“!Vivo cerca de la cancha!  Ask for Chela.  I’ve seen you run by my house.  You know where it is.”  Chela is a 53-year-old overweight Haitian woman with an animated face, exaggerated gesticulations, and an extensive skin ulceration, literally colored green and festering for the past “three years,” that covers her entire leg below her left knee.  She lives in Pancho Mateo, and is one of about fifty referral cases that HHI’s March medical service team treated and passed onto Laura, me, and our “cooperadores de salud” for follow-up care.  Listening closely to HHI’s Vice Chair, Dr. Brad, and Quinnipiac PA student, Megan, as they described how she was to take an antibiotic twice a day for 30 days, as well as tend to her wound using wet-to-dry gauze dressings for a couple of months, Chela was vocally appreciative of the attention and pledged to comply to the medical instructions she was given.  To the extent that my own and HHI’s capacity allow, I will be checking in on her, as well as the other follow-up patients, with the cooperador of each respective community, throughout this week.  This includes Lorenzo, the 27-year-old stroke victim from Baraguana, paralyzed on his left side, in need of physical therapy, and Rocio, the 19-year-old mother with hypertension from Severet, who may also be anemic.

I can’t say I wasn’t pleased that Chela had recognized me running through her community on my daily (more like weekly) runs throughout Monte llano and its surrounding neighborhoods. Perhaps, I will eat my words the next time I go for a relaxed jog past Pancho Mateo, and Chela hisses, flags me down and asks me to look at her leg.  But for now, I appreciate that she knows me, trusts me, and understands that I live here as part of the community, although also working as a service care provider for the community.  I hope she believes that when I go with Cedric, our cooperador from Pancho Mateo, to look for her house “cerca de la cancha,” I will be there as an ambassador of HHI, with the vision of better health for her and her community, and with a willingness to work together to get there.

HHI’s March medical service team was made up of 18 winners – 12 extraordinary Quinnipiac PA students, fantastic RYLA facilitator and nurse Amani, X-Ray technician student and videographer extraordinaire Keith, fearless middle-school student Tess, Norwegian trained young-at-heart family physician Dr. Cliff, and three of HHI’s incredible Board doctors, Dr. Kathy, Dr. Monica, and Dr. Brad.  We also had two local Dominican doctors working with us each clinic day, as well as two local Kreyol interpreters.  The team had a mix of talents and experiences, worked together very well, and brought flexibility and expertise to each day.  On behalf of HHI, Laura and I thank you for your hard work and dedication to the communities we serve, encourage you to continue thinking critically about the issues at hand, and serving to the best of your capacities.  It is a real pleasure to continue dreaming of a better world with you.

During the last clinic day in Agua Negra, one of the female patients looked hard at me and said, “You came here as an Asian, and now you are Dominican.”  I took her hand, and said, “I came here as a Korean-American, and now I am a Korean-Haitian-Dominican-American.”  She could have brought down HHI’s clinic with her laughter.  It is people like her and Chela, who make me realize how difficult it is to draw the line between who I am, what I am capable of doing, and what needs to be done in the world.  Along this line, I would like to give a brief update on my plans for helping in Haiti.  The group of Americans with whom Laura and I were originally going to go to Haiti has since cancelled their relief trip.  I have decided to go to Leogane, Haiti with a good friend Wilson, and a network of NGOs called Plataforma, for six days next week.  I will be directing many of the funds blog readers and friends have so generously donated to Laura and me to buy hundreds of tarps, pounds of rice, and cases of de-worming medications for the tent city communities surrounding the Leogane area.  The trip will also be a fact-finding investigation to see if we can get a better feel for what the situation with displaced children is in the area, and also for how Plataforma can be a part of rebuilding efforts and community empowerment moving forward.  I encourage you to email me if you would like more information on my plans for Haiti, or if you would like to support my work with Plataforma.

Understanding the meaning of March madness, I continue to seguir adelante.

Yours in Service,

Angi

(I’d like to credit Keith for all three pictures used in this blog – thank you!)