Tomorrow at 7 am, two doctors with experience as general practitioners will be conducting a mini-clinic to serve the families of Quisqueya Christian School Haitian staff members whose homes were destroyed. These families have been staying on campus, and our commitment to care for them includes arranging for physicians to check out their needs periodically. This is especially important considering the many children among this group, including 5-year-old Quincy, who is recovering from a femur fracture sustained during the earthquake, and little Thalina, who was born on our campus just two weeks ago.
Representatives from Comprehensive Disaster Response Services stopped by our nightly team leaders' meeting with a team of doctors from the Islamic Medical Association of North America. We helped find a place for their 50 doctors currently in the country to serve. The CDRS in currently in the middle of its third rotation of doctors, with four more rotations lined up to come in the next few weeks. CDRS has set up a medical facility in a former amusement park, and treated over 650 patients today. We are excited to help mobilize their doctors. The representative from CDRS shared a compliment that he is so impressed by Quisqueya's willingness to share our medical supplies and pharmaceuticals with other medical groups- he said that was rare, and enabled them to serve more Haitians.
Our German doctors continue working at Hospital Espoir. Today one of our translators working with the German doctors, Jamie, reported that Dr. Good had treated a severely malnourished child who appeared to be only 8 or 9 months old. After a physical examination revealed a full set of teeth, Dr. Good was shocked to hear the mother confirm that the child was in fact 2 years old. The young mother suffers from extreme poverty coupled with her own developmental and cognitive delays. Dr. Good and his translator Jamie were able to coach the mother on how to feed her child more nutritious foods and to refer them to a feeding program operating nearby. They also fed the child high-calorie blend that we have received as a donation.
As part of our nightly meeting, Quisqueya staff member Miquette Denie shared needs that local medical facilities have called to share with us. A facility in Petit Goave, over 3 hours away, has called seeking doctors. They have enough staff to operate tomorrow, but will have to close on Thursday if no staff can volunteer there. We'll make sure their needs are met. Miquette was also able to match up our doctors with needs shared by Grace Children's (near Delmas 31), a local orphanage, and several local tent cities.
The lead administrator in charge of CDTI hospital joined us again for our meeting tonight. She shared that it is imperative to tell any doctors planning on coming to serve in Haiti that malaria prophylaxis and CDC-recommended travel shots are mandatory. As we head into typhoid season and heavy rains (which bring malaria-carrying mosquitoes), we do not want our caretakers becoming ill themselves.
One final need being repeatedly expressed is that Haiti is lacking physical therapists. The huge number of new amputees and patients recovering from fractures means that there are thousands of earthquake victims seeking prosthetics, crutches, canes, physical therapy, wheelchairs, and other assistance. None of our doctors present knew of a single physical therapist in the country. Several facilities are seeking anyone with PT experience to help patients begin moving and walking again as they recover from bone fractures and amputations.
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