Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Our Week at a Clinic in Port au Prince, Haiti

   In the first week after the historic earthquake of Jan 12th, we collected medical supplies to send to Haiti. Annie arranged for a collection site at Antone's. She put me in touch with a pilot, Jim,who was heading that way. He put me in touch with a emergency response airplane organization. I called some of the people that they were flying to Haiti. Chris at DorsainvilFoundation.org kept in touch. He was the one who told me that he hopes the medical interest continues in March, way after all the emergency surgeries, after Haiti is no longer headline news. On Feb 28th, three of us doctors from Austin flew down on one of the first commercial flights restarted by American Airlines. Reggie, a Brooklyn born Haitian, who volunteers with the foundation, picked us up at the airport. The clinic is situated in what was once used by a political facility. This is a free clinic that has no political or religious affiliation.

   Dr. Dorsainvil, a Haitian-American who practices in Florida, has had an ongoing clinic in another town in Haiti. When the quake happened, he found this unaffected building in a nice neighborhood in Port au Prince. Initially they provided emergency care and surgery (on the desk!...with anesthesia) but now provide ongoing medical care to mostly tent city people who come the mile up the hill to where we are. The women who translate there are great. They themselves live in the family size,7 feet high tents on the compound with their families.

Partial building collapse

How we lived Down Therre

Volunteer health care workers stay inside the clinic. We had air mattresses and mosquito nets. I brought down a donated laptop computer that works fine with the wi-fi there. We had to have flexibility in our journey there: electricity occasionally went down but the generator for the building was available; running water was sometimes down...




 BUT Reggie always brought us Haitian food from a restaurant and we enjoyed a mid day get together with the staff. He took us around the city: to see the destruction, to visit some hospitals to see what their pharmacies could share, and to enjoy a late night meal a few times. The place has lush vegetation, surrounding mountains, wonderful people ...
Please feel free to make comments or questions or email me. Medical assistants, pharmacists, etc could do a lot at a low key clinic like this





They have a permanent Spanish / French speaking MD there 7 days a week. Who knows who you might influence to make this trip of volunteering in an incredibly beautifully place in an historic, though disastrous situation.


HypertensionRxHaiti.com - Dr. Roehm, a cardiologist, wrote up:
Table of Contents:
1. What medications used for treating hypertension are particularly cost effective?
2. What are some of the medications previously commonly used in Haiti for treating hypertension?
3. What is the way to tell a Haitian patient their blood pressure results in a way that is understandable to the patient?
4. What are some general considerations in treating hypertension in Haiti?
5. What are some specific medications to consider using, including therapeutic considerations and equivalent dosages of other medications in the same therapeutic class?
6. Frequency of medication translated into English, French, & Kreyol.
7. What are some cost effective drug combinations for treating hypertension ?
8. HTN Rx Protocol: If Lab unavailable
9. HTN Rx Protocol: Lab monitoring available


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P.S. thanks Annie for putting the idea in my head
A.R.Russo anthonyrussomd@gmail.com; contact Chris atDorsainvilFoundation.org

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Consultations on the Patio of the Clinic

Monday, March 8, 2010

A Tent for Sophonie

Rose & Carline-clinic volunteers

Downed buildings everywhere

Tent city patients at our clinic

Tent city patients come 1 mile to our clinic in upscale neighborhood.

Gate to our Clinic

Gate to our clinic. Donated by a political party

WE slept and worked INSIDE.

WE slept and worked INSIDE.