Sunday, April 21, 2013

It's a Celebration! From mothers to babies to new chapters.

A new mom and her baby from this week.
I had a lovely time meeting two doctors from England and Ireland this past week. Both were taking a year off before committing to a field and were interested to learn about MFH and our Matròn Outreach Program. They were trying to implement their own program for their local group of matròns in a different part of the country. It was especially nice to have these two ladies meet two other doctors, one American and the other Irish at dinner. You never know who you are going to meet!

Miriette, one of our students and my housemate, doing
a neonatal exam.
I also had an interesting experience with immigration this week. A Haitian-looking woman walked into our compound the other day. She found our manager, but I was soon called to the scene. I was surprised to find that this woman (who was 7 months pregnant) did not speak a word of Haitian Creole. Only Spanish! Thank goodness we had one of our translators who, along with being fluent in English, speaks fluent Spanish. This woman said that she was deported to Haiti because she didn't have a green card even though she had grown up in the Dominican Republic. We gave her some money and helped her on way. I am not sure if she ever made it across the border, but I can only hope that she made it home.

Mirline, one of our preceptors and my housemate, working
with our students.
Aside from the house calls and the daily volunteer and staff needs, I have been doing what I can to help with our Spring Fundraiser, "Thank Your Mother and Save Another". Don't know what to get your mother for Mother's Day? May 12th is coming up fast! Check out http://www.midwivesforhaiti.org/.

Oh, and PLEASE watch this video if you have five minutes. Every Mother Counts was founded by Christy Turlington, a successful model, who wanted to reach out to women and promote maternal health care after a scary birth with one of her own children. The organization just produced this beautiful video (I met the film-crew when they were here filming) found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdzg7bIpK-o.

Our students are getting in their first births in the hospital.
I hope you enjoy it! It is amazing how time has flown by. I will be back in the States in two months. Still much to be done and experience, of course! I have come a long way in many respects since I first arrived last summer in Haiti. I hope to include some reflections in the coming weeks.






Sunday, April 14, 2013

Full House

A volunteer teaching on how to recognize a post-partum hemorrhage.
First and foremost, Midwives For Haiti has started its Spring Fundraiser to raise $50,000 by Mother's Day (May 12th). If you haven't come up with a nice gift idea for your mother, check out one at http://www.midwivesforhaiti.org/. Thank your mother and save another!

I sent off 11 volunteers yesterday. We had 13 total (in addition to the six residents in the house), and so there were literally bodies everywhere. Not to mention the constant flow of questions and inquiries like "where can I find _____" was coming from every direction.  I certainly have no problem now entertaining people while overseeing my routine duties, but I must say I was a bit more tired than usual by the end of the week!

Philomèn (one of our mobile clinic midwives
giving a class at one of the clinics.)
Before the week started, I helped see two successful trainings through - one was the MFH Continued Education Class that we hold for all of are graduates and the other was on HIV prevention for mothers and babies at the hospital. It's a good sign when other staff members ask when the next one is, so that they can take time off to attend the training. As you may already know, access to education in Haiti is difficult, and so any news of a "training" is welcomed by most Haitians. Especially ones that are free of charge.

One of my unexpected house calls this week was from one of our graduates who was working for an American-funded birth center in Northern Haiti. She had just lost her job. I think her idea of recompense was coming to MFH and complaining about why she thought she was let go. I had already communicated with the director of the organization and was already made aware of the reasons behind the decision. This midwife, however, thought it was appropriate to have her voice heard nonetheless. Though I listened to her throughout, I followed her story with a firm, "MFH is not responsible for the decision and cannot do anything to change it." We help find these midwives jobs once they complete the program, but we are not responsible for what happens after. This is a no-brainer in American society, but in Haitian culture, the idea of "community-help" comes at a different angle.

The usual sunny day at the house (a 20min walk from
the hospital). 
I think my love of chocolate has grown throughout my time here. Granted, it's the simplest thing that I can think of when a volunteer asks me what they can add to their suitcase. Do I ask them to bring a box of Ghirardelli brownies for my cravings or life-saving cytotec (for labor induction) and much-needed gloves?

Waiting to be seen at a mobile clinic.
Either way, my housemates are quick to notice wrappers and bags thrown in the trash. They remind me of a popular saying in Haiti that goes, "When you love something so much, then the doctor/midwife had cut your umbilical cord with that very thing." My Ob/Gyn must have used a blade sterilized with chocolate sauce then!




Thursday, April 4, 2013

Unexpected Phone Call


I got a call around 11pm last night from one of the volunteers who was doing a night shift at the hospital. The Ob/Gyn from Alaska said that he needed an internist right away because he had a pregnant woman just arrive. She sounded like she was taking her last breaths. 

Safe twin delivery yesterday (the midwife on the right
is the one who was on the nightshift last night)
The only internist I knew was the American who has been working at the hospital since the fall for Partners In Health. I called a friend who passed along the message. 10min later the internist arrived at the hospital.

The story I got early this morning when the volunteers returned from their shift goes as follows:

At the beginning of our shift, nothing was really going on, so we decided to put in a movie. About a minute later, a man walks into maternity with a limp woman in his arms. She was making some faint sounds, but it was obvious that her breathing was obstructed. She was having an asthma attack.

The man was not her husband and did not know that she was pregnant. He had just walked in looking for someone to help. (We don’t know who he was, but he saved her life by carrying her to the hospital).

The staff midwife who was on the shift with us said, “Why don’t we just put an IV in her and wait for her breathing to get better?” We replied that she would die if something more couldn’t be done to improve her breathing.

Some children hanging out after school (Cheryl Hannah-Truscott photo).
We then went to the ER thinking that the staff there could help us. The 1st year resident that we found said that they could not take her because she was pregnant. 

We were running out of options. The medical director even stopped by and said that we could use the hospital oxygen, but we knew that this woman needed more help than that! He left after we declined.

That’s when we called Carrie to see if she couldn’t get ahold of the internist (who we had just met in passing during our hospital tour with Carrie) to come examine the patient.

When the internist came, she immediately went to the ER, took the nebulizer, and filled out a prescription for some proper drugs. The woman slept soundly the rest of the night, breathing and alive.


One of our volunteers showing a "skin-to-skin" youtube video.
This chain of events illustrates how a simple process of getting someone out of danger can be hindered by the lack of skills, knowledge, and proper protocols for fast and accessible healthcare. It’s not that the Haitians staffing St. Therese Hospital don’t care about the ill and dying, it’s that they aren’t equipped with the right training to do all that they really could do. Even our midwives who go through an intensive training struggle with making the right decisions on a day-to-day basis. I am a firm believer of the UN's principle, "a human right to healthcare," in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but something is missing! I think it should instead include, “a human right to First World healthcare,” or care that you and I and, hopefully, most people in the United States and other developed countries have access to. 
Post-op baby (Cheryl Hannah-Truscott photo).