A time to teach

Since the bladder retractor the Emory team planned to use was in a piece of lost luggage, Drs. Viraj Master and Jana MacLeod asked two medical students to scrub into the prostatectomy surgery. Emory medical students Adam Carlisle and Rachel Webman helped pull the bladder back so the prostate could be in view for removal. Photos by Jennifer Browning.

By Jennifer Browning

Hinche, HAITI—Rising shortly after the sun, Emory’s surgical team began to organize their equipment in the operating room at the hospital in Hinche. The first thing they needed to determine was what supplies were missing from a bag that didn’t arrive.

An absent bag this time meant that a much needed bladder retractor was missing. So today during the first surgery Dr. Jana MacLeod asked third year medical student Rachel Webman and second year medical student Adam Carlisle to scrub in to help with the simple retro pubic prostatectomy.

“We used them as a bladder retractor to pull the bladder aside so the prostate could be in view,” Dr. MacLeod said. “It worked well because it allowed them to see pretty much everything we were doing.”

This was Webman’s first time scrubbing into the operating room.

“Nervous as all hell,” Webman said, “but it was great. I was hoping I was doing everything right. You don’t get to do that stuff when you are a second or third year medical student. You just don’t get your hands wet the same way. I never learned to retract before today.”

Webman said it was interesting to see the different resources that may or may not be available in a developing country.

“Being in surgery it was surprising the way [the doctors] deal with not having certain items that are so readily available in the United States,” Webman said. “And all the while Dr. Viraj Master and Dr. MacLeod were teaching us.”

The students attending from Emory University with the aid of Dr. Rick Spurlock raised $20,000 to make this surgical trip possible. Both Webman and Carlisle agree that their trip to Haiti with Emory and Project Medishare gives them experience they wouldn’t receive during this point and time of their education.

Emory surgical team arrives in Haiti

In the pre-operative ward, third year Emory Medical student, Rachel Webman listens to a patients heart beat. A round of clinic is done before surgeries so the surgeons can determine who are the best candidates for surgery. Photo by Jennifer Browning.

By Jennifer Browning

Hinche, HAITI—Stormy weather and rough roads over mountains and through streams greeted the Emory surgical team on their way to Henche where they will be focusing on mostly prostatectomy surgeries. Apollo MD and West Georgia Health Center Emergency Medicine Physician Dr. Rick Spurlock leads the team including urology surgeon Dr. Viraj Master and general surgeon Dr. Jana MacLeod.

The team will begin with clinic to find their appropriate surgical candidates this morning and then begin surgeries this afternoon. The team will continue with surgeries until Thursday.

This is the first time the hospital in Hinche has hosted a surgical team associated with Project Medishare. By working in Hinche, Project Medishare and Emory are able to reach out to more areas in Haiti, by pulling patients from Mirebalais, Thomonde, Cange, as well as in, around, and outside Hinche.

May surgical trip lends time for follow-up

By Jennifer Browning

Port-au-Prince, HAITI– Forty-eight children were seen by Ann McNeil, Dr. Ragheb and Dr. Sandburg this weekend at  La Paix Hospital. The team performed an assessment for children with hydrocephalus.

Seventeen new cases were chosen for surgery along with two cases from the previous November’s surgical trip.

During the surgical trip the doctors were able to do a follow-up on the children who were operated on in November. Most were doing great with the exception of two who had some complications with their Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy’s (ETV). The children were scheduled for Ventriculopleural Shunts (VPS). The team performed 19 surgeries over three days which include six VPS and 13 ETV’s.

Support mother’s of Haiti’s Central Plateau

This Mother’s Day you have an excellent opportunity to honor the special women in your life by showing your support for the mother’s of Haiti’s Central Plateau. This year instead of sending flowers, perfumes, or chocolates give a gift that makes a difference by donating to Project Medishare’s Akamil program.

