Horrific Hospital Conditions in Haiti

Update on Serlande

It appears that the source of the problems was that Serlande’s sugar levels had reached a very high point and that she hadn’t been monitoring her levels properly. She was in a great deal of pain, and is still in hospital, but it appears that things are beginning to come under control and that she should be okay. Thank you all for the tremendous response and prayers on her behalf!

During the day, various team members spent time assisting with watching over her in the hospital. The following post describes some of Brian Bowers observations which paint a bit of a picture of what that means in Haiti versus in Canada…

Hospital Conditions

As Serlande, the oldest orphan in the orphanage, was admitted to the hospital at 5:30 this morning, we decided that we would do rotations sitting in the hospital with her and the house mother, Cecile.

It was my turn this morning to go and sit with Serlande at the hospital. Karen brought me at about 7:45 am for the first couple of hours. I am trying to process the terrible conditions I was seeing, but I just couldn’t fathom it. The only word that describes it is HORRIFIC. It reminded me of the show MAS*H when the triage rooms would be overrun with casualities, but this is real life. The 300 foot hallway was lined with injured people as far as you could see. People laying on makeshift beds of blankets with a family member trying to look after them the best they could (doctors and nurses won’t they only give treatment, nothing else).

There wasn’t a doctor or nurse to be seen at first, but eventually an American doctor came down the hall and I suppose because I was white, I stood out a bit. He stopped and talked for a minute. He said that he had been up almost non-stop for 5 straight days now and that there was at least 40 surgeries that HAD to happen today, but that he also knew that thery wouldn’t. There aren’t enough doctors to do them.

“We treated over 600 people yesterday. It is absolutely heartbreaking. We will do what we can for your loved one when we can get to her.”

That was all he could say. Be thankful for our healthcare system. Unfortunately, I was there when a lone nurse, pushing a little cart, started at one end of the hallway and started cleaning the wounded people’s cuts. There were major head injuries, cuts, broken limbs everywhere and when she started her duties, the screaming started. The odd thing was that before she started cleaning the wounds, I didn’t hear a peep. No complaints, nothing. I was told by the doctor that the Haitian people were the toughest people he had ever seen. They never complain about pain – so you know they were in agony when the screaming started. There was a young girl next to me who had no family member with her, who had a badly injured hand and as they worked on her, she cried.

I couldn’t help but think of my own little gitl, Kaitlyn, and wonder what this poor girl was thinking. She was all alone, trying to make sense of all that had happened. We are all trying to do the same thing, I guess. Trying to make sense of it all.

~Brian