I share this message from my friend Norrie Oelkers. While I am now home, she is still in Hinche, Haiti volunteering with Operation Smile:
Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010
It is difficult to write tonight but I feel that if I don't you will not know the true devastation in this country and people need to know some of the stories that continue. We are operating everyday but conditions are very difficult. Our main word in the Operation Smile vocabulary is "Flexibility" and this team of 17 doctors and nurses exemplify this word.
To begin with, it is hard to describe how poor this town of Hinche is and how these people are surviving. There are dirt roads with rocks that make even walking to the hospital difficult. Once we lose daylight we can barely see the hallways of the hospital which are all outdoors.
The patients have no sheets on the beds or pillows unless they bring them from home. Their families bring them food. Partners in Health, the phenomenal group that we we're partnered with, are now supplying food for the patients, since their recovery is hindered by their malnutrition. We are giving them all of our power bars, especially to the children.
It is very hot here and there are 30 people in each ward with no privacy, no running water, not even a cup of water for them to drink. They don't have much, yet they never beg or ask us for help. They speak French Creole, which is not a written language, so it not easy to translate. We have wonderful translators--young students from Port-au-Prince who can't attend school since their University is destroyed. We are paying them $4.00 per day to help us and we are giving them food.
We have some sad stories that are tearing our hearts out. A little 4-year-old was brought in last night who was burned over 85% of his body from a petrol fire in his shack, I have never seen such severe third degree burns (the worst level) and it happened 3 days ago. He has had no pain meds and nothing to eat or drink. The only area that was not burned was where his underpants were worn. We brought him to the OR , gave him morphine and removed his dressings stuck to his body. The surgeon and I and anesthesiologist and nurse who cared for him soon realized that there was no chance of survival and we needed to help this little boy have the least amount of pain possible.
He is in a ward tonight and our nurses are giving palliative care and hospice. Telling the mom was extremely difficult but as we we all cried and prayed in the OR, we want him to be in a better place. I will always remember the loving care that our surgeon and team gave to this little boy, coating his body with silvadine to ease his pain and wrapping him in soft gauze.
In the U.S., he would be in the best burn care facility ever. Operation Smile did call the USNS Comfort but they do not care for burns on the ship and there is no other hospital that can care for him. It is hard not to find solutions for their suffering, since that is what we are trained to do.
The local people had a memorial today for all of the patients who have died here since the earthquake. Last night we heard crying and chanting at 3:30 a.m. because someone died.
We are becoming very attached to some of our young patients and it is heart wrenching to watch them sitting in bed for a month now. Our favorite little boy Jonel left with his grandmother today with his fractured femur. He lost his mom and dad in the earthquake and we don't know how she will be able to raise him.
He laughed heartily when I showed him to Harrison Ford and Harrison just tickled him and showed such compassion to all of the patients. Harrison Ford is a true hero for helping Operation Smile and did not want any press whatsoever.
On the other hand, we have NO crutches or walkers for the children and adults who have fractures and amputations, so they lay in bed every day. We sit every night after we finish in the OR and just talk about what we need and how we can improvise.
We have bonded beyond belief and we will stay friends for life because of what we have seen. These people need long term relief such as the help of one of our teammates who is a physical therapist who is helping get them out of bed to walk again. She is having some men make crutches out of old junk, broken chairs and anything else she can get her hands on.
No one has gotten sick because we are not really eating very much. We have a small breakfast in the morning made by a local woman. Yesterday we had spaghetti with a strange sauce. Then we get our main meal at 2:30 p.m. which is very different every day. Yesterday we had rice, beets and potatoes and goat. Today we had sandwiches for breakfast with cheese, ham and a pink mayonnaise mixture.
We get a thick soupy pot of something at 8 p.m.--but we sneak it over to our little patients. Now that we know that we only get one meal a day, we make sure we eat everything at 3 p.m. I bought 4 large jars of peanut butter and 4 boxes of Ritz crackers and that is our evening meal.
I just pray every day that we can continue to help these people and make a difference. I feel honored to be a part of this relief effort and I thank Operation Smile for allowing being here. After 32 missions, this is the one that will stay with me and remind me of how much I have to be thankful for every day in my life!
- Norrie Oelkers, Clinical Coordinator in Hinche
1 comment:
Please thank you friend Norrie for this very personal view from Haiti. She has a big heart -- and so do you.
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