Pregnant HIV, Ultrasound, TB, and French Braids

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

In the morning Laura and I shadowed Ms. Betsy and Lourd, both Haitian nurses, with the pre-consultation for HIV patients. We saw a few HIV patients and a few patients who came to get HIV tests. Before the test they have to fill out a questionnaire about STD and HIV. Today was prenatal clinic day, so we didn't have many HIV patients, but we had one 5-month pregnant woman who was just tested positive. I don't know if they understand what it's like to have HIV or AIDS, but there wasn't much of a reaction from her. She seemed very apathetic or ignorant of the whole situation. If I were pregnant and found out that I was HIV positive, I would cry for a very long time. But people here don't seem to react much to the news that they are HIV positive.

At one point the patient flow at the HIV clinic stopped, so I wondered around the clinic for a bit. I walked into Dr. Rodney's office when he was doing an ultrasound on a 8-month pregnant lady. He stomach was really big, so he wanted to see if there were twins. Dr. Rodney stepped out to find Gavin, so I played with the ultrasound for a bit. I think I saw a hand and a head briefly, but most of the time I couldn't tell what I was looking at. Gavin came and looked at the ultrasound, and said there's probably just one baby.

A 60-year-old woman had been coughing for a long time, and her TB skin test was positive, but her sputum test was negative. I saw her after Gavin had taken her to the X-ray clinic, and the results showed that her left pleural cavity (space around the lung) was filled with fluid at the bottom. Using the percussion technique I learned in ICM (Intro to Clinical Medicine), I could tell that the left bottom part of her lung sounded dull. At first when I auscultated (listened w/ stethoscope), I wasn't careful enough to listen at the bottom of her lung, so I had missed it, but Gavin pointed it out to me later. I realized how important it is to do physical exams thoroughly. I also realized how important the X-ray was in diagnosing that she actually has TB. i really hope we can get a new X-ray machine soon.

Gavin told us that 2 patients came to Christ today. Our clinic staff are very active with sharing the Gospel, and time to time patients pray to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. I'm honored to be working with the staff here.

I keep forgetting that dinners are at 5:30PM on Wednesdays, not 6:00PM like other nights. This is the second time I came to dinner late because I thought it was at 6:00PM.

We played Dutch Blitz again, and some how Laura and Jen won by a huge margin... again! I'm thinking the game might be rigged because they used the same deck of cards as last night. Whatever, it's still a fun game.

Beth taught me how to French braid. We used Nadine's hair to practice. This is what happens when I'm surrounded by so many girls 24/7. They told me it will be good for my surgery skills... sure...

Farewell, Phlebotomy, X-Ray Clinic, Walkabout, and Dutch Blitz

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Julie (RN, former missionary), Kelly, Cindy, Mike, Heather, Tyler, Ali, Matt, and Jacob left this morning. They had been here for one week working at the new seminary construction site. Since I work at the clinic, I didn't get to see much of them during the day, but it was fun hanging out with them, especially over the weekend and in the evenings. It was sad to see them go. I forgot to get their email addresses, but thank God for Facebook, we'll probably find each other soon enough.

Julie Briggs (Irish physio) gave a talk about cerebral palsy to the medical staff this morning. She spoke in English, and Dr. Rodney translated into Creole. When someone spoke in Creole, Gavin translated into English. It's great that we can communicate so effectively even with the language barrier.

I decided I wanted to try learning some lab work today. I needed to refresh myself on how to draw blood, so Beth let me practice on her. I failed miserably and gave her a little hematoma (bruise), but she was very encouraging and said I was doing well. Then I tried to draw on a patient, who was anemic. He almost fainted because I bruised him as well... Ms. Leonice, a Haitian nurse and phlebotomist, helped me out and taught me how to do it properly. By the third patient I was pretty comfortable drawing blood. I ended up phlebotomizing about 10 to 15 patients, and most of the time it went really smoothly. I drew Julie's blood (she just wanted to test her blood), and I didn't bruise her (much) even though she says she bruises easily. Ms. Leonice taught me well, and thanks to Beth for being my guinea pig.

