Back In Haiti

I made my way through the chaos of the Toussaint Louverture Airport on Monday, heaving two large suitcases, a heavy backpack and a portable oxygen concentrator. All of the supplies I was carrying were needed to enable us to care for critically ill infants who require CPAP and those who need to leave the orphanage for medical care or investigations at a time when they are dependent on oxygen.

It was nerve wracking having to transport the $3000 concentrator all the way from Pennsylvania, and I was relied that nothing was lost or damaged en-route from the States. It was hot and humid inside the airport hangar where Immigration, baggage collection and customs have been temporarily located. The arrivals terminal was badly damaged during the earthquake. As our plane taxied into the gate area, we saw a partially collapsed balcony and deep cracks in the recently refurbished, freshly painted terminal building.

The flight had been full of foreign aid workers. It was disappointing that the Haitians on board did not applaud when the plane touched down in Port-au-Prince. That is what usually happens. I wondered what this change signified. Had the hope, joy and pride they had for their Haiti been crushed?

Making my way out of the hangar, my eyes fell on a porter. His left shirt sleeve hung limply over a stump above the elbow. They say that there are thousands upon thousands of amputees in this country - earthquake survivors who sustained severe injuries to their limbs. Knowing how negatively Haitians view disability, it was a great encouragement to see this man and know that he was in work, supporting his family through these difficult days. It is my hope that men like him will influence the mindsets that underpin these prejudices.

A few days before, I had been in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a Pennsylvania hospital. It had been a very productive shift. I had had the opportunity to shadow a Neonatal Nurse practitioner and had received information and guidance from the nursing staff, a respiratory therapist, a physiotherapist and a Neonatal Pharmacist . Together, they gave me a holistic picture of CPAP and the care and attention that is needed to provide this breathing support safely and effectively. I practiced setting up the system, I heard about the best way to position infants receiving this breathing support, the problems they may experience and the level of care they are likely to need. I was actually able to see the difference that it made to a premature infant we collected from the delivery room that day.

It was exciting to be back in Haiti, armed with this new knowledge and all of the tubing and the accessories I would need to provide CPAP to Haitian infants.