Tag Archives: Les Cayes

The Haitian Donkey’s Hectic Life

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Hi All:
As most of you know, I like being busy, don’t do all that well sitting around. However, maybe it has been a bit crazy even for me. Trying to get everything done before we went was all done rapid fire, trying to clear up the workload of patients at Georgetown Medical Center before my departure. Our friends at TSA, Charlie and Mike, again were gracious and helped us go through the search and destroy part of leaving Grand Rapids without a speed bump. However, the rest of the trip was a bit rougher. The only flight available (I am blaming the snowbirds going back to the sunny south after the holidays) had only a 47 minute layover in Charlotte, NC, a rather spread out airport.  We were delayed in GR for 1/2 hour as the deicing crews were short handed, so landed in Charlotte pretty much with the need to move quickly so we hiked to our new gate with a few minutes to spare, but were told that, due to weather, cloud cover or some explanation offered, our landing spot in Miami was delayed 30 minutes. We were to meet our nurse practitioner friend in Miami, as she flew in from Chicago. She spent a couple of years overseas in Africa, with us, so was experienced in overseas travel, but we had no way to tell Jean Eddy and Dudu whom to look for nor let her know who would be taking her on her way, if we didn’t arrive. We landed in Miami only 1/2 hour late, but then they had nobody who knew how to work the jetbridge, so we sat for 40 minutes, watching the time slide by. When they finally let us out of the plane, we had 2 minutes before the gate would close for the Port au Prince flight. I am ever so thankful for the fact that I am gaining some strength as I gain some weight, [I have some jowls where I had sunken cheeks 3 months ago when I started chemotherapy again, etc.] but my legs would hardly go fast enough, despite me willing them to find a higher gear.
We got to the gate a few minutes late, as they were about to close the door. As it turned out, there were about 60 folks, including 2 teams of 25, who were on our Charlotte to Miami flight and so we waited for another 20 minutes for them. Then the door wouldn’t close so we waiting another 40 minutes for maintenance to fix that. Most of the people were frustrated, while Butch and I were rejoicing as we figured this would allow our luggage to catch up with us, which, thankfully, did occur. I found Tabitha snoozing soon after we got on board, as she had been waiting ages for departure. We landed in Port, got our luggage and were able to get on the road to the hospital without further difficulty.
By the time we arrived, the rest of the crew were sound asleep, but they had left us some rice and fish, so we feasted on that and went to bed. As the Wray’s expected team did not make it, our team was able to go to Renault and participate in the Sunday School program with them. I was tempted to go as I enjoy it and can connect up with the Wrays and many Haitian friends there, but felt I should stay, as my TPN was still running due to our late arrival and would need to be disconnected and that likely would not be the best place to do this. Within 2 minutes after they left, Dr. Morose, one of my younger doctors, came to find me as a teenage girl had been hit by a bus and was brought in to see us. We placed 2 large lines and poured the fluids into her; got xrays and saw she had broken both legs just below the hip, very nasty, unstable fractures where one can lose several units of blood in each thigh. Since we no longer allowed by the government to type and cross blood, we have to get it from the Red Cross in Cayes, usually a minimum of 4 hours, undoubtedly worse on Sunday morning, where you have to go to the lab tech’s house and bring her to the Red Cross before starting the process. Thus we were unable to save the poor girl, definitely a discouragement with such a young patient in dire straits.
The rest of the next 2 days have been productive, though the pace leaves the Haitian Donkey quite breathless. We met with the German folks who have helped us for several years with the Poor Fund and we are scrambling to get things together for them to possibly help us with funding our doctors in the residency, as they are interested in funding things that will be an investment in the future. Certainly this would qualify. Monday morning, Dr. William and Dr. Adulte were still with us, so we ran both ORs most of the day and got a good jump on the surgical load. However, at noon, Dr. William’s contact at the government hospital told him the hospital he was assigned to would not respect the rules of the Department of Health and were starting their own residency on Monday. Thus we sent him off to do his best to get into the residency, as he is the ONLY non public school trained doctor and will get his share of grief from these arrogant, rich kids, the only people who get into the public medical school. All the poor kids with potential go to the private schools, all run by mission organizations and definitely discriminated against by the public system. I have not yet heard what transpired, pray hard for Dr. William, that he will be able to keep his spirits up and be able to do the residency as planned. 
There is a ton of unrest in the country, with the opposition party burning cars and election places in preparation for the election to be held next Sunday, the 24th. We have set up some contingency plans for Dan and the German couple to leave at 2 in the morning tonight and I have talked to Jean Eddy for our departure on Saturday am, as we will leave at 1 am and if there is trouble, have him hide out with our truck at a safe place until the riots calm down. There certainly does not seem to be a lot of reasonable thinking going on here at times, as we wreck the little we do have with little hope of improving anything in our living situation. The Haitian gourde continues to plummet in value and this only fuels the tempers of unrest among the millions of unemployed Haitians.

