We continue to work at the Haitian Community Hospital every day. We have the therapists very busy seeing patients on the patio. They see patients of all ages. Some have traumatic disabilities and others developmental disabilities. They have seen two severe stroke inpatients. Melanie has been working with a little girl with CP. The pediatric medical clinic has stayed very busy seeing babies with scabies, lice, and worms. Lots of kids with respiratory problems and colds. We arranged to admit our tiny preemie baby, Rivaldo, yesterday. He is doing well today as far as we can tell. Mom is sitting and sleeping next to him on a folding chair, six days post partum. Amazing. Dad brings fresh mango to the team each day to express his gratitude. We moved the pediatric clinic outside today due to the limited space and extreme heat inside the small building. This seemed to have a positive effect on both volunteers and patients, although many adults were under the impression we were the pharmacy. Vitamins for everyone was well received. In addition, we have been working with team Canada to help clean the storage room and rearrange the pharmacy. This has been a huge success, so far. The Canadians have sorted, shelved, and cataloged the greater portion of the room. Finding supplies has become much easier and we are amazed at all the supplies available. We will have three workers for the next week to help in the free clinic and perhaps PT/OT as well. Gail has begun distributing tents to the groundskeepers and debris workers. All tents have families with babies and small children. They are so pleased to have these tents. In the guesthouse last night and this morning we didn't have any water. We were so excited tonight to return home to find water, though a trickle, coming out of the showers. It makes us appreciate what we have at home and to understand what the Haitians deal with daily. The creativity of the Haitian people continues to amaze. They paint beautiful canvas and oil works, metal art works out of used soda cans/wrecked vehicles/old hubcaps, and carved stones. Also, the children around the clinic show a great deal of imagination creating activities and toys from our spent equipment. Today an elastic ball for PT broke. It wasn't long before the children had figured out a shuffleboard like game to play. Tonight, many team member are heading to a club to dance. The reporters from the Toronto Star invited us to attend the club with them for a bit of fun. We'll let you know how it was later.
