Sabbath

Tonight is the first day I haven't left work with a headache. Not because it was any easier, but maybe because I'm learning to let it go.

Today was the Sabbath which means almost no one was working at the Seven Day Adventist Hospital. It was nice to have fewer patients and fewer Haitian staff to conflict with, but frustrating that no one in the lab or pharmacy was very helpful.

There is such a lack of education here. I discharged a patient with a prescription for Tylenol and she brought me back the script because the pharmacy told her they didn't have the drug. So I walked myself down to the pharmacy to discover that the pharmacy tech didn't understand that even though the prescription was written for 600mg tablets, it would be okay to give the patient more 250mg tablets and instruct her accordingly. I'm also not convinced that any of the antibiotics we are giving out will be taken on any kind of schedule...the people rarely wear (or own) watches here. How will they know to give their baby amoxicillin every 4 hours?

Today while cleaning out an exam room (organizing the supplies) I found a box of vials of morphine. I think I cussed. We spent over two hours trying to find IV narcotics yesterday. We had an ER patient in desperate need of pain medicine and apparently we have no morphine in the hospital. There is limited Dilaudid but they keep it in the OR on lockdown.

I really wanted to hide the morphine for our ER patients, but I took it to Luke who about fell out. Clutter and disorganization once again.

If anyone knows anyone still sending supplies to Haiti...tell them to send morphine and Normal Saline. They are like gold here. And out hospital is almost completely out of both.

We walked the four blocks to the Adventist University today. Johnny,one of the Haitian Americans on our trip told me that he attended classes there in the 90's. The entire campus is now a tent city, and even though most of the buildings are intact, no one seems to be living inside of them.

I asked Johnny what it was like. Seeing his old university like this. He said on his first trip over (a couple months ago) he couldn't sleep or eat when he returned home. Completely dumbfounded. There are two other Haitian Americans on my trip seeing Haiti for the first time since the quake. I think it is the hardest for them. They have tears in their eyes while the rest of us just have dropped jaws.

The highlights of my night were buying a coca-cola off the street...flavored water is getting really old already... And talking to my siblings...always the greatest encouragers.

Time with the team has been wonderful today, despite the awkwardness of church this morning. I feel like I am finally getting to know a few of them and learning so much. Danielle, our leader is quite a little warrior. She told me the story of how she came down here on her own at the end of January. Everything possible went wrong with her travel "plans" but she made it and God used her hugely in the first few weeks after the quake in everything from supplying baby formula to making the first contact with her cousins.

Tomorrow I'm taking a break from the ER to do some wound care. I'm looking forward to seeing some trauma patients. We'll see how it goes.