Saturday, March 31, 2012

This week the Colorado team continued to work construction on the house in Blanchard. Everyday they came back muddy from head to toe, since the nightly rains fill the foundation where they are working with water. This group of people really likes to laugh, however, and so they have a really light-hearted attitude about all the messy, hard work. They are a really effective construction team, and each person is especially attuned to what their hard work results in: a home for a family who really needs it. They especially became close with one local family that is going through some hard times. Last night, Madame Pavilus came to share her story of Haiti's political history with the group. Members of the group conducted informal interviews throughout the week with people from the community and PID employees and volunteers. . It has been a full and colorful week for the team, they left this morning after one final goodbye speech from Mr. Genois. They were reluctant to leave, but their short yet meaningful time here will be remembered by us here at PID and by them.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Driving around Massachusetts

Today I went to Auburn to meet with Alicia and Lizzy to talk about our next team. It went well . As usually Lizzy had her notebook. The great thing is that what she writes she does. So when you want something down you cam count on Lizzy. Sandra is still in Haiti leading her first team all alone. They reported she is doing well.
I then went to talk to the staff at the Marist nursing home in Waltham. It was a great time. Many of them are Haitian and were excited to hear about what PID was doing there.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

In Ipswich

It was great to be back at home with family and with friends in the office. Updates came in from
Haiti from Sandra about the current team. One of the team members is doing a great job with family counseling.

Lizzy and Abby are both home on leave. Tomorrow Lizzy will meet with Alison and I about the clinic rotation in Haiti. The staff continues to be impressive in their dedication.

Monday, March 26, 2012


The Boulder Colorado team arrived safely yesterday just before the UMass Dartmouth team left, along with Kelly. Because of the Boulder team’s schedule, the team members did their excursion into downtown Port-au-Prince just hours after they arrived. The new arrivals are joining Alicia and Peter (who arrived last Wednesday) and will be building the foundation of the house in Blanchard, and additionally, a few individuals will stick around the clinic to help with various tasks. Today was their first day of work and they are off to a good start already. The team members bring many thought provoking questions and ideas about humanitarian work, and are clearly already appreciative of the beauty of the new culture that surrounds them.

Another day in Haiti

At 6:30 AM a 6 month old baby came to the clinic,severely dehydrated, fever, diarrhea and vomiting. We brought her to the children's hospital . She is doing well. Later we went to the Dept of public health and received a new list of things to do! We are almost finished. The team did construction.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

One team leaves and another arrives

U Mass Darmouth left this morning as another team arrived( our surprise team) from Colorado. Then as we were having orientation Jack, the plumber showed up unexpectedly. He is working on a large hospital about an hour away from us. All of the staff were so excited to see him. He stayed until late afternoon.
Tomorrow I will go to the MSPP to have a licensing meeting. Hope all goes well.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Inventory and cleaning

I have come to learn the difficulty of inventorying medicine and supplies. You can almost say I have come to almost dislike it. Since I
Arrived in Haiti all I have done is clean and move things back to their original position. Most people choose not to help with this and I don't blame them.
But Alicia and Peter arrived and joined in . Peter moved many items for depot to clinic and others from clinic to depot.
Alicia turned out to love organizing bottles and has done a fabulous job.
Today I wanted to finish all the clinic rooms. I was joined by Showty and Nickerson, then Kelly who decided to skip the trip and clean. Santilia joined with her two daughters and then along came Betty. We had a fun time and we finished! We were so happy we had a pizza party.

