Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity Donation

Project Medishare for Haiti would like to thank the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity for their generous donation in honor of Dr. Gerald Bertoni, father of Dr. Alain Bertoni. Dr. Alain Bertoni is an Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences and Internal Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine and the Director of Research at the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity.

Maya Angelou herself has been a longstanding supporter of Project Medishare for Haiti. Dr. Angelou and her son Guy Johnson narrated the film Once There Was a Country which examined the healthcare crisis in Haiti and highlighted the rich cultural heritage and the little known triumphs of the country that became the first black-ruled nation after the first successful slave revolt in 1791. She also wrote the following for Save Haiti Saturday (a fundraising campaign started by Project Medishare supporters after the 2010 earthquake): “The question is, am I my brother and sister’s keeper? The answer is more than that. I am my brother and my sister. I am a person trapped in a building which has collapsed in Haiti. I am a father who cannot get to his children in Haiti. I am a mother who is injured holding her injured baby with no aid. I’m not ashamed to say I need your help and I am grateful to say thank you.”

This donation from the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity is especially important not only because of Dr. Angelou’s connection with Haiti but also because of Dr. Bertoni’s connection with the country. “Dr. Alain Bertoni is the son of two physicians who immigrated to the United States from Haiti before he was born.  He spent a week of his personal time in Haiti last year helping out in the tent hospital after the earthquake, working with Project Medishare. His commitment to help was deeply felt and something that mattered very much to him”- Winona K. Gilbert

Dr. Alain Bertoni (L) at the Project Medishare field hospital in Haiti

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Nemours Children’s Health System at Bernard Mevs

Project Medishare for Haiti would like to thank the pediatric team from Nemours for joining us at Hospital Bernard Mevs. Nemours is a Children’s Health System. Their Mission is “to provide leadership, institutions and services to restore and improve the health of children through care and programs not readily available, with one high standard of quality and distinction regardless of the recipient’s financial status.” The team that came to Hospital Bernard Mevs traveled from the Nemours hospital in Delaware. They brought down a team of six nurses, two doctors and a Respiratory Therapist. Some members of the team were actually at the Project Medishare field hospital last year. They plan on sending two more teams down to Bernard Mevs this year. The team was made up of Beth Moore, RN, Joey Muller, RN, Gail Gallagher, RN, Debra Miller, RN, Sandy Glenn-Vernon, RN, Becky Schorn, RN, Amy Renwick, MD, Edward Cullen, MD, Suzanne Moon, RT.

Suzanne Moon, RT spent a lot of time teaching Ms. Blanchard, one of the Haitian nurses training in pediatric critical care, how to use the ventilator and the different types of ventilation used in pediatrics. The rest of the team was working side by side with the Haitian nurses training them in neonatal and pediatric critical care. The team has also gathered a lot of donated supplies that they have brought to Haiti and will continue to bring more on their next two trips.

Nemours founder, Alfred I. duPont firmly believed that “it is the duty of everyone in the world to do what is within his power to alleviate human suffering.” Mr. duPont’s words and his legacy of compassion have lived on for more than 70 years through the care and services provided to children and families at Nemours. The care and services have now been shared with our staff and in turn our patients in Haiti.

Suzanne Moon, RT from Nemours training Haitian nurse, Ms. Blanchard on a pediatric ventilator.

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1 Year Anniversary of Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare

One year ago on June 6th, 2010, Project Medishare for Haiti moved the 300-bed field hospital that was erected shortly following the January 2010 earthquake. The staff, patients, medications, beds, medical equipment, supplies, etc. were all moved into a brick and mortar building; the Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare. The hospital is located about 20 minutes from the Port-au-Prince airport and operates 24/7 for the general public, providing the only critical care and trauma services for all of Haiti.

Moving into Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare. June 6, 2010

As with every hospital in the world, there have unfortunately been some sad stories at the Hospital Bernard Mevs. However, there have been so many more feel good stories that have come out of the hospital in the past year. These uplifting stories definitely outweigh any of the sad stories. There have been many celebrated guests that have shown up at the hospital. Members of the Miami HEAT organization surveyed the property, NFL star Pierre Garçon of the Indianapolis Colts visited the hospital, a CT scanner was donated by Wyclef Jean’s Yéle Haiti and President Michel Martelly and First Lady Sophia Martelly toured the hospital and spoke to staff, volunteers and patients.

Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare

An American Red Cross board member donated a Digital X-Ray Machine and Pediatric Respiratory Unit, the City of Miami Beach donated 2 ambulances, a new prosthetic lab was created which was made possible through the partnerships with Ossur and Knights of Columbus and an amputee soccer team, Team Zaryen, was formed with players that are former patients of Hospital Bernard Mevs.

