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September/October 2011 Mission: On September 26th, HAM founder and medical director, Dr. Tracee Laing,
and HAM board member and director of operation, Paul Hammond, will fly
into Port-au-Prince for their third and final mission to Haiti of 2011. Below are their posts directly from Haiti.
Monday, September 26th: Dr. Tracee and Paul left Granville at 3:30 am in order to catch their connecting flights from Columbus to Chicago to Miami, and eventually to Port au Prince. These travel days are typically long, but today's travel was especially lengthy. All went well until the pair boarded the jet in Miami bound for Port-au-Prince. The flight was scheduled to depart at 2:10 and boarded on time, but the fully loaded jet remained attached to the jetway for an  additional unexplained hour before finally taking off about 3 pm. In the air only about half an hour, the pilot came over the sound system to inform us there was a problem with the flaps and we'd need to return to Miami after burning off some fuel flying circles over the ocean. He said, the flap problem meant that the jet would land at high speeds, possibly causing the brakes overheat. Then he added, "There will be emergency vehicles waiting for us on the runway, but I've been trained for this, so I expect a normal landing." Hmmm, how does he define normal? Fortunately, the runway was quite long and the landing was without incident, though they were ready for an emergency as indicated by the many emergency vehicles dotting the runway, one pictured at right. Also fortunate was the fact that the airlines had an extra plane they dispatched and by 6 pm the full jet was back in the air and safely landed in Port-au-Prince an hour and a half later. As usual, HAM's man in Haiti, Charles, was there to meet the pair along with interpreter Johnny and driver Ronald, and wisked them up to friend Carolyn's house. Tomorrow it's off to the Dumay clinic, where they'll be living and working for the rest of this week.
There is never a lack of excitement when traveling to and in Haiti.
Tuesday, September 27th: Dr. Tracee, Paul,
Charles an  d Johny moved into the clinic this morning. We were pleased to find
the place clean and in order thanks to our great staff under the leadership of medical
director Dr. Jacques, administrator Wilberne, and head Nurse Carmel (pictured
right). However, we did notice one of the tents in the cholera clinic had blown
apart from heavy winds. Wilberne informed us that another humanitarian group,
America Solidaire, had agreed to build us a more sustentative structure to
house the cholera clinic. HAM will continue to operate the cholera clinic in
Dumay as long as necessary, so an improved structure will be greatly
appreciated.
 Dr. Tracee and interpreter Johny (pictured left), saw
patients in the morning and early afternoon, along with regular clinic doctor,
Dr. Dezard (pictured right) with patients. Afterwards, Tracee and Johny turned
their attention to setting up the living quarters at the clinic, including
setting up the bunk beds and stringing up mosquito nets, installing tarps over
the open metal grating to prevent the heavy evening rains from soaking the
sleeping porch, and setting up the kitchen area. At the beginning of each stay
at the clinic,  volunteers must set up their living quarters and at the end of
their stay, they must take down and pack up everything to protect it from the
harsh elements and from potential pilfering. It’s important to remember that
the Haitians HAM serves live in complete poverty and have virtually nothing, so
it can be very tempting to utilize whatever “found” items they might come
across.
 While Dr. Tracee and the clinic staff attended to medical
issues, Paul, Charles and Ronald headed back to Port-au-Prince to replace a
tire on the HAM truck, buy groceries for the team’s stay at the clinic. Most
importantly, they needed to pick up a large order of medications for the clinic
at Promess, the French  group working with the World Health Organization to
distribute medications in Haiti. The Dumay clinic receives many of the supplies
for the cholera clinic for free from Promess. Pictured left is a mountain of
cholera cot parts at Promess, where we obtained many of the cots we use in our
cholera clinic. Pictured right is an official government poster instructing about the prevention and treatment of cholera.
Our first evening at the clinic this trip seemed to be a
repeat of our first night here in May, with a huge lightning and thunder storm
and torrents of rain blowing into the sleeping porch. Fortunately, this time we
were prepared with the tarps, allowing us to keep our bedding dry. Keeping dry
and lulled to sleep by the rain beating down on the tin roof, the team slept
well.
