Mid-week update from Haiti

Wonderful Phedya

This morning at PID I ran into Phedya, a graduate from the midwife training program. She was at PID with her client Yolande and Yolande's eight day old baby boy. Phedya was the matron (the lay midwife) who birthed Yolande's baby in their hometown near Molea. They were at PID to get a check-up. This news is such a success for Phedya and PID because Phedya took the midwife training class in January with American nurses Alison and Sara.

Phedya, Yolande, and baby.

The program is designed to train local matrons (lay midwives) to identify when pregnant women cannot have births at home, and when a birth needs to be transferred to a hospital. The program is amazing because Haiti's statistics of birth-related deaths for moms and babies are so high. 

Our American team is still staying busy: Cheryl, an occupational therapist, has seen a consistent flow of around ten patients per day, including some of our staff and family members. Intern Avery has helped out and has remarked to me about how helpful the occupational therapy is with the patients.

Cheryl and a patient.

 The patients have been so relieved by the stretches and exercises, and since Cheryl took time to show them how to do them on their own, they can continue to do the exercises long after the team has left.

Meanwhile American nurses and the high school construction team continue to do great work. They painted the house of a mortgage participant and continue to erect the walls of a new house. Today the doctor and nurses are seeing around 50 to 60 patients at a local church in Bariye Fe for a mobile clinic. Some of the American students opted to help entertain kids waiting to be seen at the mobile clinic there, instead of going to construction.