Ambulance donated by the City of Miami Beach

There have been more inspiring visits, happy stories and generous donations that have been made in the one-year that Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare has been up and running. The most telling statistic is the one that matters: 89,694 patients have been treated this past year at Hospital Bernard Mevs with only 45 beds at the facility. We thank you all for your continued support and encourage you to please keep coming back to help save lives in Haiti and please give whatever you can so that we can continue to effectively run the hospital.

An operating room at Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare

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My Project Medishare

By Ginger Gorham-Hart

Trying to sum up my time spent in Haiti with Project Medishare is almost impossible. I have made two trips with Project Medishare and just arrived back from my third stint last week.

Ginger Gorham-Hart at the Project Medishare Field Hospital

Working at the Project Medishare tented field hospital after the earthquake was the hardest, most grueling work I have ever done. I spent 14-16 hours a day in the operating room. The Haitian patients would walk for days from their small towns just because a surgeon would be at the field hospital. How could we say no? How could we be too tired? We were there to help and so we did.

I would spend my “free time” in the pediatric tent with a sweet, little Haitian boy named Andre. We read books, Andre would teach my Creole and we would laugh all night. At the end of my stay during my first trip, I went to his cot. Andre looked really sad. I asked him what was wrong. He looked up with his big, brown eyes and asked if I was going to be leaving the next day. I responded with what every volunteer says: “yes I am leaving but of course I will be back.” Tears began to appear in his eyes, he grabbed my hand and said “but I love you and will miss you too much.” I have never felt so much emotion at one time as I did at that moment.

I knew after my first trip that I would volunteer again to go back to help in Haiti. I returned to Haiti with Project Medishare, this time to Hospital Bernard Mevs. I was reunited with Andre.

I came to Haiti to be able to help the people after the devastation they faced from the earthquake. However, I can honestly say they have helped me more than I will ever be able to help them. I look forward to returning again to continue My Project Medishare experience.

Ginger Gorham-Hart with patients in the waiting room at the Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare

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A Not So Ordinary Day In The Life

A Not So Ordinary Day In The Life

Brittany Crush is the Chief Nursing Officer of Pediatrics at Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prior to arriving in Haiti, Brittany worked in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital in Boston. In April of 2010, Children’s Hospital assembled a group of volunteers to work at the Project Medishare Field Hospital in Haiti. Brittany was part of the group that stayed for one week and she “fell in love with the experience.” In August of 2010, she decided to take a three-month leave of absence from her job at Children’s Hospital in order to volunteer as a charge nurse in Pediatrics at Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare. After completing her volunteer stint, Brittany was still not ready to leave Haiti so she stayed and was hired by Project Medishare in December of 2010.

Day in the Life

There are no ordinary days for Brittany. On days that she is responsible for staffing the unit at the hospital, she wakes up at 5am so she is at work by 5:45am. On days that she does not have to staff the unit she is up at 6:30am and at the hospital around 7:30am. She starts most days by doing rounds of all of the units to make sure she answers all of the volunteer nurses’ questions and their patient needs. Then she checks on all of the patients in pediatrics with the staff physician and the volunteer physician. After doing morning rounds, her days are never really the same. Most days she has at least one transport from the hospital to other facilities for diagnostic testing or patient transfers, she arranges to get blood from the Red Cross for patients who emergently need it, she assists with procedures in wound care and in the Emergency Room when sedation is needed, etc. She can often be found providing care at the bedsides of critically ill patients in the pediatric department. Brittany’s scope of work goes beyond the medicine that she practices. She recently started a movie night for the children in the hospital and also planned and executed an Easter celebration complete with basket decorating and an egg hunt. She is also training the pediatric nurses in Congenital Heart Defects, Hydrocephalus, Ventilators and CPR.

Brittany oversees the care for up to 18 patients ranging in age from premature babies born at 29 weeks to teenagers that are 16 years old. Hospital Bernard Mevs has 14 cribs and 5 cots in the pediatrics department. The majority of the patients that are in Brittany’s care are babies born prematurely and toddlers up to 3 years of age. The most common reasons why these young patients are admitted are for fever, sepsis, seizures, meningitis, respiratory distress and trauma from car accidents or falls.