Yesterday’s mobile clinic was in Bigarade. It was PID's first mobile clinic there, and clearly the community was really enthusiastic for us to be there. Back at the PID clinic, the students worked very hard moving Benite's wound care center out of the small, dark, closet, into a bigger, brighter room in the clinic. They cleaned out Benite's old room so it can be used for ultrasounds, and organized all her supplies on the new shelves Brad made for her. Benite was so happy to have her new room- she really appreciates this group's hard work. The students also counted and bagged medicine. They were a huge help!
This morning we did one last round of mobile clinics, one at Duvivier, and one at the local orphanage. Both were busy and full, but the pastor in Duvivier and the man who runs the orphanage were very grateful. Immediately following the clinics, the team piled into the bus and went to the museum, the palace, and souvenir shopping, followed by a very special pizza party at the UN, celebrating Jeanne, UMD Nursing professor’s retirement. Her students presented her with a cake and a banner signed by everyone thanking her for all of her meaningful work.

Last day in Haiti for UMass Team

Today we will run two mobile clinic. Tamara our sickle cell doctor will leave this morning. She now has 41 patients in our sickle cell program. We are sad to have here leave a day early.
In the afternoon we hope to go to the national museum ( not always opened the posted hours) . Then we will shop and go to have pizza at the UN restaurant. This will be a new experience for us.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

    Today two new people arrived at PID: Peter and Alicia are leaders for the construction team that is scheduled to arrive here on Sunday. They've come early to get settled in and already they obviously love interacting with the people they have met so far. Today members of the medical team held a mobil clinic in Damien, where they saw many sick children and adults, as did the staff that stayed at PID. The construction team for today continued to work on the foundation at the site in Blanchard. Tonight, everyone sang happy birthday to Brittany, a UMass student who turned 22 today. Her teammates celebrated her with a card and a Haitian decorative tin bowl as a gift. The group is currently having Part 2 of their creole lessons with Samuel 1 in the eating area, as they stay dry under Brad's new roof while outside it's pouring down rain.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012


Walter left today after sharing some deep final reflections with the group over breakfast.  Today’s mobile clinic was at the Chris Rock English Institute, a local school that Samuel, one of our employees, teaches at. They saw many cute uniformed children as well as some members of the community.  Here at PID, the nurses saw a child who was extremely short of breath, and a couple students rode with Pouchon as he rushed the little girl off to St. Damien. At the construction site, the group is finishing up one house in Blanchard, and beginning digging the foundation for the next house.  Gale is working hard with the nurses on the database for the pharmacy.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Today the UMass Dartmouth students switched off, students that tried the construction yesterday shadowed nurses in the clinic, those who were in the clinic yesterday went off to the mobile clinic, and so on. This way, throughout the week, every student will get to work at each location and try their hand at each of the different tasks. Today's mobile clinic was in Sarthe. It went smoothly and the practitioners and students saw a lot of sick patients. Tonight's group meeting had Samuel 1 as a special guest- he gave the group creole lessons. Rose, a Haitian nurse here on the team, went out with her brother, and they brought back pizza and ice cream for the team.

My first day back to Haiti

I was very impressed as the clinic was in full swing as I arrived from the airport. UMass Nursing professors worked with Haitian staff and nursing students in the clinic and in a mobile clinic.
It was exciting to hear both Benite and
Tamara talk about the sickle cell class.
Benite talked about how excited the students and parents were to learn about sickle cell and where it came from.
The happiness in the eyes of the PID directors was so inspiring as they talked about how different our clinic was because we were teaching patients about their illnesses and treatments.

The discharge nursing area continued
This week in an attempt to explain to patients with two or more medicine,
How to take the meds and what their illness was. This also gives feedback
On the whole system and where problems exist.
Construction continued on a house in Blanchard and is almost finished.

Sat and Sunday in Guatemala

Saturday we finished many of our projects. The dental chair is in. Waiting for light bulbs and a pump. Little Carlos is doing well. Carlos , our past construction is in the hospital after stepping on a nail.
The front , cement pad was poured.
The kids finished the patio and we had a campero chicken party.
Last night Sergios wife cooked us a Honduran meal that was so excellent.
Today we did some last minute clinic checks in the morning. Left for Antigua. There are parades. Next stop Guatemala city for an overnight.

