'The 3 F's'

Sunday, in Church, the priest talked about Cholera and "the 3 F's". F stands for "facile", meaning "easy". He said Cholera is Easy to prevent, Easy to get, and, if you get it, Easy to die.

Cholera HAS spread to Jeremie and the surrounding area since last Thursday. Thus far, 3 people have died, 2 of them children. All cholera cases are handled in a special area of the local hospital.

We continue our "all out" efforts at helping prevent cholera by education, education and more education. We have also taught peer educators what to do and gave each a bucket with chlorox and soap to take to their schools in the area. We have prepared hundreds of sachets of a rehydration formula of sugar and salt to be added to water and drunk as soon as the first signs appear. These have been given to employees, including those in the mountains along with instructions on preparing more.

Here at the Center we continue our day to day activities, being extra vigilant about proper hand washing and good aseptic technique. Any of our patients exhibiting signs of cholera are sent immediately to the hospital.

How bad will it get? How much will it spread? We don't know. However, if treated early, it is not that hard to treat. If not, as Father said, "It is easy to die."

Do continue to pray for the people of Haiti - they have suffered and continue to suffer so much.

Till next time.
Mary Ann

"Catch-Up Day"

Today is a national holiday - of what I am not sure - but that means that there are no outpatient activities at the Center. So, for me, it is a day to "catch-up" on things.

Well, I think we solved the rat problem for now. There have been no more signs of one in my or my neighbor's apartment. Alleluia!! Between patching the screens and laying out poison bait, I think we have taken care of the 2 we had.

Right now we are purchasing salt and sugar in preparation for a possible cholera outbreak in our area. It is slowly spreading to this part of Haiti; now we are no longer saying "if", but "when." Why salt and sugar? Because they are the 2 main ingredients in making the oral rehydration fluid. In every teaching session we have with patients we are including the steps in prevention of cholera. The people are afraid, and justifiably so. They are so afraid because so few have sources of clean water.

On an almost daily basis the U.S. embassy sends out warnings of demonstrations - sometimes violent - in the Port Au Prince and Cap Haitian areas. People are angry at the U.N. because it is rumored that the cholera started through a group of UN soldiers from an Asian country (not proven to date). However, the demonstrations prevent the sending of food and medical supplies to areas affected. Very sad!

Today is a beautiful, sunny, and quiet day in Jeremie. I just returned from a very poor area down by the waterfront where donors of the Haitian Health Foundation are making it possible to rebuilt shacks into concrete homes with concrete floors and water proof roofs. Sr. Maryann was checking the progress of the building. She is hoping that they will be completed by the end of the month. I have "before" pictures and will post one with an "after" picture as soon as it is completed.

Well, the electricity is being turned off, so I need to post this now. Take care. Till next time, Mary Ann

What a week!

It is only Thursday and the week has already been packed! I guess I would call it, "Food given back, The Baby we couldn't save, The village we couldn't reach, and the rat we can't catch week!" Let me explain.
Remember I said our men worked hours and hours this past week unloading food for our programs? Well, on Sunday, Catholic Relief Services called and asked if they could take much of it back to package for immediate relief to people who lost all their crops and much in their homes due to Tomas and the flooding. These people live in many of the villages we serve. Of course we said, "yes" -- and on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, 10 to 20 Red Cross volunteers repackaged the food for individual families. Each bag you see will go to one of the families who had been sleeping in village churches and were ready to return to their homes and "clean up." CRS will replace our food as soon as they can. But I did feel bad for our men who unloaded all those trucks just one day before and now had to carry the bags back outside.

Sunday a group of visitors arrived and in the morning they came to the Center and I gave a presentation on what we do here and then we toured the grounds. They got to meet the pregnant women and the 2 mothers with new babies. Both babies were nursing well and looked very healthy.

That evening after it got dark, the nurse came to my house saying that one of the babies was sick. I examined him, found his abdomen rigid and I felt a mass in the left kidney area. After consulting with our doctor, we sent him with his parents and one of our nurses to the hospital. I went home, knowing that we had done all we could. Little did I know that there was no doctor nor a doctor on call. So they brought the baby back to the Center.
Around midnight I was awakened by the security guard to come to the Center. By then the baby had gotten much worse. He moaned in pain, was puffy around the eyes, and the heart rate so fast I couldn't count it. And his abdomen was swollen and hard. He had not voided for hours. It was so frustrating. I knew the baby was dying. All we could do was send the baby, his parents, and our nurse back to the hospital - with the nurse staying and insisting that they reach the doctor on call. I stay at the Center until the nurse and ambulance driver returned. The baby and parents remained at the hospital, but a doctor had not yet arrived when the nurse left to come back to the Center
.
As is usual, we lost all power at 1:30 AM and I lit the lantern (like one my folks had on the farm!) and sat in the semi darkness kept company by a few mice running about - waiting for the nurse's return. When she came back, it was really dark - no electricity and no moon shining - so the security guard walked me back home about 2 AM.