After a 12-hour workday that is exhausting both physically and emotionally, Brittany leaves the hospital between 6:30pm and 7:30pm. When she gets home, she usually makes a simple dinner of pasta or tuna fish and then is in bed early by 9pm or 10pm. She leaves her phone on over night for any emergencies or needs that the hospital may have. Every few weeks Brittany goes out to dinner at a restaurant in Petion-ville that has live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

Brittany’s living quarters in Haiti are slightly different than the ones she was occupying at home in the US. She currently resides in a two bedroom apartment in Delmas, a section of Port-au-Prince. She shares the apartment with Rachel, the volunteer coordinator at Hospital Bernard Mevs. The girls each have their own bedroom, but they share a bathroom.  They live in the same building as the other long-term Medishare staff. The television in the apartment has not been turned on yet as there is no cable or DVD player. They do not have internet access in the apartment so Brittany says that it “is a challenge in trying to communicate home via Skype.” She does not have a lot of time to keep up with US pop culture unless a volunteer brings down a People or US Weekly magazine.

In Her Words:
“My favorite part of working with Project Medishare is that I get to work in a country with such amazing people. Every day I see people who have been through the worst come in to the hospital with smiles on their faces. They appreciate anything you can do to help them or a family member. I feel blessed everyday to be here.”

Brittany Crush, Chief Nursing Officer of Pediatrics

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Suddenly I See (Edith’s Story)

Edith, twenty-four years old, was riding as a passenger in a tap tap when a barrel fell off of a truck and struck her, injuring her C6/C7 vertebrae and causing paralysis. She could not move her legs, she was not able to sit-up or balance on her own and she could barely move her arms. She arrived and was admitted to the Project Medishare field hospital after first visiting another hospital in Haiti. When the organization moved to Hospital Bernard Mevs in the summer of 2010, Edith subsequently moved as well in order to continue treatment and obtain further critical care.

Edith completed her rehabilitation program and returned to her home. Unfortunately, her return home was short-lived and only lasted for one month. On a follow-up visit to Edith, she was found without her wheelchair and living outside. She had developed a severe wound living in those conditions and was immediately brought back to Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare.

Marty, a physical therapist with extensive experience in spinal cord injury rehabilitation was at Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare for a six-week volunteer stint. When they first met, Edith had begun preparing for her discharge back home. She was leaving the hospital with the mindset that she would constantly require assistance from someone else in order to be mobile. Marty did not share this notion; she believed that Edith had the potential to push her own wheelchair.

Edith said that Marty “was crazy” to think Edith could push her own chair. She really did not think she had the strength or function in her arms and hands to hold the wheel and push her chair. Marty explained to her that by using different muscles she would be able to do so. After nearly two weeks of daily strengthening exercises, Edith was ready to try pushing her chair by herself. Marty found rubber tubing to attach to the rim of the wheels to help Edith’s hands grip the wheel. Once everything was set it was time for Edith to see herself the way Marty saw her; strong and with limitless possibilities.

Using her shoulder muscles instead of her arms and squeezing in on the wheels, Edith was able to push the wheel. With a smile on her face, Edith said that she was “very tired and very happy”. She really did not believe that she would be able to push herself on her own but surprised herself and was very excited by what she was able to accomplish. Marty of course was extremely proud and happy for Edith who now has the ability to move around her own home and not be dependent on others.

Below is footage of Edith pushing her wheelchair by herself for the very first time.

 

Special thanks to Rachel Belt of Project Medishare in Haiti for providing the video and details of Edith’s story and to Xavi Manrique for assisting in the editing of the footage.

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Plum TV Presents: Project Medishare Documentary

This great documentary on Project Medishare premiered on Plum TV this past weekend. In case you missed it, take a few minutes to watch the video below.

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Volunteers donate blood to Haitian Red Cross

A local from Port-au-Prince, Pierre Jeanluckner has his finger pricked before giving blood to the Haitian Red Cross. Jeanluckner said giving blood is just one more way he can help his fellow citizens. Photo by Jennifer Browning.

By Jennifer Browning

Croix-Rouge Haitienne (Haitian Red Cross) stopped at the Project Medishare field hospital today for anyone wishing to donate blood. Local and foreign volunteers offered to donate.

Philadelphia logistics volunteer Patrick Looby donated his blood to the Haitian Red Cross today because he has seen the critical need. “There is such a blood shortage that it takes two to four hours to round up blood for a patient who needs it immediately." Photo by Jennifer Browning.

Before January, the institutions Croix-Rouge Haitienne visited to collect blood donations were schools and universities. Most of those were destroyed in the earthquake, so Robert Michaud, who is responsible for distributing blood units for Croix-Rouge Haitienne, is trying to find any organization willing to donate blood.

“Port-au-Prince supplies 50 percent of the country with blood. With the earthquake we are in a shortage, and we lost the majority of our donors,” Michaud said. “The rest of the cities are not supplying enough blood for themselves and for us, so we are trying to do the best that we can and go to as many spots to collect as much blood as we can.”