One of our security guard Jacquelaine injured his left thumb, so we took him to the X-ray clinic. Ever since our X-ray broke, we've been taking people there when necessary. Just to show the place, Gavin took Nadine, Vicki, and I with him. They have a couple big X-ray machines in a fairly small building. Fortunately Jacquelaine's thumb wasn't broken. X-ray at this place is very expensive, but sometimes the owner gives discounts or does it for free. In any case, it's been more difficult to get X-ray because of the cost. We used to be able to do X-rays for every patient who tested positive for TB skin test, but now we diagnose by symptoms most of the time, and send them for X-ray if it's uncertain. I hope we can get a new machine soon.

After we came back from the X-ray clinic, Gavin lead a group us on a walk around the back of the compound. We don't get to go out of the compound much, so it was refreshing. We climbed up a hill where we could see the entire compound, but since the place is full of trees, we couldn't see much. Still, it was a nice view of the neighborhood. On our way back it started to rain, and a couple feet behind where I was walking a transformer on top of an electric pole exploded with sparks and loud noise. Good thing it was on the other side of the street. It started to pour, so I ran back to my house.

Nadine brought a card game called Dutch Blitz with her, so we played it after dinner. It was a lot of fun even though Laura and Jen won by many more points than any of us. We'll have to play it again soon.

On the way back to our place, Nadine, Laura, Evan, and I saw an interesting bug that looked like a grasshopper with wings shaped like a green leaf. Nadine touched it, but it barely moved. So I tried to pick it up, then it flew right towards Laura, and she screamed and used me as a shield, even though the bug wasn't doing anything. Anyway it was a really cool bug.

Sickle Cell, HIV Baby, Dementia by HIV, and Six Newcomers

Monday, June 23, 2008

Beth and I shadowed Dr. Gary today with his HIV clinic. Beth is a premed, so she's been wanting to shadow a doctor here. Dr. Gary has a tendency to leave the room for extended periods of time even when the patient is there, so I got to talk to the patients while he was gone, and I translated for Beth. It takes a long time to get through each HIV patient because he has to fill out like 13 pages every time. There is a new building under construction, and it's going to be for consulting HIV patients. It will expand our AIDS program and will be equipped with computers so the files for HIV patients can be digitized and more efficient. It's been pretty exciting to see the progress of the new building.

The first patient we saw was a non-HIV patient. She had leg pains when walking, so Dr. Gary tested her for sickle cell, and she turned out to be positive. I wouldn't have been able to put leg pain and sickle cell together (and I can't remember her other symptoms, probably headaches), but apparently the increased hemolysis due to sickle cell, combined with dehydration, can cause blockade of blood supplies to the extremities, resulting in pain and ischemia during exercise.

We saw a mother and her 8-month-old boy. The mother was diagnosed HIV positive last time she came, which was couple months ago. At that time she did not want to be a part of the AIDS program, but she changed her mind and came here to register. She probably changed her mind because they were both having diarrhea, and the baby had blood in his stool. We can't be sure that the baby is HIV positive until 18 months old when his immune system is working. Otherwise we could get a false positive because the baby carries the mother's antibodies. But he had adenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), which is one of the first signs of HIV, and he is still being breast fed, so he is most likely positive. He was such an adorable baby, and it was so sad to think that he was born into this world with HIV when he had nothing to do with it.

Another HIV patient we saw was a 38-year-old woman who had been acting very strangely since Saturday. She was also skin and bones, and it was very hard to see her talk to herself and stand up and walk around randomly. I didn't know HIV could cause dementia and other mental disorders. Although watching HIV patients can be depressing, things like this motivate me to become a better doctor and to serve in developing nations.

We had 6 newcomers today: Nadine and Vicky from Canada, and a family of 4 from the States (Chuck, Doan, and their daughters Alyssa and Kelsey). Nadine is a RN (just graduated) and Vicky is a fourth year in nursing school. They will be working at the clinic for 2 weeks. Chuck's family will be working at the new seminary construction site for 1 week. Julie's (RN, former missionary) team will be leaving tomorrow. It'll be sad to see them leave.