Guatemala dental room

I am sending a few photos of some of the things we finished last week. Here is the dental chair. A couple more tweaks and it will be ready to go.

Some where between Guatemala and Haiti

Well the group from Guatemala is home. I spent last night in Miami (frequent flyer miles do have disadvantages) . In one hour I am off to Haiti for one week. UMass Dartmouth
Joins us there . They are always a great team.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Martha and Brad left this morning, after both worked non-stop all morning.  Brad worked up until the very last second, making and installing a tarp/curtain to keep the rain out of our eating area. His work ethic and kindness are well-known by everybody here.  While he said goodbye to all the staff, its clear how much people remember and appreciate him, each time he comes.
Today four of the nursing students (plus Walter!) went to work construction in Blanchard, finishing the floor of one of the houses. Another group went with some of the nurses to do a mobile clinic in Bon Repos, and the rest of the students shadowed the remaining nurses and nurse practitioners here at the Blanchard clinic. After the work day two more team members, Matt and Erin, arrived. Both are nurses and graduates of the UMass Dartmouth nursing program.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

UMass Dartmouth team arrives in Haiti

Last week's team got off safely this morning with a tearful goodbye for everyone. Just a few hours later, 24 new people arrived, including nursing students from UMass Dartmouth, nurses and faculty, several of whom who have been to Haiti with PID before, and PID medical coordinator Kelly Biagio. Everyone got started right away unpacking the suitcases of supplies that they carried down. The group also went for a walk to see the PID houses in the neighborhood. The big team is very excited to have a busy week, seeing lots of patients here at the PID clinic, going out on mobile clinics, and trying their hands at the construction site. The team looks forward to learning and discovering new things, both medically and culturally.

Saturday in Guatemala

We started off our Saturday with working a half day at the clinic. There were a lot of patients and many returning patients coming in for follow-up.

The kids finished bringing in gravel for the patio out back and Gale bought them all Pollo Campero to thank them for all their hard work.

In the afternoon the ladies went with Sergio to visit the Mayan Ruins in Retalhuleu. They really had a good time and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.

When they came back we all had dinner at my house cooked by Dilcia (Sergio's wife). She made typical Honduran food and it was SO GOOD.

Now we are all full and sleepy. Jack is sleeping here right now because he leaves at 2 am for the airport with Sergio.

Tomorrow we are driving to Antigua and the group is going to stay the night at a hostal in Guatemala City because they have an early flight on Monday morning. But before leaving for Antigua we are heading real quick to the clinic to see just a few patients. These doctors are great and keep wanting to follow up - it's AWESOME.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Friday in Guatemala

Another great day.
The clinic saw 67 patients.
The dental chair is in and working.
The roof is on the patio . 32 kids helped carry sand and rocks for the floor of the patio. The patio is outback of the clinic and will be a place for teams to have lunch, the leaders program and other children's programs to meet.
The inside of the well is finished. Hopefully we will cap it tomorrow.
New smaller and improved water filters were being built today.
Pharmacy inventory was entered and training on the database began today.
Tomorrow we will work 1/2 day except for Norm and Jack( they will work all day).

Friday, March 16, 2012

One great day in Guatemala

Norm started at 7 pumping out the well.
The rest of the team started at 8.
The clinic remained busy until 5:30.
Rose assisted me( Gale) in the lab and started on the database.
The leaders and many younger kids moved many wheelbarrows full of dirt.
Tomorrow they return to fill it with crushed stone.
The compressor for the dental room arrived.
The highlight of the day was joining
The English program held at the clinic. Our seven students were so happy to show off there English. Monica , the new Guatemalan English teacher, loves her job . Just one great day to celebrate the community and love we share with this village.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Thursday in Haiti


Today the yoga team went back to Gertrude’s orphanage for the second day of yoga classes there. Gertrude gave the group a tour of the facilities, and sent them each home with a handcrafted necklace as a gift.

This morning, some of our medical team went to visit the old woman who was very sick at her home. Her condition is grave and there was little they could do.  

