Written update

Hospital:

Open fractures, open wounds, strong smells, lack of privacy, crowding and a total reliance on family to provide for you. These are some of the things you notice about the hospital. It is a place of extremes. We’re regularly coming across patients with conditions we have never come across (see large wound and bullet shattering tibia).

Everyone is watching what you do at the hospital because so little goes on during a day on the ward. This means that if you go to help get a patient out of bed you have a crowd of people watching and trying to help you before you know it. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if the beds weren’t so crammed together and you didn’t already have a student and interpreter in tow.

We’re also learning quickly the benefits of simple physiotherapy principles, not that we didn’t know them before but it’s always good to be reminded why you do something when you see the terrible consequences of not doing it. I never realised quite how stiff joints above and below a fracture can get when they are immobilised for long enough! We don’t see these joint complications in New Zealand as they have been prevented by early intervention / mobilisation.  The problems you encounter here following prolonged immobilisation are off the scale!

How good the girls are:

Right from the start we have been impressed with how well the girls are managing such a challenging caseload. It is amazing what a bit of training in rehabilitation can achieve, and all credit to the previous HHH team. Some of the outcomes that Sony, Claudine and Audate have achieved are remarkable. They have genuine examples of greatly improved function in people following strokes, spinal cord injuries and nasty upper and lower limb fractures. These include (i) a 30yr old gentleman who 6 months ago had no movement or sensation in his limbs and following a spinal fusion and rehabilitation is now walking with a frame, and (ii) a stroke patient that can now walk with a stick and a little supervision when before they couldn’t even sit up without support. It restores your faith in what we can achieve as rehabilitation professionals.

How welcome we feel:

Ever since arriving here we have all felt extremely welcomed, safe and supported within the community. This is in no small part to Robyn of course who, with her many years of living and working here as a missionary, has fluent Creole and built an enormous network of local friends and followers. We live within the same block as the Evangelical Church of Haiti and have been accepted warmly into their vast congregation. This makes you feel that you always have a local person looking out for you even if you find yourself on the very odd occasion not within sight or speaking distance of Robyn. It is comforting in such a sometimes chaotic and intimidating place.

It is not uncommon for the 15 min walk to work in the morning to take 30 mins purely because she meets people she knows on every street corner! This is in no way a frustration either as all the people are friendly and welcoming and grateful, wishing you all the very best for the valued work you do for their country. It is humbling the gratitude and resilience the Haitian community retains despite the numerous challenges it has faced over the years.

Quick update on current political climate:

People were sent home early from work on Weds last week. This was because the election results were due out that evening and the country was expecting some unrest / rioting. Turned out the results didn’t come out till the next morning and the whole country went to work as per usual and there was no trouble. Sweet. Today is Monday. We were supposed to go to work today but the old president was supposed to step down today and has not done so. Therefore the country didn’t go to work today as they were expecting trouble to kick him out. However, quite what would happen if he was kicked out I have no idea as there is currently no-one to fill this role! There are two candidates both with strong support in their respective camps and the outright winner won’t be announced till March so it’s wait and see I guess. Fortunately no evidence of trouble so far and fingers crossed it will be back to work as usual tomorrow.