Some everyday scenes from the clinic...

Anita doing consultations in her room.

Mis Joceline also doing consultations in her room. 

Zita (Madam Jon Marc) helps out in the pharmacy.

The waiting room :) 

A lesson in jumping- look before you leap...

It was promising to be a nice, relaxed Saturday evening with supper being finished and the dishes washed. We were about to settle down into a time of fellowship when we heard the distinct sound of tapping at the gate. The sun had just disappeared behind the mountain, still radiating and we could see several men outside. Someone went out to see what they needed and was handed a note. It was from Mis Leida, one of the Haitian nurses, saying that one of the men had a bad cut on his foot and she didn't have the supplies to stitch it up at her place. So Anita and Breanna headed out to address the problem- so much for the relaxed evening :)

When they got the man into the clinic and unwrapped his bandaged foot they found what had been described in the note. Anita asked him a few questions and the story began to come out...

Ah, yes, yet another incident involving a machete and a young man- this time the "victim" was apparently climbing around in a tree, working on something, when he dropped his machete. So far, so good. Whether by accident or on purpose, I don't know, but he dropped it down to the ground. What happened next, one can only speculate on the how and why of it all, but the results were plain enough: he jumped out of the tree, landing on his tool and thus gashing his foot open.

 

A pretty slice, don't you think?

Thankfully it wasn't too deep- mostly through the callus and only a little into the muscle layers.

The cut had dirt in it, so they had to take time to painstakingly remove it, bit by bit.

Hopefully next time he'll look before he leaps.

Finishing the sterilization process. 

Breanna prepped the lidocain for injection.

Lidocain is a local anesthetic used to numb the wound before stitching.

The first two stitches are in...

Now for the rest!

A total of 16 stitches; through all that callus!

Once they were all in, it was wrapped up and he was sent home!

***

After cleaning up the mess, we returned to our "relaxing" 

evening for about a half hour, then went to bed :)

This is life in Haiti, when you have a medical clinic... :)

A lady taken out to town...

A lady came into the clinic the other day with severe pain in her stomach. 

We were not able to definitively diagnose her condition, so she was taken out to the hospital in town. 

We think it might have been some sort of abdominal infection.

Thankfully Grandpa was planning on going out that day anyway, so we sent her with him.

The patient, walking out to the machine. 

We placed her in the front with Grandpa, where she could ride in more comfort than just in the back. 

 Her caretaker (in the red, white and blue stripped shirt) rode along too.

Before they left Michael prayed for their trip and her recovery.

Here's an earful...

As I walked into the clinic today I was called into Michael's exam room for an interesting look at something...

When I entered, Michael was bent over a lady's ear, peering inside with his otoscope. I asked what the problem with her was and he motioned to some gauze sitting on his table. I shuddered as I looked at the objects scattered upon it- they were the body pieces of a good sized roach! 

The pieces of the insect...

He continued to dig around, cleaning out more and more antenna, legs and chunks of bug.

After a long time of cleaning, washing and more picking around it was all out!

The last thing to do was wash it out with peroxide; this cleaned off the residual remains of the lady's own home remedy she tried to use before coming to the clinic...

Urine.

Some scrapes and complicated labor...

This young man was walking down the mountainside and stepped on a loose rock-

The resulting fall and injuries merited 3 stitches and multiple bandages!

He seemed grateful enough for the medical aid :)

Some lacerations on his leg.

As the young man was getting patched back up a lady came on a stretcher.

At first they could not figure out what was wrong with her, 

except that she was expecting her first child and was going into labor.

As they examined her more thoroughly they realized the baby probably had some serious defects.

They rushed her to the hospital in Ti Guave where she was transported to Leogane.

We have yet to hear how things went there...

Be careful when "picking" your fellow workers...

Yes, you guessed it- another incident with a pick!

This time two brothers were working in their family garden. The older of the two was working with a pick and the younger was working the ground with his hands. In the process of time, the older lost control of his pick, sending it sailing through the air and right into the hand of his younger brother!

They came to the clinic in the afternoon with their story and the younger one's bleeding hand. Their mother was notified of the incident and rushed back from wherever she was working.

Seems like during this season (with so many gardens being worked) there are a lot more incidents such as this!

Caught him right between the fingers!

Michael needed to open up the puncture wound in order to stop bleeding and clean it out.

The surgical kit providing several instruments he used.

The actual opening of the puncture wound wasn't all that big-

but it was deep and packed with dirt.

After making a larger incision, he pulled the skin back...

Cleaning it out was tedious work.

After removing the larger pieces of debris, water was used to flush it all out.

After all was said and done, the bleeding stopped and Michael was able to stitch him back up!

Such is life at the Aleg Medical Clinic!

A rule of thumb...

This phrase has it's origins in old tradition, going as far back as ancient Persian culture (though in Persian, literally translated, it was "finger's tip rule") and is found in old English writings dating back to 1685... yet it still holds much meaning in our modern-day speech.

It's typically used to describe a principle- one that has wide application that's easy to understand and learn. 

In our case today, you could say that "Prevention is the best kind of cure" would have been the "rule of thumb" for our little patient...

The boy had come in the other week with an infection in his thumb.

It was treated and he was told to return in a few days.

Unfortunately he didn't return for a followup appointment...

So today, when he DID come back, his thumb had become swollen and the infection was spreading to the rest of his hand.

Michael found it necessary to cut away the dead and dying tissue surrounding the infection...

When he did, the whole thumbnail just pulled right out; it was not the prettiest sight!!

And there it is. 

Now that the dead tissue is gone it should heal up.

Hopefully next time he'll come in when he's supposed to! 

"Prevention is the best kind of cure"