X-ray Machine, Certificate of Honor, Christoph, and Fifth Disease

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Today we went to Pastor Daniel's church. Every morning before we start working at the clinic, we have a devotional with all the staff, and Pastor Daniel is the one who usually speaks. Pastor Daniel is an Haitian pastor who is also our X-ray technician, but ever since the X-ray machine broke, he's just been helping out with patent files. The X-ray machine at the clinic had been so crucial in serving the community. We are looking for a new X-ray machine, so please let me know if you know any one who's upgrading their machine and needs to get rid of their old X-ray.

The service started around 7:30AM and ended around 9:00AM. Pastor Daniel had made a "certificate of honor & merit" for each of us for coming to Haiti as short-term or long-term missionaries, and presented them to us during the service. Back home, people might think it cheesy, but it was very meaningful that he did that for us.

After church we went to a hotel called Hostellerie du Roi Christoph. There we swam in the pool and had lunch. Apparently this is where we usually have lunch on Sundays. Julie (Irish physio) taught Laura and I how to throw people in the air (Julie used to do gymnastics), so Laura and I were throwing people in the pool for them to do spins. It was a lot of fun, but our arms were sore later.

Anna had been sick for the past few days, so her sister Carly had stayed home with her yesterday as we went out to Labadee. Apparently their younger sister Emma had just gotten the Fifth Disease, and looks like Anna got it from her just before she left for Haiti. But she was feeling a lot better today, so both Anna and Carly came out with us.

It was a very relaxing weekend.

Photos on Picasa

I've uploaded some photos on my Picasa Web Albums, so check them out!

I'll be updating this album throughout the trip, so be sure to come back later for more.

Haiti 2008 Album

Beach Day at Labadee

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Today we all went to the beach at Labadee. I'm told that Labadee is the only beach in Haiti that cruise ships dock, so I'm assuming it's one of the best in Haiti. The beach is closed to the public when a cruise ship is there, so we enjoyed the beach with the local people. A few of us went to a part that was really rocky and flat, so we got lots of small cuts on our feet. We spent the rest of the time in a sandier part, which was much more enjoyable.

One really cool thing I saw was called Dragon's Breath. It's at the tip of the peninsula where there are rock formations, and wind blows through some holes in the rocks and sounds like a dragon breathing. I'll post a video when I get a chance.

Evan Sharkey, a new short-term missionary, joined us today. He's a doctor from Northern Ireland, so now we have 4 from Northern Ireland (Gavin, Julie, Laura, and Evan). Evan will be here for a month.

Problem Case, Sick Baby, HTN, Diabetes, and Counting Pills

Friday, June 20, 2008

This morning Gavin showed Laura and me what he calls a problem case. There is a man who has hydrocele testis (accumulation of serous fluid around the testis), and he used to come to the clinic get the fluids drained. One day he fell from a tree and broke just below the superior head of right humerus. He went to a local hospital where they put a cast on him. One problem is that they fixed his right arm against his chest so he could not move his arm and only barely move his wrist, which is stuck just below his neck. The cast goes around his chest and is so tight that his hand is getting stiff and numb. Another problem is that he has been using his situation to get money from the clinic, often by lying. Consultation here at BMC costs 5 Haitian dollars (about $0.66US), which includes about half of the medicine given out, but somehow it's well known that this patient can't pay anything at all. So he's been getting free consultations here. In the past he has come to the clinic with a receipt saying that he needs to buy this and that for his arm, and BMC has given him some money to get what he needs. He has also said that he needs some things but he had lost his receipt for various reasons. What really needs to be done is a surgery to put his humerus together, but the original doctor is supposedly already treating him (by putting a cast around his chest and arm), so there is an issue of stopping another doctor's treatment. Also, since the patient has been living off his situation, we're not certain that he wants a treatment that will really heal him. Very soon he will be permanently crippled.

