By PJ Pitts
It’s hot, I can’t sleep. You’d think it wouldn’t be an issue – I worked until almost 4 a.m., but my mind is racing a mile a minute.
We landed in Port Au Prince (PAP) yesterday, way ahead of schedule. There were no working runway lights at the PAP airport, so instead of arriving at midnight, we got in about 3 pm. Nia had joked about doing some sightseeing with our free afternoon… I had to giggle about that when I realized she and I were both still working at three this morning.
Getting from the airport to the Project Medishare and UM Global Institute Hospital “MASH” unit was an ordeal of its own – even though we’re on the airport grounds, we had to leave the airport to get to the cars to get to our complex. Wading through the crowd of locals, all begging, many with amputations and stories that bring you to tears. They took us in small groups, with security, to the vehicles to go to the complex.
Before we even go to the orientation, someone found me. The pharmacist who had been here left on a flight at noon, leaving one (amazingly talented) technician to run the pharmacy AND peds satellite, and she needed help.
I should preface this by saying things are different here – in the states, we double and triple count a narcotic prescription, here I leave the bottle of percocet on the table for nurses to grab when I’m scavenging through the supply tent. I have to trust that my aseptic technique is good, because “sterile-ish” here is, well, “-ish” is the key part of the phrase.
Needless to say, my first day was a good introduction to the chaos…
I have so much to share, but every time I sit down to type, well, there just isn’t time. The joys and sorrows are like being on a roller coaster. Imagine scrambling through random piles in a supply tent – much like looking for a needle in a haystack – at 3 a.m., trying despirately to find the calcium gluconate for the OR. You know why they need it, and lives litterally depend on you finding it in time. Tears came to my eyes when we found the vitamin K…..and again, when the doc came to me asking what to substitute for the dopamine- which we were running out of.
Almost everything for the kids has to be compounded – thank God I’ve been “playing at the apothecary” – and today we started switching all our amputees over to hypericum (homeopathic) from neurontin. Not that the homeopathic is better – we ran out of neurontin, and it will be days before we have anymore.
Once again, I have so much to share, but I’m finishing this email at 4 a.m. and am hoping to catch a few zzz’s now that my pharmacy is no longer the middle of the ER (when the ER closes for the night, triage comes here to the ward…).
*PJ Pitts is a pharmacist in Oregon and is currently volunteering in Haiti until March 13. She is sending her blog posts in via her Blackberry.
I have been that frantic ICU nurse running out of my OR/ICU through Peds Tent and then to the pharmacy, in need of a drug. We were pretty stocked on our own in the ICU tent but certain ones were needed from you all. I have many funny stories about running to pharmacy. It is an incredible experience.
Praying for you, PJ!
[…] *PJ Pitts is a pharmacist from Oregon. She does clinical work part-time in the Portland area, and works part time as a compounding pharmacist at Broadway Apothecary in Eugene. She has agreed to share some of her moments while volunteering at the Project Medishare Hospital in Port-au-Prince. This is her first time in Haiti. You can read about her first day volunteering with Project Medishare here. […]
PJ-
I know exactly what you are talking about as I was a pharmacist there last month at this time. I remember not being able to find the vitamin K when we needed it, or having to figure out how to compound epi for nebulization to get a neonate off the vent. It was crazy, exhausting, amazing, heartbreaking, and sooooo worth it.
Jennifer –
totally worth it! In fact, I’m planning on returning soon for another round!
It was great having you! Thanks so much for being my pharm blogger on the ground! Mesi anpil ma zanmi!
It was my pleasure! I’ll be happy to continue to be your pharm blogger on the ground when I head back down for a second round!
PJ