Friday, June 25, 2010

Tears of joy

For a girl, I've always considered myself tough. I was a little tomboy growing up. I was the only girl on my roller hockey team, loved camping, I was always running around outside, and I even worked on a 1960 Morris Minor with my dad as a teen. But, I found tears in my eyes today when I saw this: Now, it may not seem like much to you but this is a patient standing who has not walked since she was 5-years-old! She is 21-years-old now and came into the Hanger Clinic walking with flip-flops on her knees.

Here we are today before wearing her prostheses:Jay saw her previously and she underwent surgery to release tightened tendons from years of being on her knees. 16 years – that's how long this vibrant young woman waited to walk. Her proud smile was a glorious addition to yet another amazing day in Haiti.

Oh, and for the record, I still love to camp, hike, etc., but I sure enjoy getting dolled up and being girly now too. Girls are allowed to cry too, right? And tears of joy are just one more benefit of getting to be here.

P.S. Friday night = #7, Tuesday morning for breakfast = #8

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Another productive day!

31 molds, 5 practitioners, 4 fittings, 3 locations, and one tired but satisfied team. We worked hard today!

Tonight most of the team didn't get back from Port-au-Prince until near 8pm. Traffic getting out of the city was crazy. I am so thankful that I don't have to drive here.

The main road that we take 2 1/2 hours each way to and from Port-au-Prince is called a highway here. But, it's a paved road (most of the time) that's only about a lane and a half wide and has no lane markings at all. Pot holes creep up out of nowhere, ready to jar unsuspecting passengers whose car is unable to swerve at the last minute. Other hazards are various types of livestock, other vehicles, and seemingly randomly placed "Polis Kouche". Polis Kouche translates as 'sleeping policeman' and it is what Haitians call speed bumps. Neat name for them I think.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

World Cup fever!

At random times during the last couple of days loud shouting pierced the once peaceful silence of Deschapelles. It originated from a nearby basketball court at a field behind our house. So, I went to check it out even though I knew the cause of the cheers - football (or soccer to us in the US).

Under a makeshift canopy of banana and coconut tree leafs, with a tap-tap's radio blaring the announcers every word, was a huddle of a mass of people. Here's what it looked like from afar:
The closer I got, the more people there seemed to be. Here's what it looked like closer up:
Now, I am only 5'3" tall so I never got to see a screen but some of the kids made sure they got to see by climbing into a near-by tree. Here's the kids:
The World Cup has been a huge topic of conversation and entertainment here. In the lab, the schedule of games is posted and an exuberant announcer's voice fills the plaster room from a radio on the counter top. According to our technicians, most Hatians' favorite teams are Brazil and Argentina. In the streets of Port-au-Prince yesterday, one could have easily assumed that Haiti had adopted one of those country's flags with so many being sold or displayed.

Argentina played today against South Africa and the cheers were abundant.

All coming from a field in Deschapelles, a half a world away from the football action, but you couldn't tell that from talking to people here.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Hard work pays off

Below is a look at the hard work that takes place at the Hanger Clinic in Deschapelles, Haiti. To date, more than 350 Haitian amputees are walking tall with new prosthetic limbs created at the Clinic.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A new week

Tonight was #6.

Today was the beginning of another week and the first day for the new rotation of practitioners. They're already doing wonderfully! We even fit one bilateral above-knee amputee patient today with foreshortened prostheses. Foreshortened prostheses are shorter, starter legs that don't have knee joints in them yet so the patient can get their strength and balance before progressing on to higher prostheses with knee joints. The rooster has already welcomed the new guys too.

In Creole lessons this evening I learned a funny (to me at least) phrase. It's "tet poul" which translates to mean literally "chicken head". It refers to the feelings of being lightheaded, tipsy, dizzy, or drunk. I'll never look at someone stumbling out of a bar the same way again.

Oh, and Esther, I know you're reading this so Happy Birthday my friend :)

Friday, June 11, 2010

A one-of-a-kind art project for a one-of-a-kind clinic

It's rainy season here and we've had rain every evening so far. My rain boots are coming in quite handy. All the roofs here are corrugated metal. In the lab it amplifies the sound and makes the storms seem worse than the really are. In the house, the rain always sounds so peaceful. I love thunderstorms. The lightening and thunder are like God's fireworks.