Gavin put Laura and I with Ms. Ketlye today. Ms. Ketlye is a Haitian nurse, but like many nurses here she consults patients, especially on specialty clinics. Two Fridays a month we have hypertension and diabetes clinic, so most patients we saw today were hypertensive, diabetic, or both. The first patient we saw was neither, and it was a 6-month old baby boy. He had been sick for 8 days, and he was hyperventilating and hypertachycardic. He was breathing so hard and fast that his ribs were sunken in and his nostrils flared. We had other doctors including Gavin look at him, but there was nothing we could do. I'm not sure what we ended up doing for him, but I think we referred him to a hospital so he could get some oxygen. Before we let them go, Ms. Ketlye asked Laura to pray for him. It was a very difficult and emotional situation for all of us.

Throughout the morning, Ms. Ketlye let Laura and me take turns to auscultate, take blood pressure, and check ears and throat. It was a good practice for me to take some blood pressures since I will be doing a survey of BP during the mobile clinic next week. Interestingly, I measured one patient's blood pressure to be something like 204/110, so Ms. Ketlye rechecked and got around 187/80. Laura said the patient must have some sort of White Coat Syndrome (fear of doctors causing nervousness and rise in BP)... It could have been because I'm a blan ("white," I'm white here even though I'm Asian).

In the afternoon, Laura, Carly, Anna, Emily, Jen, and I prepared small bags of drugs for the mobile clinic next week. Counting pills reminded me of my time in Sierra Leone when I went there with a medical team. I'm really excited for this mobile clinic.

After dinner a few of us watched Wimbledon (movie) at Amy and Julie's place. It was mostly girls (well, most of us here at OMS are girls), but Tyler came so I wasn't the only guy... not that I'd have a problem if I were. I'm usually not a big fan of romantic comedy or sports movie, but I've learned to enjoy movies despite their unrealistic/predictable story lines. Although, Christina made it a little hard because she kept criticizing how silly the movie was. She was right, but I'd rather fool myself and enjoy the movie rather than regret watching a movie I didn't enjoy. Julie slept through pretty much the entire movie in her chair. She must have been so tired.

Relearning Creole, Trigger Finger, & Unexpected Guests

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Thursdays are well baby checkup days, and Laura got to help out with that while I shadowed Rodney today. Since most patients that came today are healthy babies, things were a bit slow in Rodney's office. Whenever patient flow stopped, I went over to the optometry to see if they needed help translating or hung out with Julie (Irish physical therapist), who was also having a slow day and helped out with translation at the optometry as well.

I'm glad that my Creole is slowly coming back to me. Sometimes I just have to think of a word for a few seconds and it will pop up, but sometimes I just won't know what to say. Still the biggest challenge is hearing comprehension. People speak so fast that I often can't distinguish one word from another. Near the end of the day at the clinic, I played with some of the little boys that hang around everyday. It's a lot easier to talk with kids because they speak slower and with simpler phrases. That's one of the ways I learned Creole last year, talking with the orphans a lot. I heard I can get Creole lessons, so I'm looking forward to that.

One of the patients we saw today was an old man who had a surgery on the palm of his right hand because he accidentally cut straight across it. Since the surgery, he hasn't been able to move much of the fingers on his right hand, and the ring finger is stuck in contracted position. Julie called it the "trigger finger" because they were all extended straight (except the ring finger). I did a few muscle tests that I learned from ICM (Intro to Clinical Medicine) last quarter, and figured that he was weaker at extending his fingers than contracting them at the knuckles, but couldn't bend any of the joints on his fingers. In any case there wasn't much we could do for him.

At the end of the day, Gavin talked to me about doing a hypertension screening at the next mobile clinic, which will be on Saturday the 28th. I'm excited to do this because a part of my original plan for coming to Haiti was to do a hypertension screening and gather blood pressures 3 and 6 months postpartum. Since we'll be going up in the mountains, it would be interesting to compare prevalence of hypertension there and here near a major city.

A missionary couple, Matt and Stacey, who has been here since last year was suppose to fly back home today, but there was a problem with the plane, so they ended up coming back with the hopes to fly tomorrow morning. At the airport, they met a group of short-term missionaries from Ohio who were scheduled for the same flight but had nowhere to go, so they came to OMS compound to stay the night. It really was a good thing they met Matt and Stacey at the airport.