In light of the recent food riots happening all over Haiti, Project Medishare is working to go beyond emergency food aid by developing the Akamil facility coupled with an agriculture program to provide training, tools, and support to local farmers in order for them to produce crops for themselves. By doing this local farmers will be able to move from subsistence farming to cash crops creating not only an economic boost for the community but a nutritional one as well. The nutritional supplement produced at the Akamil facility will also provide food to mothers in order to help them raise a healthy child.
The Akamil facility will also provide:

* Nourishment for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis patients

* Daily nutrition for 200,000 individuals in Haiti’s Central Plateau

* Sustainable operating revenue

* Support 3000 local farmers helping them transition from subsistence farming to cash crop farming.

* Entrepreneurial opportunities for women merchants in the plateau

Honoring your mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, stepmother, aunt, sister, or friend with a gift to Project Medishare helps us honor the women of Haiti’s Central Plateau by giving them the tools to increase the economic and nutritional welfare of their community.

For a gift of $25 or more, we will send a Mother’s Day note to a special woman in your life, letting her know that a donation has been made in her honor. The women of Thomonde will appreciate your thoughtful gift which will help them raise healthy children so that their community can have a brighter tomorrow.

This year Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 11. To ensure that your note is mailed on time, we must receive your donation by Friday, May 2. Click here to make your donation now. Once you have donated, email Gabriele Denis (gaby@projectmedishare.org) with the address(es) of those you are honoring so they may receive their Mother’s Day note.

Project Medishare featured in documentary film

Once There Was A Country: Revisiting Haiti, a film by noted philanthropist and Miami local, Kimberly Green will air on Miami’s WPBT-TV, Channel 2 at 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 15. The film narrated by former U.S. poet laureate Dr. Maya Angelou and Guy Johnson, the 55-minute film examines the economic and health issues plaguing Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Green is president of the Green Family Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by former U.S. Ambassador to Singapore Steven J. Green.

“It was not until I first traveled to Haiti in 2001 that I learned of the incredible struggles and hardships that the people of Haiti, our neighbors, face every day. I knew immediately that these were stories that needed to be told,” Green said. “I am grateful to the team at PBS for creating an opportunity to further raise awareness of the crisis in Haiti. When PBS viewers watch Once There Was A Country: Revisiting Haiti, it is my hope that they too will be moved and inspired to join me in trying to make a difference.”

Currently, the Green Family Foundation plays an active role in funding community-driven health and development programs in Haiti. Project Medishare, featured in Once There Was a Country: Revisiting Haiti and a GFF funded organization, are now expanding their services to supplement the community health program, and have broken ground on the Medical Complex and Training Center for Childhood Nutrition and Treatment in Thomonde, Haiti. For more information on how to help, visit www.greenff.org or www.projectmedishare.org.

Reflections on a return to Thomonde

By Amanda Harrington, MD

This morning after another hearty breakfast we headed out of Thomonde proper for a more remote area. The trip was shorter than yesterday, but the road was significantly more “bumpy.” As each SUV navigated the struts in the road, we watched to see if the vehicle ahead would clear the “bump” with spinning tires and less than four wheels in contact with the ground.

We set up clinic at a school and divided up patients into pediatrics, general adult, ophthalmology, or women’s health stations. Today, myself, Gaby (our trip coordinator and a wonderful translator) and Kavita (a first year medical student) tackled the mass of adults seeking treatment for a variety of medical illnesses. We diagnosed patients with upper respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, anemia, hypertension, GERD, and many post-traumatic musculoskeletal conditions. As a team we had fun teaching Gaby to take blood pressures and letting Kavita hone her history and physical exam skills.

I was surprised and excited to learn that most of the patients we saw with severe hypertension had been diagnosed previously and had been on anti-hypertensive medications. Many presented with the chief complaint “I have high blood pressure” and had come to the mobile clinic seeking refills on medications. I found myself thinking back to my first trip to Haiti with Project Medishare in 2001, when I myself was a second year medical student. Back then, Medishare clinics were held in central Thomonde. There was no hospital, and beyond the direct observed therapy programs, there were no community health agents in place to assist with patient follow-up. Seven years ago, there was little hope that newly diagnosed hypertensive patients would return for medication refills when their 30-day supply was completed. Now, under the improved structure which Medishare provides, patients are developing relationships with community health agents and beginning to understand basic concepts related to disease and regular treatment. It is exciting to know that progress is possible, and that chronic disease treatment can be a reality in the future.

