Things are moving forward

The Tuberculosis testing and treatment program is off the ground. Within the next week or two, I hope to have all of the children who test positive receiving INH treatment. Dr. Cynthia, a nephrologist from Maine and the Medical Director of the clinic along with Dr. Jerry, a pediatrician from Alaska helped me to plan out and execute the first part of the TB program during their 8-day visit from the states. I’ve been spending a few hours each morning giving out PPDs to test for TB, reading results and listening to the chests of every child/adult that tests positive. If the patient is breathing clearly and has no complaint of coughing, I move them on to INH prophylactic treatment to help prevent them from developing active TB later on down the road. If their exam doesn’t come back clear, then that’s my cue to send off for a chest x-ray and move carefully from there.

The medical group that came along with Dr. Cynthia and Dr. Jerry included two other nurses, Hervè and Claudette who helped to distribute tetanus shots and oraquick tests (oral HIV/AIDS testing) and Dr. Drew, a dermatologist from Virginia. Everyone from this group except for Dr. Jerry was a part of the first medical team that I participated in on my first visit to Haiti in January. It was great to see everyone again. Dr Drew let me assist on a big cyst removal and gave me several pointers on how to better my suturing and helped teach me to identify and treat several of the skin problems that come into the clinic on a daily basis.

While Dr. Cynthia was here, I went over the new design for the public health clinic that I put together with her. She liked my ideas and gave me the ok to push forward and get going on fundraising and development. The kitchen hygiene and sanitation project that I initiated a few weeks back is now at phase II until I can secure the remaining funds to begin constructing the new building.

Running Update

My new running partner is Fritzner Phanor. He's 22 years-old and has been living at the orphanage since he was 13. He was one of the first boys I befriended when I moved down to Haiti and we've been inseparable ever since. Throughout these last four months, I've worked with Fritz every morning Mon-Fri, doing public health training and teaching him about various testing, treatment and preventative methods regarding several diseases endemic to the area. Now that he is comfortable with the material, we've started a public health team of five older boys from the orphanage who we are teaching to become public health workers that will go out into the villages and do outreach. I do the lesson plans and Fritz teaches the class. He's great with the guys and gets them excited about the material. He's committed and passionate about his work and the difference he's making. Sponsored by a hospital in Maine, he's been granted the opportunity to attend a lab tech school where he can get the medical training he's been longing for. All of the children at the orphanage see him as a role model, a great soccer player and an overall good guy. It was obvious that he was the perfect person to run this marathon with me.

Training is going great! Last Sunday, we did our first 18-mile run. We started at 5am to avoid the midmorning sun and were amazed at how much faster and comfortable we were. However, by 6am, we were already running in 80 degrees. The course I took us on included 2 miles of rocky road, 1 mile of dirt path, 12 miles of paved road and 3 miles up a mountain road. We finished in just under three hours. I assured Fritz that there are no mountains at the marathon, nor will we be running in the same 90-95 degree weather that we're used to running in here. "We're working extra hard so that the real run won't be nearly as intimidating as it seems," I would tell him. We're running about 45 miles/week with Mon & Fridays off for cross training.

I've got running trails mapped out all over the area so that depending on the day and mileage, we take a different course. Some are muddy and rocky while others are nearly all paved. I like to save the paved road for our long runs on Sundays, mainly because it is the same surface we'll be running on for the marathon but also because it is not easily accessible and requires us to run 2 miles down a rocky road with tons of potholes and difficult terrain before we can reach it. It's not worth the trouble if we're running just 6-8 miles on a regular day.

New Email Address

Hi Everyone!

My Brown email address has been canceled because I am deferring a year. Please use my new email willinhaiti@gmail.com

Thanks!