Apparently this Saturday we'll be going to the beach! Last year in Haiti, while I lived here for 4 months, I got to go to the beach 2 times, once during the first week with the medical team, and second time on the day before I left Haiti. Since the clinic isn't open on Saturdays, I guess we'll have some time to play a bit, except next Saturday is mobile clinic, which is even more exciting.

OMS Tour, Prenatal Checkup, Vaginal Exam, Epilepsy, & Optometry

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

This morning I went on a tour of the OMS International mission compounds around Vaudreuil with the new team plus Jen. First we went to see the clinic, which is right next to where I'm staying, then we drove a few minutes down the road to the new Radio 4VEH station (VEH stands for Voix Evangélique d'Haiti or Evangelical Voice of Haiti, and 4V is the radio station code for Haiti). The old station is located in the compound where we're staying, and Radio 4VEH has been running for the past 58 years or so.

Next we drove to the new seminary site. They are still building the place, and the new team is here to help out with that. Jen and I returned to the clinic while the team stayed at the construction site to work there.

Just to introduce the new people that came yesterday: Julie is an RN who was a missionary here 6 years ago. She brought a team with her, 4 of them are teenagers from her church, Tyler, Ali (Alison), Matt, and Jacob. Then there's Kelly (high school social studies teacher), Cindy (middle school technology advisor from Tennessee), and a couple from Alabama, Heather and Mike, who is a pastor. Christine (lab technician) and Jen (college student) came with this group as an addition to Tim's group. So they're helping out at the clinic lab.

Wednesdays are prenatal checkup days, so I shadowed Gavin while he consulted pregnant women. I learned how to measure fundus height and find fetal heartbeat with a handheld ultrasound machine. One lady who is 3-months pregnant was having vaginal bleeds, so Gavin checked to see if the cervix was open and assess risk of miscarriage. This was the first time I've ever seen a vaginal exam done. It seemed painful for the patient, and definitely wasn't a pleasant sight, but it's something that I'll need to be familiar with some day.

One of the pregnant women was HIV positive, so Gavin told me that HIV+ pregnant women can get ARV treatment at a hospital for free. Like I said in my last post, people who are HIV positive are referred to a hospital for ARV treatment when their conditions become too bad, and I found out that they also get ARV for free, but only when their condition is bad enough.

One of the non-pregnant patient we saw was a woman who's been epileptic since she was little. One time she had a seizure and broke her left humerus (bone of upper arm) at two places. A while ago she had a surgery to put a big nail along the center of her humerus, but the tip of the nail sticks out under the skin at her left shoulder. She's been on carbamazepine (my classmates should know what class of anticonvulsant this is) and hasn't had a seizure since. She can't speak but can make sounds with her voice, and she's very outgoing and expressive with her arms and face. (Now, where's the lesion?) She was brought here by her mother from far away as many people travel several hours to get here.

Gavin was done seeing patients a bit early today (we've been having less patients since Christmas time because less people have been able to afford to come here due to rising food prices), so I joined Carly and Anna at the optometry. They brought a bunch of frames and lenses from the States and have been making glasses for patients here. Usually they just ask questions like, "Do you have problem seeing far or near?" but sometimes the answers aren't just yes/no or far/near. Some people give complicated answers like, "When the sun is high or if I cover one eye, I can't see well." Even I have to ask them to repeat several times to understand what they are saying, so I'd imagine it'd be a lot harder for Carly and Anna who hasn't spent as much time in Haiti. Nonetheless they seem to be doing a great job... and I'm not saying that just because they're probably reading this.

After dinner, one of the missionary couple's daughter Kaeli, who is 8 years old, brought a deck of UNO, so a few of us played UNO with her. I hadn't played UNO in such a long time. I think I should play more card games with my friends in med school. After we sent Keyleigh to bed, we played what my friends call Hillari-picto-pass, which is basically a chinese telephone with pictionary but you alternate between drawing and writing caption. As usual, it was a fun game.

Shadowing, HIV, & Breast Exam

Tuesday, June 17, 8:40PM, 2008

I started "working" at the clinic yesterday, and I say "working" because it's what we say, but I'm really just shadowing doctors for now. Yesterday morning I shadowed Dr. Rodney, a Haitian doctor who studied medicine in Dominican Republic. I could understand most of what was going on while he talked with the patients, but Rodney kindly explained things to me in English. He seems like a really nice guy.