Project Medishare volunteer Laura Foster, an ER nurse from Tampa, is serving this week as a charge nurse. As a trauma nurse and a volunteer working in Haiti she sees the desperate need for blood donors.

“I see the critical need [to donate blood],” Foster said. “We had a lady who walked in with a hemoglobin of 1.8. That is not compatible with life. We were able to give her one unit of blood when she needed eight. That’s all we had. We got her up for a 3.4. At home if a patient had a hemoglobin level like that we would be panicking, but that is all we could do for her. Nobody should have to live like that.”

Since Foster and her medical team at the field hospital didn’t have enough blood to give to the patient, they had to administer certain medicines such as iron and vitamin B12 shots, in order to help the patient “build blood.”

“At home I have never seen a patient with a lower hemoglobin level than a three,” she said.

Volunteer nurse Laura Foster has her blood pressure taken before trying to donate blood to the Haitian Red Cross. After testing her blood, Foster found out that her hemoglobin was too low to give blood this time. Photo by Jennifer Browning.

Foster is a universal blood donor back in the States, and since she can’t donate for a year after working in Haiti, she decided to give here.

“I’ve donated three gallons at home, so I thought why not?” she said. “I might as well donate blood here where it is needed since I won’t be able to donate anytime soon when I return to the United States.”
Prior to volunteering this week with Project Medishare, Foster had participated in two mission trips abroad, however neither trip was in a third world country or after a disaster. For Foster, the week has been filled with both challenges and rewards.

“My experience this week volunteering has been wonderful an awful all at the same time. The people are so appreciative and so gracious, and they are such a proud people,” she said, “to see what they are living through is so difficult. To see [the patients at the field hospital] and tour the city and see the devastation first hand hits you hard.”

Foster said that working at the field hospital has also taken her out of her comfort zone.

“It’s been trying. I am an ER nurse at a Level 1 trauma center, so as a charge nurse I am way beyond my comfort level,” she said. “But I think we are all out of our comfort level the moment we stepped of the plane last week. I have learned a lot, which is good. Overall it has been very rewarding.”

Ironically, Foster found out moments later that she couldn’t give blood because her hemoglobin was low.

“I am really bummed because I could really help here,” Foster said.

Many others donated including Pierre Jeanluckner, who is a local working at the field hospital.

“It’s a pleasure to give blood today,” he said. “I work here at the hospital to help my people however I can. I translate for doctors and patients, I transport patients, anything that is needed I try to help. But this, giving blood to day, is just one more way I can do more for my people.”

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Volunteer prosthetic orthotists train local prosthetic technicians

By Jennifer Browning

Project Medishare began fitting amputee patients with prosthetics at the beginning of April. As part of Project Medishare’s Amputee Rehabilitation Program, volunteer Certified Prothestists Orthotists (CPO) not only go down to work each week with amputee patients at the Project Medishare field hospital, but they have also been training locals to be prosthetic technicians.

CPO Mark McVicker said he really enjoys working with patients at Project Medishare’s field hospital.

”It’s a privilege to work with patients that are so thankful for all they have left and for everything you do for them,” he said.

Mark said that while the team is doing good work, that they are limited since they currently don’t have a prosthetic lab in Haiti.

“There’s a huge need for prosthetic fitting here. When we have the laboratory [in Haiti] we will be capable of doing more things, for the moment we are very limited, it’s working but it’s a fact that we could have be doing more with a real prosthetic laboratory.”

Cedieu Fortilus is training with volunteer Certified Prosthetic Orthotists to become a certified prosthetic technician. Photo courtesy of Laurene Leger.

Cedieu Fortilus, 34, began working with volunteer CPO’s when prosthetic limbs began arriving at the field hospital in April.

“The training is going well with Cedieu, he’s a fast learner, and he’s also our interpreter,” Mark said, “we are getting him up to speed, but there are already a lot of things that he can do already.”

Not only does Cedieu fit patients with new limbs, he will also take care of coordinating future prosthetic fittings. Cedieu is provided with the amputee patient’s contact information in order to reach them to make an appointment for their fitting.

Cedieu has already learned how to prepare a prosthetic leg, adjust it for the patient in order to connect it to different components of the patient’s leg. He is also assisting patient’s with basic physical therapy exercises, as well as teaching them how to use their new prosthesis in order to help them feel more comfortable using their new limb.

Cedieu said he is excited that he is able to help at the field hospital.

“I like the fact that I’m helping the patients,” he said, “that I’m helping my fellow Haitians.”