Thanks for your prayers and support of the Haitian Donkey and his friends, Brianna, Butch, Dan, Dave, Marge, Paul, Tabitha, Teri, and Tia.

A Cool Michigan Reception

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Hi All:

We had a pretty uneventful trip back home after a great, eventful week in Haiti. We got up at 1:30 and left a bit after 2 am, despite Dr. William thinking we could go at 3 as our plane left at 10:21 for Miami and it would usually take 4 hours at that time of the day, as there are few crazy drivers/people other than ourselves, so he figured a 7 or so arrival would be decent. However, I am notoriously a slow driver in somewhat less than perfect conditions, and potholes, uneven pavement and a large number of vehicles without tail lights, a significant number without headlights travelling in the dark adds to the challenges of navigating a vehicle in Haiti with innumerable obstacles to safety. Using signals is purely an optional suggestion, assuming, of course that they even exist or work. Add to that the couple hundred speed bumps (the raised bumps added to slow down the crazy drivers) and the tens of “dos d’ane”s that are strategically placed to wipe out unsuspecting vehicles with a dip in the road placed to further inhibit speed, one has no need of speed traps for myself. These dips, called after my relative, the Haitian Donkey’s back, the dip that the poor creatures have due to the chronically large burdens they carry, are often at an angle to the road direction, so one wheel drops and, while it is coming out of the planned dip, the other front wheel drops and one can really lose control of whatever already careens down the road at an angle due to being piled high with goods (and a person or so braving the trees while riding way on top). We saw a bus that lost control and ran off the road last week, killing all 45 people inside as well as the people in the house it blew through, a grisly sight.

Duane, who would leave at midnight if he could further avoid the traffic on the road, and I decided 2 am would be less likely to cause us ulcers in fearing a late arrival at the airport, and we were thankful we did. Even at that time of the morning, there were an unusually large number of private vehicles, plus quite a few fuel tankers and other heavy trucks out, presumably as they had been blocked by the riots/demonstrations all week and wanted to take advantage of getting somewhere before others had similar ideas and would try to stop them. Even the market in Port au Prince was already quite active, including the wheelbarrows hauling 3 or 4 skinned pigs to the sales, where they would be chopped with a machete into however many grams of meat you would desire, including the bone chips produced during the cutting process in the price, of course. So, we were very happy to arrive at the airport at 6:45 am and just check in almost the first in line. We had 4 suitcases of materials for the women’s center, as this Haitian Donkey doubles as a hauler of the embroidered materials and other handiwork back to the States for churches to spread out for donations back to keep the center financially solvent. Duane had put the power washer part in his carry on and was rejected by security, but otherwise we had a great trip back home, even switching out the part in Miami and putting it in one of our suitcases (which had already been checked when he was sent back from the Haitian version of TSA, so he checked his carry on to Miami and we corrected things after immigration in Miami, as Duane and Ruth stayed in Florida a few days to visit grandchildren). As our flights went through Philadelphia, we avoided the still troublesome Chicago area in our travels and were thankful to the Lord that He had caused me to use a new flight course (not an option in the past with American, but it is a hub for US Airways). The old route was too short a layover for a group to risk in Miami, so I opted to choose getting home at midnight instead of the alternatives. Everyone but myself welcomed the air conditioned American Airlines lounge temperatures on our arrival in Port, most everyone joined my opinion when we received a cool welcome at 45 degrees in Grand Rapids.

Our Friday was busy but profitable. I ended up doing a complication from our sister hospital, a patient I had seen and treated a couple years ago, then had further surgery there a couple weeks ago and now decided to visit me again to correct the abdominal hematoma from the latest surgery. I drained the large blood collection, washed it out and left most of the wound wide open and pray that she will do well postop. The young man with the possible poison that Mike and I admitted on Thursday with presumed renal shutdown (a favorite method of getting the voodoo doctor to put a curse on those who oppose your life choices in Haiti), seemed very much alive when we last checked him Friday evening and we pray this will continue. We shared tracts with him to read as he recovers, or even to consider if he doesn’t, as eternity seemed (and still is) a very near and distinct possibility for him, as dialysis is not an option. He was weak and troubled but definitely alert and communicative, so hoping that our desperate treatment will have long lasting results.

