Why we're here

We've had rain the last 2 days. Electricity and internet were down. We were lucky that a volunteer arrived from the University of Arkansas who was an engineer. He go us back up and is the most popular man in the compound.

It’s about a 200 yard walk from the compound to the hospital along the main road to Milot. The bus stop for the school is just outside our gate. I was walking over this morning, and my mind was preoccupied with the cases ahead of me and other thoughts. There was a fair amount of sunlight, and I noticed I had a shadow. “Bon jour monsieur doctor” he said. Andre walked with me on his way to school. In my poor French, I tried to learn more about him. He was from the area and wanted to go to school and learn so he could one day support his family. I said little and just walked beside him. As I turned into the hospital he shook my hand. “Au revior monsieur.”
The hardest part of this work is recognizing, that we cannot, nor should we do everything for those we meet. The Haitian people are strong and proud. They have asset of beliefs that are both pragmatic and spiritual. I watched as my colleagues resuscitated a premature infant with respiratory distress and likely anoxic brain damage after meconium aspiration. There are no ventilators, and even if there were, there was no aftercare. The child was extubated and died after being held by her father. The Haitians seem to accept this with grace and faith.
They are among the most stoic patients I have met. Ibuprophen is used for most postoperative pain. Morphine is given for major fractures or laparotomies, however the dosages are small. They are always grateful for whatever we do, yet they also want to learn to do things for themselves. We are in the difficult position of not swooping down to the rescue, as it would not allow the local medical teams to care for their countrymen.
My hope is that the people of Haiti continue to rise from their adversity and face the future with strength and independence. If we can help them, without creating dependency, then we have done what we can.