Haiti Feb 1-3, 2015
The Blue Sky surgical team left Philadelphia early on Sunday morning. Most of our team is from Philly. Our flights through Miami were uneventful. A few bags got left in Miami, but everything else made it, and we got through customs and out of the airport relatively easily.
We are working at Double Harvest Mission which is in Croix des Bouquets, outside of Port au Prince. The compound has a fish farm, a school, and a clinic staffed by a local Haitian doctor. There are two well-equipped ORs which are only used by visiting US teams. I have been here before with another team, and this team has been here several times in the past as well. Our living quarters are above the OR and clinic areas and are quite comfortable. We hire local Haitian women to be our cooks for the week.
Our team has two general surgeons, a pediatric surgeon and a surgical PA, lots of nurses and surgical techs, two CRNAs, another anesthesiologist and myself, a biomedical technician, and several support/logistics people.
After we arrived on Sunday, we unpacked our bags, set up the OR, had dinner and a meeting to discuss the daily plan. Monday we did 13 surgical procedures and the surgeons also saw patients in clinic. One OR was the pediatric room with 5 cases, one an adult room with 5 cases, and a small procedure room where we did 3 cases that didn’t need anesthesia. Our logistics and biomed people were able to fix the sterilizer and are working on fixing two anesthesia machines.
We were done with our OR cases late afternoon on Monday, so some of us took a walk around the compound. There are several small villages surrounding Double Harvest. Between the dirt roads, the fields, the animals, the motorcycles rushing by and the neighborhood children who walked with us it was an entertaining walk!
There were reports of strikes by the Tap Taps (colorful local taxis) and some other issues in Port au Prince. This didn’t affect us directly, but several patients could not get to us, we couldn’t retrieve our bags from the airport and Double Harvest is waiting for someone to come fix an air conditioner but the person couldn’t get to us.
We have already had some favorite Haitian foods: beans and rice with a sauce and mangos among others.
The team is already working well together and having fun! Many people work together at home or have worked together here before, and it shows.
The sun rises around 6:15, and we have an amazing view off of the porch at the end of our sleeping area. In the mornings you can hear the cows and the roosters; it reminds me so much of my first trip to Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake.
Around 6:45 each morning, Double Harvest has a short worship service for the staff and anyone else. The singing is joyous and accompanied by an accordion. Although we can’t understand most of the spoken part, it is nice to participate.
Our day was good yesterday. We had another 14 surgical cases, for a total of 27 so far. We were able to set up a third OR so that we can use three on Wednesday. We expect to be busy!
It is great to sit and talk with others and compare thoughts, stories and ideas.
The Blue Sky surgical team left Philadelphia early on Sunday morning. Most of our team is from Philly. Our flights through Miami were uneventful. A few bags got left in Miami, but everything else made it, and we got through customs and out of the airport relatively easily.
We are working at Double Harvest Mission which is in Croix des Bouquets, outside of Port au Prince. The compound has a fish farm, a school, and a clinic staffed by a local Haitian doctor. There are two well-equipped ORs which are only used by visiting US teams. I have been here before with another team, and this team has been here several times in the past as well. Our living quarters are above the OR and clinic areas and are quite comfortable. We hire local Haitian women to be our cooks for the week.
Our team has two general surgeons, a pediatric surgeon and a surgical PA, lots of nurses and surgical techs, two CRNAs, another anesthesiologist and myself, a biomedical technician, and several support/logistics people.
After we arrived on Sunday, we unpacked our bags, set up the OR, had dinner and a meeting to discuss the daily plan. Monday we did 13 surgical procedures and the surgeons also saw patients in clinic. One OR was the pediatric room with 5 cases, one an adult room with 5 cases, and a small procedure room where we did 3 cases that didn’t need anesthesia. Our logistics and biomed people were able to fix the sterilizer and are working on fixing two anesthesia machines.
We were done with our OR cases late afternoon on Monday, so some of us took a walk around the compound. There are several small villages surrounding Double Harvest. Between the dirt roads, the fields, the animals, the motorcycles rushing by and the neighborhood children who walked with us it was an entertaining walk!
There were reports of strikes by the Tap Taps (colorful local taxis) and some other issues in Port au Prince. This didn’t affect us directly, but several patients could not get to us, we couldn’t retrieve our bags from the airport and Double Harvest is waiting for someone to come fix an air conditioner but the person couldn’t get to us.
We have already had some favorite Haitian foods: beans and rice with a sauce and mangos among others.
The team is already working well together and having fun! Many people work together at home or have worked together here before, and it shows.
The sun rises around 6:15, and we have an amazing view off of the porch at the end of our sleeping area. In the mornings you can hear the cows and the roosters; it reminds me so much of my first trip to Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake.
Around 6:45 each morning, Double Harvest has a short worship service for the staff and anyone else. The singing is joyous and accompanied by an accordion. Although we can’t understand most of the spoken part, it is nice to participate.
Our day was good yesterday. We had another 14 surgical cases, for a total of 27 so far. We were able to set up a third OR so that we can use three on Wednesday. We expect to be busy!
It is great to sit and talk with others and compare thoughts, stories and ideas.
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