Jennifer Holbourn is our physical therapist and Bheki
Khumalo our podiatrist; both working with the many children who have
club feet or other limb abnormalities. At one point Bheki ran out of
plaster. It comes in rolls, for making casts. Fortunately we were
able to send to a local pharmacy and buy some more. I asked the PT
assistant who was helping Dr Bheki, to write down what he needed, and I
gave the order to Mr Noel and asked him to order some. I can actually
talk to him in Kreyol now, which makes me happy. Of course, he is
tolerant of my terrible American accent, but we manage to make each
other understood.
About an hour later, as we were breaking for lunch after the
morning clinic, Mr Noel asked me if I could go with him to the pharmacy.
We drove there, only a few blocks, and presented the order to the
pharmacist I met on Monday (see earlier post). Mr Saint Felix is his
name, and his English is better than my Kreyol, thank goodness. Mr
Felix thanked us for the order, and we walked out the door. Now, you
might be wondering, as I was, WHY did we have to drive to the pharmacy
to bring the order, rather than call on the telephone? WHY did I have
to go with Mr Noel if all we were doing was placing an order for one box
of plaster? We were already expecting an order of supplies we had
placed the previous day, so WHY didn't Mr Noel just call it in and have
it delivered to the school with the rest of my order? Good questions,
but unanswerable. Such are the mysteries of working in Haiti.
About 30 minutes after that, our supplies came by
truck to the school. Madame Noel (wife of Mr Noel) runs the pharmacy at
St Vincent's, and she had requested cod liver oil, iron vitamin drops
for kids, vitamin C drops and tablets. The cod liver oil has vitamin D,
vitamin A, and other vitamin ingredients, with fish oil. I used to
wonder why Haitians need cod liver oil, because in the states we
traditionally use that to treat constipation, hardly a common problem
here. Then I read the ingredients and realized what a terrific source
of vitamins it is. No wonder our grandmothers used to make us take that
stuff!
Also delivered were 100 boxes of Amoxicillin, which
I had NOT ordered because the pharmacy has about 500 bottles already
(apparently every American team brings amoxil to St Vincent's). My
order of plaster produced 100 rolls, which is WAY more than we need, but
I am sure Dr Beauvoir, the orthopedic surgeon who works at St Vincent's
2 days per week, will find use for it. The total order came to quite a
large number, which I wont publish here. Let's just say that Ruthie
Lentz, who manages our finances, will be asking me some hard questions
when I return. HOW MUCH DID YOU SPEND ON VITAMINS AND PLASTER? I can
hear her now....
St Vincent's has a physical therapy clinic and
several PT aides who work with the children. Dr Jennifer has been
working with the aides, showing them different stretching exercises and
also trying to make sure all the children with skeletal deformities are
seen regularly by the therapist. Last night in our dorm room problem
solving session (see previous post) we talked about the
frustrations/limitations of interjecting our own plans and strategies
into a foreign culture, especially when we are only here for a week at a
time. I think Jenn would move down here and happily run the PT
program, if her family would let her, just so she could see that the
children get regular therapy and make progress. She can see the
potential for many of these kids, to relieve pain in one student with
scoliosis, to strengthen the legs of another student so she could get
out of her wheelchair, to encourage one girl to lift herself with her
arms several times each day so she does not get pressure ulcers from
sitting all day. Easy to see the possibilities, hard to make it happen.
Today Jenn is going to tour the classrooms and make a list of some
children whom she thinks need regular PT attention, and we will use that
to start a discussion with Pere Sadoni about some long term strategies
for those children. Please pray that we are able to help these
children, to engage in a two way conversation that moves us forward,
rather than misunderstanding.
One particular student who was seen by the nurses
yesterday, lives in a wheelchair and has chronic problems with pressure
ulcers on his feet and any other part of his body which rests all day in
one position without moving. He is incontinent, so that adds to the
skin problems. He is 19 years old, and we have treated him many times
for infected skin ulcers. Miraculously he always gets better with
antibiotics and the scolding he gets from us to clean his skin and
change the diapers regularly, wear proper shoes to protect his feet,
etc. He improves, until the next time when we return and he has sold
his diapers and his new shoes in order to pay for his cell phone.
Typical teenage boy making poor choices, with disastrous consequences.
LaShelle met Frenel yesterday, and he taught her the
names of the fingers (Le pulse, Le index, Le mache, etc) as he has
taught several of us before. I told her Frenel could sing, so we took
turns singing for each other. Frere Jacques is a favorite, because both
the Americans and the Haitians know it. Other familiar tunes, like
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, he knows with different lyrics. I left
them for a few minutes and returned to find them listening to LaShelle's
I phone. Frenel had his head in her lap and they were happily snapping
fingers and singing together. I told LaShelle later that the best gift
I could give her in Haiti was spending that time with Frenel.
Amy tells me breakfast is ready, the pancakes are hot. So I will sign off for now.
Susan Nelson
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