Wednesday, September 28th: The team woke to a
very wet sleeping porch floor and the bright sun heralding a very hot day to
come. After a morning meeting with Dr. Jacques and Wilberne, the doctors turned
their attention to seeing patients while Paul assembled and installed towel
hooks in the bathroom and kitchen. Unfortunately, the clinic internet
connection was not working and we were at the mercy of our provider’s, Access
Haiti, technician who was due to show up last Friday. Paul, Jacques and Charles
left late morning to visit one of our partners, International Organization of
Migration who provides us with many of our cholera clinic supplies, and then go
to the  Ministry of Planification. There, we picked up an official letter
stating that HAM was a legitimate medical NGO (Non-Governmental Organization)
in Haiti allowing us to open a bank account at a Haitian bank. On the way we
needed to stop at the store we purchased the new tire from the previous day to
have it repaired, as we found it flat this morning. It was just another long
day fighting car problems, traffic and bureaucracy.
Let’s talk about cholera…or more specifically, HAM’s cholera
clinic in Dumay. The cholera clinic is set up in temporary quarters, meaning
tents, adjacent to the Dumay clinic; separated so as to not to  contaminate the
regular clinic, but within the same compound. The cholera clinic is open 24/7
so as to be easily accessible to any and all Dumay community members who become
stricken with this deadly disease. One of our cholera patients is pictured
right in the tent with an IV. Cholera patients are isolated, due to the
extremely contagious nature of the disease, and given oral hydration and/or IV
fluids, as well as antibiotics depending on the seriousness of the case. The
strain of cholera in Haiti is so severe that if not treated, once can die from
dehydration and collapse of the circulatory system within five hours.
 Tracee and Paul would like to give a big “shout out” to the
wonderful team who run our cholera clinic on a day-to-day basis. These
dedicated professionals work all hours of the day and night literally saving
lives. Remus, pictured top left with  the daytime medical staff, oversees the
cholera clinic, making sure it is staffed and operating effectively. He is also
pictured above right with Nurse Carmel, both do double duty at both the regular and
cholera clinics, and several of today’s patients getting some fresh air. We
have been most fortunate lately to have gained two additional staff for the
cholera clinic, provided and paid for by the Haitian Ministry of Health (MSPP),
including Nurse Marceline, pictured left. Last but
not least, we would like to point out two of the real heroes of the cholera
clinic, the two people responsible for keeping the cholera clinic clean and
disinfected, including cleaning up after the sick patients (and you know what
we mean), Clerdomy and Marie pictured right. These are the hard working and
dedicated individuals of our cholera clinic, who all of you that contribute
financially to HAM should feel quite proud to support.
 Thursday, September 29th: Despite the rain, which
has been somewhat steadily falling since 3 pm (see photo right of rainbow
during a short break in showers), it has been a very pleasant day for the team,
spent entirely at the Dumay clinic. In Haiti, where plans made are usually
plans laid by the wayside as vehicles and equipment breakdown or disasters,
natural or man made, seem to appear from nowhere, it’s an all-to-rare occasion
when we have an uneventful day like today. The doctors saw the typical 70+ patients
while Paul and Charles took care of bookkeeping and  administrative duties. The
days have been exceedingly hot, so rain earlier in the day to cool things off
was a refreshing relief. Johny, pictured left at work in the kitchen, graced us
by cooking a terrific dinner of pork chops and his special rice. Tracee told
him he’d better is careful or we’d have him cooking all the time. We’ve all
settled in for a quite evening of reading, or writing in Paul’s case, while the
rain hitting the tin roof of the sleeping porch provides a percussive
background. (Pictured below right are Charles and Tracee immersed in their evening
reading)
Today’s lack of excitement at the clinic is somewhat
indicative of a major change that has been taking place here in Dumay. When Dr.
Tracee first visited the Dumay community in 1997, she encountered a very
unhealthy population with a large variety of life threatening diseases. Today,
with a population base of 20,000, the Dumay clinic usually sees 50 to 75
patients with ailments typically consisting of minor injuries, contusions, ear,
nose throat and respiratory infections, hypertension, and malnutrition, all
relatively easily remedied here at the clinic. Basically, with the exception of
the introduction of cholera, the population of Dumay is much healthier because
of the health care HAM has been able to provide for over a decade. Under Dr.
