I am determined to make sure that these posts will go up despite pushback from the Internet. This morning I woke up to find a visitor of the Kay Alumni journaling during her last day of the trip. We shared our interest in capturing and treasuring the moments that we spend each day in Haiti. I was explaining to her my slight frustration with the Internet and she told me to “Learn to appreciate the slowness of things.” I’d like to modify her quote to something that resonated within me to the core “Learn to appreciate the silence in things.” Even travelling to the hospital, there a sign that says “Silence Hospital.” This sign represents the quietness and stillness of the surrounding area of a hospital. After my journaling session, I ate breakfast with my Kay Alumni family. After which, I went to “Morning Meeting” or “Report du matin” inside of the “Bibliyotek” or library. Resident Dr. Farah Bien-Aime, presented on Smoking and its effects.. Referring to her presentation as “Smoking and its Effects” is a mere understatement because her presentation was so layered and rich. Dr. Farah was so poised! I actually saw her working on her presentation until about 12 in the morning. She has also been instrumental in finding a better way to word the question for the survey! She has become a reference for some of the medical questions and finding out what their leading
Today, I was introduced to where most of my work will be done throughout my time here at HAS. From what I understand, there is a lot of wonderful work to be done. The Community Health Center or the “Service Communautaires Intégres” (SCI) is a powerful tool for HAS. I would describe this portion of the Hospital as the backbone of the hospital. It is shocking to me that this place has the least amount of funding from donors. However, this place is responsible for the mortality of new life in the community, the sustainable development of the community, and the welfare of the community. SCI, as it is more affectionately called, employs matrons throughout the community that are responsible for the education of women who are pregnant, have delivered, and are caring for their children. I will be working in the 1 of 4 SCI’s (the Deschapelles Location), and observing the practices of the other three.
So far, I have been given a task that requires no boundaries. The possibilities are endless and I am thankful that HAS entrusted me with this project. I can mold and sculpt this project to be anything that I need it can be. My first task is complete data entry of the government mandated post-natal visits after 2 days of birth. The matrons are to complete a survey and make recommendations for the mother depending on the responses. Even within the government-mandated surveys, there is room for improvement. For instance, the questions are not clear, and there is little to descriptive state of the mothers and their newborns. One of my goals is to change the standards of these base-line surveys. I want to expand it to also assess the mother’s state of being—this means understanding if the mother is in a depressive state. However, first things must be first, I must focus on the inputting of the data! Afterwards, we can complete all the analysis in the world!