Personnel Perspective...

~July 26,2012~

Hello, all you readers and supporters, I’m glad you have visited this blog once again.  

It means you are interested in the work or the people here in Haiti!  Thank you for caring and praying for us, we need it desperately!  The work here is God’s work, and as His children there is nothing we can do but serve Him, for it is our calling and our joy to bring Him glory!

I have been asked to share with you one of my days.  Today was very busy, so you get to follow me as I do the things that come to hand.  Remember, not all our days are quite this busy, thankfully, but it is a good representation of the norm.  

I went to clinic this morning at 8:45 and signed in.  I work in the pharmacy, helping to keep things flowing in giving out medications, keeping an eye on the amounts used and the availability of the medicine, restocking, and the most important job of a pharmacist- double checking prescriptions.  I really enjoy my work in the pharmacy, I like working with pills and figuring dosages, and working with just a couple of people.  I still struggle to understand everything a Haitian says, unless I know the person, so talking mostly with my fellow pharmacists suits me just fine.  

When a dossier or prescription comes in, Zita, Madam Lege, and I all help collect the meds and count the right amount into little bags.  We often are working on several at the same time, or else we would be bored stiff.  After that, I take the meds, double check then with the prescription, and mark the bags or bottles with the name of the drug, the number of pills to be taken at a time, and the number of times a day.

We keep things as simple as possible, because most of the people have very little education and get confused quickly.  Something as simple as putting four dots on the bag, separated as far as possible and explained to mean one pill four times a day can be messed up.  They will repeat back to you- “Take one in the morning, one at noon, one in the evening and one the next morning!”  And then you have to explain it all over again, “No, one in the morning, one at noon, one in the afternoon, and one at night.”  It is amusing sometimes, and discouraging other times, because you have to wonder just how many people actually take their medicine the right way.

Sometimes if Breanna is busy and I am not, I will do a bandage job.  I did the lady this morning that had her ear cut almost off by falling on a rock, we sewed her up last night.  I wanted to see how it looked, and praise the Lord, I think it will heal!  I also help Michael with the blood pressure rendezvous; we have a program for people with high blood pressure.  They have to return on set days, and we evaluate, and continue or change the meds they are taking.  Again, a lot of the time, confusion reigns.  The reasons for not taking meds the way we told them are so varied!  It is typical to have between 3-8 rendezvous a day.  Also, at various and sundry times I need to go to the house to get more meds, or milk for a baby or more bandaging supplies.

We finished up clinic around one, and after lunch Anita, Breanna, Nate, and I had a conference to decide what to do with the baby that came in with pneumonia.  Anita had it on oxygen, and it was doing fine like that, but we were going to run out of oxygen in the morning.  So we decided the wisest thing to do was to take the baby out to the Leogane hospital right away, and save some of our oxygen in case of another emergency.  

They got going around 3pm, and I did things around the house till a girl came to the gate with blood running down the back of her head.  I took her to clinic and cleaned up the gash made from her hitting her head on a rock, and then I had to put three stitches in.  As all the stitching sets were used, I then rounded up all the instruments and cleaned and packaged them so we could sterilize.  It is a long job, but I enjoy matching the different kinds of instruments up to best fulfill the requirements.

  

Well, it is now late, and time for me to head to bed.  I hope you have enjoyed the day, and have a better idea of what life is like here.  We NEED your prayers and support, all day every day!  The Lord bless you all, 

Virginia Rudolph

 

Another baby on oxygen...

Last week was a very busy time... we had enough cases come in that I didn't post all at the same time and consequently missed some!

Here is one such case- you remember the baby that needed to be on oxygen last week? That baby was released fairly soon after coming, but not 12 hours later, another baby came in the same condition; however, this one was only 4 months old, and it's o2 sat was down in the 50's... it's lungs were filled with mucus-like substance and it was barely alive. The mother was so concerned... I came in to see them that afternoon, the baby- its face covered with the oxygen mask, tubes running from it's little body, struggling for life; the mother- who's face was streaked with tears as she looked lovingly down at her child, praying softly.

Our supply of oxygen was fading rapidly, so we decided to take the baby out to the hospital in Leogonne. 

They waited in the "hospital room" as we assessed the child's condition.

As the hours ticked by we realized we wouldn't have enough oxygen to support the baby.

Anita took very careful note of the baby's condition as we waited...

There was quite a bit left in the oxygen tank, 

but not enough for the extended treatment the baby needed.

Dear little one...

Mother and child...

Before we left, Anita visited with the mother about our plans to go to the hospital.

We left soon after.

We drove one of our little machines out to Ti Guave, where we met Pastor Levy at his shop.

He gave us a full sized vehicle to take the rest of the way.

However, we had to wait for him as he got there.

Mother and child, waiting...

After Levy arrived and gave us the vehicle, we raced to Leogonne.

The hospital is on the right, behind a white, steel wall.

The baby was admitted immediately and last we heard it had recovered very well.

Praise the Lord!

A poor elderly lady who fell...

