Robyn Couper

.

Report for second Hearts and Hands for Haiti Team. Jan 2011-April2011.

 

Once again the involvement of Hearts and Hands for Haiti in Cap-Haïtien has been a tremendous success. The team members were Robyn Couper and physiotherapists Fiona Millard, Claire Hargest and Christopher Higgs.

Fiona, Claire and Chris worked in the Justinien Hospital and in the Rehabilitation Centre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire spent three weeks working in the mornings at the hospital, supervising the Registered Nurses who have been training as physiotherapy assistants, in the medical and surgical wards, including orthopaedics and burns. She joined Chris and Fiona in the afternoons at the Rehab Centre where they worked one on one with the nurse physios. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons a two hour teaching session was given.Chris and Fiona took turns to work at the hospital after Claire left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiona also had two visits to an orphanage to show the staff there how to manage some of the disabled children. As two women working there are Registered Nurses they will be able to continue the care. We also visited the Baptist Hospital where there is a spinal unit and plans to build a brand new rehabilitation centre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire, Chris and Fiona gave a 30 - 45 minute seminar to the Registrars and Interns at the Justinien hospital in an effort to promote the benefits and a better understanding of the role of physiotherapy in the hospital. This was well attended by about 25-30 medical personnel including the administrative medical staff.  It was also an opportunity to validate the three nurse physiotherapists to the staff.

It was pleasing to hear Dr Henrz Luxana report to all the medical staff at the Justinien Hospital on the day of the seminar that, without the help from New Zealand, there would probably be no programme today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy, a young child who has a brain tumour, had a walking frame specially constructed for him, paid for by a donation from Wellington people through Fiona. The smile on his face as he took his first independent steps said it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire ,Chris and Fiona saw many cases they would never have encountered in New Zealand but rose to the challenge. Here Chris ponders how to help a young man with a severely deformed leg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because of the success of the physiotherapy programme, Hearts and Hands for Haiti, New Zealand is seeking to partner with the Haitian Heath Authorities,  the Evangelical Church of Haiti and the Medical staff at Justinien Hospital to establish a School of Physiotherapy in a building outside Cap Haitien on land owned by ECH

 

 

There is much planning and work to be done to make this a reality and we are proud of the support expressed by Helen Clark, in her role as administrator of the UN Development Agency, for this project.

 

It has been very encouraging to see that the gesture we have made has been much appreciated and a privilege to have such wonderful support from you all and from the churches and people of the Waitaki District. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

Read more at http://chrishiggsinhaiti.blogspot.com

First Team Report, May to July 2010

Our first Team served in Haiti from May to the end of July this year and comprised  the following professionals:

Three physiotherapists:  Mrs Dale Radford and Miss Kim Laurie from the Southern Districts Health Board (Kew Hospital) and Miss Fiona Millard from the Wellington District Health Board

Anaesthetist : Dr Steve Benford, formerly a GP in Oamaru but now back in England. He is also an Anglican Vicar.

General Surgeon: Mr Ross Pettigrew of Dunedin.

Orthopaedic surgeon: Associate Professor Jean Claude Theis,Dunedin.

To read about their achievements and impressions, go to Steve, Ross and Jean Claude's blogs which are still on line at the following addresses.

http://www.rosspet.blogspot.com

http://www.jctheis.blogspot.com

http://www.frstevebenford.blogspot.com

Former mayor of Oamaru, Mr Alan McLay, also visited meeting with civic and local authorities and Rotarians to assess future short or long term projects.

The support from around New Zealand has been very much appreciated and, coupled with the significant local civic, community and church support in Cap Haitien, we have achieved an incredible short term mission contribution. This has been a positive experience all round for me, as team leader, and our team members were fantastic.
The key from the very beginning was my contacts in Haiti, resulting from having so many young people grow up with me or go through my home. Without any knowledge of what was to come, my railway station existence then has meant reaping the benefits now, as some are either married to someone in a strategic position, or in reasonably good jobs, or their friends have contacts, or some of my former students are sitting nicely in the very office I needed to visit.
So never ever think you can go it alone....everything is team work and the success of this trip is due to many people here, there and everywhere.