Tracee’s vision and leadership, the Dumay clinic has become a model for how accessible
primary care can dramatically improve the overall health of an entire
population. And these are not foreign medical professionals swooping in and
saving lives; these are Haitians being given the guidance, tools and resources
to promote and realize sustainable health in their own community.
Unfortunately, the reality is  that Haiti’s problems run extremely deep and until
the country can effectively address their economic, social and political issues
to climb up from being the poorest country in the western hemisphere, neither
the Dumay community or Haiti in general can financially sustain primary health
care on their own. As effective as the work HAM has done in Dumay is, the work
is far from over. Make no mistake, Dumay needs HAM, and HAM needs you, and
every supporter who has partnered with us, to make a difference. We are most
proud of the difference we’ve been able to make, and you should be too, so
let’s keep up the good work.
Dr. Tracee saw a young male patient today who was wearing an
interesting T-shirt with an image of President Obama and his family emblazoned
on it (pictured left). She was curious and asked the man what he liked about
the shirt enough to wear it. His response was, "I
am proud of President Obama because he is black like me!" We remember
being here in Haiti around election time, and feeling the excitement; that the
USA could actually elect a black President. It was a much-needed feeling of
empowerment for the average Haitian.
 Friday, September 30th: What started off seeming to be a relatively easy day, ended up more a test of patience and endurance. It began as business as usual at the clinic, with doctors Jacques and Tracee seeing patients all morning (two, the beautiful mother and daughter pictured  left). Meanwhile, Paul was in morning meetings (pictured right with welder Edrique and Charles discussing building of security box for new eye equipment arriving in January) and building expense spreadsheets with Wilberne and Charles. The plan was to leave the clinic mid-afternoon and head across the river and back to Carolyn's place in Port-au-Prince for the weekend, as we have business to deal with in town on Saturday. We then got word that the small bridge connecting the route across the river to Route Frerre had been torn down by the locals. Apparently, they were protesting against the large gravel and sand operation recently set up on the Port-au-Prince side of the river because the informal bridge was too narrow. The idea was to tear it down in hopes that the company would build a  bigger, better one. (Pictured left is HAM truck crossing the river that was uncrossable today) Unfortunately, this meant that anyone trying to drive across the river to get to Port-au-Prince had to take the long way round, doubling the typical commute to Carolyn's from 45 minutes to and hour and a half, through Croix des Bouquets. So, we decided to stop and see the Mayor of CDB, who we'd been unsuccessfully trying to call and set up a meeting with for several days, and also do a little metal art shopping on the way. The Mayor wasn't in, but we made an appointment to see him Monday afternoon, and we  picked up a few art pieces. Then we decided to take our crew for a nice late lunch, early dinner at Canna Sucre, near the US Embassy as a treat. It was a lovely meal with great conversation about the pros and cons of rebuilding the Haitian military (all four Haitians were "pro"), when it started to rain...and rain hard. Having been stuck on the road past the Embassy before in several feet of raging water, we hi-tailed it out before the real flooding started, and fortunately we missed the worst of the deep water, though not all (as pictured right). Unfortunately, we didn't miss the terrible Friday rush hour traffic, exacerbated by the rain, and it took us over three hours to drive about five miles to Carolyn's. We arrived safe and sound, though a bit soggy, and mostly happy to be out of the back of the truck and at Carolyn's. Just another day in Haiti.
Saturday, October 1st: It was a big day at UNI Bank for the crew today, and a long one, but, we did it...we actually opened up a checking account in Haiti for HAM! This has been a priority for us for quite some time, as currently all our employees and the vast majority of purchases are done with cash. We do have a HAM bank account at a non-profit bank here, Fonkoze, where we wire money each month for payroll and expenses, but they do not have checking account services. That means one of our employees has to withdraw a quantity cash from the account and carry it around with them as they pay people, a very dangerous process for the person responsible for the cash who runs the high risk of being robbed. But as of today, that challenge has been resolved with this new checking account.
