first post- a quick summary

OK, never blogged before so here is a quick introduction:

Hopefully this will catch my friends up who I haven't had a chance to talk with and future posts can keep you up to date if you are curious about the progress of the trip.

I am heading out tomorrow feb 11,2010 to Port au Prince Haiti to do some volunteer work at a family practice clinic run by Housing Works, an HIV relief organization which runs a number of HIV and Family practice clinics in Haiti. Though I don't know too much about this organization, I have learned from a number of people that it is a very well respected organization which has had a presence in Haiti for some time and unfortunately a number of their clinics were devastated in the earthquake.

Upon seeing the news footage of the quake last month, I felt very frustrated being an ER doc here in Philly with so many resources, often dedicated to rather trivial issues. I sent out an email looking for an organization with whom I could work over there during my vacation time and discovered that it is actually quite difficult to volunteer in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. I wasn't already registered with a relief organization, and even for those who were, there is a lot of jostling and chaos involved in organizing teams to go. Going rogue to just be there and help is certainly counter productive and not at all an option. So I was lucky to have an old friend, Marie, a friend from med school, who is Hatian and has quite a few contacts in the area replied and connected me with Housing works, with whom she was going to volunteer.

I contacted the head of the organization, Charles King who was incredibly helpful. In spite of what I can only assume was a tremendous amount of issues on his plate, he was able to very quickly adapt me into his overall plan of getting his clinics staffed on a rotating basis, so that I would be able to go down and basically replace Marie after her return. He listed the medical supplies they were most in need of, told me where to land (Dominican Republic) and assured me that from there I would be provided ground transportation to PoP, a safe secured grounds to sleep (camp), a translator (my junior high school french probably won't cut it) ancillary support and transport to and from the clinic.

If anyone from work is reading this, as well as my housemate Magda I have to express my tremendous gratitude: I was unbelievably lucky that within a few hours of booking my flight, 3 weeks of shifts were covered without complaint and my dog will be cared for better than when I am home, so that is a really nice feeling. cool group of people I have around me in Philly, really, thanks.

Then there was gathering of supplies. For the "camping" aspect, I love that stuff and took pleasure in selecting which tarp and which foam mat I would most like to take on the trip. that's my little quirkiness.
Medical supplies on the other hand were a little more challenging. large institutions already had made there donations through more established channels. But individuals with access to smaller quantities of supplies stepped up. All tolled, I have about 240 lbs of donated supplies (6 duffle bags)-- Antibiotics, analgesics, some sedatives, some HIV meds, bandages, betadyne/rubbing alcohol, orthopedic shoes, suture materials, and some more advanced/invasive supplies such as central line kits and spinal tap kits that realistically I can't use, but can be used, perhaps traded for antibiotics at various hospital field stations. So to those who donated, Jeff, Flamma, amy, Ami patel, MJ, the whole poker crew (poker fundraiser night was well worth it despite the hangover) I really appreciate it. I think the supplies should sort of sustain a lot of my 3 weeks there.

and on a final note, getting to JFK from Philly during the biggest blizzard of the year/decade was quite an ordeal (still not over). I included a few pix of packing the car in the snow, and my moms car in jersey that I had to dig out at 9 at night so I could leave my car in Jersey.

Anyway, my fears of a rambling blog entry have come to fruition on my very first blog.
from here on out, I will be blogging by texting and sms-photos all from my phone, so things should be much shorter from here on out.