February 24, 2010
An E-Mail from a Crudem Doctor
WHAT ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE WANT TO BE ?
As we approach our board meeting this weekend one of our board members asked that question in an email. Over the past 41 days it has become an appropriate question to ask. I believe I know the answer and would like to share it with you.
Because of one man's vision 24 years ago we grew a hospital that could provide quality care and teaching to Haitians. It was a slow meticulous process that started with a few surgical volunteers and
we thought ended with a Hatian staff of 20 physicians, 60 nurses and a total of 250 people to provide care to the people in northern Haiti. This full time staff was supplemented by 170 volunteers throughout the year that provided care working side by side with the Haitian physicians as well as teaching them.
Then the earthquake struck on January 12th. Our well established infrastructure, will trained staff and long standing network of volunteers allowed us to expand from a 64 
bed hospital to a 400+ bed hospital in 2 weeks. Our support from Malta, Americares, Project Hope and many other medical corporations and individuals gave us the needed supplies to equip this expanded hospital. In a short period of time we became well known in the press and recognized by the many aid agencies, hospitals and military as the main referral hospital in Haiti. We now are sent patients from the USS comfort, and the hospitals in Port 
au Prince that require specialty care that only we can provide. It's a proud moment for all of us and then a humbling moment. God in his divine wisdom again used one man to begin a process that would save hundreds in a catastrophe none of us could ever imagine.
We are gradually decreasing our patient population by discharging patients back to Port au Prince and to local short term housing. We were struggling with how to return patients to Port au Prince when we received an urgent call from a German aid agency in Haiti. They had an infant with hydrocephalus that would die without treatment. They inquired if we could help. Well, we had a pediatric neurosurgeon at our hospital at the time who could help. They brought the child to us by helicopter and our neurosurgeon placed a shunt to save the baby's life. The Germans were so appreciative that they offered us the use of their helicopters for 50 hours.
We also were asked to help care for children with severe injuries in Port au Prince who could not be cared for by any of the hospitals in Haiti. We sent a team of surgeons down to examine the patients and they reported that we had the equipment and surgeons to offer these children definitive treatment. Now we have a win win situation. We have a helicopter that can bring patients ready for discharge back to Port au Prince and can on the return trip bring children that require surgery back to Hopital Sacre Coeur.
So what is the answer to the question above. I think the answer is that we are now destined to be the referral center for Haiti. We will continue to fulfill our mission of providing care to the people of Haiti and teaching the Haitian medical personnel how to provide the care when we are not there. However we now need to double our size to 150 inpatients, increase our ORs permanently to 4, build a new delivery room and OB section, make our triage/ER a permanent part of our hospital and build an outpatient clinic area with rehabilitation facilities to help our many amputees. We also need to build housing for our increasing medical staff and consider a nursing school and medical school in the future.
These are lofty plans but doable. No one thought we would ever be where we are now especially the one man who started it, Ted Dubuque, but God had other plans. I believe that we are again being guided by God in this direction. We can continue our mission and also be the example for the rest of Haiti. We can only do this with your help.
God bless all of you.
Peter Kelly M.D.
President, CRUDEM Foundation Inc
www.crudem.org
Please take a look at the footage below for an insight into the activites at Hopital Sacre Coeur - compiled by some of our volunteers.
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February 21, 2010
A Letter from Ann in Haiti
(continued)
At one stage there was 90...can you imagine what that's like for Fifi, the cook in the Mission house. Theres always about 50 ++ for meals, very hard work finding food for all.
And then the poor women doing the laundry, God love them...piles and piles of very dirty washing and rain nearly every day. So its tough going and very hard work for everybody and little space to call ones own...the beds are but 6 inches apart all over the place, in the Mission house, tents and on our kitchen floor and living room...every space has a camp bed.
We've had a couple with typhoid and related diseases...they actually came here with the disease and we have them isolated so hopefully it will not spread. We burn and burry all the waste and have wonderful volunteers working to prevent infection outbreak. We have been blessed in that sense as all our patients are doing very well. We use filtered water and are very careful with hand sanitation. All our patients have been given hand sanitizers, towels toothpaste and brushes etc which greatly helps to reduce infection.
Then I prepare good nourishing liquid foods for all those who cannot eat as they suffered broken jaw bones in the earthquake that had to be replaced or wired. Generally our patients are improving all the time and many have been fitted with limbs and prosthesis so they are moving about. We will need wheelchairs for those loosing both legs...and we shall get them in time. The American people have been so good and try to get us what is needed for the patients...they even bring us a few tea bags...that keeps our spirits up!