Medical student finds time for some futbol after a chaotic day

By Arjun Parasher

The morning came earlier than expected for most of us. But after breakfast and a round of Haitian coffee, we were all eager to arrive at the mobile clinic site and finally see the Haiti that awaited us.

After setting up our respective stations, the day began with a chaotic start: in a new surrounding with limited, if any, understanding of the language, a line of pediatric patients awaited us in triage.  After finally settling in to the routine, the students and physicians provided care in a remarkably efficient manner.  From diagnosing tuberculosis and malaria to treating glaucoma, the physicians with the help of excellent and patient translators were able to provide high quality care to over 200 Haitians secluded away from the normal mechanism of care.

We returned to Thomonde to visit the recently constructed hospital, which truly is an incredible institution of human service.  Soon after we arrived at the Project Medishare, I spotted a few children playing soccer with a half-deflated ball just outside the gates.  After watching them for a few moments, I asked to join and attempted to keep up with 5 to 10 year old kids.  After finding out how skillful these kids were the hard way in front of the newly drawn crowd of spectators, I ran back for the remnants of dinner.

We had a long, productive discussion about ways to improve our work in the days to come.  After deciding to increase our coverage of women’s health and redesigning our triage organization, we began the nightly task of packing drugs.  Finishing our task, we sat around the pavilion, relaxing with our colleagues.

University of Miami returns to Thomonde

By Paru Mehta

Today we arrived in Haiti.  As we flew into the Port Au Prince airport, there was a band playing traditional Haitian music.  It was a nice way to be introduced into the Haitian culture.  The airport was very clean, organized, and most importantly it was air-conditioned.  The carried to Thomonde was long.  It began on a deceivingly smooth road, but after about an hour, we saw some very rocky and bumpy roads.  After a few stops, we landed in Thomonde.  The Medishare headquarters are great.  They accommodate us very well.  Unfortunately, when we came, it began to pour, so we were bombarded with bugs that felt like they were the size of hummingbirds while Dr. Fournier gave us some background information on Medishare.  We packed many medicines and then we just relaxed, chatted and read books.  I am very excited about the week ahead of us.

Medishare volunteers experience Rara band performance

By Jennifer Browning

Most of our posts here talk about the people Project Medishare and its volunteers help, but through showing you the lives and the needs of the Haitian people, rarely do we delve into the beautiful rich culture this tiny country offers.

With Haiti being predominately Catholic, Lent and Easter offer a huge spectacle throughout the land. As I was leaving Port-au-Prince winding down through Petionville, a suburb of the capital, there was a processional of people dressed in white parading through the streets. Later waiting in the airport,  I was able to see the Petionville processional on television which lead the crowd towards a Catholic Church in the neighborhood where there was a reenactment of the Easter story.

While the students from George Washington and Morehouse medical school’s were up in Thomonde a Rara band parading through the streets stopped in front of Project Medishare’s office. Former Project Medishare intern, Samira Sami who traveled with the group wrote up a nice account of the experience over on Haiti Innovation’s website. Sami points out how vibrant the celebration is in color, rhythm and song, but more importantly how Haiti’s culture is full of life and strength.

Check out Samira’s post on Haiti Innovation here.

*Photos contributed by Cristina Catlett. Catlett is an Emergency Room physician from George Washington University.

Art in the making in the pre-op room

Waiting to go in for his hernia surgery, Widmayer Nordé draws pictures next to his decorated glove balloon recovery nurse Renaye Mansfield blew up for him.  Photo by Jennifer Browning.

By Jennifer Browning

Port-au-Prince, HAITI–Whether it is minutes or hours, the wait always seems long when waiting for surgery. After getting him dressed for surgery, recovery nurse Renaye Mansfield took a couple of surgical gloves and blew them up for 11-year-old Widmayer Nordé. Widmayer took a pen and drew a face on the makeshift balloons. Widmayer is scheduled for hernia surgery today.

Keeping the kids occupied critical care recovery nurse Janet Shanley lets the kids play with surgical hats and masks.  Photo by Jennifer Browning.