A Hectic Day at the Clinic

Today felt more like an emergency department. We saw some serious conditions. One of my early patients of the day had walked a long way on a bad diabetic foot. She had a toe amputated about two weeks ago but the foot was bleeding and very painful. After treatment, she walked home. It is difficult to imagine.

Later a woman was almost carried in. She had fallen. She had sustained a very nasty compound fracture of her wrist and hand. She was in terrible pain. I did not even take her vital signs. I took her to the head of the line to Dr. Franz. The doctors all worked together to treat this patient since our surgeon is over at the hospital doing a full caseload of surgery today.

Shortly thereafter, I looked up to see a man and woman carrying in an older lady. She had such severe edema in her legs that she could not walk.

Finally, I saw a 37-year-old man, who had not been feeling well he had seen a doctor 22 days ago and had been diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes. He had a blood sugar of 586. I took his blood pressure and it was very high. He had been prescribed medication but he could not afford to buy it. He felt ill again yesterday so decided to come to our clinic. I almost cried with relief that he came today. We can provide his much-needed medication and surely will save his life.

These are just a few of the patients I saw. There were others, sick babies, sick adults and our usual myriad of conditions. It was so hot and humid today. Again the lines were long and the people waited patiently for their turn. We saw 242 patients today.

I took some photos of some beautiful faces today. I will share them once our internet is functioning. Once again, I am thankful for being here and able to help in a small way these lovely people of Haiti.