Haiti medical relief: reuniting!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

reuniting!

Over the past week we've seen two kids reunited with their parents. Both of the kids received excellent care onboard the USNS Comfort ship. They came to us for post-op care.

This first little guy had a rough first week with us. He has a femur fracture and his whole leg is in a cast. One night, he started saying there were bugs under his cast. Within a few minutes, he was screaming and was inconsolable and had to be held down by many people and given some sedative medications so his cast could be cut off. Our orthopedic physician assistant Kevin put on a new cast, and then "bi-valved" it (cut all the way down both sides) so that the cast could be removed if he got scared again. Kevin then wrapped the whole bi-valved cast in Ace wraps to keep it in place. This whole arrangement worked out really well. Over the coming days, this little guy would ask to have his cast removed once or twice a day. We would put him on a bed or table, carefully removed the cast, and let him gently touch his leg, apply lotion to his leg, and just see that everything was okay.

In the meantime, several people were working on finding his dad. Lisa Hojara took him out into Port au Prince to see if he would recognize anything. Eventually, Lisa and Ryan, one of our nurses, took him to one of the Haitian TV stations. They interviewed him and aired the interview that night. The next day, his dad walked into Heartline Hospital. The smile on this boy's face was indescribable. His dad's smile was just as wide. Dad told me he hadn't seen his son in about a month. Watching dad interact with his son was very very cool.

The second child reunited with her family is a 9 year old girl with a severe pelvis fracture. Her dad was with her during her first days on the ship, but he then needed to leave and go back to work. He hadn't been back to the ship since that time. She hadn't seen her dad in several weeks, and hadn't seen her mom for longer than that. She is from an area about a 3 hour drive from Port au Prince. We didn't have phone numbers for anyone in the family, but we did have names and addresses. We were planning to wait a week to see if her dad came to see her, and if not, we were going to try to find her family.

Because of the severity of her fracture, this little gal needs to be "non weight bearing" (she's not allowed to walk) for the next couple weeks so her pelvis can heal. She's got a ton of energy and wants to walk very badly...we are constantly reminding her to stay in her bed!!

A few days ago, as I walked through the hospital, this little gal called over to me repeatedly, trying to get my attention. I was busy so it took me awhile to get to her. Once I got there, she gave me a huge smile and said "This is my mom!!" Her mom had gone to the onshore contact place for the Comfort looking for her daughter, and they'd directed her to us. Another very happy reunion.

(mom on the right and her daughter in the middle)

(the 2 girls on the left were patients together on the Comfort and now patients together at Heartline; the girl on the right is the sister of one of our other patients)

4 comments:

terri said...: jen, these stories and pics are great! it's so obvious that you know all of your patients and are sensitive to their needs. i can't imagine how terrified that little boy must have been, and it's amazing that he found himself in a place where someone would care about his fear and respond in ways that were comforting to him. thank you for that. it matters.; 8:00 PM
Stephen said...: Hi Jen! I've been a Woodland Hills "podrishioner" for a few years and heard about the remarkable Kingdom work you guys have been up to in Haiti

I work with a non-profit called A Child's Right (achildsright.org). We seek to provide clean water to hospitals, schools, orphanages, etc. We will be installing 15 long-term water purification systems in Haiti over the next few months. I will be traveling down this week to do some preliminary scouting and would LOVE to connect with you prior / during the trip. I thought you might be aware of some good spots for our systems.

Would you contact me so we can conspire towards hope and mercy? My email address is stephenwmjones@gmail.com.

Bless you, Jen!; 9:41 PM
di said...: WOW! thank you, Jen.; 5:19 PM
Sarah D said...: Beautiful! Thanks for taking time to post--these little windows into your world mean so much to us in the States! :); 1:36 AM

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what I'm doing

I first traveled to Haiti in 1998. For the next 10 years, I visited Haiti once or twice a year, working with various organizations but mainly with Providence Ministries. I finished pediatric residency in June 2007 and spent 9 months volunteering as a pediatrician in Haiti from Sept 2007 through May 2008, then started fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine. I finished fellowship in mid-2011 then started an attending job. My state-side home is in Minnesota.

While in Haiti in 2007-08, I worked at a medical clinic in La Digue, a small village about 30 miles north of Port au Prince. We saw children with conditions common in the developing world, such as malnutrition, malaria and parasites, as well as conditions common in children all over the world, like respiratory and gastrointestinal infections.

Five days after the earthquake in January 2010 I joined a medical relief team at Heartline Field Hospital in Port au Prince. I initially planned to stay 6 weeks but ended up staying for about 5 months total throughout the year, traveling back and forth multiple times in 2010 while running the field hospital. I have had the privilege of providing medical care for some of the strongest, bravest people I've ever met.

In 2011 and beyond my medical work in Haiti has continued, first by responding to the cholera epidemic, then in other areas as needs have arisen. I continue to work with several different organizations in Haiti including Heartline Ministries. I spent over 4 months in Haiti in 2011 and I'm looking forward to several more months in-country coming up in 2012.