In the afternoon, Gavin (Irish doctor) asked Laura (Irish med student) and me to do some computer work. We compiled all the drug records from mobile clinics to see how much of each drug was dispensed in the past year. We didn't think it would take very long because we thought we just had to punch in numbers, but it turned out to be quite time consuming because sometimes we had hard time figuring out the handwritings. No wonder why pharmacists take so long to fill prescriptions... just kidding. But yeah, we felt how hard it must be for pharmacists who have to decode prescriptions everyday. That took us the entire afternoon. The data we complied should prove useful since we'll be doing another mobile clinic this month.

After dinner, Amy (Canadian RN) and Julie (Irish physical therapist) invited us (the short term team and me) to their place to watch a movie. I didn't think I'd get to watch many movies here, so it was a treat. We watched the new Pink Panther with Steve Martin. Not a great movie, but I liked the silly humor that made no sense. "I would like to buy a hamb&@#$er." That was pretty funny.

Today, I got to shadow Dr. Gary (Haitian doctor who studied medicine in P-au-P). He was also very nice and tried to explain almost everything to me. He didn't speak much English, so he spoke to me in Creole most of the time, which was a great practice for me. He specializes in HIV patients, so I got to see a number of them. Before we saw patients, the patients had a HIV support group, so I listened in with the group for a while. I could only understand about half of what they said, but it was interesting nonetheless.

In the morning we see most of the patients, then we get lab results in the afternoon, so we see the patients again then. So many patients stay here pretty much the whole day because they have to do labs. What surprised me was that many of them had multiple infections. Most of them, even non-HIV patients, had two or more of bacterial or fungal infections, e.g. combination of malaria, H. pylori, and/or syphilis.

The first HIV patient we saw was a 26-year-old woman. Dr. Gary had stepped out for a minute, so I decided to talk with her. First thing she told me was that she had just lost her 5-month-old baby, probably from complications due to HIV. She said it so plainly that I didn't know how to react. I wonder if things like this happen so often that they don't make a big deal of them, or if she's just coping well. She almost seemed apathetic about the whole situation. It was difficult for me to understand what was going on in her mind.

One of the non-HIV patient was complaining that she had pain in her breasts, so Dr. Gary taught me how to do a breast exam. I guess I wasn't too surprised that my first breast exam would be here in Haiti. We didn't find anything. Physical exams are much more direct here. We don't use the gowns here that we use in the US. The patients just take off their shirt and bra without hesitation. It makes things a lot easier. I think the gowns make things even more awkward.

While Dr. Gary was taking a break for a bit, I sat in with Laura in Gavin's office. It was a lot easier to understand what was going on because Gavin spoke a lot slower than the Haitian doctors. Although, I'm not sure if the Irish accent is helping or not (jk). One old lady had a stoke a while back, and she had right hemiparesis (Hey class, where is the lesion?). We didn't do a neurological exam, so I didn't get to find out where exactly the lesion was, but it was fun thinking about it in my head... probably somewhere between medulla and primary motor cortex. I can't believe I'm missing Basic Neurology from spring quarter already. It was a fun class.

The last patient we saw today had just been tested positive for HIV today, so Dr. Gary talked through things with her. He assured to her that this wasn't the end of her life, and that we're here to support her. She seemed to be taking things pretty well, but I can't even imagine what it would be like finding out that I have HIV... Perhaps it wouldn't be so devastating if I had access to antiretrovirals and could keep things under control, but in Haiti... At our clinic we don't have ARV, so we give them palliative care until their condition gets too bad or AIDS become fully manifest. At that time we would send them to a hospital where they could get treated with ARV, although I don't know what that would cost them.

Another group of short term mission team arrived here this afternoon along with couple of former long term missionaries and girl named Jen who is joining the current medical team for their last two weeks. The new group will be doing some construction work for 10 days or so, but I haven't heard much about them yet, and I can only remember a few of their names (Jacob, Tyler, Ali, Matt...) so I'll talk about them more later as I find out. Tomorrow morning I'll be going on a tour with them to see some of OMS International's mission sites (Radio 4VEH, seminary, etc.), so I'm sure I'll get to know them soon.

