Haiti “Sante Po Yo” experience
Date of visit: March 19-25th
Residence: Sante Po Yo guesthouse. The guest house was very clean and very safe. The staff provided fresh linens, towels and cooked three times a day. The food was delicious and was cooked with clean purified water. My room had two queen size beds and an attached bathroom with a shower. My room also had electricity at night and bed nets. It was spacious and very clean.
Volunteer work: I volunteered both at the Sante Po Yo clinic and off site in the villages. At the clinic, I obtained a complete medical history from patients (I had an interpreter working with me), vital signs and I performed basic exams such as breast exams and administered glucose tests and urine dip sticks as recommended by the doctor. All patients then saw the resident doctor at the clinic to be diagnosed.
While off site in the villages, I worked with a team of American physicians who were seeing patients and recommending treatments and providing medications. The attending physician taught me how to administer subcutaneous and intramuscular vaccines. I was administering vaccines to over 100 kids/day. At first I was supervised by the attending but as I became very comfortable with the injections and administering oral vaccines I was in charge of the station. The attending was nearby to help if needed but he was also seeing patients. I had gloves, antiseptic and band-aids as well as stickers for the children. We used disposable needles and had sharps containers to dispose of used needles. The whole time, an interpreter was at my side to help me communicate with patients and their parents.
Also, the physicians on the team were kind enough to call me over to see interesting cases and learn. I was able to listen to heart murmurs, look at skin diseases and even see a case of ectopic cordis.
During non-medical volunteering, we also worked on different projects. For example, I helped deliver water buckets for water filters to the surrounding villages.
Overall, the trip was a great success. At all times I felt very safe and protected. The accommodations were excellent and the volunteer work was very organized and engaging. I would highly recommend the Sate Po Yo center for future mission work. The whole experience was very educational and eye opening.