Yesterday and today after work and my Creole lessons, I got to help paint the clinic a bit. There is an awesome mural project going on in our clinic right now. Local artists are funded through a grant to paint murals. Each of the patient rooms has its own theme. The pink room has birds and flowers, the blue one has some sea creatures on one side and a beautiful mountain scene on the other, the yellow has market/street scenes complete with an amputee wearing prostheses, the green room has jungle-type animals, and the purple has sports scenes-also with amputees. Here are some photos:






The new patient area and returning patient areas have welcome signs with amputees pictured.




On one bottom corner of the welcome area, one amputee has a yellow shirt and blue shorts, thanks to my mastery of kindergarten where I learned to paint within the lines. Here's my contribution: The murals just add to this place and continue to reinforce my view that there is no other prosthetics facility like this anywhere in the world. Klinik Hanger in Dechapelles, Haiti is one-of-a-kind.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

A look inside "Kay" Hanger

"Kay" Hanger is the house where practitioners working at the Hanger Clinic in Deschapelles stay during their rotation. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the house:



Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Little by little, the bird makes its nest

For the record, Saturday night was #5.

Today was the start of another week and the beginning of my second week of Creole lessons. After work, I walk down the rock-strewn road and along a path to the school. It's in a concrete building with screened-in sides. I sit at a cute little biwo (desk), in the plastic chez (chair) and learn all I can from the animated instructor at the chalkboard. Now, I can say things like, "If your leg hurts on the bottom or here (and I point), put on more socks. If the prosthetic leg feels tight, remove a sock". Thankfully, we have interpreters in the clinic and we don't have to rely on my Creole skills but I still use what little I know quite a bit!

Even with some shared language, there are times when we have to work together to communicate what's needed. A while ago I was looking for a specific tool in the lab. I've always called it a deburring tool. It's used to round a rough edge on a piece of plastic especially after it has been cut. The techs and I went back and forth as I attempted to describe how it looked, what it did, etc. I even attempted to draw a picture. Finally, one of them said, "Oh, se General!" They had named it the General. Funny name, I thought, until they brought it to me and showed me that it was labeled General-which must be the brand name. Similarly, razor blades are called Gillett here.

Probably my favorite Creole phrase I've learned is a Haitian proverb: piti piti zwazo fe nich. It translates: little by little, the bird makes its nest. Basically, it takes one step at a time to accomplish anything. I'm frequently reminded of this when patients get their prostheses and start their therapy. Little by little they stand, take some steps and, after a lot of work, usually most of them end up walking without crutches by the time they leave.

Later this week a radiant patient who has been courageously taking those steps will be discharging to start her new life with prostheses. She lost both her legs above-the-knee as a result of injuries she sustained in the earthquake. One of Jay's last days here, she walked about a half mile up hill from L'Escale, the community where many of our patients stay, and finished by walking up the ramp at the clinic. Here's a video of that:



Little by little she worked on her goal, her “nest”. What an honor it is to see her progress so well and to have had a small part in her success.

Mondays here in Haiti are always someone's beginning. That makes it exciting to get up Monday mornings and see what the week has in store for us all.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Momentous milestones & pink polka dot rain boots

For those of you who are following the blog: tonight was #4. If you don't know what that means, well, you'll have to do some reading :) My first solo week as lead practitioner went quite well and included such momentous milestones as sending my first text message in Creole, having an important business conversation as a goat ate nearby, and my first experience adjusting a socket so someone could adequately squat as low as some Haitians are able to when performing daily tasks here.

The week ended today with a wonderful display of teamwork for the good of a patient. Now, normally, I'll admit, I wouldn't be the happiest camper if I was still at the office at 10pm working on a Friday night. But, tonight there was nowhere else I would rather be. Five of us chipped in to get the absolute best possible result for a patient whose life will be greatly impacted. Smiles and jokes abounded, Haitian music played on the radio in the lab, and we all worked on portions of the project together.

I have always been proud of my profession, but tonight I was part of a team that changed a man's world. We're so fortunate to get to do what we do.

Another neat event this week for me personally was the arrival of a care package from home. A woman who works at HAS had to travel back to the U.S. for a funeral and offered to bring something back for anyone who needed it, so my family was able to ship her the care package and she brought it back to Haiti. Such a treat! The care package included some cute pink polka dot rain boots (which already came in handy now that we're at the start of rainy season), other miscellaneous goodies, but three letters/cards were the true treasures. One from each of my parents and one from my grandma! On the last rotation a practitioner from Raleigh mailed letters to my grandma for me and I got one from her this week in the care package. Through the kindness of others and this blog I still get to correspond with her. It's definitely one of the myriad of things I am grateful for right now.