Sorry for not having this under trip reports, but it has been a busy winter and there is no way to post a trip report when it is filed after others have occurred.  Sounds like you had a wonderful and productive trip! DSG

TRIP REPORT NOVEMBER 2011

St. Jacques, Bois Brulee, LaGonave, Haiti

Medical and Construction Mission Trip

By St. Paul’s Summerville

Summerville, South Carolina

Sunday, November 6, 2011 to Saturday, November 12, 2011

This was our first time to try to make it from Charleston to Bois Brulee all in one day.  We had an early Saturday morning departure from Charleston Airport with non-stop to Miami, a reasonable layover and arrived 11:40 am in PaP.  We took the Navette van (13 of us crowded in to one van and our luggage in Pere Soner’s pick up) to the ferry crossing and took the ‘speed boat’ across in 2 to 3 foot seas which got us all wet—what a ride!  We arrived in Bois Brulee, inclusive of a broken down rental truck, around 8:30 pm—a long day.

We shipped seventeen bags 5 weeks ahead of our trip to Bois Brulee, which included 280 back packs for the school children, 3 boxes of school supplies and 2 full size basketball goals to be assembled!  We added our own 26 checked bags of medicines, gifts and tools plus the new generator and all of our carry-ons.

The Medical Team Report

The 2011 Haiti medical team consisted of 3 doctors, 2 nurses, and 1 pharmacy person. The dental team had 1 dentist, an assistant and the ENT doctor. We were assisted by a Bill Rice Clinic Haitian doctor (Dr. Boraz, who was exceptional, had medical and interpersonal skills as well as some English language ability) and a Haitian nurse with no English ability. There were 2 Creole translators for the medical team and 1 for the dental team.

We held a medical and dental clinic for 4 days, Monday through Thursday ending with Fluoride treatments on all the school children and teachers on Friday. The first day was the lightest (79) due to dental and ENT screenings and photos of 175 school age children but increased with each day to a total of 436 patients in addition to the screenings. The top chronic problems were hypertension, epigastric pain, and under nourishment with anemia, followed by GYN and dermatologic issues such as worms, scabies, rashes and fungal infections. Minimal lab tests, dip stick urines, pregnancy tests and glucometer readings were performed when needed.

The medical and dental supplies were procured in several ways: purchased from MAP International and Guerins Pharmacy, and donated by Trident Hospital and the medical/dental team providers.  All medicines and supplies were carried by the team and residuals were donated to Bill Rice. All patients were given multi-vitamins.

The Dental Report

On Monday, ENT and dental exams were completed on 166 children.  25 were asked to return for extractions.  18 returned on Wednesday morning.  28 teeth extracted.  On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday—primarily adults were seen for toothaches and extractions.  There were approximately 15 children who also came in who had not been examined on Monday.  88 was the number of patients seen in this time period.  88 was also the number of teeth extracted.  Friday morning fluoride treatment was administered by the entire mission team to all students in the school.  This was approximately 300 children.

During dental exams on Monday it was noted that the fluoride treatment 2 years ago made a significant difference in the number of cavities seen on exam on Monday.  There were very few cavities found in the older children who had fluoride.  The younger ones who had not had the fluoride had quite a lot of decay (deciduous teeth-primary-baby).  Hopefully they will have benefited by the just completed treatment.  We’ll see next year.  Fluoride dispensing with the entire 13 member team working together was a great way to join in a project together to end our time.

The Construction Team Report

We installed 600 feet of higher-quality electrical wiring (12/2) purchased for us in PaP by Pere Soner.  We installed lights in every room of the school, lights on the school and lights in the church building.  Also, we repaired two ceiling fans in the church building.  We brought a $300.00 solar powered ventilation fan with us to install in the church under the roof.  All works well.

Also, we repaired the broken cistern pump—the one installed two years ago.  We assembled two basketball goals much to the excitement and joy of all ages—we suspect it is the first and only ‘full-court’ basketball arena on La Gonave.  We had 6 basketballs and 4 soccer balls to leave with the school.  We added a few electrical outlets, handles on doors, fixed a door coming off its hinge and anything else we could think to do.

We took test water from both the school cistern, church cistern and our sealed drinking water for WMI to test water quality.

General Comments:

We enjoyed Holy Eucharist and a brief teaching each morning which set the tone for the entire day.  We enjoyed fabulous times laboring, eating and interacting with our Haitian friends…plenty of laughter.  No one got sick as we have on other trips—we took extra precautions by bringing more food along for ourselves and being somewhat selective of what we ate without, we hope, offending our dear cooks.  Also, out of concern for the value of goats to the Haitians, we asked in advance that we not be served goat.

Wahoo Bay was a great stop over—relaxed, ate, enjoyed island drinks—on the return trip.  We departed PaP on the 9:30 flight and arrived in Miami for a 7 ½ hour layover!  Ugh.  But a wonderful trip overall and glad to be there and glad to be safely home!

Thank you, Lord.

Trip Reporter:  Mike Lumpkin, Summerville, SC.