March 3, 2010 [3 - Mar - 10 @ 22:04]
Posted into: Haiti 2010
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Well, it seems the article in the Globe and Mail http://theglobeandmail.com/blogs/project-jacmel-blog/natural-healing-sort-of/article1484032 has spawned quite a bit of comments - many of them scathing, hurtful, and just plain ignorant. Those ones don't have any hooks for me. However, I was stunned by the vehemence of some of the attacks, and not at all appreciative of the emails to my personal in-box calling me names. What I am grateful for is the opportunity to have traveled to Haiti with such a fine group of individuals who were all as passionate about lending a helping hand as I was.
I am grateful for their acceptance of me, and the homeopathic remedies I brought. I am grateful for their trust, their encouragement, and their support.
My family and friends honoured me with a homecoming dinner at Lily Kazilli's the night after my return. I spent the weekend in my home, doing laundry and putting things back in order. I'll be careful about what I write about here from now on, as some of this material was used in the Globe and Mail article - which, for the record, I thought was really well written. Jessica had interviewed me over several days, and on the last day got me at the clinic on a particularly stressful second last day of my work in Haiti.
What wasn't reported in the Globe and Mail, however, was that I packed things up because I was headed over to Mother Teresa's Missions of Charity orphanage with nurse-Amy and the remainder of the donated products from Heel, St. Francis, and Metagenics! Two days earlier, I had visited the orphanage with Nurse Jenny, pharmacist-tech Kellie, and RPN Sheila, gave out hair barrettes from Cristina, and watched as Jenny and Kellie gave out hand-sewn skirts from the parishioners at Jenny's church.
I have now established a link with that orphanage, which also administers to the community as an "on the ground" site for these suppliers, and others to begin shipping product to for the well-being and aid of Haitians. We now have a place to ship vitamins, minerals, EFA's, homeopathics, creams, etc!!! This was one of my primary objectives in heading to Haiti.
So, tonight, after a gentle relaxing yoga class at Eastside Yoga Studio, I am going to get some rest to prepare for the next wave of this mission - informing the supplement companies of my successes in Haiti, and garnering donation of product directly to the Missions of Charity in Port-au-Prince Haiti.
Kindness,
Denis
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Second Last Night [23 - Feb - 10 @ 20:08]
Posted into: Haiti 2010
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Well, this is certainly a "fluid situation" as Steve McDougall is known for saying. Each day sees new and different medical personal arrive at Cayes Jacmel clinic, which presents many challenges. I have to say that I have met with little resistance from the attending MD's on administering homeopathic remedies, but I haven't been able to administer the amount of IVC that I was hoping to. The elderly lady with the maggots in her sinus cavity from an earthquake injury went to surgery today - she's expected to recover well. I'm hoping the IVC administered over the last several days, as well as the homeopathic (Pyrogenium) have contributed to her positive prognosis. The elderly gentleman with the crush injury to his left hand has been released from hospital (with clothes donated by Ryan from our group). Ryan is very missed, as he was incredibly energetic and enthusiastic, but needed to return home two days ago to attend to an urgent family matter.
After starting several IV's for the overworked MD's today, and administering homeopathic remedies to several children with scabies (Psorinum), I "set up shop" down in triage with my homeopathic remedies and a translator. Jo-Dee, an amazing nurse with our group, refered several patients who were complaining of depression and fear since the earthquake. Unfortuantely, as I've experienced on previous missions, the local community is arriving at a free "medical clinic" expecting medications, not homeopathic remedies to help with post-traumatic stress from the original disaster. And, working with a young male translator unexperienced with asking for a differentiation between sadness, grief, and depression made things more difficult. Jessica, from the Globe and Mail, asked me if I would have done anything different. I said that next time, it would be good to have a continuous presence for the psycho-emotional aspect of this healing work, rather than sporadic. Circumstances of this clinic, however, dictated that I was pulled in several directions at once between starting IV's, and treating things that the pharmacy didn't have medications for (scabies). I left in the afternoon to visit the orphanage and bring some supplies there, and only tonight learned from Jackie - the goddess of organization at Cayes Jacmel who isn't even a nurse - that she had one patient whom she wished I could have seen who presented with depression and anxiety since the earthquake. Steve Done was the Canadian Military's "point man" for rebuilding shelves in the supply room, and has brought a wonderful presence to the group.
In the afternoon, I re-visited Mother Teresa's orphanage in Jacmel with Amy, an extremely cool pediatric nurse that is part of this group (she's been a shoulder for me to lean on in tough times, and I'm really grateful for our emerging friendship). We brought the remaining donations of Traumeel and St. Francis creams, as well as the Enduralyte rehydration formulas from Metagenics. Mother Superior was very happy, and I will now attempt to establish an on-going relationship between some of the naturopathic suppliers and this orphanage to ship children's vitamins, and other healing supplements. They also distribute food and essentials to the local community, so I'm really happy to have made a contact in Haiti that can receive donations from the naturopathic suppliers. Everyone has been so generous!
The little girls at the orphanage were especially pleased with the hair barrets that were donated by Cristina. All of the little patients at Cayes Jacmel got smiley stickers. Thank you Cristina.
Aftershocks continue to rock and roll our sleep at night. Tonight is our last night in tents. Tomorrow we will share rooms at a hotel for a good night's sleep and shower before traveling home. The group is in the process of identifying Haitians injured in the earthquake to be sponsored by Hearts Together for Haiti.
There is SOOOO much work to be done here - and everywhere I'm realizing. The group has faced its challenges with mutual respect and determination to honour our goal of bringing aid to Haiti. I have been continuing to refine my thoughts on homeopathic applications in medical relief work, including miasmatic theory, as well as introducing IVC for tissue and wound healing. There are many moments of heartbreak throughout the days here. I will continue to record them, and utilize them to refine further efforts.
