his injury?  Playing football (i.e. soccer).   Now this was not the normal pick-up game of football that one sees all over Haiti on any sized parcel of land, street or alley.  No, this was on our own field with a group of local youths that Dr. JF works with and coaches.  Since formal coaching is rare is rural Haiti, the fact that there is the making of a local team is, in fact, just one more example of how Visitation Clinic is improving life in our area of Haiti. 

Nonetheless, the injury did require surgery this past weekend, and we understand that the procedure was successful.  So we send Dr. JF our condolences and well wishes for a speedy recovery.   And we can't help envisioning a future Haiti where serious disease and other injuries have diminished to such an extent that our major concern will be the occassional sports injury.  Perhaps we can even dream of a future Olympics held in Haiti, centered around Visitation Clinic which has become known as the the thereupitic sports center of the Carribean.  When this time comes, we do hope that everyone will remember that Dr. JF paved the way, even if it wasn't necessarily in the manner that he planned.