No Snow. No Problem! Day One in Haiti.

I miss my family, my kids especially. I miss my friends. What I don’t miss? The never-ending WINTER in St. John’s! It was a long day’s travel yesterday, through Montreal and Miami but I gotta say, and don’t hate me for saying it, the hot breezes of Port-au-Prince were quite welcomed by our team!

Some last minute drama before we left… one of our doctors hurt her back and couldn’t come and we had to call up a spare in the last minutes.   Luckily, Dr. Noftall was able to offer his services literally just minutes before we left!   That’s this team’s dedication… true testament to the model we have created. Everyone’s ready to do what it takes.

No rest for the travel weary! We all hit the ground running with a busy trauma in the ER.  All hands were on deck and we all slip back into Haiti mode like true trauma veterans.

Last night set the precedent. Busy clinic again this morning and Art and Sonia haven’t stopped assessing a lot of patients.

Always a reminder of where we are… broken ventilators have slowed us down today. You forget sometimes that luxury of “just get another.” Not here.  But one thing Haiti has taught me is that there’s nothing teamwork can’t solve.   The MacGyver skills of Frank Noel and Heather O’Rielly are on it! Armed with only chewing gum and a Band-Aid, they could make rocket fuel.

Anthony Germain is getting his first taste of the pace here. Looking forward to hearing his first impressions.

Thanks for all the well wishes…keep that good karma comin’.

Got to go fix a femur!

– Andrew