Mardi (Tuesday)

Thanks to Jill for updating the blog last night with happenings around the country with our Healing Hands folks. The guesthouse was in and out of power all night last night and through this morning. We have now restored power, a full tank of deisel fuel, and a fixed inverter to assure us power throughout the week. Today we had a lot of work going around at the guesthouse - they have istalled new pipes for plumbing, started cleaning out the old kitchen, repairing cracks and painting rooms, and fixing the electricity issue.
Wendy and Leah headed back down to the Medishare tents and reported having a busy day. John, Jim, and Steve were in meetings all day. Rick returned from Puerto Rico around 2 this afternoon after having his plane turn around on the runway due to mechanical issues. We are happy to have him back safely!
The Les Cayes group has been busy making AFOs and braces, mostly for post earthquake victims. We have not heard from them or the Jill and Barb team yet today but will keep you posted later this evening or early tomorrow on their progress.
In other news, we have two chickens here at the guesthouse, named Mark and Emily, that have sparked quite an interest among our team members. Mark and Emily were born here at the guesthouse and they travel around the grounds together. There have been sightings of them hunting for food together, sleeping together, even snuggling. Every night at dinner we watch them hike up into the tree for bed - one after the other. It's just a good old fashioned love story :)
Stay tuned for word from the rest of the team!

Speaking of the rest of the team...we are reporting in at 8:50 pm from the traveling teams of Les Cayes and Jacmel. Sue called to give us an update from her and THE BOYS. By the end of the week, they will have fabricated 8 prostheses, 7 of the 8 are from injuries secondary to the earthquake! Two of the 8 limbs are for children.
GO-O-O TEAM! They are also modifying 6 prostheses fabricated initially by prosthetists 2 weeks prior to our arrival. The 3 physical therapists, including Sue our awesome PT, treated 28 patients at the hospital, including inpatients and outpatients.

Barb & Jill were very busy again in our tent clinic in Jacmel. We treated 30 patients today and are feeling quite competitive to set a record by the end of our time here! We are now reconsidering recommending twice weekly therapy for some folks. This evening, we shared dinner at a children's home with 22 junior high/high school aged children. Gotta love Haitian spaghetti with hot dogs!

Monday, Lendi

Thank the world for cellular phones and Digicel in Haiti! Jill and Barb have been able to connect with the groups in Port au Prince and Les Cayes for quick check-ins as we continue to work through the week. Barb & Jill hit the tent clinic running this morning. "Clinic ReAdaptation" in Jacmel was in full swing with patients waiting for us as we arrived. We treated 24 patients, mostly with orthopedic injuries from earthquake related injuries. Our treatment areas were a "plinth" made out of a few cinder blocks and a back board, a rubbermaid tub with a camping mat on top of it and a camping mat on the floor. We continue to be flexible and make the equipment work to be what we want it to be! Many smiles and "mesi" were shared as we gave out lumbar supports, wrist and knee braces and educated in exercises. We both chuckled and were in awe when one of our patients, who survived a stroke, got on the back of a motorcycle with his new AFO and cane to go home. Only in Haiti...

Jamie reports that she, Wendy, Leah and Keith spent the day again at the University of Miami Medishare tent. The rehabilitative work is great and fruitful. We are working to stay hydrated and cool down in the raising thermometer tent heat.

Sue called to report that she, Kevin, Terry and Bob are very busy in Les Cayes. They started work last night when they arrived and finally taking a breather tonight! They casted for 7 prostheses, including BKA and AKAs. They have also casted for 2 AFOs. Busy bees... They are working at a 50 bed hospital called Fante Lumiere and most of the patients were displaced from PAP after the earthquake to make room at the city hospitals for other patients. Working beside them are 3 physical therapists from New York.

Thank you to Gail Buck for organizing us and our communication, you're the best!

Sunday

Sunday was another busy day. Today we had a number of departures from the Healing Hands grounds. Jill and Barb have set off to work in a clinic Jacmel until Friday. They will be seeing outpatients this week. They arrived safely and were able to hit the beach for a while this afternoon. Sue, Terry, Bob, and Kevin spent the day painting and then set off around 3PM to Les Cayes to work in a orthotic/prosthetic lab until Friday. Rick also left us today to go do some work in Puerto Rico. Rick will return on Tuesday. Jamie, Leah, and Wendy headed down to the Medishare tent again today to assist with therapy. Lorne and Bjorn continued to paint and are making excellent progress. Steve and Jim headed out with Dr. Nau this afternoon and toured around town. Keith spent the first part of his day painting and then headed down to the Medishare tents to assist where he was needed. Gail was the busiest of all trying to navigate drivers to and from their respective places of work all day. We are definitely keeping busy. The pictures that are posted tonight are from the Medishare tents where three of our therapists were today. Bon nuit!

