Yesterday Jake, Alex, and I went to check out Heartline Ministries. They're a pretty remarkable organization. Beth and John came her about 20 years ago (twenty years and five months, to be exact) with their small children to work in a home for children. Over the years they've organized a women's sewing cooperative, a woman's program for prenatal care and deliveries, and a few other programs. After the earthquake, they turned one of their buildings into a makeshift hospital for wound care, dressing changes, and basic medical care. Patients who needed surgery were triaged and sent to Miami Hospital (the one by the airport) or another hospital, and then brought back for post-op care. They're in the process of closing the hospital, with the hopes of getting the remaining patients out by the end of the month. But someday they might build a clinic, and they're also working on a guest house.
Words cannot express the environment that we found. We pretty much dropped by, minimally announced, and introduced ourselves around. We were welcomed immediately! Shortly after we got there a little boy arrived. He was about a year old, and had fallen into a boiling pot of rice and beans. His mom was too distraught to do anything, so a neighbor carried the screaming child into the hospital. The nurses gave him a shot of toradol and some children's tylenol #3 and we talked about burn management. As we cleaned off the toothpaste that the locals had applied and started getting a full look, we noticed that he had big blisters on his scrotum and another blister over the tip of his penis. Yikes! They called Miami Hospital, who was closed earlier this week for a fire, and they recommended taking him to a new burn center at Delmas 31. Off he went with a PA to accompany him!
I did get to talking with some of the nurse volunteers at the hospital. I get so much good energy from talking to inspired young people! One woman, Laura, has years of experience as an EMT and came to Haiti after the earthquake as a fresh-nursing grad. She's now applying for jobs "stateside" and really isn't sure what she'll do. I told her stories about working with Shoulder to Shoulder in Honduras and observing health promoters in Guatemala. (I saw them sew tendon repairs, remove toe nails, perform blood smears to diagnose and treat malaria, and the list goes on.) She was fascinated by the concept of health promoters and community empowerment and may even consider applying to Concern America. We talked extensively about the concepts in Helping Health Workers Learn and the other publications from the Hesperian Foundation. Before you know it, I was writing down websites for a small crowd of people.
Then I got to see some of the prenatal group. They had about 30 women come in. Every woman got her vitals checked, and then sat down to complete meal... eggs, a protein shake, rice and beans, and some other bits. Some of the women got pulled to have their hemoglobin and urine checked and their belly's measured, and then went back to continue eating. They had a class on the birth process, using a you-tube video to show and teach anatomy, with a discussion of mucus plugs, water breaking, etc. It was quite a complete lecture. After class they'll have tetanus shots (tetanus shots given twice during pregnancy give passive immunity to the baby, so if mom delivers in a hut somewhere and the umbilical cord is cut with a dirty knife, it will less likely get tetanus), and then head out with their vitamins for the week. What a well-organized program! It's run by Beth and one of her former midwifery instructors (whose name I forget).
On my way back, I spoke with John about his decision to move his family and children to Haiti. He said, "I feel fortunate to have been able to live here. It's a great place to raise children." What a powerful statement! He and Beth lived here through the embargo! They've been here, present, working with their Haitian community for 20+ years. Their ministry has grown and flourished, but I think I'm most impressed by their attitude, their gratitude for the opportunity. I promised to come back and hang out when I have some more free time.
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