This morning, Kathleen, Barb, Ann, and Marc-Anny (our interpreter) ventured off to l’Hôpital de Notre-Dame, which is the public hospital in Petit-Goâve. They did not have an appointment, and there was no administrator on site when they arrived. Barb spoke in French to the woman in charge and got the administrator’s name and telephone number. Rather than wait until another day, Ann suggested that Marc-Anny call from his cell phone to see if they could tour the facility. Joel Charles, the hospital director, was on vacation, but very nicely made a phone call back to the administration office and arranged for Bané to lead them through. They toured the maternity ward and pediatrics, passed by the morgue, and went through the laboratory where people were waiting for blood to be drawn. One building, which was normally housing for doctors, had been damaged by the 2010 earthquake and was uninhabitable.
All three of our team members on the tour were familiar with Paul Farmer’s work with Partners in Health, and were therefore delighted to discover that this hospital is doing work in partnership with PIH (Zanmi Lasante in Kreyòl). They also spotted the UNICEF tents that had been erected to fight off the cholera epidemic, but Bané said there are very few still being treated.
The highlight of the visit was a conversation with a Haitian ER doctor who had gotten his medical degree in Cuba. He took the time to explain the ER area, where one boy was being assisted for an oral injury, and a woman was undergoing stitches on her scalp. They were not able to tell us the exact number of physicians on staff, because the doctor said they rotate in and out, but the hospital serves the 12,000 people in Petit-Goâve and the surrounding areas and is obviously understaffed. The women were most impressed with the collaborative efforts of several countries and organizations, along with the Haitian government, to provide health care at minimal cost to the region.
