Yesterday Djailcovsky (our volunteer here at the Network, who graciously allows us to use his garage as a secure warehouse) went out to Bendawest clinic and nearby hospital in Ranquette, about two hours drive west of Cap (his mom worked in the hospital for 18 years there before she moved to Port-au-Prince). We wanted to check up on their cholera situation and see if they needed supplies.

We started with the Bendawest Clinic. Here's the exam room:

We gave some supplies, geared mostly for cholera prevention, to the clinic: soap (for public distribution), medical exam gloves, hand santizer, chlorox. They've had a postive trend in cholera cases: 5 cases this week, 6 last week, 12 two weeks ago. But of course there is still progress to be made. Basically the process is to give them oral rehydration solution with an IV and aspirin or ibuprofen if they are pain. They usually get sent to the nearby hospital to get treated (see picture below of the CTC at the hospital, one of many "cholera treatment centers" in Haiti).


Here is Fresnel (a volunteer at the hospital who speaks English--good for me considering my Creole is still quite awful) with Supplementary Plumpy, part of the Plumpy'nut Family of RUTFs (ready-to-use therapeutic foods), one of big areas of interest. Here they give treat patients with three months of Plumpy'Nut, supply the mother with a month's supply at a time.

MFK Haiti is a big RUTF producer based in Cap (they employ locals and source from Haitian peanuts) that produces its own brand of RUTF but is becoming part of the Plumpy'Nut network. As much as I like health, I think that the biggest causes of poor health down here aren't related to poor health care but to a lack of livelihood and poverty, so I love the model of MFK.

Here's the storage place at the clinic. Note the covering to protect from rats and other creatures. Essential for storage here.

Then we went to the hospital! Here Fresnel and I are with the nurse there.

Here is the cholera treatment center, where patients with cholera are kept to avoid spreading the disease to others in the hospital.