Receiving blood

It's difficult to see the baby but here
the nurses and doctors are giving 25cc
of blood to our little baby girl who
now weighs 2.4 kg.

Another child dies

On Tuesday afternoon a child arrived to
the center very weak. His Hgb was
2.0. He had a low grade fever and mild
pneumonia. We took him to the
hospital. The next morning he was
suppose to receive blood from his
mother who had the same blood type. It
took 5 hours for the Red Cross Blood
Dept. to get the blood. In the
meantime he went into respiratory
distress. Sister Anna and I watched
him die at the hospital. As we walked
out the blood bank person arrived with
the blood. He was very high risk sent
to a hospital that really doesn't have
the abilities to help him. This was my
most frustrating day in Haiti.

Dr. Jacqueline Goutier

Today Dr. Goutier, a pediatrician from
Port au Prince specializing in
malnutrition, reviewed cases from the
Center with a group of doctors and
nurses from the hospital and the center.
20-50% of Kwaskiorkor children die.
There's lots of educating to do.

Weekend in Abricot

Frenel, Nicole and I went to Abricot
for the weekend. We have Mica who
makes the great tablecloths put her
business on Quick Books. Here Nicole
poses by the sea with tablecloths in
the background.

My most difficult night in Haiti

This child was admitted to the center
around 4pm on Friday. She had mild
Kwash and a fair amount of skin
infection. She clenched her jaw when
we tried to feed her. She was alert
and without fever. We decided if she
would not eat by morning we would
transfer to the hospital for a feeding
tube. At 1 am (Sat) the nurse knocked
loudly on our house door. She told me
the child had developed a fever and was
unresponsive. The mother had the child
wrapped in a blanket right outside the
house. I felt the child...she was very
warm, she was frothing at the mouth; I
couldn't see her breathe and I could
not feel a carotid pulse. I quickly
got the keys to the vehicle and drove
them with the nurse to the hospital.
There I listened to her chest. She was
not breathing and had no heartbeat. In
the US we would have started CPR. But
there is nothing here to support
starting that. There was one nurse
sleeping at the hospital and no
materials. I told the mother her child
had died. She wailed in the peds
department. Then I had to call Sister
Mary Ann to find out what to do with
the mom and the child. She told me to
wrap up the infant and take her and the
mom home. The nurse rode with me. At
1:45am I dropped off the mother and her
infant at a dark house on the outskirts
of Haiti not knowing what she would
do. I didn't get much sleep that
night. Oh, are we blessed in the US
for all the resources and services we
have!

Psychological part of Kwashkiorkor

Sister Anna gives the Kwashkiorkor
children lots of love and attention.
There is a psychological component of
this illness. The children do not have
a strong bond with their mother and
thus has been neglected. HHF works
hard to reestablish that bond and give
the infant lots of love and stimulation.

Worried about the twin

Here is our little twin girl at the
Center that we treated for
hypoglycemia/hypothermia a while back;
she has since had iron shots for a Hgb
of 4.4 since there is no packed cells
to be given. Her edema improved after
the iron but her weight is steadily
decreasing. She weighs 2.8 KG and is
close to 6 months old. I fear that she
will get an infection and not be able
to fight it. These are the tough
stories of Haiti.

Save a Family Program

I have the job description here of "may
be given additional duties and
responsibilites". Sister Mary Ann
phoned me requesting I take a wedding
picture of this couple from Save a
Family Program that she coordinates.
This couple met through that program.
It's a sponsorship program where people
pay $300/year to help a particular
family. The wedding dress is owned by
HHF. Getting married in this country is
very expensive so most couples just
live together. HHF supports marriage
so ties to promote it through helping
couples with a wedding dress and
rings. It was so fun taking pictures
of the newlyweds!

Pilattes Class

On January 4th the group began
doing "Pilattes for Dummies" on CD.
Sometimes we have had up to 6 attending
the exercise class. We all like it and
try to get in 5 classes a week.

A scene from the hospital

I was waiting at the hospital for a
patient and took this picture. To the
right is one of the clinics. The
hospital is run by the government and
lacks many resources. There are months
the staff are not paid and often we
have to bring our own supplies when we
admit patients from the center.

Amber gets a new hair do

Jose, Amber and I went to the market
this morning to find hair extender.
Jose started at 2pm braiding the hair
extenders into Amber's hair. She looks
great. At the end Jose has to burn the
ends of the hair to prevent frizz.
They finished at 9:30pm. Was quite a
project!

Children celebrating Mardi Gras

Children dress in costumes for the
Mardi Gras celebration. This little
boy is ready to celebrate!

Amber meets the puppies

Amber gets introduced to Blackie's
puppies. Two have been sold, one died,
and these two will be leaving the
center soon.

Mardi Gras

Lots of young people dance in the
street for Mardi Gras. It started
Sunday evening and ended Tuesday
evening before Ash Wednesday.

Straw Hats

We all purchased straw hats from a
street vendor for Mardi Gras.

It's carnival in Jeremie

Three days before Ash Wednesday Jeremie
has a carnival. It's their Mardi
Gras! Many people come from all around
to dance in the streets, listen to
music and eat food from street
vendors. Here we are preparing to
leave for the carnival.

Our newest house mate

Here's Amber! She's going to be
volunteering for a month and staying at
our house. She is the daughter of Mark
the dentist. He's worried about
leaving his daughter here but we will
take good care of her!

Dental Abscess

This patient arrived at the feeding
center on Tuesday with her young
child. She was in severe pain due to a
dental abscess. We drove her to HHF
where Dr. Mark (dentist from CT) pulled
her tooth and started her on
antibiotics. She's feeling much better
today.

Glaucoma testing

Lots of people are being screened for
glaucoma at the eye clinic.

The eye clinic

This week a group arrived from Norwich,
CT with Dr. Lowney that includes
dentists and a eye doctor. The eye
clinic located at the Center of Hope
saw 50 patients yesterday.

Starting formula

Once the infant became more alert I fed
her some formula by syringe. The mom
is breast feeding the twins. We
learned that the 2nd twin (this
patient) was always getting the hind
milk of the breast...meaning the other
twin was always being fed first because
she was more fussy. The breast in the
front of the breast has more calories in it.
Now whenever twin #1 gets fussy
we tell her to feed twin #2 first. The
other twin is doing well.

The youngest Kwashiorkor patient

Late Sunday afternoon the nurse from
the center called Sister Anna telling
her our 5 month old Kwash baby (a twin)
was very listless at the center. With
Marie's help they found Dr. Alexis and
Dr. Mikal (cuban residents). They
diagnosed the infant to be hypoglycemic
and hypothermic. I had been at the
airport getting luggage so when I
arrived at the center they were warming
the baby with a goose neck lamp and
feeding the baby by syringe some
dextrose water. Luckily the baby was
able to suck and swallow. She went
from being listless to opening her eyes
and looking around. Hats off to the
cuban residents!