MISSION TO HAITI: DAY 8

Ralph, Little Paul, Alan, Jitterbug, me and Big Paul
The day began with disappointment. We had hired a driver with a 4 wheel drive vehicle to take us high up into the mountains where we heard there was a struggling ‘orphanage’. Our driver never showed up. Not a surprise around this place but still, a big disappointment. We had packed up medical supplies, mosquito netting and some food. We would have done what we do; check it out, evaluate the kids, evaluate the set up, make it a little better and start the process for keeping it that way. We’ll get up there but not today.

We faced another problem; we had to move our camp. Although our living conditions are awful, I have grown accustomed to them. I’m not looking forward to the move but it’s a must. We rationalized that our driver standing us up was a blessing in disguise because it would give us an opportunity to find a place to pitch our tents. But God works in mysterious ways and that wasn’t going to happen either.

After packing up our tents and gathering up all our supplies, I looked at one of my teammates and said jokingly but dead serious “if I don’t help someone soon, I don’t know what I’ll do”. It’s the only reason I’m here and I feel I should be doing just that, every minute. As soon as I said that, Jitterbug’s phone rang. Who is Jitterbug? She is a 29 year old nurse, and former journalist (with an awesome swagger) who has been in Haiti since days after the earthquake. She is down here, like me and my teammates, no sponsor, no ties to any group; just decided to come down and work and she hasn’t had a minutes rest since she stepped off the plane. That’s how it is here. You wake up, nothing is actually scheduled, and you don’t stop working until your head hits the ground.

Oh yes, the phone call: A pregnant woman who lives up in the hills, about an hour from PAP, is in active labor, hemorrhaging, and needs transport to a ‘hospital’ for an emergency c-section. We get in our pick-up and start the trek through the horrendous traffic (smog in PAP is palpaple). While on our way, we get another call. There is another woman pregnant with twins, in labor, with placenta previa, also in need of an emergency c-section. We’ll just have to make room in our little Toyota.

We get to the Mission Baptiste, and ask if they have a mattress or something soft we can put on the floor of our pick-up. They give us some old blankets and pillow cases stuffed with rags. We get IV lines started in both of them and lift them on to the back of the truck. We tape their IV bags to the cab and the nurses (me, Jitterbug and the nurse who had called for emergency assistance), get in with them. Off we go down the long, winding and earthquake beaten road to the hospital/M.A.S.H.- like unit set up near the airport. I quickly learn that one of the womem has Tourettes. In addition, it is a Haitian custom for women in labor to sing what sounds like a Native American Indian war cry - woo woo woo, da da da, lalalala - something like that. "No poussé, no poussé" "Don't push, don't push", we tell them trying to stall what would have been disastrous on-road deliveries. Two women in active labor, internal exams, changing positions to prevent delivery, meconium (Google it,), a mucous plug, blood pressures, consoling and a motorcycle accident: all in a day’s work in Haiti.

We arrive at Miami General, the hospital near the airport. Hallelujah! We all made it in one piece (even though we lost our brakes for part of the trip down the hill). The medical team comes to meet us. The head doctor says, “I’m sorry, we can’t take them. We have no OB here”. “Wrong” I said. “You have a general surgeon and he will have to do”. Was she for real? All mommies and babies’ fine.

Guess what? It is now late and we still do not have a place to camp out. I decide we should try to get a room in a hotel and I would like it to have running water and electricity. You would not believe how hard it was to find that but we did….sort of. Long day but it ended with a shower. Fabulous! And what made it even better; the bathroom did not have a mirror:)

See what a general surgeon can do when he has to!!