Arrival

Sunday, June 15, 10:00PM, Haiti Time

Layover at Miami couldn't be easier. The gate I got off and the gate I got on where only about 30 yards apart, and I arrived a few minutes before boarding time, so everything happened as planned.

When I arrived at Port-au-Prince, a cab driver called Nadar was supposed to meet me and take me to the domestic flight terminal. I was to hold up a sign that says "OMS" and he would know that it's me. Everything went as planned... except that Nadar didn't show up.

So I had to talk to a random chauffeur who told me he knows Nadar, but he usually doesn't work on Sundays because he goes to church. I borrowed his phone to call Gavin (the Irish doctor with whom I'll be working), and Gavin told me that Nadar had called to let him know that he won't be able to make it. Great. So I just went with the random chauffeur to the domestic flight terminal. The ride took about 15 minutes, and I arrived at the terminal around 8:45AM.

Nadar was also supposed to have reserved a ticket to Cap-Haitien for me, but since he never showed up, I didn't have a reservation. Incidentally, I ran into two missionaries from OMS Cap-Haitien who were visiting P-au-P and flying back today. They were hoping to get a ride on the 9:00AM flight. Since I didn't have a reservation, the ticket lady said the earliest available flight is 1:30PM... Well, what else could I do? So I just said I'll take the earliest flight. Then just as she was making the ticket for me they opened up a spot on the 9:00AM flight, so I got on 5 minutes before it took off.

The two missionaries I met at P-au-P who were on the plane with me were Amy and Julie. Amy is an RN from Canada, and Julie is a physiotherapist (physical therapist in US English) from Ireland. So I'll be working with them as well. It was really nice to meet them at the airport since I was getting nervous about the fact that Nadar didn't show up.

Gavin met all of us at the airport. He had come to pick me up, but he didn't know Amy and Julie were coming as well. Anyhow we all got a ride to the OMS compound together, everything turned out to work really well.

After lunch I took a nap and had dinner with some of short-term missionary team members. They are medical volunteers from all over the US, mostly college aged. Among them were Tim (lab professor and leader of the group), Christina (sp? Tim's daughter), Mary (lab technician) Anna and her sister Carly, Beth, Emily, We were also joined by Junius (a Haitian-American doctor who is staying in the same building as Tim and I) and Laura (med student from Ireland). It was a lot of fun talking with them, and it was a very relaxing evening. I'll talk more about them later since it's getting late.

I don't have access to internet right now, so I'll probably post this tomorrow, hopefully. I'm pretty impressed that they have electricity for most of the day. It went out just as I started writing this entry, but it seems like I won't have to worry much about keeping my laptop charged.

Thank God for a day of safe travel!

In the Air

Sunday, June 15, 2:30AM (EDT, Miami)

I'm writing this on my way to Miami, hoping that I could post it just before I have to board the plane... but we're scheduled to land only 5 minutes before the boarding time of my next flight, and the plane leaves an hour after that, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to.

Anyhow, once I'm in Haiti, I may not have much chance to blog or send out newsletters as much as I hope to since apparently the internet access is very limited there. I guess I'll have to go and find out.

It's a strange feeling to be going back to Haiti. Going the first time was really exciting because I didn't know what to expect, but this time I keep thinking about my previous trip, what it was like, and what I learned. Random Creole phrases keep popping into my mind. I hope I'll get to use a lot of Creole again. Hmm, the dialect is probably different since it's northern Haiti this time. I'll have to adjust to that.

I should get some rest. I arrive at Port-au-Prince at 7:55AM Haiti time, then I take another flight to Cap-Haïtien. I have long day ahead of me. I'm stoked.

I want to sleep, but my seat is broken such that it doesn't recline back... ahh, my back.

Thank You!

