Hello to everyone! Well it was an interesting month. Numbers are still down, but up some from February. Our vaccination program continues to be a success, with Mis (creole for nurse) Rachelle vaccinating more than 25 children every Wednesday. With Port au Prince continuing to be extremely chaotic, it's a miracle we can continue to get vaccines. Things seem to be calming down in Port a little. At least vehicles can get in and out. Our agent in Port messaged me and said we can get some medications right now. The depot that gets our orders together is still functioning, but if they don’t have what I want, they call other depots. Many of these others have been burned. So there are some medications I asked for that they don’t have. Our agent in the Dominican is still able to import medicine for us. We have a 3-6 month inventory of our most used medications. Another challenge that the recent chaos has presented is the closure of the airport in Port. This means MFI can no longer fly from Florida. Their service is incredibly useful as that is how we get donations, vehicle parts, medical, and household supplies from the US. Hopefully this will not continue for too long as it will make it difficult to keep our vehicles running.
Speaking of vehicles. Our ambulance has presented some challenges. In January, Rosemard took a patient to Fond Parisien. On the way back it stopped running just above Fond Parisien. He called me and we spent the night towing it back. Through the narrow switchbacks above cliffs and through the river below Fond Verrette. We made it back ok, but it’s not an experience I wish to repeat. We were able to find the part we needed locally and our mechanic, Jenel, got it back into service. In the beginning of March, Rosemard, took another patient to Fond Parisien. On the way back, at almost the same spot the ambulance broke again. This time it was broke badly enough that towing was not an option. This was the night before we left Oriani to take Kelson and Taija to the airport in Santo Domingo. I couldn’t do much to help, so I sent a neighbor on one of our motos to bring Rosemard back. Unfortunately the moto broke as well. Poor Rosemard spent all night walking up the mountain and got to our yard just after I woke up in the morning. Rosemard and Jenel spent the next 2 days hunting for parts to fix the ambulance and repairing it before they could bring it back. Jenel spent 2 weeks going over the ambulance and our Land Cruiser, making sure they were both road worthy. We had to buy many parts locally. While they can be found, the price is a lot more than in the US. To give an idea, a bushing that costs maybe $30 dollars with shipping, cost $115! We spent more than $2,000 dollars on vehicle repairs. It is enough to make me despair of using our ambulance, but Jenel says it is good to go now.
Our trip to the Dominican was very enjoyable. We spent some time at the beach and visited some missionaries. We spent a day sightseeing in Santo Domingo before Kelson and Taija flew home. This happened to be right when Haiti was making the news for all the wrong reasons. Port had exploded in violence and the gangs attacked Ganthier, our line of defense here in Oriani. Because of this, our board in the US and Canada as well as local Haitians encouraged us to stay in the Dominican for another week. We spent a day shopping for supplies in Santo Domingo. Not sure what else to do, we went to Santiago in the north of the country. There the missionaries put us in touch with someone who had a house to rent. We spent 4 days there. By this time, the gangs had been beaten back from Ganthier. While Port continued in chaos, the mountains of southern Haiti remained calm. So we decided to come back. We made it back to Oriani on March 18. Everything seems as normal here, but things locally are getting more expensive as items from Port become more scarce. For example the local price for gas is almost $13.50/gallon. As long as the gangs can’t pass Ganthier or Jacmel, this part of Haiti is safe. If we need to we can leave down the south side of the mountain and cross the border at Anse a Pitres.
We didn’t really have any outstanding cases in the clinic. We did have one 18 month old girl we had to keep overnight on oxygen. She had a respiratory infection, possibly pneumonia. She was doing better the next morning and was able to go home. One of the big difficulties here is getting patients to follow up. The patient from February who had multiple thoracentesis came back one time in March. She is still retaining fluid and needs close follow up. I gave her medications for a week, but she did not come back. I gave her some money every time for food and for a moto as she couldn’t walk far. Fre Willy told me she is poor and needed money. It’s a little frustrating as we had just started making progress and I have no way to contact her.
We were closed on Good Friday, so 2 of our nurses went to Port to see family this weekend. I didn’t question them as they know much better than I do how safe it is. Another small update. Last week Rosemard was finally able to make it to Canada to be with Carmina and their new baby. He will be missed, but we are very happy for them. Well for now we can stay and will keep operating as best we can. Only God knows the future, but this country needs a miracle.