Haiti

We have safely arrived to base camp at the Nazarene seminary outside Port-au-Prince. We were transported by the US Embassy with members from the State Department. The ride from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince was about 7 hours long. In all of my rush to get to Haiti I never considered the marvel that is the Dominican Republic. The country has a tremendous amount to offer, including it's people and it's beauty- and is facing a huge influx of refugees, despite years of bad blood between the two halves of Hispanola. We were escorted by the Haitian Diplomatic Police when we arrived to the border and were waved through customs and checkpoint with sirens on. The scene at the border can only be described as beautiful chaos- a mountainous desert area with dusty leafless tress,bordered by a blue-green crystal clear lake- surrounded by the culture, vehicles, smells, and sounds of Haiti. In 1 hour we would be to Port-au-Prince. We have abruptly gone from speaking English, to Spanish for the past 18 hours, and now to French and Haitian Creole.

The devastation and squalor is humbling and I've been told that I've seen nothing really. We were delivered to the US embassy and quickly transported to our base camp at the Nazarene seminary just outside of downtown- a true oasis amongst the chaos.

We were introduced to the team- our old friend Lincoln among them. Everyone is cheerful, and the work has been going well. Besides Maryclaire and myself, 2 RN's- Sue and Sherry are new to the operation. There are 4 docs here at our site now that the two of us have arrived, 3 RN s and 2 paramedics, and our Field Director, Barry. Our current medical director is an internist from Colorado Springs, Duane Spalding. Logistics change daily and even hourly.

The public health aspects are becoming an increasingly important aspect of our operations in and around Port-au-Prince. We are now doing biosurveilance for the UN in addition to our clinical duties and participating in direct logistics with them at the Cluster Meetings that occur every day at 4pm.

We have a limited and creative formulary to say the least. We are treating wounds, malaria, pneumonia, gastritis, and everything else- while maintaining vigilance for cholera, typhoid, and rabies which are expected to be emerging now . I am grateful for my training as a full-scope family doc, and humbled by what I do not know.

We are continuously reminded of what has happened- from the silence and darkness over the metro area from the terraced view of the seminary, to our house mother sleeping in a tent in the driveway with her daughter because she is afraid of sleeping under a roof.

Everyone is changed by this.