Cholera 13 Haiti – The Situation is Still Serious
Cholera 12 -CTF-SOS DRS in the News
Cholera 8 – Urgent Situation in Les Irois. Cholera Spreads in Haiti
Cholera 7 – The Epidemic Reaches Port au Prince
Cholera 6 – Petite Riviere – The first Mission
Cholera 5 - Update – 500 deaths so far
Cholera 3 - Overview of cholera and the situation as of Nov. 1, 2010
Cholera 2 - Will the outbreak head to Port au Prince? We stay.
Cholera 1 - Preparing to go to Artibonite: a decision to make
The relief effort in Les Irois continues.
Therese, Marc Daly and Vickens are working together with Fr. Francien of Our Lady of Mercy Parish and nurses at the local hospital to help the 10-15 patients that are arriving every day with suspected cholera. They have all the telltale signs: dehydration and days of diarrhea. Some are even vomiting blood according to Therese’s reports – not a good sign. Anyway, she tells me that the three of them are working 10-hour-days, at least, providing: IV hydration, oral rehydration solution [ORS} and antibiotics - not to mention pastoral care for the dying and the living - and humanitarian support. But they are running low on medications and ORS.
Here is an interesting communication I had with Therese - via SKYPE, a brief dialogue that is one of the few that we have been able to have in the last 2 days because communication has been difficult: the CTF-SOS DRS mission is in a remote part of Haiti, and for communication we rely on a mobile internet device connected to the local phone grid.
[12/21/2010 1:10:09 PM] Theresia Sinaga: Fr. S, are you there?
[12/21/2010 1:12:02 PM] Scott Binet: Yes. Hi Therese.
[12/21/2010 1:12:09 PM] Theresia Sinaga: HI
[12/21/2010 1:12:15 PM] Theresia Sinaga: How are you?
[12/21/2010 1:12:24 PM] Theresia Sinaga: I have been looking for you this morning
[12/21/2010 1:12:37 PM] Theresia Sinaga: Yes, I need some medicines
[12/21/2010 1:13:42 PM] Scott Binet: What do you need?
[12/21/2010 1:13:59 PM] Theresia Sinaga: I need more ORS
[12/21/2010 1:14:44 PM] Theresia Sinaga: Some antibiotics (doxycyline)
[12/21/2010 1:15:11 PM] Theresia Sinaga: and if Theresa Banks could provide tents it would be good for us
[12/21/2010 1:15:14 PM] Theresia Sinaga: do they have it
[12/21/2010 1:15:51 PM] Theresia Sinaga: At least we have 10-15 people per day who has problem with diarrhea and vomiting
[12/21/2010 1:16:07 PM] Theresia Sinaga: though we do not know exactly if they have cholera
[12/21/2010 1:16:17 PM] Theresia Sinaga: but we suspect them have cholera\
[12/21/2010 1:16:31 PM] Theresia Sinaga: I tried to get the cholera bed from the hospital
[12/21/2010 1:16:40 PM] Theresia Sinaga: because you could not buy it here
[12/21/2010 1:16:53 PM] Theresia Sinaga: one way to have it is by making it
[12/21/2010 1:17:06 PM] Theresia Sinaga: MD, V and I are thinking to make it
[12/21/2010 1:17:37 PM] Theresia Sinaga: the tents that I request it would be for cholera
[12/21/2010 1:18:03 PM] Theresia Sinaga: I would like to separate the people who are suspected cholera with anothet patients
[12/21/2010 1:18:59 PM] Theresia Sinaga: I am thinking to buy tents probably and some woods so we can set up the cholera place
Yes, you can see from Therese’s communication that the needs in Les Irois are great. She confirmed that for me when we spoke this morning – Dec. 23rd. I arrived in Port au Prince last night in the evening and am now preparing for a mission to Les Irois.
Thanks to several benefactors in Houston – especially my brother Todd [an SOS DRS board member] and a generous new friend of the organization named Mike Hanks - and some collaborators in Florida [Light of the World Charities], I was able to bring some medical supplies into Haiti last night. That is actually no small accomplishment given the difficulty of getting items through customs, etc.
I will look to take the items to Les Irois on December 25 when I go there with 2 members of CTF-SOS DRS – Vickens [who just returned to PaP today], and Wesbee, the newest member of the community who I first worked with in Goniaves, Haiti in 2004 when Hurricane Jeanne devastated that city.
The supplies include items from our inventory in PaP and two duffle bags weighing 70 lbs each with: portable cots - 10; IV tubing - 60; 2×2 guaze - 2 pkgs; alcohol wipes - 1000 each; IV extension tubing- 25; nonsterile gloves - 200; Cipro 500 mg - 1,500 tabs; large bottles children’s tylenol - 6; Nacl IV bags 100cc - 60; IV -cathlons #18 - 250; Amoxicillin liq child susp - 27; Lomotil - 25; cipro IV -10 bottles; Tylenol Adult - boxes.
The patients that we treat in Les Irois are young and old – and some come in pairs. Below are pictures of a couple we treated. She came with diarrhea and dehydration and was very sick. And of course that put her little child at serious risk: madamn is pregnant.
