Code Blue....No Wait ..Code Milk

What The Mess...

So I am spending a quiet evening at home (finally) when I hear a tapping at the gate and someone calling my name (so goes that quiet night) the security guard  say that Madame  Lareche is calling for either Dr. Wise or myself and said it was and emergency ( we have a 27 week premature baby in the unit and so if Madame Lareche says it's and emergency it really is). So I quickly change into scrubs run to Joe and Anna's house telling them there is an emergency in NICU, and took off running to the hospital.

hmm... as I run through the hospital to get to the NICU, past the guard that warns me to stop running or  I will fall (it had rained earlier and hospital has tile floors), so I do what anyone would do at that point ...I ignore him and kept on running to NICU cause it's and emergency right??? I get to the NICU  where it is suspiciously quiet and madame Lareche is calmly walking away from the incubator... she opens her mouth and tells me "bebe a pa gen lèt" ....... WHAT THE MESS !!! she says that the baby does not have any milk,,, important but not an emergency.

Apparently the guard decided to add emergency to the message.

Soon after I arrive Joe and Anna get to the NICU to assist in the "code" but I had to break it to them that it was not a code Blue but a code Milk ... yeah we just had our exercise for the night .

Don't get me wrong I am happy that it was not a real emergency but dang it my heart can not take this kind of excitement.

Until next time

Blessings
'
Marc J  (S.A.L.T)

HAH's First EMT Graduates

Hôpital Adventiste EMT Graduates 

The Adventist Hospital in Diquine has four new EMT's as of Friday.  Today I feel like a proud mom x 4.  For eight weeks our students left their jobs, their families, and their comfort to attend the EMT program, an 8 week course provided by EMPACT-Northwest.   Our students left their homes before 5am in order to reach school by 8 am, missed meals, reaching home sometimes after 7pm.  Even on days where there were demonstration and people were cautioned to not travel on the roads, our students refused to miss a day of school.  Out of the several weeks of demonstrations our students only missed 1 day, that's it.

They took motorcycle taxis in the rain, endured injuries and still made it to class without complaint.
To explain how proud I am of Exume, Josette,  Pierre, and Rutza, I do not think I can begin to put it into words.  Every Sunday they would come of their own accord to the hospital for tutoring, often staying 5 to 8 hours in order to grasp the concept.   Every week they made a pact among themselves not to give up, to finish what they started in order to help change our ED and to make a difference in Haiti.

We often speak of how difficult it may be when we try to change an existing system, and how EMT's are not yet known in Haiti.  We often speak of the challenges that they will face, but more so we speak of their desire, their determination to help things change.

I am so proud of our EMT's, If they are Haiti's future, we are on the right tract.  

Update: Houston... We Have A Problem--> Haiti we have a problem

Dang it, seriously... Ok guys this is to crazy for me to make it up... I finally got to Florida for my connecting flight back to Haiti.  I took a 6 am American Airlines to Haiti, was bumped up to first class (well actually I paid for an upgrade so I could get the extra bags of supplies on the fight, it was cheaper than paying for the bags).  Back to the crazy story, I am in the first class cabin, just finished drinking my pre-breakfast orange juice served on a tray in a glass, closed my eyes to take a rest (actually I was praying for knowledge and a steady hand for the pilot) when what do you think I hear....

YEP... "is there a doctor, nurse, or paramedic on board, please press your call light" umm hummm third flight in a row.  So I do what any medical professional would do, I crack open an eye to see if someone else responded, nope... here I go again.  I head to the back of the plane where an elderly lady was passed out cold, pulse weak, could not find a blood pressure cuff (they had a new complicated one that you would need a rocket scientist to figure it out).  We asked the family members if she had any medical condition..no help there... they didn't know. So I figured that at that time of the morning she probably did not have a chance to eat and her blood sugar was low.  I asked the flight attendant to get the glucose paste, she said that they did not have it so I told her to go to the black pocket of the emergency bag... sad to say I knew what was in each the emergency pockets because of very recent experiences.

Thank God the lady responded after we place the paste in her mouth followed by a peanut butter sandwich and OJ.

Lesson learned:

1.  Carry and emergency kit in my carry on
2. Never ask "whats next"
3. Always travel on American Air... they were the only ones that gave me frequent flyer miles (United and Continental just lost my business) LOL.  
4.  Take a later flight in the day.

I never though I would be happy about getting breast implants

...let me explain. 

Answer to first question no I have not upgraded, I am fine with the ones God gave me. 
Answer to the second question, they were donated. 

Amy Russell Lindsey, our volunteer coordinator told me that we had breast implants donated to the hospital---------------(pause)----------(silence continues)------(exclamation)---what the MESS... why, why would someone donate breast implants to a hospital in a post disaster situation. That was something I could not wrap my head around, that is until we realized that breast implants make a great gel pillow for our babies in the NICU.

Now I am proud to say we are happy about getting breast implants... well.. you know what I mean.

30 and counting

No I am not talking about my age...


I am happy to announce that we have had 30 training sessions since January of this year.  Whoo hoo.  Most of our trainings have been centered around resuscitation.  We now have 6 nurses trained as BLS, PALS, and PEARS providers, and one nurse trained as a PEARS instructor and two volunteer staff members trained as BLS, PALS, and PEARS instructors.  I am hoping to have another PEARS, BLA, PALS training in August with another 6 staff members.

PEARS class

Sharrie Tall, helping out setting up for trainings.