Monday February 1st

Today I went to a new hospital called Comunite Hopitale de Haiti, we had in our group one nurse, one EMT and three translators. Two of the translators Joel Blake and I are dentists. We get there and say put us to work. They send us over to work along side and to also replace the Korean team that is just leaving. We are in a triage/post-op unit. We must have shown up at the busiest time of the day because it's packed with people. Now keep in mind our unit doesn't have a medical doctor in it. The first patient I treated was a young girl with her right leg amputated just below the knee. She had a femur fracture with external fixation screws. I cleaned and redressed her wound. The next patient I treated was a three year old boy with a 2 inch laceration on his foot that just had gauze placed over it. It needed to be sutured so Joel and I numbed up his foot with lidocaine as he screamed bloody murder. Once numb we placed the sutures and dressed the wound. It went on like that from 9:30am until 4:00pm without even a water break. I was just exhausted!

On the way home in a tap tap, we stopped and bartered for some sandals to shower in and to get some Haitian food. It was the best! I have missed eating this food alot. Then we stopped at the Centrale Chapel to check on the members and see how they are doing. All together another rewarding day of service. So glad I came!