Day Two: Tours and Meetings

Our second day in Haiti was primarily focused on tours and meetings.  We started off the day with a tour of the former inpatient area at Grace Childrens Hospital. 

This single infant bed was a reminder of the devastation that occurred to the building.  Fortunately there was only one death attributable to the earthquake at the facility.  The pediatric inpatient facility no longer has walls or a ceiling.  It is simply gone. 

Drs. Phelps (left) and Borgstede (right) look at x-rays that used to be hung out to dry in the former facility. 

We continued our trip over to the transitional buildings now housing both a pediatric and adult outpatient clinic as well as a new pediatric inpatient facility. 

This is part of the transitional building's outpatient waiting room. As you can see they are very busy.  There were over 100 people in this waiting area (all very patient!). 

The highlight of our morning tour was these young girls in the pediatric inpatient facility.  They sang a song in Creole welcoming us to the facility. 



I caught this youngster during meal time.  The nurse feeding her is not pictured but she is present doting over her while I took the picture. 

This young girl seemed to take a liking to me.  She and I spent about 5 minutes getting to know one another.  The cuddle cloud pictured was a gift. 

The facility, although transitional, was clean and well-planned.  We were amazed at how much GCH has done to transfer to such a nice facility in such a short time. 

The balance of the morning was spent with the rebuilding team at GCH.  They are working on a plan that will increase the former facility from 60 beds to 123 beds.  The old site will be demolished and replaced by 2015.  We talked to them about their plans for radiology and began discussing some ways the ACR Foundation might help.  They have hired a firm to assist with the reconstruction planning effort. 

The afternoon was spent with representatives of the Haitian Medical Association.  We met with the HMA president and vice president (Dr. Claudine Cleophat) who is a radiologist.  We found out that there are currently 20 radiologists practicing in Haiti.  There currently are no formal radiology residency programs however in the country.  We discussed issues related to equipment, training, distance learning, education, and regulations.  The meeting was very productive. 

I will report on more of the information gained from a very productive day.  For now, I am signing off until tomorrow.