One case that came in this last week was a certain elderly lady who fell and almost cut her ear off on a rock. We're not sure why she fell and she doesn't remember what happened (she had a possible concussion). One way or another, she woke up in her house with her ear nearly cut off.

(Warning for those of you with weak stomachs... this is pretty yuck...)

The poor old lady was somewhat confused, but very brave.

Virginia did the preliminary cleaning and sterilizing.

This is probably the first good look at how bad her ear really was.

Another half inch and it would have been completely off!

Administering lidocaine before the operation... 

Anita did the stitching this time around. 

There were three places to be stitched:

The front of the ear, the back of the ear and a place on her skull behind the ear.

Here's the cut on her skull, behind the ear.

I was simply amazed when they were all finished;

who would have thought you could put an ear back on!

I wonder if this kind of ministry is very dear to the heart of God...

Since Jesus did some ear-healing in His time on the earth!! :)

Anita explains the medications to the lady's caregivers as they gather around to listen.

The lady has come back several times since then and is healing up very well!!

Mèt Claudener's little girl...

Several (or maybe even many) of you would remember our neighbor, Mèt Claudener. He and his wife live right in front of the mission and have four children- all boys :)

His wife came into the clinic the other day in labor. The nurses weren't expecting any complications, but everyone was hoping the baby would be a little girl. Both parents have wanted a little girl for a few years and were waiting in anticipation for this baby to arrive.

When the baby was born, the nurses called out that it was a girl! Claudener would hardly believe them :) They were so happy. He just sat there, holding the baby on his lap, looking at it...

Usually Haitians don't name their children right away, but they didn't miss a beat- they named her Lydia right on the spot. I suppose they've been thinking about having a girl for some time :)

Breanna, dressing little Lydia.

Husband and wife, proud parents of a little girl now :)

Claudener sat, staring at his little girl...

Of course, we can't forget the happy nurses that assisted in the delivery!

We all decided that Lydia was one of the cutest Haitian babies born at the clinic...

Another foot guy...

Well, I forgot to post this story earlier on this week, but better late than never, right?

For those of you that of a more squeamish constitution, I regret to tell you that we will, once again, delve into the realms of yuckiness :) Some of these cases are (admittedly) not for the faint of heart! But don't feel bad if you can't stomach it- I couldn't even watch an IV get put in when I first came here...

This man came in saying his foot was hurt. Asking him about it, he said a rock fall on it 10 days prior, and he "knew" it was getting bad because it began "leaking water" :-/

By the time he made it to the clinic it was severely infected and the flesh was beginning to rot... not pretty!

Here's the foot before any operation. 

You can the the large bubble of fluid on top- that's where everything was rotting...

Anita began by cleaning it off and relieving the infected area of pressure.

At first she tried using a syringe to remove the fluid.

After that failed to remove all of it she took a scalpel out...

Yes, it was disgusting and it smelled really bad...

She removed all the rotten flesh and proceeded to clean it out...

The operation was taking a long enough time they decided to move him onto the operation table.

It's easier on the back that way...

Here it is, all cleaned up! A nice sized crater left, eh?

The nurses packed it and wrapped it and told him to come back the next day for a checkup.

So, he went on home, all bandaged up and on the road to recovery.

It would have been nice if he would have come earlier- then the damage wouldn't have been so substantial... but oh well. Many Haitians know very little about infections and hygiene, so it's no wonder things this severe are so common. 

A little one in need of oxygen

Finally! A break from the nasty, yucky and bloody cases that almost always come in!

Yesterday a father brought his little 11 month-old baby to the clinic. It was wheezing, coughing and had a fever of 103 degrees. They checked out its o2 sat... it was in the low 70's! They immediately put it on oxygen and gave it some glucose and milk. It hadn't eaten or drank anything since the day before. Even before that, we could tell it was badly malnourished.

Baby and father, waiting for recovery...

The poor little baby was in such bad shape at first. The nurses were worried it might not pull out of it.

But within a few hours they could see a marked difference! 

The recovery went so well they actually were able to release the little one the next morning!

Pig-bit...

I've heard of "hen-pecked" but what do you do with someone that's been "pig-bit"? :)

Apparently this guy was in market, hanging around the pig pens when one of the swine must've taken offense to his presence. It lashed out, lacerating this calf-muscle and making a mess of it. He came limping into the clinic in the late morning, needing stitches...

By the time I came into the clinic with the camera they had already propped him up and were beginning to clean the wound.

 Here he is...

 And there is the gash... It was about 3 1/2 inches long- not very deep though, thankfully!

 Anita, numbing the area before stitching.

He doesn't look too impressed, does he?

He was actually a very good patient!

 Anita began by closing the wound with 3-4 stitches, widely separated.

The observers/audience.

 More local anesthesia was needed at one point...

After Anita stitched the first few sutures Breanna finished it up.

It was her first "official" stitch job! 

Great work!

The man has been come back at least once for a checkup. 

Everything seems to be progressing well and healing up!