I can't thank the team members enough for their dedication, interest and support in our communal effort. I was also asked to leave "short" blogs, so I'll wrap this one up, and work on summaries from home. Tomorrow is our last day at Cayes Jacmel, and we're only there for half a day. I'lll post pictures and work on a photo-journal of this experience from home.
Kindness and gratitude,
Denis
P.S. Thanks Mom for commenting on my last blog!!
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Feb. 20th, 2010 [21 - Feb - 10 @ 08:06]
Posted into: Haiti 2010
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Thank you, Jessica, a new friend I’ve met here in Jacmel – for offering to post this journal entry into my website blog. We’re both “Luddites,” but she at least knows how to put my words onto this website.
Today was the “tipping point” at Cayes Jacmel Clinic. After days of taking homeopathic cases for Haitians coming to the “free clinic,” I was able to get on the same page with a visiting orthopedic surgeon from North Carolina to treat the patients in the in-clinic. I was able to diplomatically convince the “new” head doctor that homeopathic medicine would not interact with any prescribed medications, and that any prescribed homeopathic medications would actually enable allopathic medications to work more efficaciously in most cases.
The next challenge I have been working on for the last four days is for permission to administer intravenous vitamin C treatments for tissue and wound healing. Today, in the face of absolute craziness, the “chief medical officer” said, “sure, whatever!” So, today, I administered 5.0 grams of intravenous vitamin C to two patients, and am looking forward to continuing this therapy for the next five days for in-patients in need of tissue and wound healing. The first patient is an 85 year-old woman with maggots dwelling in her sinus cavities, and the second patient is a 73 year-old man whose hand was crushed in the earthquake and he only has one finger remaining. Tomorrow I will start IVC on a 5 year-old boy with a gaping wound on his leg which was injured in the earthquake. Five days of IVC for these patients will make an incredible difference – especially considering the fact that most are under-nourished to begin with. I pray that I will have an opportunity to follow-up with these patients, but time, space and logistics will dictate whether that will allow that to happen.
I miss my mom!
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Arriving in Haiti [16 - Feb - 10 @ 22:24]
Posted into: Haiti 2010
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Just finished eating some really yummy goat, chicken, and pork after a long bus drive from the Dominican Republic. We're all still working to find our cohesiveness, but the 48 hours of travel just to get to this point has played a big factor. Despite some challenges, everyone's spirits and demeanour have survived intact. We're in Petionville, just outside of Port-au-Prince. In the morning we get on another bus and drive down to Jacmel, where we'll set up camp and begin the medical relief work.
Tomorrow the real work begins. Time for some really necessary sleep. Heel Canada's donation is going to be a God-send to these people (hundreds of tubes of Traumeel ointment, hundreds of vials of Traumeel ampoules, and hundreds of containers of Traumeel pellets), but the hockey bag I packed them into is really heavy and cumbersome! I only had to pay an extra $100US on the plane flight, which was much less than I expected for a 100lb bag. I've also brought enough intravenous vitamin C and supplies to provide 100 injections of 5 gms apiece for tissue and wound healing. I'm not sure of the clinical conditions we will be encountering, but I am completely self-sufficient (all injectable supplies) so I am anticipating successful treatments.
I have a revamped homeopathic first aid kit with enough remedies and blank vials to treat thousands of people, and it's all self-contained within one carry-on bag (including my Boerke and red Morrison texts).
Yup, pretty worn out from the travel just to get to this point, but really happy to find this wireless connection to add this post. The rest of the team are really wonderful and friendly, and we've had some pretty fun laughs on the way to this point.
I hope to have a wireless connection once we get to Jacmel. Going to bed now with anticipation of some long days ahead. I am refining my model for integrative medical relief work as I go. The miasmatic theory should be interesting to work with, as I may not be able to get a translator to assist with homeopathic case taking.
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Preparing to Leave for Haiti - 3:36 am [15 - Feb - 10 @ 03:36]
Posted into: Haiti 2010
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It's been a while since I've kept a blog, so I just wanted to attempt to create one for Haiti. I'm going into this mission on the "ed" side of "exhausted," but have much anticipation for a successful outcome.
The trick will be getting the hockey bag of donations generously supplied by Heel Canada, Metagenics, and St. Francis Herb Farm - the hockey bag already weighs 85 lbs!! I've also got some really cute hair barrets and stickers that were donated by Cristina Ryan.
I couldn't have even gotten to this stage of preparation if it weren't for the amazing assistance of Vincneza Rotulo and Theresa Camozzi who spent their weekend helping me re-graft my re-fined homeopathic first aid kit. Thank you also to Linda Sabatini, my nieces Katie and Michelle Marier, and my Mom for pitching in at the last minute, and helping me get this across the finish line!
I have been overwhelmed by the support and generosity of not only the naturopathic community, but the community of Windsor as well. This is the best place on Earth when someone needs a helping hand, whether it is a neighbour, or a stranger in a strange land. I am proud to be a Windsorite, and will be distributing City of Windsor pins while passing out Traumeel cream.
I'm also trying something new this mission - intravenous vitamin C injections to assist with tissue and wound healing. I don't have access to refrigeration, but should be able to keep the vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, selenium and zinc stable for a few days. I've brought enough from my clinic to give approximately 100 treatments of 5 grams of vitamin C plus support minerals.
Time to crawl into my bed for the last time in almost two weeks. I'll try to keep a short journal of my experiences here, and welcome your posts.
ThinkPeace,
Denis
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