My attempts to make a site visit to Cap Haitian to look at residency options available there, both for ourselves or possibly having one of our doctors go up there for a 4 year training stint, has run into a dead end street for the time being, as Dr. Mario Florestal, the OB Gyn physician who graduated from our medical school and managed to get a residency slot there a bit over 4 years ago and now works for our sister hospital, Bonne Fin, works 3 weeks straight and then has the 4th week off starting in November, but I am reluctant to spend either Thanksgiving or Christmas away from home as my own future is not all that definitive and would like to maximize family times when possible.  So, hoping to go in January, 2015 while our team is working on roofs, remodeling termite eaten cupboards and shelves, putting up the toilets behind the clinic on that new septic system and a host of other projects that seem to sprout up and demand attention. The power washer broke down while Duane had the guys blasting the layers of grease, dirt and other questionable items deposited on the areas around where the merchants cook and peddle their wares in front of the hospital gate. We plan to move them across the road to see if we can keep things cleaner around the hospital itself, then use this site to let our patient’s families cook for themselves and the patient, as well as doing their own laundry there and sleeping in the hostels, instead of all over the hospital floor, making movement and patient care a risky business, especially by the dim lights when we only use a few batteries to light the wards.

We spent a fair amount of time as the leadership of the hospital, trying to figure out how to reduce costs with the government mandated minimum wage increases, especially with our increased number of diabetic patients who come with nonhealing leg ulcers/gangrene and we end up trying to keep debriding the wounds for months before getting to the almost inevitable amputation under life conditions in Haiti, thus causing a bill that, even by our charitable institution’s lower rates than most anywhere else, is too much for the already impoverished individual to settle. Almost all other Haitian hospitals just refuse to care for the patient, so we end up with considerably more than our share of these indigents. I never mind caring for them, but it is a struggle to try to keep the hospital solvent and also sustainable in the future while showing Christlike compassion to these seriously ill individuals with such chronic, incurable conditions. Pray that we will have His guidance, attitudes and wisdom in doing His Work His Way at Centre de Sante Lumiere.

In His Service,

Bill x 2, Sue, Jen, Duane, Ruth, Mike, Joshua (and we sent Dr. Mary Preston home to Virginia on her own today, haven’t heard if she made it yet)

A Warm and Thankful Haitian Donkey

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Hi All:

Am about to go to church, if the hospital remains quiet for a bit, and thankful that we can do this at the 1500 member Simon Baptist Church right next to the clinic, actually about 20 feet below it, all on MEBSH (the Haitian Mission) property. I often go to the Sunday School and Feeding Program of the Wrays at Renault if I am here on Sunday morning, but am staying here as there are a lot of irons in the fire going on and need/want to be available. We had a nice trip in yesterday, for which we thank the Lord, of course, leaving the 14 below weather it was at 4 am Friday at our house for a very nice 75 degrees here. I can’t even work up a sweat while hauling the suitcases, but very appreciative anyway.

Yesterday morning, we got up at our usual 4 am to make it to the Miami airport, were switched to the largest plane American Airlines has as the flight was loaded with partygoers headed for Haiti to celebrate Mardi Gras there. Like New Orleans, Haiti goes all out to make this occasion, often spending money they don’t have to “do it right.” As we went to the larger plane to accommodate all the long line of standbys, they called us three up and informed us that they were bumping us to business class (a small perk for all the flying I do, she said), for which we kindly thanked them. We took off an hour late as there were some mechanical problems to repair on the plane. John, who likes flying less than I do, remarked that this was only his second trip (the first was 2 yr ago, when he went to Haiti with us in a mega snow storm and the front wheels wouldn’t lock, so they herded us off in Chicago to await another plane, we arrived in Miami like 2 am, making that a memorable trip in his memory) and both times there were mechanical problems, not exactly exciting him. The trip went well, though it was sad to have so many of our fellow travelers, some already a bit under the influence, 3 days early, so focused on the debauchery they were eager to participate in. When we got our suitcases I asked Theodore, the older porter I always use to “help us through customs,” if the agents were strict today or not. He assured me that no one would get searched as they wanted to do nothing to discourage the partygoers. Several times along the road, there were people with ropes trying to stop traffic and collect money. I often give the people something if they repair the huge potholes we have that are not fixed with our nonexistent road commission, so the villagers at times fill them with sand and stones, much better than dropping a tire in the defect, but Jean Eddy told me to not stop, as these folks wanted donations to help them “celebrate Mardi Gras properly.” There was a blockage at one point, but we were able to get through as the UN had recently broken it up, I think they are trying to have a “visible presence,” for the holiday.