Have to tell you though in the midst of all I had a tooth problem...which was so tiny in relation to our huge suffering people here. My filling fell out after I came here leaving a big cavity...so the Lord came to my rescue. 
A young lady dentist pulled it out...came out in three parts! Then a dermatologist came a couple of days later and advised me to have a lesion removed from the bridge of my nose!! As I write I have six stitches which will come out today or tomorrow. Then someone said to me "Do you know its Lent?" Oh yeh!...its Lent in Haiti all the time. What more can I say?
Andrea is doing fine and never ceases to be very busy shifting goods from store to hospital and doing a thousand other jobs too. She is a great worker. Marilee and Maureen are fine too. Hope you had a good retreat, Coralie. Thanks, Margaret for Christmas gift and letter. I will write soon. Greetings to all the Team. Ann
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February 12, 2010
PeaceHealth Team Member's E-mail:
This should be my last night here. It is hard to believe I am leaving already. Time here has less meaning than at home. In a short time you form a close bond with people you have just met and they seem like old friends. I was told that relief workers have a hard time leaving before the work is done. That is true but I also think it is hard to leave because it is like leaving family you know you will not see again for a long time, perhaps never.....
Today we had the first baby born here during our stay. She is a healthy baby girl. I put her and her mothers picture on the site. It was a joyous occasion. This is fitting since one of the first patients we heard about was a woman whose life the previous team saved after a self induced abortion. (if this offends some I am sorry. It is the reality here)
As you might have seen, our day started with a patient transport. Our cervical spine injured patient and two children were medivaced to the states. We jury rigged a backboard and sent him to the airport in the bed of a pickup truck (see photo). I hear he arrived safely. Deep and some others from the delaware team went with him. I think there is an article on their trip. I haven't seen it but click the to read it.
Today was mostly an OR day. Dan took two previous patients back for wound care and skin grafts. He did a great job with a rotation flP the oher day and we think she has a good shot at healing her wounds and her broken leg. I cleaned up another child with a bad infection - 18 months old. We finished our day by fixing a leg (tibia) fracture in a woman struck by a motorcycle last night. Remember I mentioned I am surprised that there are not more of hese accidents... She actually works in our hospital but lives closer to the hospital in the city of Jacmel (we are in Cayes-Jacmel). She cut her face and injured her eye as well as her leg. She may have other injuries but we have to evaluate and judge without many tests we have at home - complain what you will about health cost and access, it is hard to know how much we have until you see how little others have. It is never lucky to break your leg but her timing was fortuitous. Because of the equipment we had from Oregon we were able to internally fix her leg with a rod that will allow her to walk within days.
In clinic today I saw another old crush injury of the arm from the earthquake. This 21 year old man was trapped for 24 hours under the rubble. Not as long as some for sure, but I cannot even imagine such an ordeal. He did not break his arm but he lost circulation to it for long enough that he has permanent damage. There was nothing I could do today but I am hoping there will be a hand surgeon here sometime that could do tendon transfers to improve his function. Until then we will splint him and work on maintaining what movement he has now. I also saw a 27 year old man with severe back pain for 8 months. He has lost a lot of weight as well. We had only one xray view. He has a deformity of his upper lumbar spine clinically and I am fairly certain he has spinal tuberculosis. He will come back tomorrow to see the TB nurse.
One of our logistical leaders, Steve, offered us a trip off the hospital grounds for a lobster dinner. Before you get all worked up, like most arrangements in Haiti it was cancelled. After a week here it is not so disappointing. I find great pleasure in the smaller things. For instance, this evening the flood on the bathroom floor was gone. I got the fan above my bed to make much less noise. I have clean scrubs and underwear for tomorrow. A generous missionary, Paul, cleaned and restocked our refrigerator so we have more water and soft drinks. What more could I want?
Grace, The "yellow fever" boy did not get his arm amputated...he was discharged Tuesday or Wednesday, the 2nd or 3rd, in good condition. He really turned around - his fever's stopped and he was eating well.
Pictured at left are some of the PeaceHealth team taken in the clinic on the last day of their stay.
February 8, 2010
Field Hospital
The schools have been closed since the occurrence of the ‘quake but are due to open again soon. Therefore, we have had to evacuate the classrooms that served as temporary wards so this means patients and supplies are on the move again. An area near to the hospital has been cleared: banana trees and tomato plants were transferred elsewhere and two large trees were cut down to make way for a field hospital. The ground was levelled, covered with gravel and plastic (wooden flooring is to come later) and six large tents, each able to hold fifty beds, were erected. We were told this is the type of hospital used by the army!
Best wishes
Maureen
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