Thank you everyone who sent in donations to support my trip to Haiti this summer! Thanks to you, I've now raised all the funds needed for the trip! It really means a lot to me that so many people have contributed. It's not just about my going to Haiti and volunteering, but now it's about all of you partnering together to help people in Haiti. Not only that, you are also investing in my life and career, as I aspire to serve in developing countries as a physician. The fact that you are supporting me will keep me humble hearted and motivated to do my best in whatever tasks I may be given, however menial or challenging they may seem. So once again, THANK YOU!

Any extra donations I receive beyond the goal of $2550 will be used to help people in Haiti in some form or another and not for personal benefit. I bet you would have guessed that, but just in case you were wondering. =)

Reintroduction

Hi there!

For those of you who may not know me, my name is SunMin, and I am a medical student at University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

This summer I am traveling to Haiti, from June 14^th to August 9^th, to volunteer at a clinic called Bethesda Medical Clinic (BMC). BMC is located in a small village called Vaudreuil, just outside Cap-Haïtien, which is on the northern coast of Haiti (Google Map). The organization that I am going through is called OMS International, which also runs Raido 4VEH in the same area. I learned Creole while spending 4 months in Haiti last year, so I am very excited about the opportunity to go back to Haiti this summer.

I don't know exactly what I'll be doing at the clinic yet, but BMC is one of the top-rated clinics in northern Haiti, sees about 150-200 patients per day, five days a week, and has in-patient care. So I imagine I'll be pretty busy at BMC this summer, and there's no doubt that it will be a challenging and rewarding experience!

I am confident that my time in Haiti this summer will be an invaluable learning experience since my career goal as a physician is to serve rural communities in impoverished countries. My previous travels to Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Haiti have stirred in my heart a passion for the medically underserved in poverty-stricken parts of the world. My experience in Haiti this summer will allow me to further improve skills that are necessary to serve effectively as a doctor.

To finance this 8-week project, I must raise $2550 which covers the costs of airfare to, from, and within Haiti, room and board, and travel insurance. Will you consider partnering with me by supporting me financially or by prayer? Any amount of contribution will be greatly appreciated.

Please feel free to subscribe to this blog as I will be posting updates during my trip.

Sincerely,
SunMin Kim

To donate, please click the button below.

Fundraiser Progress

As of Sunday, June 15, 10:00PM
Contributions:
$580 (Surplus from previous Haiti trip)
$200 x 3
$100 x 8
$50 x 10
$30 x 2
$25 x 1
$20 x 8

Total: $2725 (100+%)
Goal: $2550
Unmet Need: $0

To donate, please click the button below.

How to Donate

To send contributions directly to me, please send a check payable to "SunMin Kim" to:

1 Miramar St. #929512
La Jolla, CA 92092

To donate online, please click the button below.

Contact Me

(replace *at* with @)

Email: sunkim*at*ucsd.edu
Phone: +1 (310) 710-3692

Instant Message:
AIM: instantdoxa
Google Talk: doxadeo*at*gmail.com
MSN: doxadeo*at*hotmail.com
Yahoo!: doxadeo*at*yahoo.com
Skype: doxadeo

Snail Mail:
1 Miramar St. #929512
La Jolla, CA 92092

A New Plan

Great News!

Though my original plan fell through, I continued to look for an opportunity to serve in Haiti, especially because I had already bought the plane tickets. Then I came across another organization with which I could volunteer in Haiti this summer! I will be working at Bethesda Medical Clinic (BMC) in a small town called Vaudreuil, just outside Cap-Haïtien, which is on the northern coast of Haiti. The organization that I am going through is called OMS International, which also runs Raido 4VEH in the same area.

As for what exactly I'll be doing at BMC, I don't know the details yet since it was only decided recently that I'll be volunteering there. However, BMC is one of the top-rated clinics in northern Haiti, sees about 150-200 patients per day, five days a week, and has in-patient care. So I imagine I'll be pretty busy at BMC this summer, and there's no doubt that it will be a challenging and rewarding experience!

Now I have less than two weeks to raise all the funds, but fortunately the total cost of the trip is much lower! All I need to raise now is a total of $2550, and since I've raised $1750 so far, I just need $800 more. So almost there!

Thanks again to all the contributors for your generous donations! Please keep me in your thoughts and prayer.

SunMin

To donate, please click the button below.