We thus arrived, a bit late but in good spirits with a good meal of quiche lorraine in the plane, without the spirits they offered us to accompany our breakfast, had a bit lengthy meeting regarding the USAID difficulties and settled down to seeing patients with Dr. William, who was on call last week (Dr. Morose will take over at 4 pm on Sunday, they do one week at a time, taking call from 4 pm to 8 the next morning and all weekend long), including several I hope to operate on this week and one that I admitted with severe shortness of breath. She is a RARE (hopefully that will continue to be true) 65 y o smoker who had COPD/emphysema and was struggling. In the US, she probably would have been incubated and on a ventilator, as she was running out of energy to breathe, but no such option here, so William and I did our best and prayed that the Lord would take over (not that we don’t rely on Him all the time anyway, but this was almost an extreme situation, hard to watch her gasping for breath and not able to do more than give meds, including steroids, and nebulizer treatments) and I passed call to William at 11 pm and went to bed. Before church, I went down to see her but no one of the day shift nurses seemed to know anything about her even being there, a bit scary proposition, as I suppose, despite my earnest prayers, I maybe didn’t have enough faith that she would make it through the night. When William came to join me walking to church, he said she, indeed, was much better and had been moved upstairs to a regular bed. Praise the Lord, despite me being, “O ye of little faith.”

In that thought, John and Mark, the painters who have come back to paint the roofs the same color and protect them from rusting, were impressed with some sights along the road. One was that we have a number of tobacco companies pushing their products in a country that probably has less than 5% (maybe like 1%) smokers, a great blessing, as they are so poor. However, the lure of smoking is so strong that during our two years in Bangladesh, almost every male smoked, even those who wanted to quit and were ashamed of it, as they didn’t think they should harm their bodies as Christians, despite the fact that they are even more poverty stricken than Haiti is, if that is possible to believe. So, it is a bit disheartening to see the push of the huge billboards encouraging people to try smoking. We also noted the large number of flagpoles with the brightly colored flags that advertised the presence of a witch doctor/charlatan (as they are called, among other names) and offering those services for those who are hooked into that difficulty also advanced by Satan, the enemy of our souls. A number of churches, including the Simon Baptist one I attended this morning, have arranged for a spiritual retreat for their young members as a creative alternative to that offered by Mardi Gras, a very wonderful thing. I plan to use any down time on the national holiday to catch up on more of my administrative headaches. I have never been here during Mardi Gras, partially by intention, to be sure I can get in and out of the country safely, but remember that 2 years ago, the government decided that they didn’t have enough hospital trauma beds available in Port au Prince after the quake to accommodate all the problems the party would bring, so moved the festivities to Cayes as we had more functional hospitals at that point. What a sad idea. We were happy that we only had like 10 deaths, instead of the proposed 100, and not as much grief, as Cayes historically is much more calm than the other cities of Haiti. Lastly, we saw a bunch of Haitian donkeys, with their scrawny legs, struggling to carry their burdens to market, at times the burden (plus the owner sitting on his tiny back) was much larger than the donkey himself. As I have often thought of myself as a cousin to the critters, especially this last year, as I lost so much weight with the surgery and had the knobby knees like they do, I empathize with their plight as they plod along, doing what they have to do to keep alive and productive for their masters. May I be as faithful in serving our Lord and Saviour in the months and years He may choose to give me.