Linda, the dental hygienist, continues to work long days in order to see all her patients. She is very committed to seeing everyone and still spending  all the time necessary with each patient.

The construction crew finished filling the area in the middle of the clinic, which was filled with dirt, with gravel, so it does not turn into mud in the rain. Four hours later, we were able to test their work because we had a downpour. Brad ran out, during the worst of the storm, to check out how his workmanship was holding up.

The team had tonight’s debrief meeting huddled in a circle under the tarped eating area during this beautiful tropical storm.  Despite its beauty, the storm was also a somber reminder for the team of the people who are still living in tents or poorly built houses, enduring the rain this evening.

Thursday in Concepcion

Today is another busy day here at the clinic in Guatemala.

Yesterday the two doctors from the team along with our Guatemalan doctor Angelica saw 75 patients. And they ended their day with a house visit to Manuela Soc (Aura's mother).

Today we've put Gale to work in the lab looking at fecal samples for parasites. If she finds some the patient comes back in with the doctor and gets a prescription for the appropriate medicine.

Norm is working with Sergio on building some new water filters for families in the village.

Jack is working on odd jobs and waiting for our dental compressor to arrive. Tomorrow the dental technician is coming and will hopefully install the chair! We have said that we are going to lock him in the clinic until it is all done.

I looked out from my office today to see some cute kids lying on the floor:





Gale put some of the leaders to work outside digging out the back patio.
 


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Wednesday in Haiti


Tough day for the medical team. An elderly woman with no relatives whatsoever to care for her spent the entire day in the PID emergency room, fighting multiple episodes of plunging blood sugar. Her neighbors had brought her in and at the end of the day were the ones to take her home, praying and hoping that her blood sugar remains relatively stable throughout the night. We hope to see her again in the morning in order to check in with her. A productive day for the construction crew, and the entourage of neighborhood kids that watch them work. The yoga ladies had another day at the local school/orphanage Enfants de Jesus, and the kids welcomed them back with songs they had prepared for them.

First day in Guatemala

The team had a good first day.
Jack and Norm worked outside. Only disappointment was that the dental technician didn't show up. So we couldn't get the dental chair in today.
Saw a lot of people at the clinic. Rose and I unpacked, cleaned and organized
The lab and craft supplies. Laurel met
The little girl she sponsors. We had a great day .

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Workday two: a variety of tasks

Day two of work for this diverse team. The construction team members are chugging along-- more work on the most recent house in Blanchard, and a new plan for the inner courtyard of the PID clinic. They have started working on roofing more of the waiting area and putting in underground piping so that rainwater will drain from the planter in the center to the outside of the clinic. The yoga ladies traveled to the local Blanchard orphanage and gave a morning and afternoon yoga/arts and crafts class that included singing and small treats for the kids, most of whom are disabled physically or mentally. They seemed to love the yoga and activities, as well as the one-on-one playful interaction with the yoga instructors. The medical (and dental!) staff continued to see dozens of appreciative patients, including the 4 or 5 PID employees who took advantage of Linda's dental cleanings. In each of the various works that this team is doing, the compassion of their service does not go unnoticed.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Productive day in Haiti


