Last night after dinner we had a quick meeting to prioritize our patients needing advanced care on the mainland and allocated the necessary funds to assure their care after we have departed. There are several this time and we are hoping their maladies are easily resolved! There was nothing left to do at that point but relax, and despite the favorable conditions on this trip we are all tiring out…hence an early lights out last night.
We again awoke to cloud cover and rain offshore, keeping things fairly cool, with no real sunrise. We had omelettes and the last of our delicious mango for breakfast and then quickly headed down the hill to our final clinic, hoping to get all supplies inside before any rain…it never came.
We intended for an abbreviated clinic today with just about 50 patients but when we arrived inside it was apparent there were already as many as that waiting to be registered. The people now realize this is our final day in clinic. We got started quickly and realized we would need to add more to avoid creating ill will. In the end we treated a total of 74 patients and finished before 1pm….some of our cutest patients yet!
It is always our wish to care for as many patients as need us, but nobody can deny that it feels good to see the last patient of the week. Our Haitian version of TGIF, I guess. When all is said and done, including all our after hours surgical patients we have logged 350 encounters easily. Great work for 3 providers and a skeleton crew, but more importantly, additional “mortar” for our foundation here!
Due to our nightly efforts and our filing system, we have very few files to create and file this evening. We have also depleted our medication supply nicely, so inventory should be made easier after dinner.
Our friend Timizou delivered a nice treat of coconuts after lunch and then some of us trekked to Long Beach one last time…of course accompanied by the Future Leaders of Ile a Vache…
I believe Kitty and Tom are planning an adventure on a small fishing boat, while those of us at the beach got to see numerous residents perform another kind of fishing – hauling a heavy net full of small fish to shore…surely they will distribute their hard earned catch amongst the group!
After leaving the beach, we stopped for one last look at our future home away from home. It appears supplies are being stockpiled to build the form to pour the ceiling/floor all at once…then we will see the 2nd floor go up in a hurry!!! Now is when we need all our generous friends back home who share our dream, even if from afar, to dig as deep as possible to ultimately “raise the roof”!
Just so happens our favorite haunt is on the way back to our local lodging and those of us out for the walk feel compelled to support the local economy before dinner. It also gives us another chance to practice our Creole and commune with our friends, which after all, is the real draw here!
The sun is now hiding behind the clouds from time to time and the breeze is picking up…will stay here as long as possible…or at least until Big Boss calls us home for dinner. It appears we too will dine on fish tonight, before we finish our work and pack our belongings for an early departure tomorrow. For now we will soak in every bit of this experience and likely dream of our return when we finally shut our eyes tonight.
Stay tuned for more of our story tomorrow.
Love to All,
The Team