Went to the main hospital with some of my night shift team members for a meal. Not chef boyardee this time. Some of the local women made some rice and beans. There was a chicken dish as well. Tasted good! Sure needed some carbs! Saw Luc and Helen there too. Seems like they are back to work at their usual spot. My name is still not on the assignment list! I guess I'm oncall for anesthesia again. I don't think I'll be checking for my name on this list anymore.
I went to check on patients downstairs before heading to the orphanage. Very warm down there. Not terribly humid though. Went back up to the second floor to watch the sunset. Noticed that the Puerto Rican Search and Rescue Team was getting ready to pack up and leave completely. Heard from someone that they are no longer finding survivors in Port-au-Prince. Sad news I thought.
People at the orphanage were still outside. The Dominican Republic Department of Health inspectors apparently went there this morning to go over the building and decided that the building wasn't safe. Therefore, everyone was advised to stay outside. This didn't prevent some of the workers who had been running the ER/Triage area from setting up some cots and caring for patients who really needed to be inside. The make shift pharmacy was also asked to move out of the building, but the staff had compromised with the inspectors, by making a door an emergency exit in case of another aftershock. Leslie, who was part of COTN was very happy. She was placed in charge of organizing the pharmacy and was doing a heck of a job! Glad she was there to do it! I didn't think I would be able to do what she did! What a trooper she is!
Later that evening, Dodi and I teamed up again for our usual IV checks. Some of the patients who had been getting intravenous fluids needed to have their IV sites changed. I went back to the pharmacy to get more supplies, when someone from our team told us that Dodi and Cathy needed to leave ASAP. "Um, leave?" as in leave for a bathroom break? Apparently, another person who came with them both on this mission had a NERVOUS BREAKDOWN and that he needed to be sedated and therefore had to leave for Barahona, back to the COTN headquarters so that he can be taken to the airport and flown back to the U.S. Dodi and Cathy were a part of his team.
I was saddened by the fact, that I wasn't able to say goodbye to them. But, it was what it was. I just hoped then that I would be able to get their contact information so that I can touch base with them again when I got back to the States. They were such funny gals! Great sense of humor! I had to finish what I had started to do that night, and didn't waste any time.
Saw my coworker, Denise and was asked to check an IV for her when we felt ANOTHER AFTERSHOCK. It was very brief, but enough to get my heart racing. Staff started to clam people down right away. The entire field calmed down quickly. We went around checking on patients, when we stumbled upon a little toddler, stooped over his mother's legs, who was laying on a cot. Denise, who was fluent in French, asked the mother as to why her son was not laying next to her. She was told that her son didn't want to take up space, since his mother had a broken leg. So I went to the pharmacy supply room and got a trash bag and a bed sheet. Took it back to the tent and laid it on the dirt, next to her cot. She told her son to lay down and he did. They were both so happy and thankful! It just brought tears to my eyes. Who would have thought, that a sheet to lay onto on the dirt would bring so much joy to a toddler and his mother? I will never forget this evening...
Later on, I went back to the hospital that early morning to get some water and possibly a snack...a canned vienna sausage sounded pretty appetizing! YUM! LOL
Went and saw Luc and Helen working with their usual crew, the three D.R. medical interns. Glad they were able to stay and work again. Luc and I chatted a bit about what he's done, and saw that night. We were approached by someone who was asking on behalf of the custodians who were cleaning one of the rooms, as to where we they could dispose of an amputated leg that was in a trash bag and still left in one of the operating rooms from the day before. Not knowing where the hospital had disposed of them, Luc and I ventured out to look for Janet.
After several minutes, we had no luck finding her. We later found out, that one of the cleaning ladies had placed the trash bag in question outside along with other bags of garbage. When Luc and I went out in the back of the hospital, we saw 3 dogs trying to get at the trash bag! Geezuz! I said. That's just NOT right! Luc stepped up to the plate, and shooed the dogs away momentarily. We saw a couple of coffins along the side of the building and one of them was labeled, "Amps". Luc took the bag and placed it inside. It was very disturbing to see those dogs, trying to get inside that coffin. But, that was the REALITY of what was going on over in Jimani. I had to step back and take a deep breath. I was not in the U.S. anymore. I no longer had the "comfort" of being shielded from this kind of REALITY.
Earlier that morning, Saturday...heard from Janet that the burn patient who I took care of the first day I was there was going to be flown out over to the USS Comfort which was off the coast of Haiti. We were so thrilled that he was finally going to be taken cared of! He needed a burn specialty hospital, and the USS Comfort was definitely equipped to care for him. I took a picture of him as they were waiting by the lobby. I didn't wait to see him off to the helicopter, as I was very tired and needed to go back to get some sleep.
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