Clinic at the Beach

Today a Med-Peds resident and I ran a clinic on the rocky but beautiful beachfront of Gressier, where the resort complex and just about every other building has been leveled. We saw nearly 40 patients and had some more waiting but then a very sick febrile incoherent young man was brought over in a rush, and we gave him a shot of antibiotics, then packed up and rushed him to the Doctor's Without Borders (MSF) hospital, unfortunately not having seen everyone waiting to see us today.

Last night we examined an 11-yr-old Haitian girl with a long-standing heart valve problem who was brought to us from the countryside by some of the Mennonites here. For the last 2 weeks her breathing was getting worse and her legs were swelling up. When we saw her she was breathing 40x/minute and her heart rate was 140, and she couldn't even walk on her own due to her weakness. We gave her some Lasix and loaded her into the Mennonite pickup and brought her into the MSF hospital. I got to carry her in and give report to the Haitian doctor on night shift. She was terrified.

From 2010-02-22

From 2010-02-22

They took care of her overnight but we heard today that she died mid-day today. Apparently she never diuresed, so she was quite far along in congestive heart failure when we saw her, and she probably needed dialysis and heart surgery, which was just not possible here right now. It's so sad so many people are perishing here because they have such horrible access to medical care. I'm glad we're able to improve that somewhat for the time being, but the long-term task in Haiti before the world is overwhelming.

Another strong 4.7 aftershock jolted us all awake this morning at 1:26am, and many couldn't get back to sleep. Today in clinic there were several young men seeking care for numerous symptoms of anxiety and stress. Most people are pretty shaken up by these recent tremors, and I don't blame them. Alot of people in "stable" houses are sleeping outside now for fear of another earthquake. I wonder how long the people will live in this fear. Basically 99% of them sleep outside, even the few that have no significant damage to their homes (rare). The air is stifling from all the burning plastic trash in the streets and the rubble dust and congested traffic. I've been advising lots of people with respiratory irritation to use a mask or handkerchief. At least they don't smoke (because they can't afford it).

This afternoon I represented Heart To Heart at the Leogane UN OCHA (Organization for Coordination of Humanitarian Aid) Health Cluster Meeting. (This was the first place I really ran into cigarette smoke, ironically.) It was interesting and very useful to see the latest health care efforts around town and learn better where to send which patients where. Also we are trying to coordinate efforts to provide as much medical care to the surrounding population as possible. Heart To Heart is planning to have a permanent presence of medical volunteer care here and in Port-au-Prince, which is really needed here, especially as alot of international hospitals/groups have already pulled out. I pray Haiti will continue to have the attention of the world, for they will need so much help for so long.