When I returned to work the next morning the other pregnant women at the Center met me to tell me the baby had died. The parents had returned to the Center with the dead child. The Director of the Center was meeting with the father. We found some clothes in which to dress the baby, and went to our storage to find the smallest coffin we had. (yes, sad to say we always keep several on hand.) I left the baby wrapped in the blanket with which I had sent him to the hospital and placed him in the coffin. The coffin was picked up by a man who works at the hospital morgue - he would wash and dress the baby and then the parents would take the coffin back to the mountains to be buried. This was the mother's 5th pregnancy. Her first lived and the next 4 all died!

When I was called back to the Center the second time, I knew the baby wouldn't survive - he needed the equivalent of neonatal intensive surgical care to survive. One feels so helpless at a time like that. I read somewhere that "with God there are no surprises." That is true, but it doesn't lessen the ache in the hearts of the parents, the nurses here, the other expectant mothers, and myself.

And now it was only Monday! The visitors could not believe what had happened - having seen a "healthy" baby not 24 hours before.

The last 2 days we have gone to the mountains to provide medical care. One sees devastation all around, crops ruined, water still standing from the flooding. Tomas indeed caused much damage.

Then - yesterday morning I got up to, what is for me, a dreaded site - a hole chewed in the window screen in the kitchen - 1 banana half eaten - a bar of soap all chewed up - RATS!!!
I cleaned up the mess and went to work, knowing we needed to get rat poison. However, last night I got home late and hadn't gotten any poison. When I walked into the kitchen and turned on the light - there was the rat sitting on the window sill. I didn't quite scream, but I made enough noise that he scurried out the screen. Believe me, I covered that hole before I went to bed...

This morning, a new hole and more damage. Well, tonight there is a hearty meal awaiting him by both holes! Hopefully, tonight he eats the meal of the condemned and if there is more than one, they share and share alike. Did I tell you I HATE rats?? I am sure there are many more about these days after all the damaged banana fields.

Today we again tried to get to one of the villages to weight and vaccinate children. But the road was too dangerous and we ended by walking to 4 different houses, each about 1/2 mile apart and treating the children in each home. All four were very poor and the children all needed care and attention. So, in spite of a change of plans, we were able to help some who needed it.


So... and how was YOUR week???
Take care. God bless. Till next time. Mary Ann

Later Friday

Even as the rains continued today, relief aid in the form of bulgar, soy, peas, and cooking oil were being unloaded here at the Center. No, this is not new aid because of the hurricane. This is aid we have been receiving since after the earth quake in January.

As I have written earlier, many families opened their homes to immigrants from Port Au Prince after the earth quake. Since most who stayed in Port Au Prince still live in makeshift tent camps, those who came here have no place to which they can return. So, many families continue to house and feed anywhere from 4-8 or 10 extra people. This food is meant to help supplement what they have. Food is given based on the number of children under 18 in the house.

Last Saturday we almost emptied out our storage when we distributed to almost 400 people. This is done once a month. We have also been feeding almost 700 school children daily from Monday to Friday, since school began in October.

So the 5 truckloads of food that were unloaded last night and this morning will not remain in the depots for very long! And would you believe - EVERY coffee sized can full of this food (that amount is called a "marmet"), is documented as to who gets it and when they got it! At least as far as the Haitian Health Foundation is involved, aid IS going to those in need!

Late this afternoon we have heard that some of the HHF villages along the Grand Anse River and its tributaries, were hit very hard, especially with flooding and mudslides. We won't know for sure until our health workers living in the area communicate back to us and people from here go to assess the damage.

We, here at the Center were lucky, others were not. Do keep all the needy of this world in your prayers. Take care. Mary Ann

Tomas

Tomas has come and is mostly gone. We are all safe and sound and, for here at the Center of Hope, no structural damage. However, our banana crop was almost completely decimated. Many plants were torn right from their roots and others bent off close to the ground. I am sure this happened throughout the area - so it will greatly affect not only the food supply for the future, but also many farmers sources of income.

The worst of the winds were between 1 and 3 AM. A large, old tree went down right outside my bedroom window. So, this morning I had to clear the sidewalk before going over to the Center of Hope. The Center was fine - only rain water to clear from the floors. Now the woman at the Center wonder and worry about their families and their crops in the mountains. In the next few days, news will "trickle in".

All of you probably know more about how the rest of the island fared - especially Port Au Prince with all the the people living in tents.

Thanks to all of you for your notes of concern and your prayers. Peace. Mary Ann

From Kitchen to Table

This is our new kitchen at the Center of Hope. It is open, spacious, and able to accommodate the 700 plus means prepared each day.
Food is prepared here for: the mothers living at the Center, the Kwash children able to eat, the children in the Recuperation Program, and the children at St. Pierre School.
As you can see, the kettles are large and the "stove is an elevated cement block with numerous grates for charcoal cooking. The charcoal is made here on the grounds from trees that had to be taken down. The "stove" is made to maximize the burning power of the charcoal and minimize the waste.
Next time I will show a picture of the children at St. Pierre eating what, for most, is their only meal for the day.

The cholera threat seems to be diminishing. Now we are expecting a tropical storm - "Tomas" - on Wednesday or Thursday. Do say a prayer for the people of Haiti who seem to have more than their share of everyday adverse events.
Mary Ann