haiti.mainedartmouth.org

Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency (MDFMR) has been going to Port au Prince, Haiti for the past year, for about 1 week twice a year. The goal? To expose the residents to international medicine, and to help at least a few people in need. The challenge of trying to deliver medicine in this model: how many people can you really treat in 2 weeks a year? Can good medicine be done in this minimal model? Are we really doing any good?

I would like to think that yes, we are doing good. Our time on the ground in Haiti is brief, but has the potential to bloom into something much more. On the residency’s first trip in June 2009, eyes were opened. They went to scope out the territory and determine what would be needed in future missions. They also saw a few hundred patients per day by their last day of free clinics. They were guided by an American missionary, Vanessa of Angel Missions, who worked to find children with major medical needs that could not be met in Haiti and help them get medical visas to go to the US for medical treatment. The team found that while bringing bags full of clothing, toys, and diapers were nice, more medications and surgical equipment were far more desired. There was a strong need for basic medications like multivitamins, acetaminophen and ibuprofen; they also needed things like clean bandages and gauze, of which they had far too little.

I went with the second group in October 2009. We had a couple suitcases full of meds and surgical supplies. We had a new guide: our missionary from last trip was unable to go because she’d just brought home triplets from Haiti who were struggling to survive and needed a great deal of care. However, she set us up with an RN, Kez, who had been working in Haiti for about a year and a half. We learned that while we did bring many more medical supplies, we still wanted more. We also found that even with these little one-week trips, we could make a more lasting difference in the health of the people in Haiti, by setting up social networks. We’d made a connection on the first trip with a doctor in Haiti, Dr. Joey, who ran a small hospital (in US terms, it’d be more of a clinic), and gave us space and nursing students to run a couple free clinics. This trip, we worked with him again, and expanded our network to Kez, walking the ravine she does house calls to and seeing the people she cares for. We offer what we can in the way of medications, supplies, and knowledge. In exchange, they teach us what life and practicing medicine is like in Haiti. Our presence is a drop in the bucket, and we have so much to learn from Kez and Dr. Joey and others in Haiti, but we can do more than our one-week stint by helping support those who are in Haiti longer than us, by bringing them needed supplies. Also, by exposing residents to international medicine in a place with as much need as Haiti, some of us will continue this work after we graduate from the residency.

The residency’s next trip will be in May 2010. We have already begun to stockpile medications and supplies for the trip, but our goal is to have 2 suitcases per person going, loaded to the brim with these much needed supplies and medications. In light of the recent earthquake, there is much greater need for medical care. Right now the need is for surgical support to address the acute trauma injuries, but this will eventually shift into more and more need for medical support as lack of food, clean water, and shelter take their toll.

If you would like to help support MDFMR’s continuing missions to Haiti, please comment or contact me, and I will put you in touch with the team going this next trip.