What a Week!

Five days on the road, over 600 patients seen, thousands upon thousands of meds distributed , nearly 500 school kids taught basic hygiene, plus professional training at the local hospital.  Whew-what a week. 

A group called Global Health Ministry (GHM) was in Gros Morne last week, doing all of this and more.  There were 13 of them, including one MD, a couple of nurse practitioners, several nurses, a woman Episcopal priest, and several Haitian-Americans, all led by a Catholic sister. 

Wound Care

Patients

Sick baby sent to the hospital

Each day we’d load up the vehicles and drive to a different village, set up shop, usually in the church, and start seeing patients. It was incredibly well organized with a station for registration, triage, consultations and the pharmacy. In addition to the usual assortment of aches and pains, there were several cases of severe diabetics with wounds needing immediate treatment, lots of high blood pressure, a child with hydrocephalus, many children with hernias, one extremely sick little girl who was immediately sent off to the hospital.  Many people were referred to the local hospital and GHM left funds to pay for their treatment.  All in all, it was a pretty impressive operation and a very dedicated group of people. And the villagers were most appreciative.

Can't resist cute little kids

Patient, Nurse Practitioner, Haitian-American translator

This was a real adventure for me because I was one of the drivers and I’d never been to any of the villages before-and then there’s the matter of the terrible, often very muddy roads, river crossings, etc., etc.  But no passengers or car parts were lost so it was all good. I also helped out in the pharmacy.

The group stayed at our Guest House which is pretty much my responsibility. That means, among other things, I’m supposed to plan the menu. HA! Thank God for the Haitian-Americans in the group because they pretty much took over planning the meals and both the cook and I were more than happy to oblige.

The green board behind me in the pharmacy photo says: “Welcome Sisters.  We are happy to meet you.”

Yours truly in the pharmacy