Here is a first hand account of what it is like in Jimani, from one of the doctors there this week...
here are from everywhere. California, Texas, Nebraska, NY, Louisiana,
Tennessee, Brazil, huge group from Puerto Rico who come at night in
starched white coats (haven’t asked yet how they manage that), and of
course Missouri.
It is heart breaking to see the suffering of these Haitians. We feel
about cried out, and then another situation comes up and one can find
4 gray haired orhtopaedic surgeons with tears we can’t control. The
Haitians sing together in the night, unbelievable. They want to
comfort their hurt. I operated on a 14 weeks pregnant, 20ish woman
today and through the haze of medication she was trying to sing. Dr.
Mike Cobb (Jackson, TN) and I both were red eyed with that. He
believes she was singing a religious song of praise to God.
We usually never know how they come to be here at Jimani. We had a
young man come to us at the pre-op area with an X-ray of his
grandmother’s hip. She was in a van, if you can call it that. This is
the only X-ray I have seen here, and was obtained in a nearby town
where he told to bring her here. She has a partial pelvic
dislocation. Craig Greene, a trauma specialist from Baton Rouge put
our last external fixator on her 2 hours ago. We hope to get more
from the Domican Republic tomorrow. The Puerto Rican in charge of
their group, a pediatrician, promised to help us get more. Luke,
thanks for all your efforts on the procurement and money raising side.
I will send you a separate email with special requests.
Turns out the helicopter guys who are helping us try to get Xray
equipment are Mormons from Utah. They are flying 6 orphans to Miami
tomorrow and have the adopted parents waiting! I am very impressed by
the energy of these young men and how fast they make things happen.
It is hot here, like August in Houma. No mosquitoes, thank God. The
one real OR room is air conditioned and we’re letting the orthopaedic
team from California use it. Don’t know how that happened! The other
ortho teams are using dental and exam rooms for OR’s. These are not
air conditioned, have screens over open windows and flies at times.
Like I told Kit, we are doing battlefield aid station surgeries. At
one point today, we had 3 teams putting on external fixators at the
same time with doors open in between each room so we can consult with
each other, share drills and 2 orthopaedic residents from NY and the
one OR nurse. Can’t send the pix because internet connection won’t
support that. Luke, that may change when your satellite tech shows up
tomorrow and hooks up our dishes. We are all taking pictures, it is
the only way folks will ever believe this.
Two babies have been born here in the last 24 hours, one by emergency
C-section early today. I can’t imagine what their lives are going to
be like.
Love
Edmund C. Landry, M.D.
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