Cholera Response: my experience
On Saturday November 6th, I headed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti as a volunteer. The cholera outbreak coincided with the completion of my licensing as an Adult Nurse Practitioner and in spite of the ominously approaching hurricane Tomas, I maintained my plan to go back to Haiti and help.
At 1:30pm, as we drove away from the Mais-Gate airport en route to Gros-Morne, the sky was heavy and grey. Hurricane Tomas was still roaming throughout the northwestern part of the island. My intention was to go straight to Gros-Morne and to spend five days working at Hospital Alma Mater, a 50 bed community hospital. Gros-Morne is municipality of the Department of Artibonite, 175km north of Port au prince.
The trip to Gros Morne was long. The rain was persistent. We were stopped many times at police check-points and we had to maneuver our way through deep puddles on the flooded highway. Dirt roads from Gonaives to Gros-Morne were in the poorest condition with innumerable potholes. The driver of the all-terrain vehicle of the hospital skillfully tried to avoid obstacles the best that he could. At sunset, he decided to speed under the pouring rain with fear of flood streams as we were approaching Gros-Morne. I was frightened. What would be my fate in the case of a crash? We finally arrived at Gros-Morne at 8PM.
The next day, I delivered to the hospital orthopedic equipments (many wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes), wound care items and other medical supplies that had been collected months earlier after the seism and sent to Haiti via cargo. A suitcase filled with a broad spectrum of medications was also handed to the hospital administrator.
On the hospital ground, there were 3 huge tents, two wards and a long porch filled with children and adults afflicted with cholera. The patients appeared seriously ill. The beds and cots were less than two feet apart of each other. Parent and child both with cholera would share a cot. Family members would attend to their loves ones without obvious concern for their own health. They shared food and drink with the patients. No contact precautions measures were taken. Hospital security personnel made every attempt to minimize the number of visitors, unsuccessfully. There were many bystanders roaming around all day. A healthy young man with no protective gear armed with a Bible was preaching in the quarantine zone. The floor was constantly wet, stool or vomit, who knows? Upon leaving the quarantine section, all shoes had to be sprayed with chlorine and hands washed. Periodically, a janitor walked by and sprayed the floor with chlorine. This was an infectious zone nightmare.
On site, there were Haitian nurses, 1 to 2 physicians, several foreign nuns and personnel from Doctors Without Borders. Everyone worked incessantly. With rapid rehydration, many lives were saved. Patients who were stable and able to drink, were given oral hydration packs prepared by the Gros-Morne Red Cross volunteer team, and sent home with antibiotics. I spent long hours daily in the cholera wards and inserted innumerable intravenous lines. From time to time a loud scream would come from the tents. A person had just expired. Throughout the day, family members would carry their loves ones strapped on a door used as gurney after a 5-hour walk at times. Unfortunately, by the time they reached the hospital ground, some patients had already expired.
This was a very moving experience. Due to the very precarious infectious disease control, I suspect the epidemic is likely to spread.
Haiti needs help, lots of help. Can it count on you?
Anne Boucard, RN, MSN
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