What a productive day in Haiti!  Linda, the dental hygienist on the team, was able to see 22 patients. For each patient, Linda cleaned teeth, screened for cavities, gave a general exam, and offered dental health recommendations. Tamara, our volunteer pediatrician, felt confident treating both adult and children for us today. She was also able to follow-up with some of her previous patients being treated for sickle cell, and was glad to see their progress since her last trip.
Kathy, our visiting RN, who had been on a PID trip to Haiti in 2005, got back into the rhythm after just a few hours of work. Her first patient was being seen for a multitude of difficult conditions, and Kathy was grateful that there was a competent team of support ready to meet the patient’s needs. Carrie, a retired RN, bravely began a new part of the PID healthcare program today as the last stop of each patient’s visit to the PID clinic. Carrie discussed the overall diagnosis with each patient, ensuring that they understand and can follow through with their doctor’s advice and medication instructions.
Yoga! Shelly, Kim, Anita, and Debbie are serving as our yoga instruction team, and worked with the local Blanchard children in the morning as well as children staying at a local orphanage. They demonstrated yoga positions, had some fun with arts, crafts, and coloring books, and left the children with their hands full of take-home art supplies and snacks. Their interpreter, Shorty, provides some local flavor with his showmanship and ability to get the kids psyched about yoga and exercise.
The construction crew has been working on a new home for a PID-sponsored family here in in Blanchard. Martha, Ed, Kevin, and Walter are under the supervision of Maxime , a Haitian PID helper, as they shovel and labor under the curious gazes of local toddlers watching nearby. One of the many wonderful moments at the worksite came when a truck carrying a shipment of sugarcane “accidently” tossed a handful of sugarcane toward the kids, and they excitedly collected their delicious treats.
Brad, our tenacious carpenter, worked through a large list of to-do’s from Gale. Today he was able to install shelving in the exam room, fix our bunkhouse shower doors, fix various locks in the facility, and even order new materials for a roof drainage project he has been planning. The team has affectionately nicknamed Brad the “energizer bunny.”
Gale and the team arrived in Guatemala this afternoon.

Once they arrived at the clinic Jack and Norm started making plans and writing out lists of supplies needed.

We took a walk through the village and now we are heading over to the hotel for dinner.

Tomorrow we will start with construction and there will be consultations at the clinic.

Leaving Miami

The team is together in Miami, leaving for Guatemala in 20 minutes.
Well, overnight in NY and now off to Miami. I met Cathy , one of our team here. We will join the rest of the team in Miami before flying to Guatemala.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Haiti Udate

The 12 team members all arrived safely in Haiti today.  The 10 taveling on the Continetal flight arrived at the scheduled time, unfortunately the 2 team members coming in on the American flight were 3 hours late.  This afternoon we toured around Blanchard and visited many of the PID houses and met the families.  We have a fantastic mixed team of medical volunteers, costruction workers and yoga teachers, all eager to get to work tomorrow.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Today Tamara, a sickle cell doctor, arrived. It's her fifth trip to Haiti with PID. She will be spending 2 weeks here and will be holding classes for sickle cell patients and their families. Tomorrow the rest of the team will arrive.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Teams get ready to leave

Martha is leaving Sunday to lead a team to Haiti . They will finish a house and hopefully finish the drain system for the new clinic roof.
I will go to Guatemala with the team that will install the dental chair , finish the well and the drainage around the clinic. We will also gave a Doc and nurse joining us to provide medical care.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Batteries arrive for Haiti clinic

PID's clinic In Haiti will go solar through a partnership with solar industries and Messiah College. Today,Marcelin was
received the batteries at
The warehouse.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Annual Celebration

Today we had a great time at the Annual Celebration. About 100 people showed up, including the Marcelin
Family and Marie Jose, one of our translators from Guatemala. Sela Nelson did a great presentation about her two months in Guatemala.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Child Sponsorship Distribution

This past Thursday we had our monthly Child Sponsorship Distribution at the clinic. All the sponsored kids come in, get weighed and measured and receive either milk, groceries, or money for higher education.

Here are some of the newly sponsored kids who received this month for the first time! A big Thank you to all their sponsors!!

Angel Esaú Agustin Aj - Thanks Sarah!!

Josue Eliseó Col Talé - Thanks Peter!!

Ana Col Salvador - Thanks Leathe family!!

Melisa Antonia Soc Lopez -

Friday, March 2, 2012

From the US

This has been a busy week. We are getting ready our Annual Celebration . We are so happy to have Tali and Marcelin and family attending so team friends can say hello. Sela Nelson will talk
about her two months in Guatemala as an English tutor with PID. Gene and Sela return home today.