4/7/10 - Team 11, Day 6

Update from John Morrow, MD:

It is Wednesday and the first half of the week has flown by. When we arrived, there was a large dome tent that had just been set up and was full of supplies. It is now a functioning hospital with a 26 patient census. Multiple orthopedic cases have been done and there are some patients that have been admitted and waiting for their procedures. There are several recent automobile injuries that are being treated.

Our first day of clinic, a staff member of Mission of Hope was involved in a major accident, fracturing her femur, tibia, and wrist. She was resuscitated and taken to the OR by a truly talented surgical team. Diana Adams is the OR nurse, her husband, Dr. Adams, along with Dr. Chardack are the surgeons, and Dr. Aaron Ali is the anesthesiologist. They have worked tirelessly all week. The work they are doing is not only very technical, but in this environment , very physical. There are some very tough post earthquake related cases that are surfacing.

The work here by Mission of Hope is major to say the least. One example – they have a generator that powers this entire facility which makes a large portion of this work possible. Laurens van der Mark is in the site manager and is basically in charge of the physical plant. You will just have to come here to see what all this organization is capable of doing on 70 acres on the side of a rocky hill in Haiti.

There has been much said about the hymns and songs of the Haitian Christians. They sing at the beginning of clinic and we all have to wipe our tears away each and every morning. Through their song, they are teaching us a lot about developing a relationship with God.

Picture: View of the ward on the walk down from the guest house. The clinic is on the other side below.

First prosthetic patient & new ward

Picture #1: Dr. Chase Brown and our first prosthetic patient

Picture #2: New ward

4/5/10 - Team 11, Day 4

Update from Jennifer Kinman:

Ward has 15 patients in house. 3 are pre-op rest waiting for surgery. Dr. Adams doesn't think we can take any more patients this week..at least not until we get through these cases. 4 tough ortho cases today. "Broken man" (he was the bilateral upper extremitiy fractures, external fixators on his lower extremities, and critically low blood count) was transferred to Miami in error. He will come here tomorrow. 4 cases posted already some from today and some teed up by Rosie (Ortho Resident from team 11) and stayed at CAM (clinic down the road from MOH). 2 patients came for prosthetics clinic today. Lovely transhumeral that we have blogged about before and Malene a below the knee amputation. Both very sweet women. Brad Johnson(owner and operator of MOH) is back & thrilled about the lab. We cleaned it up really well and Chase Brown, prothetists, started on Malene's leg. She will come back Wednesday & stay until Friday.

I got to drive the ambulance today as we went up & down the hill for supplies. I also visited the circus tent. What a disaster. Tomorrow Sever, Max & I will tour ALL of the supply nooks & crannies. Dr. Hong saw a patient in clinic with nausea & vomiting...ultrasounded her & she is pregnant. He was so excited to have ultrasound & eager for the tech from Canada to set up the protocols.

Big case today was an employee of Brad & Vanessa in a bad motorcycle accident on her way to work. I dont have the specific injuries, I think mid femur & tibia fracture, but need to confirm. Powerful for Dr. Cheryl & Vanessa to pray over this woman who is a huge part of their families. Most cases we are doing are a result of the earthquake...needing external fixators removed & better fixation. 120 pts seen in clinic today. Lots of the same stuff..malaria, scabies, diarrhea. Wound care very busy & she is placing some vacs this week...please to to find someone...also talking more with Cheryl tomorrow at LEAP...they will probably be able to cover that need.

4/4/10 - Team 11, Days 1-3

Updates from Jennifer Kinman:

Friday, 4/2/10- Spent the day cleaning out the ward half of hoop barn. It is awesome but supplies are unorganized. Unfortunately when they moved them from the school they didn't totally keep order. We will be busy in there this week. Going to use the wire racks to separate the ward from supply hall.

Got to tour the clinic. It closed yesterday at noon, but had a head laceration arrive at the front gate today. Dr. Gueramy, Dr. Haas and Dr. Curtis got him all stitched up.

Tomorrow they will go to General to evaluate a bilateral femur fracture patient. Possible surgery tomorrow if he is medically stable.

We washed down the donated hospital beds & mattresses with soap & water then bleach. Half of the beds left to go tomorrow. The kids (MOH staff kids) piling up the mattresses & playing trampoline.

Saturday, 4/3/10- Dr. Morrow, Dr. Adams & team are stuck in Miami. Got lots done on the new supply ward & we are almost ready for our patients to arrive tomorrow. Bilat femur fracture surgery scheduled tomorrow.

Sunday, 4/4/10- Very good day...all of our team arrived. Ward is beautiful...OR sterilized. Problem with anesthesia machine, only works with small O2 bottles. We have connected with Miami to get more o2 & hopefully biomed. I went to town with Dr. Gueramy, Dr. Haas, Seema (Journalist) & Vance (Photographer). A guy with 2 femur fractures also has bilateral upper extremitiy fractures is coming tomorrow. Probably have to amputate..hand not salvageable. He had crit 15. Hgb 5.5 so getting blood before they transfer him. Found delightful femur fracture patient with external fixature on femur needing fixation....from the earthquake at Miami. Seema interviewed her with Miami ortho doc. He was fantastic & one of his partners is coming April 10. If we could round up OR staff & anesthesia we definitely have surgery week (and use all those team nurses)....very good possibility. Miami surgery said there is plenty of work. 4 surgeries scheduled tomorrow...all 4 spending the night. One guy is a femur fx...walked into miami.

Picture: Dr. Gueramy negotiating with UN- they were trying to bring us 5 patients in ambulance. Our clinic was closed & we didn't have our nurses yet.

