Last shift in Haiti – until my next trip

Really sad that I wish I could stay much, much longer. If I didn’t have all the bills I do now I would commit to months, honestly. These people need help. Not only medically but they need to learn how to care for themselves rather than letting Americans, or anyone for that matter take care of them. I’ve learned that through these people- and its spoken from their own mouths. Talking to the translators, transporters and our drivers they have shown me there is the will to make better but they need the help to get the drive to be successful, and we are trying to do just that.

I was talking with a boy who drove some of us to the UN compound for dinner friday night- the place is packed but he saw me and went to find me a chair to sit with him. I sat down, he takes my picture- immediately, he wants to know where I’m from, what kind of work I do and every minute he is smiling. He then shows me my picture and continues to show me all his pictures on his camera of every volunteer at Project Medishare that has impacted his life. He goes on and shows me haiti before and after the earthquake, I see his truly beautiful house with large, stone cylindar posts in the front, and him standing there surrounded by beautiful bright pink flower bushes. And then I see a picture a few photos later of various stone piles, rubble and trash all mixed together and a upside-down 4×4 jeep crushed and flattened. This was the after photo of his home and one of his 3 cars that were all crushed, torn and totaled within minutes and taken away from him and his family. Inside his house was his cousin.

He was so humbled and so absorbed in faith that god will have an answer for him that he expressed a true acceptance for what has happened and is focused on the future. And he is still smiling when he tells me he lives on the street. And he is okay.

This boy is so mature and smart and works hard everyday serving the people who volunteer with medishare. With every dollar he earns as a tip he buys something for someone else who needs the help. Reminds me of the saying, pay it forward.

He will be taking me and 5 other of my friends that I’ve made here out tomorrow morning for a final tour of the city. His car is not working but as he told me tonight, I will rent a car for you- ill make time to take you out. Don’t worry he will be taken care of by us all very generously.

I’ve enjoyed my experience beyond any expectation I ever could have dreamed. I worked ICU,OR and with sometimes 5 critical patients between myself and another nurse we did great. We were our own pharmacy, mixed our medications, made fentanyl, propofol, versed, mag drips, figured out drip rates (no pumps), we were our own blood bank and did the type and screens for all units, and so much more. Today I trained an army medic today so he can help out for the next few months. We are using anyone who has the drive to want to learn and wants to do good- that’s all it takes.

I’ve learned to improvise with what’s available; an old lab coat for bed chucks, bandages, tourniquet, wash rags, linen. Using a sandwich baggie to create a clean and covered colostomy- so many creative and innovative ideas we had were useful and effective.

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I am happy to say I was a part of this mission. These are experiences I can write down- but you will truly never, ever understand. Some things will be left out of my stories, others you will be able to imagine. Going back to a industrialized nation where every and anything is at my fingertips will be a large adjustment and I think part of me will always compare to the people of haiti, and I thank Haiti for that.

http://Jessicatravels2010.blogspot.com for more stories of haiti