Preparing to Treat Cholera in the Mountains

The last 48 hours since I wrote last has seen some amazing developments.  God is so GOOD!

Bill and I wanted so desperately to get help up to Pays-Pourri as we had heard the cholera epidemic was growing and there were no resources for the people.  So on Tuesday, I went to spend the day helping, working, and especially LEARNING at the cholera clinic next door.  Bill went to PAP to try to find some medical supplies or resources so that at least we could go up and try to help some people.

I spent the day in the “clinic”, a tent set up next door for the patients as they came in.  They would come in and the “registration” desk would take their information.  They would be given an antibiotic, a bottle of water mixed with ORS, Oral rehydration salts, and a number which was written on their bottle and put on a piece of tape on their shoulder.  They were supposed to drink as much of the “serum” as they could.  Each time they emptied their bottle, they would bring it back up to be refilled and we would record it on their “dossier”.  They were supposed to be watched and any fluids they lost in any way was supposed to be recorded but there really wasn’t enough staff to keep up with it all and I don’t think they had been instructed to be sure it got reported.

They were lined up on chairs with some buckets spread around a little for their waste.  No privacy here.  It isn’t possible.  As long as they could keep the serum down and not lose it, they stayed in this section.  But if they threw up twice, they were taken and put on an IV.  Cholera can kill in just 4 hours as it dehydrates the body so quickly.

I watched the IV’s being done because for all I knew, I might have to do some!  They offered to let me actually do one the first time I watched, but I declined.  Evidently, all the Mennonite personnel had started doing them just that week as there were dozens of IV patients every day and only a couple of Haitian nurses!

This disease is ravaging the mountain population.  Mike, the head of the Mennonite mission, believes that if something isn’t done, the population of Pays-Pourri, the name of that whole section of mountains with thousands of people, will “fall off the face of the earth”!  Hundreds are sick and dozens are dying in the mountains.  We must do all we can to help this terrible situation.

Yvrose translating cholera information for Leah

Bill had gone to Port au Prince to try to find supplies.  Instead, he came home with the troops!!!  He brought five people, four with an organization called Global Dirt, and one US marine!!!!  The girl in charge of organizing the team, Leah, is a Christian and has been working in Haiti since the quake.  She is amazing, dealing with horrific things and still following hard after God!

Global Dirt people at cholera victim’s home

Yvrose had gone with him and taken him to an organization called Grassroots.  They called Global Dirt.  They go places where other people won’t go!  So today, we drove up a dry river bed behind Gantier and hiked into the mountains an hour.  The troops brought body bags and information and are assessing the situation.  In one village where a lady had just died from cholera, they showed the people what they needed to do to safely handle things.  Many people with cholera had gone to the IFM clinic in Fonds-Parisien.  Riann, the marine was looking for a spot to land a helicopter so medical teams and equipment can be brought in.  They have contacts with organizations that can do amazing things.

Tomorrow we will be going to Pays-Pourri for an overnight trek.  Please pray for us as hundreds are sick and many are dying.  Please keep us and the people of Haiti in your prayers.