Ever wonder what it takes for an NGO (non-governmental organization) to open an official Haitian bank account? Well, let me tell you: 2 years; 15 visits to various Haitian government offices; 1 trip to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago; multiple calls and overnight packages to and from the Haitian Consulate in Chicago; visit and official signed US 501(c)3 documents from the state of Ohio; 10 different trips to UNI Bank; and 4 hours today completing paperwork and making a deposit. We still have to wait 15 days for the checks to be ready, but we have the account, finally!
On the way to UNI Bank this morning, we had to stop at a place on Del Mas to have some more photo copies of documents made, and while we were waiting we were serranaded by a group of several hundred people dressed in white marching up the street and singing religious songs (pictured right). We're not at all sure what exactly they were supporting or protesting, but we enjoyed their singing.
After our half-day spent at the bank, we took Dr. Jacques home and went inside to visit his family, including the newest addition, young Christian, who is 2.5 months old. Pictured left is the entire Jacques family, (from left to right) Jacques, daughters Christie and Nia, wife Gladys, and son Christian. Gladys cooked us a wonderful lunch and we were honored to spend some time this beautiful family. As we have mentioned often, HAM is truly blessed to have Dr. Jacques as our Haitian medical director. He is one of only 100 Haitian general surgeons here and he's been working with Dr. Tracee as a surgeon for a few years before being named medical director. We are currently planning an out-patient surgery center at the Dumay clinic in order to fully utilize his surgical skills.
It was a successful day, all in all.
Sunday, October 2nd: Mostly a day of rest. Tracee and Paul walked  over to St. Joseph's Home for Boys, the guesthouse in Port-au-Prince where HAM volunteers stayed before the earthquake leveled the five-story building, killing one guest staying there. We try to visit whenever in town and have watched the rebuilding progress. Before today, we had only seen the excavation work, so we were amazed today to see the foundation and much of the structural work for the five story main building completed. Pictured at right is Tracee standing in front of the original entrance sign to the complex, with the new construction in the background. St. Joseph's has employed some of the most modern anti-seismic engineering techniques for use with the available and affordable materials, beyond what most reconstruction in Haiti has undertaken. It has been a long and slow process, utilizing local Haitian manual labor at living wages for most of the work. Once this main building has been completed, they will tear down the buildings currently being used to house the boys and guests, and begin to build the remainder of the complex. There is no doubt it will be a beautiful and safe facility when finally complete. We were also able to see much of the entire leadership crew of St. Joseph's Family, including founder, Michael, Bill, Walnis, Renee, and KC, so it was a very warm and fun reunion for us.
We spent the afternoon with Carolyn at her friend and Embassy colleague, Linda's house. Linda prepared a delicious lunch and we enjoyed viewing her impressive Haitian art collection. Linda also donated a beautiful painting from her personal collection to HAM for an upcoming auction. We feel blessed to have such wonderful friends here and delight when we are able to share time with them.
Speaking of art, Carolyn has been on the lookout for art for HAM to use in our Haitian art auctions. She found us some fabulous piece these past few months, including some true gems from the 1970's. It seems some Haitian gallery owners have decided to sell off their stock at low prices to raise money to leave the county. A sad state of affairs indeed, but a fortunate for HAM. Below are some photo's of the art as we were preparing it tonight to be packed to bring home.
Monday, October 3rd: It was back to the Dumay clinic from Carolyn's this morning, fighting traffic much of the way. Today was the first day of the new school year throughout Haiti, and traffic in  Port-au-Prince was worse than usual. It took us about an hour to travel the 4 miles to reach the River Gris crossing, where the small, informal bridge had been removed on Friday by locals.We had gotten word the bridge had been repaired, though it certainly didn't look as if any real improvements had been made and I'm not sure the local's subversive plan really worked, but at least we could cross and not have to detour to the long way round. A few of the regular local boys, most likely from families too poor to afford the required school fees,uniforms and books and therefore not at the first day of school, jumped on the back of the truck for a ride across the river. We gave them some chewy fruit snacks, which they devoured as pictured left.
At the clinic, doctors Tracee and Jacques saw patients, including a few emergency cases waiting for us when we arrived, malaria and typhoid. We also discovered there were 14 patients in the cholera clinic. While cholera has been in decline in the provinces, unfortunately it has increased again in the Port-au-Prince and Croix des Bouquets areas and we have been receiving cholera patients from both areas. On ther administrative side, Paul, Charles and Wilberne worked on finishing up the books in preparation for the transition from all cash transactions to our new checking account system, exciting stuff!
