Haiti Bound

We have all seen the news. CNN can't get over it. The images are devastating and when you hear over and over again the magnitude of the quake, something deep inside your heart shakes more furious then those tectonic plates.

Haiti seems to never catch its' break. Ravished by poverty and a corrupt government, the Haitians seem to continually be hovering right below the water surface. Drowning with every unfortunate circumstance that attracts to them like a magnet to steel. I can't see any fathomable solution to a lifestyle so desolate. They are starving, they are poor, their landscape has been forested and pulverized, their workforce monopolized. Even their neighbors to the east in the flourishing Dominican Republic, cast them as second class.

So what to do? Send money. Send supplies. Financially support an organization whom you put total faith in.

When the tragedy first hit the Caribbean in January, my most obvious first reaction was "Shitballs, San Francisco is next." I have recently become completely freaked out with the notion that giant tectonic plates are sliding up and getting cozy with their other flat and hardy neighbor. First it was the smelly seals at Fishermans Warf...one by one.. heading north to Oregon. Then, Haiti is rocked (literally) to the most devastating degree. And finally, Chile, whose disastrous 8.8 quaked our days a zillionth of a second shorter by changing the tilt of the earth. Of course San Francisco has had a drill or two to prepare the city for what could be the next "big one" which may give us an upper hand in the aftermath, but I am hoping to the highest and most fictitious god in the lofty heavens that I am out of town when one San Andreas Fault decides to get down and shake its rump.

So, after that first reaction of "thank god its not me and wooohooo for not being Haitian" passed, my more compassionate side kicked in and pensively thought..."I should go help with the relief."

I filled out forms noting my incredible resume of knowing how to deliver babies AND deal with drunk people who fall, hit their head, bleed profusely and possibly break a fibula or tibia. If Haitians didn't have a problem with binge drinking before the earthquake, they certainly will now. Wouldn't the Red Cross be happy knowing they are staffing a nurse who can deal with their post-drinking tremors and their crush injuries? But no, I heard nothing. Just updates about how the military was sending in all their medical personnel and that too many have offered to help...there was no need for a nurse like you.

It was weeks later that the idea came back and tickled the inkling to travel down south. Dr. Singh, an emergency physician I work with, was joining forces with some of her UCSF Medical cohorts, creating a University of California at San Francisco contingent to head down there. They needed nurses badly as, to be expected, people were sick and getting sicker from open wounds. Did anyone want to go to Haiti? All you have to do is fly to Miami and bring a sleeping bag.

Sign me up.

And so now, I have just popped the third of my four oral anti-typhoid pills and have just hung up the phone with Phil, the nice yet repetitive man at REI, who is holding for me the last Mombasa Defender Mosquito net http://www.rei.com/product/728960 in all the Bay Area. In combination with Malarone and no less then 13 bottles of DEET OutDoors, I am hoping I can ward off such known diseases like Dengue Fever. (I couldn't be less afraid of malaria) Nothing would be more tragic then my liver and spleen experiencing another bout of that raging bull...not even another 7.0.

There will be about 40 of us I think from UCSF. Nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists alike. We will be working in cahoots with the University of Miami school of medicine and the Global Health Institute at the hospital directly next to the Port au Prince International Airport. It was leveled right after the disaster and sits right on top of swamp. Which should prove to be quite interesting when the heavy monsoons strike, scheduled to arrive right around the time we touchdown.

But the boggy underground and the noisy 747 airplanes are not the only concerning aspects of this situation. Here are a few more....

* Temperatures are topping around 95 degrees in the daytime with sweltering levels of humidity.

* Military style meals will be provided graciously from the Global Health Institute but I hear they go fast so if you are not ready and present at distribution.........let's just say I could feasibly lose a pound or two on this trip.

* We will be sleeping in a 140 person volunteer tent, cot-by-cot. Apparently there is a camp-wide scabies outbreak and chances are pretty high that everyone who comes to volunteer, leaves with those little bastards biting your skin. I would rather get typhoid....

* There are four showers for the entire refugee camp...and water is never promised. I will be lucky if I don't come home with dreadlocks.

* Most patients are in need of serious antibiotics. All the charting is done on loose leaf paper sheets so it looks like I will need to learn how to calculate drip factors and dosing rates as I won't have any of our fancy schmancy brain IV machines to do the work for me....oh brother. Use my brain?

* Family members have been unplugging their loved ones' wound vacs, a silly machine that could possible keep them from going septic and dying, and replacing them with their cell phone chargers. I don't think it will be like the trauma center here, where I kick out family members for being annoying and obnoxious. I have a feeling these family members might make me cry and feel guilty for living a very comfortable and easy American life.

It looks like it is destined to be a very challenging week ahead. I just hope I can hold it together and stay focused on what needs to be done. If I even for a second let down my guard, I could easily come home with two or three babies and a bearded old man. They could live in my sauna room!

Anywho, I am so hoping no governmental coups take place like they did back when I was very first scheduled to go to Haiti in 2004. All packed and immunized, just a week before takeoff, Aristide, the dominating dictator responsible for nearly all the downfall of the Haitian people, was ousted by local guerrillas. Boooo. I was then detoured to El Salvador where on my 21st birthday I sat in the campo, surrounded by horse flies, purple soda and hot dogs. The local people had thrown me a surprise birthday party! With hotdogs! I was given the only refrigerated beer in all the land. Jealous eyes from my travel companions stared as the cold bubbly slid down my dry throat. Oh what could have been in Haiti....

So send me good luck wishes as I am sure I will need during this mentally, physically and emotionally taxing time. No need for donated medical supplies but if someone could send me there sleeping bag, as my sister was too selfish to send me hers, that would be fabulous. (just kidding, I just want Sam to know that I am the giver in the family.)

Love to you all. I will keep you posted in the days to come. Seek stable ground if it starts to shake and remember that when heavy things fall onto your bones...they possibly could break. Steer clear from obvious fault lines and for good measure,,,,wear a helmet every minute of the day.

XOXO

Jamie