Thanks again for your prayers for us and our service for Him,

Bill, John and Mark (they will spend Mardi Gras painting our roofs grey)

Haitian Comings and Goings

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Hi All:

Since it is late and I want to just get this out quickly to reassure you all that we are just fine, it might be a bit disjointed, but then, my skills are not in journalism or writing of any form, for that matter. We all are doing very well, very safe, but totally confined to the compound as Dr. William and I tried to just go to the edge of town today to get some materials but could not even get onto the main road at all, there were trailers and containers (40 footers, how did they ever get them there, they are hard to move even with heavy equipment to move them, let alone a bunch of strong people?). In any case, there is violence in the town of Cayes, as in most towns, but other than a few casualties that have come to the hospital, nothing else that has affected us. Most of our employees and many patients could not move, as no roads are negotiable, if the UN uses their tanks to blow through the barricades, they are replaced immediately and shots have been exchanged. I only have had one gunshot victim and she was from Camp Perrin, up the road past the airport, where a big UN base is and this was allegedly from them. It is a chest wound but bounced off her ribs and she will be fine, though could have been a lot worse.

In my last note, I mentioned that the generator was not working and to keep the curfew more functional, Haiti Electric, undependable under favorable circumstances, has allegedly been told to not provide electricity to discourage people from gathering and rioting, etc. Not quite sure of the truth or the thinking behind it, no matter, it hasn’t been there at all. So, Duane and Rod figured that it was the time to try to get the new generator into the generator shack and get it going. It weighs about 1400 lbs. and the shack is totally below the road and the access road to it is tricky but we got it pretty close and just pushed and pulled it with 12 guys (most bigger than I, thankfully) into and through the door and into place and by 1:30 this afternoon it was running, Praise the Lord. I got the C section done, lots of scar tissue but a healthy child and did 6 other cases (we had both ORs going with Drs. Moise and William in one and Sony and I in the other), though I let everyone go just before dark so they could walk home. Nurse Line and I finished the last couple cases as she lives right next to the hospital. I gave Dr. Sony and Nurse Lisberthe my flashlights as they live in Cayes and have to walk about 5 miles to get home, but didn’t want to leave their families all night, especially as Sony and his wife have 3 girls, so he felt responsible to be there to protect them from possible violence. Am praying they made it home safely. I am taking all the night call so everyone can be home with their families to keep them from being alone and afraid.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring but we are just fine here. Two ACC teams made it here from church and school building out in the hills, one got the windows smashed, but all was fine otherwise. They decided to head home early and all made it. So, we will just work and hang close to the compound. The hospital is packed, so have plenty to do especially as most of the staff cannot get it, just those who live close or are very determined. Since, so far, there have been no flights in and out of the country, or Cayes, for that matter, for Tuesday and Wednesday, we don’t know again about home going plans, but will just pray and be safe. The 35 members of the ACC teams have chartered flights to Port on Friday and will see how they do before Duane and I venture out. Driving is not an option but we pray things will settle down quickly. Maybe thinking again that Spirit Airlines, with only 1 flight daily instead of 6 that American Airlines has, may be less flexible, but will see what the weekend brings. Would prefer to not move around in Port much either, so pray for God’s wisdom and direction in all these matters.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Bill (and Duane)

Team Michigan

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After three weeks in Michigan, Dr. Bill has returned to Haiti. It was deemed possible for the team that was holding tickets for 26 Feb on American Airlines to go ahead and make this trip, thus 15 people or so were traveling along with Wm or meeting him in Miami. Here is a short bit of information on this group. The team left at noon on Friday and finally arrived at the hospital after nine on Saturday night. To be more precise, all but four people arrived. There was not room for everyone in the bus they had arranged for the drive, and apparently the luggage was very much delayed as well. Thus I assume the later four waited for the luggage, which would then come with them to the hospital.

The bad news was the weather. The rain has begun and it was a near deluge, pouring the entire trip. This of course means the road was pretty impassable but the bus was rocking through at a very slow pace. At some point there was communication with the delayed group, which was only part way to the hospital. Bill  told them they needed to stop where they were and wait for daylight, that they would not be able to safely navigate the road in the dark. He called here around 9:15 – 9:30 last night (Sat.) to tell of the safe arrival in Les Cayes. There were two urgent cases waiting for surgery at the hospital, one an incarcerated hernia that had been waiting four days. I can’t remember what the other was, but Wm was starting into surgery at 10 last night.

There was no email today and as the Wrays are taking a much needed break in Canada right now, I may not hear for awhile. Just pray that much will be accomplished during these days. There were MANY living in tents outside the hospital when Wm was leaving before. Please pray for these poor people who may have nowhere dry to go for many days or weeks. We cannot begin to imagine their lives. Many people have given to help these people so pray for wisdom in using the funds and other donations.

kbt for Dr. Bill.