Medibabble to the Rescue!

To those of you who fear that one day technology and machinery will replace human-beings in the workforce--you are absolutely right. Sharing 4 translators amongst the OR, PACU, pre-op, and the three wards, the language barrier appears to be bigger than ever. Brad Cohn's Medibabble app, however, has been there saving our behinds this past week. Since the app does not require a 3G or wifi connection, our team has been able to use it all over the hospital. The app comes preprogrammed with questions that require a yes or no answer (in some cases, a smile or frown and scream). The best part--it actually reads the question out loud to the patients, sparing us the embarrassment of attempting to imitate the Haitian dialect.

Overall, our patients are (thank god) doing well, and we can all leave on Sunday knowing there will be no serious complications.

Looking forward to our last full day tomorrow,

BH

Feeding one of our patients Plumpy'nut

Waiting in pre-op for his operation

"King Camil" in his crib with donated blanket and Burger King name tag

A Taste of the Dominican Republic

After a terribly long day, our team came back to the bunkhouse to find our two Donicana team members, Lucilla Hernandez, an OR nurse, and Maria Adrian, anesthesiologist, slaving away over a small hotplate in our kitchen (the back corner of the house). We weren't surprised, however, as the two wonder-women wake up early to cook breakfast to share with the team, and always make an abundance of flavorful rice and vegetables for dinner. Tonight, however, knocked the shoe covers off the doctor's feet. After running from the hospital to our little house in the pouring rain, we opened the door and were welcomed by a sweet, savory aroma. Cooking was a "south-of-the-boarder" inspired spaghetti. The cooking pot was vibrant with yellow corn, red peppers and green veggies. Maybe it was in comparison to our exhausting day that made the food taste all the more delicious (or maybe the fact that it was prepared with so much love). Over half way through the trip, our team has grown to be more united. We shared stories and laughed, a necessary relief after the eventfully heavy day.
Watch the video to get a sneak peak of our team after hours.

Merrill enjoying her home cooked meal and a foot massage from Maria

More updates on our patients to come, 

BH

Like a Chicken Without His Head

**This post was intended to be published Tuesday, March 5th, but a precarious internet connection here in Carrefour and the Benadryl I took that night postponed the actual posting**
As I reflecting on today, I become exhausted simply doing so. We had scheduled 9 operations, and ended the day doing 8, thanks to 3 no-shows (not uncommon here--sometimes families don't have enough money for a tap-tap for transportation or refuse to go outside when it rains because of trauma from the earthquake 3 years ago) and 2 add-ons. Some surgeries, like the removal of an 8-plate, lasted only an hour, while others, particularly those involving an external-fixator, almost exceeded 4 hours. I'll try and spare you of the gory details--but one case involved the removal of an 8" piece of dead, cracked and yellow, exposed tibia (something you would never see in the U.S.). The patient, an older man with 5 kids fell off his motorcycle about a month ago, was initially treated at a small outside hospital by "ORIF" (open reduction internal fixation) with a plate that became horribly infected. He was transferred to HAH, where our host Dr. Francel Alexis removed the infected plate and applied an external fixator. Dr. Alexis consulted with Dr. H (who was disturbingly excited when he saw the case), and we offered to work on it with Francel first thing in the morning. Another patient, a 24 year old woman with a severe clubfoot, had been wheelchair bound her entire life until now. Though her operation will require intensive physical therapy, she will soon be able to walk and live the independent life she only dreamed of.
Aside from the OR, our three PACU nurses were busy running the pre-op, PACU, and post-op, ensuring the patients wouldn't develop any infections or illnesses. Kim, our lovely nurse practitioner, gave three lectures to the Haitian nursing staff and nursing students explaining patient physical assessment and readings of an EKG, amongst other things. They all loved it, and came up to Kim throughout the day, excitedly showing her their patients EKG strips.
Our day began at 7 with a meeting on the steps of the hospital, including a prayer offered up by Dr. Ahmed Bazzi, and ended at 9, occasionally popping in the hospital to personally monitor our patients. Overall the patients are doing well, and I'm sure that Wednesday, a day that our doctors will split their time in the clinic and OR, will hold just as much work.
Only a few more days to go,
BH  

In the PACU 

Nurse Kim carrying a patient upstairs to the pediatric ward

Lost in Translation

 Keeping with a tradition started by Scott Nelson, we began our day with a morning meeting on the steps in front of the hospital. Our team leader (Papa John) reminded us of our goals and intentions; to practice medicine at the same standard as in the U.S., and to include the local Haitian staff in our day, teaching them as we go. We had a busy clinic today, evaluating roughly 25 people (primarily kids). Unfortunately, our team only being at HAH (Hospital Adventist de'Haiti) for a week, the doctors had to select who they deemed most fit to operate on. Hopefully, the orthopedic team coming next month will be able to take on the rest.
At the end of the clinic day, we saw the final five patients, all orphans, all with neglected clubfeet. Apparently there is some kind of Foot Patrol that rounds up kids every now and then to bring them to hospital for evaluation. All needed surgery badly, but unfortunately, all five had bloody diarrhea, probably amebic dysentary, and so none were scheduled for surgery this week. The Adventist hospital volunteer pediatrician, Dr. Audra Wise, wrote the kids prescriptions for medications for their diarrhea, and we made sure all five left with a hearty meal of rice and beans, a blanket from the ladies of W.E.L.C.A., and some toys and Burger King paper crowns.
In between clinic patients, our docs operated on six children. More to come tomorrow, when the clinic is closed but the O.R. will be in full swing. Its a balmy 95 degrees here by day, and a not too uncomfortable 75 degrees at night, often cooled off by tropical rains. The Haitian people are truly lovely, appreciative, and proud. We're all learning a lot, including some Creole, and enjoying our mission.
The blog's title "Lost in Translation" was inspired by our end of day trip to the bar down the street. A few of us sat downstairs drinking Prestige and juice, and began to question what the staircase in the corner would lead to. Maybe it was a disco? We could all use a 10 minute dance party. When we asked the bartender if there was a dance floor upstairs, he replied "hotel, hotel!" With his lack of English and ours Creole, we may never know what that dark stairwell leads to, but if we find out, I'll make sure to tell you!
See you when the internet connection is on my side,
BH