What have we accomplished? Our three doctors made a valuable contribution at the Justinien Hospital in Cap-Haitien.  Dr Steve Benford hails from England, an anaesthetist married to a Kiwi. For a number of years he was in private practice in Oamaru. He is also an Anglican vicar. He was able to teach some new methods for anaesthesia helping the nurse technicians and the anaesthetists, but was alarmed at the very old equipment and difficult conditions under which people worked.
His gentleness touched everyone and one staff member who noticed his clerical collar, said to me, “Miss Ro, is he a priest?”  When I replied in the affirmative, she said earnestly, “I’ve got to talk to someone; if I don’t and I die today I will go to hell.” He was able to be the doctor to her soul which was so much more important. Unfortunately, Steve contracted Dengue fever, despite all precautions and was very sick during the last two weeks of his five week stay. However he has said he will return.

Ross Pettigrew, from Dunedin, is a general surgeon and a clinical lecturer at Otago University. He was our video man, always capturing things on camera at the wrong moment - at least for us, the victims, and yet we couldn’t catch him for a photo, not even for a serious one!!
The residents in surgery loved his teaching and thanked him for bringing it down to a practical level to suit the needs of Haiti and for not being high tech and out of their experience base.  Most of the residents had a good understanding of English and translation was available if he got stuck. The staff would like to see him back and the gift of instruments he brought with him was greatly appreciated.

Jean Claude Theis, associate professor and orthopaedic surgeon at Otago University, was our third doctor on the team. He calls Cap-Haitien ‘the compound tibia fracture centre of the world’ because of the huge number of accidents and trauma injuries and unfortunately there were only two residents training in orthopaedics. One of the many significant contributions, apart from his teaching, was a spinal fusion he performed with the orthopaedic surgeon in Cap, Dr Hubert Pierre Louis.  The following day someone fell out of a tree and Dr Pierre Louis was able to do the spinal fusion for this man who has since regained sensation in his legs. This was a first for Justinien hospital. Both of the men have since been sent to a new spinal unit run by the Baptist Convention outside of Cap-Haitien.

Jean-Claude, who is French speaking, will be able to help with the ongoing education of these residents via the internet, and orthopaedics subsequently gained a new resident from the general surgery team. Isn’t that great? When our doctors left I felt quite bereft as there were no more stories from the operating theatre.

Our physiotherapists, Dale Radford, Kim Laurie and Fiona Millard, have been brilliant. Dale and Kim work at the Invercargill hospital and Fiona hails from Wellington.
A new unit had opened two weeks before Dale arrived. There were two patients and huge pressure on Dale to help bring up patient numbers. The nurses who had been seconded to a crash course in physiotherapy also needed help. On leaving we had over 90 patients! Dale set about organising the unit and putting some structure in place.  The emphasis is mostly on rehabilitation for fractures and trauma injuries as a result of the earthquake, and strokes.  There is also a need for education about the value of physiotherapists in the whole hospital treatment programme.

 

 

 

 

Kim, a relatively recent graduate came shining through with her teaching skills. She was so precise in her directions it was easy translating for her. I think she has discovered a skill she didn’t know she had and I think I could easily become a quack physio if I kept translating for her.

After Kim left, Fiona came, providing solid continuity over a period of two and a half months. Fiona put the Haitian girls through the hoops to prepare them for their new responsibilities and gave them their exam. The wonderful skills of these three women complimented one another and built nicely on the work of the previous physiotherapist.
Now the director of the unit is looking for a French speaking physiotherapist from Canada and also asking for more input from us if possible.

Alan McLay, the former Mayor of Oamaru, came to visit on behalf of the Hearts and Hands for Haiti trust board. It was a whirlwind of meetings with the Mayor of Cap-Haitien, Pastor Megy Sylvain of 12th Street Evangelical Church, Rotarians and other civic and church leaders and medical staff.

We propose that a school of physiotherapy be established in Cap-Haitien in conjunction with the Evangelical Church of Haiti and in cooperation with local medical personnel and the Health Department. However it is early days and we need to pray, think, and plan this very carefully.
This short term team has been a wonderful gift from New Zealand to the Cap-Haitien community and the Evangelical Church of Haiti, which allowed us to work under their umbrella. We have accomplished far more than I could have dreamed possible and forged important and solid links. It has been a privilege to work with community and church leaders in Haiti and to put our hands with theirs and share the love of our hearts with each other.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts....from all of us on the team and from the Hearts and Hands for Haiti New Zealand steering committee and trust.

Robyn Couper