Before being hired by Project Medishare, Cedieu was a health agent with Oxfam at Hospital Clinic in La Croix Perisse, he also had part-time work as an interpreter for the UN/Minustha, the Navy, and the US Air Force.

“I’ve being helping for the past 11 years as an interpreter for some medical groups. I’ve been in the medical field for so many years now, so that’s why I feel very comfortable in this job,” he said. “I like my job as an interpreter because I feel that I’m helping the doctors that are coming here to help us Haitians. I can bring comfort to [the patients] when I help with the communication, because I help the communication pass better between the patient and the doctors.”

With his translating skills, he is also able to talk to the patient in regards to helping them understand what their prosthetic limb can do for them.

“Many times I see a patient that thinks that because they have an injury from the earthquake, like an amputation, they think that it’s over for them, that their life is done, and that society will reject them,” he said. “I try to help them understand that with this new limb, they have a second chance, and a chance to have a better future.”

Cedieu realizes how important it is to have prosthetic technicians in his country, and he is eager to continue learning. He said he is eager to continue his education and learn how to perform the more complicated fittings.

“I want to have a better knowledge in fitting prosthetics, and I am happy that Medishare is helping me,” he said. “I hope that Medishare will start training more Haitians to be prosthetic technicians.”

It is important to have local prosthetic technicians on the ground, not only to do the initial fitting, to change a prosthetic limb in the future. For instance, if a technician fits a prosthetic today for an 8-year-old, that limb will need to be replaced when the child turns 12 because the kids are continually growing.

Cedieu said would like to see Haiti have a real rehabilitation hospital, especially for patients with spinal cord injuries.

“With a rehab facility amputee and spinal cord patients can get help in order to get back to their old life….a better life.”

*Laurene Leger contributed to this story.

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Girl Scout troup rallies community to donate and send supplies to Project Medishare’s field hospital in Haiti

By Jennifer Browning

On Easter Sunday, Georgia Jet Critical Care Medflight Flight Nurse, Jean Saden, assisted a flight crew in helping a young girl named Farah get medevaced to receive care in the United States.
The flight crew were taken to the Project Medishare field hospital where they helped stabilize Farah, and eventually transported her to Boston. Farah sustained a 45 percent electrical/thermal burn to her upper body.

“It was quite a moving experience for the entire flight crew,” Saden said. “We were surrounded by Project Medishare’s medical volunteers as we worked on Farah. I was so impressed and honored to meet them. Farah was so sick, and the medical staff were quite attached to her and her family.”

After her experience, Saden felt the need to do something to help Project Medishare’s efforts in Haiti, so when she returned to her home state of Georgia, she shared Farah’s story with my family, friends, and co-workers.

“Everyone wanted to help in some way,” she said.

Saden’s flight coordinator, Jeff Gustafson told his wife Karen the story. Karen, who is the troop leader for a Girl Scout troop, was so moved by the story that she decided to share the story with her  troop. Girl Scout Cadette Troop 1648 decided to make Project Medishare their annual project for the year.

Girl Scout Cadette Troop 1648 from Lawrenceville, Georgia rallied their community to collect 25 boxes of supplies to be sent to Project Medishare's field hospital in Haiti. Photo courtesy of Karen Gustafson.

The Girl Scout troop began collecting the donations the middle of April and worked on the project for about two weeks.  The girls asked their families, close friends, and other Girl Scout troops to donate.  One troop donated 10 boxes worth of supplies, a local doctor’s office donated medical supplies. Many families donated soaps, shampoos, blankets, sheets, new baby bottles and baby supplies, children’s clothes and shoes. Some of the local children also donated many of their toys to send to the children being cared for in the field hospital in Port-au-Prince. Other organizations that helped in donating and gathering supplies were the Gwinnett County Fire/EMS services, the Atlanta Women’s Roller Derby Team,  and staff members at Critical Care Medflight.

By the end of their donation drive, the Girl Scout troop shipped 25 boxes of supplies.

“Each toy has a personalized note from each girl. Never underestimate a girl scout,” Saden said.

The girls boxed up the donations and Gustafson brought them to the hangar. The next move Saden and Gustafson had to figure out was how to get the supplies to Miami to be shipped to Haiti.

“I was quite overwhelmed by the number of boxes and had no idea how I was going to get them to Miami,” Saden said.

While standing in line to ship some personal items, Saden began telling her story to people in the store. One woman suggested a company called Roadway to see if they might donated the shipping. Saden called the shipping company, who approved of the shipping donation and sent all 25 boxes at no charge.

And for Farah? Saden has been following her progress and reports that Farah, and her Aunt Rose is at Shriner’s Burn Center for Children in Boston, and Farah is recovering well.

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