Waiting for hours to be seen

ArtArthroClinic

One of the orphans with clubfeet standing with Peggy

Rose Mina, our patient of 3 years
returns for another operation 

Gina teaching the nurses

The Calm Before the Storm

We woke up to a cool, minimally sunny Sunday this morning. The slight wind and cloudy skies assured us to expect rain later in the day. Dad (Dr. H) introduced the group to the Adventiste tradition of a morning meeting as a means of centering our thoughts, preparing for the day, and indulging in a long and thoughtful prayer in Spanish intoned by our Dominicana head OR nurse, Lucilla Hernandez. Our nurses, OR techs, and anesthesiologists emptied and organized the umpteen duffles that we brought (estimated at nearly two tons), setting up the pre-op, post-op, and OR rooms for the week's surgeries. Meanwhile, our surgeons were upstairs giving lectures to 21 local orthopedic surgery residents from the General Hospital (HUEH) in downtown Port-au-Prince. Dr. Herzenberg (father dearest) covered neglected club foot and calcaneal fractures, while Dr. Job Timeny (who doubled as a medical translator) gave a club foot presentation. Dr. Lee Hlad taught the residents about supramalleolar osteotomy and posterior tendon transfers and Dr. Ahmed Abazzi covered pediatric upper and lower extremity fractures. Our host, Dr. Francel Alexis, gave two outstanding talks on basic principles of the TSF and tibial varum.  The Haitian orthopedic residents were entranced, asked lots of questioned, and promised to come back in smaller groups throughout the week to work in the OR with our doctors. All left with a souvenir Baltimore Limb Deformity Course (deformitycourse.com) goniometer, printed lecture notes, and a BLDC course manual was donated to the HUEH library.

After a lunch of rice and beans provided by the hospital, we walked about a mile and a half to Mary Lou's Orphanage. Mary Lou is 29 years old with one child of her own. She cares for all of the children by her self, and the orphanage consists of 2 full sized beds and 2 bunk beds. There is one washroom and an outdoor courtyard to play in, along with a terrace garden. We were greeted by hugs and beaming smiles. There, we taught the 20 children how to properly wash their hands, followed by distributing mini hand sanitizes and ingredients to make their own sanitizer locally (all you need is alcohol and glycerin!). We also brought fruits and vegetable plants, and helped them plant them in their garden. Finally, we distributed candies, crowns donated by Burger King, jump ropes, soccer balls, and lots of stickers and coloring books.

A Warm 90º Welcome to Haiti

A fearless Joanne securing the bags

And alas we have arrived! Our team successfully managed to lug our 19 50lb duffle bags from Baltimore to Port-au-Prince. Don't be fooled, however, as our trip from the Port-au-Prince airport to Hospital Adventist was far from smooth. After dragging our bags through the dusty streets, we were welcomed by two drivers, one with a 4 seater pick up truck, the other with a 5 seater SUV. As our team of 15 looked at our bags, at each other, and again at the bags, the one word that crossed everyone's mind was "clown-car." Meanwhile, our Haitian drivers assured us not to worry, and proceeded to stack duffle on top of duffle until a mountain appeared before our eyes. Once we all miraculously managed to squeeze into the cars, we embarked on trip of life or death. Picture the Wild West--no police to enforce the law, no stop signs speed bumps or traffic lights to control traffic, and no rules (so appreciate the next time a cop pulls you over for going 40 in a 35). With each pothole our car went over, we would all start laughing hysterically, guessing who's bag fell off that time. When we finally arrived at Hospital Adventist, we unpacked our supplies and put our clothes and food in the guest house. We are currently listening to Spanish Christmas music (provided by our Dominican super-stars, Lucia & Maria), eating our microwavable TV dinners discussing the days to come.
Keep tuning in for updates once the real action starts to unfold!
BH

Lee loading the bags onto truck

Clown-car!

Lucilla and Maria from the Dominican Republic

Home for the next week!

From left: Job, Alex, Ahmed, Gina, Christina, Lee,
Merrill & John

Lee Hlad, DPM : The Apprentice

Lee grew up in upstate NY in a community were cows outnumbered people 4:1. He completed his undergrad degree at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh NY, and received his podiatry degree from New York College of Podiatric Medicine. He completed his residency at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. Lee is now 8 months into a limb lengthening and reconstruction fellowship with Dr. Herzenberg at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. He has been married to his beautiful wife Danielle (also a podiatrist) for 6 years and for now, they have a little puggle, Gertrude. Lee has never embarked on a mission trip, but hopes to make this the first of many. He is looking forward to building lasting relationships with those who volunteer and the patients encountered.