NEPA Vital Signs - Winter Spring 2019 - 16

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Reflections from Haiti
Addressing health needs through listening, mentoring
and interprofessional collaboration

"Listen to the patient, he is
telling you the diagnosis."
- William Osler

Sir William Osler's words of wisdom
regarding the care of individual patients
also apply in the setting of community
health interventions, and especially in the
context of medical missions. In February
2018, I travelled to Savanne Carree in Haiti
as a participant in a medical mission project
organized by FaithCare, a Christian organization that conducts medical missions in
underserved parts of Haiti and Nigeria. In
addition to addressing health care needs
of the local people, I had the opportunity
to mentor some high school students who
were part of the team. They participated
in a public health problem solving exercise
which involved determining the source of a
cholera outbreak based on information on
those who had been affected.
During the project, I spent time conducting informal focus groups, asking people
who were waiting in line to receive medical
attention about their perceived needs and
priorities as a community. It came as no
surprise that the need for a local hospital/
healthcare facility was expressed by several
participants, as they reported having to
travel to other towns for health care, at
times spending two or three hours to get
there. Another priority that was expressed
repeatedly was something so basic we
tend to take it for granted: access to clean
water. Some expressed concerns about the
spread of infection without regular access
to clean water. It became clear that any
attempt to address the health care needs
of this community would be ineffective
without addressing the issue of regular
access to clean water. It also brought to
life some of the lessons from the public

Practicing clinical skills: Rebekah Schnatz takes Dr Simoyan's blood pressure as they prepare to
start seeing patients in Savanne Carree, Haiti.

Over 1,000 medical encounters were conducted during
the week-long project, including 19 surgical procedures.
Other services included health education on hygiene,
oral exams and fluoride varnish applications.
health educational activity that the high included a pharmacist, a nurse anesthetist,
school students had participated in at the spiritual counselors, and a respiratory therbeginning of the project.
apist. Trainees included internal medicine
residents and a surgical technology student.
Another area of medical education that We worked with a Haitian doctor and nurse
has been receiving emphasis recently is and several interpreters who, in addition
interprofessional education. The project was to their linguistic abilities, understood the
exemplary in terms of an interprofessional cultural context in which we were working.
approach to patient care. In addition to
physicians and nurses, the FaithCare team
N E PA

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NEPA Vital Signs - Winter Spring 2019

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