Team 10 Final Update

Update from Ann Soo, MD:

Today is Good Friday and the clinic is closed. We spent the day moving out medical supplies from the school to the tent barn and hoop barn to help prepare the school to re-open. It was physically exhausting, however it had been raining recently and so the weather is cooler. It was as if God knew we needed some relief from the heat. Re-opening the school is vital in Haiti. Education is the best way for Haiti to break their poverty cycle. Mission of Hope schools 1200 children and education is their best hope for a better life.

There is a a rugged road that leads from Port au Prince to Mission of Hope. Along the road, there is a mass burial ground where more than 200,000 bodies are buried. Near the top of the burial site, a large cross has been built. If you stand near the cross and turn around, there is a a beautiful sweeping scenic view of the beach. It is quite eerie when you first walk on the site but in a strange way peaceful.

Sometimes I wonder why great tragedies happen in life. The earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan 12th brought devastation on top of a country that was already struggling. The people of Haiti need love, compassion and hope during their season of suffering. If you feel led to come here, this experience will stretch your faith and deepen your compassion. As we celebrate Easter this weekend, just remember God can do amazing things from tragedy – just look what He did at Calvary.

PS- Ortho clinic needs C-arm paper, pediatric crutches, and emla cream.

Medical clinic would like IV Zofran, IV benadryl, muscle relaxants (SOMA, flexeril, or robaxin), migraine medications (imitrex, relpax, or zomig), azithromycin, otoscopes with extra ear speculums, and Elimite for scabies.

Team 11 making their way to Haiti

This is a big Haiti Team, maybe our biggest yet. Here is the list of names and specialites who are traveling down today and tomorrow. Our prosthetics lab and clinic will open on Monday.

Orthopedic surgeon: Bradley Adams, DO, Austin: Texas Ortho
Orthopedic surgeon: Michael Chardack, MD, Trauma center, Salt Lake City, UT
Anesthesia: Aaron Ali, MD, Austin: Capital Anesthesia
Family Practice: Dr. John Morrow, Austin: ARC
Rehab/wound care: Dr. Jean Deleon, Dallas: Baylor

OR RN: Diana Adams, RN, Austin: NW Surg Center
ER RN: Jean Nations, RN, Austin: SNW
Wound/Rehab RN: Adora Lucius, RN, Dallas: Baylor
Pedi RN Elizabeth Stephens, Austin: Dell Children’s

Prosthetist: Chase Brown, San Antonio: MK Prosthetics & Orthotics
Prosthetist: Mark Kirchner, San Antonio: MK Prosthetics & Orthotics

Journalist: Seema Mathur, Austin
Photographer: Vance Holmes, Austin

Paramedic 1: Curtis Rhodes , Oklahoma (2nd trip to MOH)

Supply/Aid: Max Chardack

Prosthetics Admin: Jennifer Kinman, Austin: Texas Ortho

We have the privilege of having 3 of our Austin Medical Relief for Haiti leadership doctors joining us for the weekend, helping kick off the prosthetics week among other tasks!

Orthopedic surgeon: Tim Gueramy, MD, Austin: Medical Park Ortho
FP: Tracey Haas, DO, Austin: ARC
Anesthesia: Will Curtis, MD, Austin: Austin Anesthesia

Our team will be joined on the ground by medical staff with Mercy Ships:

Radiologist serving in general medicine capacity: Kuhn Hong, MD-Mercy Ships
ER RN: Kelly Belley, RN
ICU RN: Debbie Coons, RN
med/surg RN: Beth Studenroth, RN
med/surg RN: Joyce Wright, RN
Paramedic: Brenda Sine
PT: Helen Day

Team 10 update/Smider & Job update

Update from Ann Soo, MD:

These clinic days are busy. Lot of patients getting IVF's. Seeing typhoid, malaria, GI and respiratory bugs, headaches, asthma, HTN off meds, STD's, newly diagnosed HIV and suspected Tb. All the pregnant patients I've seen have not had any prenatal care at all and many patients have never seen a doctor before. The Haitian people are resilient, grateful and proud. Many come into the clinic nicely dressed just to see us. For the majority of them, Mission of Hope is their only chance to receive much needed care and medications. Praise God for his ongoing compassion and love.
We had a chance to visit a homeless shelter and an orphanage outside of Mission of Hope yesterday. The living conditions at the homeless shelter was atrocious. The kids in the orphanages are living in tents. They appeared somewhat happy playing with each other and did not appear emaciated. Today after clinic, some of us went to Port au Prince on a tour. There is so much devastation and work to be done. Tent cities everywhere. Poverty and chaos. Much more help and many more prayers are needed for Haiti.
Team 10 is great - the doctors, nurses, PT's and paramedics. We just work so well together. It's wonderful to be around each other and supporting each other. It's amazing to see how God selects people with different skills, backgrounds and experiences and places them together to serve. Many have been on numerous medical mission trips before and their stories are truly inspiring!

Update on Job and Smider from Ashely Hurt:

I saw both boys today and they look wonderful. Such improvements in a day and a half. Smider has gained almost and ounce and a half in one day. he was 6lbs 7oz when he arrived. He had his first encounter with a mirror and have a full on coversation with himself. So cute! He's rolling over from back to belly and very alert and active. All boy.

Job went and had his eye cleaned out and repacked today. While sedated they cleaned his teeth and he has a gorgeous white smile! They must have also cleaned off a lot of his scabs cause he was looking much more handsome. They did a scrapping of his good eye and found two infections. No wonder the grafts didn't take. He's on heavy duty anitbiotics and they suspect a full recovery. He marvels at all the lights and surroundings here in America. He such a sweet boy. I'll be sitting with him tomorrow for a couple hours till lunch time. I'll have more pictures of the boys then.

Picture #1: Smider

Picture #2: Job at Dell Childrens