Weekend work

And we're back! Sorry about the lack of blogging yesterday, we could not establish an internet signal - however, we are now back online and faster than ever thanks to our handymen Lorne and Bjorn. A new router was purchased and installed and we are now indebt to the pair for our connection to everyone back home! The last couple of days have been very busy. Let's start with yesterday. We had two groups of therapists head to two different orphanages to educate and provide therapy. They came back with a positive report. As a side note there was one child (16 year old) with cerebral palsy in need of ankle foot orthoses to increase his mobility and Sue and Kevin were able to return to the orphanage today to cast him and will provide him with bilateral AFOs by the end of the week (this is extemely fast even by US standards)! Jamie went to the Medishare (University of Miami) tent to assist in providing therapy to the individuals who are inpatient there - more on Medishare in a bit - and the orthotists/prosthetists went to Handicap International, the airport, Tour Haiti, and yes, the beer shop to get some errands done. That brings us to today - we had 7 Healing Hands members arrive this evening - they include Jim Rhode, John Earl, Bob Tilges, Terry Kufner, Keith Hoench, Steve Fischer, and Wendy Moore. In addition to having new arrivals, we worked today. Bjorn, Lorne (member of the legislative assembly in Canada turned handyman in Haiti), Kevin, Sue, and Rick painted the back patio of the guesthouse to allow for a makeshift kitchen as our staff is currently cooking outside where there is earthquake damage (many Haitians are still a bit leery about being indoors) as well as established a superb internet connection. Sue and Kevin went to cast the fellow at the orphanage. Jamie, Jill, Leah, and Barb went to the Medishare tent - allow me to elaborate. The Medishare tent is a tent that includes an inpatient pediatric tent, inpatient adult tent, an ER, an outpatient clinic, a surgery unit, solitary rooms, and a Costco full of supplies - as the name implies, all of this is positioned rather well in tents. We spent the day treating kids and adults of varying disabilities (many postearthquake victims) with both OT and PT. I would elaborate on the rest of the week, but it seems as though this is getting rather long! So, stay tuned the rest of the week for further developments on our work - we will be busy! Until tomorrow night - bon nuit!

We made it :)

Yes, it's true, we made it safe and sound to Haiti this afternoon around 3:30PM. Due to airport damages we got to ride the airport shuttle bus to a larger warehouse type building where we went through customs and gathered our bags/bins/boxes. The entire process actually went quite smoothly. The ride to the guesthouse was quite amazing. We saw many of the tent cities that they speak of on the news in addition to many buildings in rubble; however, the Haitians are pulling together and starting to remove rubble and rebuild as space allows. The grounds of the guesthouse are a bit different looking due to damage to a couple of the buildings on the grounds, but the guesthouse is intact and we are staying indoors. Tomorrow we will begin to unpack our bins and delegate equipment to various sites/clinics. We will have two teams of people going to two different orphanages tomorrow as well as on team of people heading down to Handicap International to assess orthotic/prosthetic needs. We are not sure what our weekend will look like right now, but we hope to have some details for the weekend sometime tomorrow. All questions/comments are more than welcome! We look forward to hearing from everyone! Until tomorrow night, bonsoir!

And we're off!

Tomorrow morning at 6:25AM the Minnesota team will embark upon their next mission to Haiti! We are packed and ready to go. Once we arrive in Haiti we will gain a better understanding of what needs to be done and who will be needed where. We hope to update the blog daily, but depending on the strength of the Internet signal we may only be able to update occasionally. So, check back often for updates!

The mission returns!

Hello friends, family, and visitors! As you all know the Minnesota team's Healing Hands for Haiti trip set for January 16th was canceled due to the tragic earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. At the time of the earthquake the need for medical and emergency personnel was urgent, which led our team to postpone and wait for the next opportunity to aid this country. With three months having past since the earthquake the country is now in need of support to help rehabilitate their citizens, and provide orthotics, prosthetics, and support to the country where it is needed. We have rescheduled our trip for April 15th-April 26th. We have a variety of professionals going along on this trip including medical doctors, orthotists, prosthetists, OTs, PTs, and support staff. We are currently awaiting our assignments while we are down there so stay tuned for updates on what we will be doing while we are there. Thank you all for your continuing support!