Quakes, Whales, and Shriners - (Month 7.5)

Mid-February has arrived, and our “cool” refreshing 70 degree rainy weather here on the North Coast of the D.R. has turned back into sweaty mid-80s with too much humidity and lots of sun. Some bigger-than- usual things are happening here in addition to my normal work of monitoring patients and supervising and collaborating with the Community Health Workers. So I’m going to highlight those things this month.
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A Medical Service Team of Doctors from the U.S. joined our team in the D.R. for a week in January, 2012.

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1.) DOCTORS IN THE HOUSE
In January we had one of our 3 annual Medical Service Trips in which Doctors
and Medical Students from the U.S. came to spend a week treating more than 400 of our HHI patients in 4 local communities. It was a busy, exhausting, but great week.

2.) INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL EMERGENCY:
One unusual thing that’s happened this winter is that I have a 19 year old patient (slash-baseball lover) named Jansel who will be coming to the U.S., (Boston), to receive life-saving leg surgery at Shriners Hospital in March. Though my job is usually to link HHI’s patients and clients to doctors in the Dominican Republic, we’ve consulted with a number of Surgeon’s here and found that the treatment he requires to save his leg from amputation and likely even to save
his life, is not available here. So, after weeks of phone calls, emails, and months of accompanying Jansel on doctors’ visits, Jansel (and hopefully his mom) will be traveling to Boston for several
months of free medical sugery and treatment at Shriners Hospital. Huge thanks to Shriners for their wonderful generosity! I hope everyone will support them the next time you see them in a parade! Though the medical care will be free, HHI still needs to raise funds for the family’s plane travel back and forth between the Dominican Republic and the U.S., as well as providing housing, food, and winter clothes for Jansel (who is hilarious; has never seen the
inside of an airplane, nor snow, and who certainly isn’t prepared for cold weather clothes :)) whilehe is in treatment. For more info. onJansel and how you can donate money,
clothes, Spanish sports books, or other items to help him while he is in the U.S., check out HHI’s newsletter which will be posted this coming week. http://hhidr.org/newsletter/

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3.) EARTHQUAKE!
In January our little town here experienced 4 or 5 small earthquakes, one of which (a 5.4) woke me straight out of my sleep one night. We all decided we were “Shaking but we weren’t Quaking” (in fear :)) and we’ve been pleased to note no more quakes in the past few weeks. Word on the street is that little quakes sometimes are just correcting problems in the fault-lines so that big quakes don’t happen in the future. It’s amazing how a little thing like a baby earthquake can bring neighbors together, though. I had some great conversations with strangers after the quakes, and that was great!

4.) INTERESTED IN WATER?
If anyone’s interested in coming to the D.R., HHI as looking for a summer intern!
The link for more info and the application are here. Come visit me for the summer!

Here’s a synopsis:
The 2012 HHI Public Health Internship Program aims to improve water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH) conditions in HHI partner communities by facilitating a community-driven
latrine project along with clean water and hygiene education and promotion. The internship provides a valuable opportunity for up to 2 students or professionals to develop and lead a community WASH project in the challenging yet rewarding setting of the Dominican Republic.

5.) SURF AND WHALES
In the midst of quite a number of medical
emergencies that I and my co-workers have been dealing with here among HHI’s several
hundred patients, I’ve been able to sneak a few weekends here and there for short
weekend trips, to experience more of the D.R.’s beautiful coastline as
well. Here are some photos of those great experiences this winter.

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Watching the Christian Surfers International Surf Competition in Cabarete (100 surfers competed) with local missionary and expat friends... And a photo I snapped of a whale jumping in Samana.

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Boat Trip - Watching the Humpbacked whales in Samana. They travel here from all over the world, each year, to the warm waters of the Atlantic, to give birth.

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This was the first trip I’ve been on with a private rented car, instead of public transportation, since I arrive in June! :) It was awesome!