Paul and Jacques had an appointment with the Mayor of Criox des Boquets at 12:30 regarding the official letter of  partnership he was suppose to have prepared, though it turns out he had not completed it as yet. So, it will be back to see the Mayor again tomorrow, which will be our last opportunity for this as we leave Haiti Wednesday morning. While in Croix des Bouquet, we stopped to pick up some fencing materials for our garden outside the sleeping porch. Pictured right is the Stick Store, where we picked up the new fence posts and barbed wire to build the fence. If you remember our posts from this last May's trip, Tracee and Paul had purchased some baby mango trees to plant in the garden along with several avocado trees Carolyn had been growing for us from seeds at her house. Unfortunately, when we returned this trip we discovered the mango had disappeared and the avocados were 2 foot leafless stalks. Obviously the goats had gotten in the yard again. So, now we shall build a fence around our garden to keep the goats out...and buy some new mango trees.
Tuesday, October 4th: Our final day at the clinic was a busy one, as is always the case on our last day of the mission. It seems that no matter how long we stay, critical issues are put off until the bitter end, and today was no different. If  you've been following our adventures this trip, you know we've made numerous visits to the Mayor of Croix des Bouquet in attempts of finalizing the letter of agreement for HAM's partnership with the city, he has been promising us for several months now. When we saw him yesterday, he promised to email a draft to us last night so we could translate and adjust it as needed, and them meet with him today to sign it. Unfortunately, even after two reminder-emails from us, we received no response, and Paul's visit to his office today failed to elicit even a face-to-face meet. It's now bumped to Dr. Jacques followup list. Paul also needed to have an application for on-line access to our new checking account at UNIBANK notarized before we departed. It took
visits to four separate notaries in Croix des Bouquet to find one actually in their
office...we wonder if Tuesday is when all Haitian notaries play golf? After much discussion about legal names and middle initials, and two trips to make photo copies, we finally reached success and the paperwork is completed so Charles and Jacques can turn it in
tomorrow. Wish us luck!
 On the medical side, Dr. Tracee had a busy morning at the  clinic treating a variety
medical conditions. There was the elderly man who had one nasty rope burn on his right thigh, pictured left being treated by nurse Carmel. It seems his cow decided to try to run away and he was caught off guard...ouch! Tracee also saw two little girls with very high fevers, one of which had typhoid. Pictured top and middle right, both girls received hand made blankets donated by members of the Worthington Presbyterian Church. The numerous blankets members of the church have made and donated to the children of Haiti have been greatly needed and appreciated.
Two posters, pictured right, hang in the Dumay clinic promote two important programs the clinic provide the community. The poster on the left is for the filariasis program that helps prevent the parasite, spread by Mosquitos, that causes Elephantitis. The poster on the right is for the family planing program, and states, "With planing, you can realize your dreams." Haiti is both the poorest and most densely populated country in the western hemisphere, a population too large to effectively sustain for the long term. Both these programs have been started in the Dumay community this year through HAM.
On a final note, our local friends Ludres and Clerdomy began work on the new goat fence around the garden. Pictured left are the fence posts, purchased yesterday from the Stick Store, set in place and awaiting the installation of barbed wire. We're putting those goats on notice, no more tender young HAM mango trees for you guys!
Wednesday, October 5th: 
Tracee and Paul departed Haiti for their home in Granville, Ohio today. Their crew, (left to right above) driver Ronald, interpreter Johny, and right-hand-man Charles, whisked them off to the Port-au-Prince airport in for their late morning flight. We're happy to report the entire day's travel was uneventful, with no terrible traffic snarls or emergency landings. By midnight the pair was happily home.
It was a productive trip, the final planned HAM mission to Haiti in 2011, and most importantly this leadership team was able to personally verify firsthand that HAM's medical and community health programs in Dumay are proceeding most successfully. Under the leadership of Dr. Jacques and Charles, the goal of providing effective community health programs and fully functional primary health and cholera clinics are being successfully met.
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Sept/Oct 2011 Mission
