Quick Update

Ok, so apparently we are staying right next to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Have to check that out.

And we ran into a guy who looked REALLY familiar.  Rebecca (who is fantastic to work with!  She's the connection between ourselves and Variety) introduced us to him.  It was Monty Hall.  You know, from Let's Make a Deal.  Really nice guy.

We sat in on a meeting (nuts and bolts), and during that time Rebecca leaned over to me and mentioned that there was a group from Ireland that wanted to give $1000 to the Haiti Project.

Soon after, she also mentioned that the video I put together was shown in the VI board meeting yesterday, and a woman came up to her to ask how her son could get involved in solving the water problem in Pestel.  Her son is connected to Water Missions International.   We may just have the starting points for tackling the water issue in Pestel. 

Ben

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My Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Update from Pestel....and Hollywood

Hard to get much different than Pestel and Hollywood.   

Jen and I are in Hollywood, and we're excited about the Variety International meeting that we'll be participating in this weekend!!   

I just got this email from Sister Fidelis, which is a VERY encouraging word:

Here arethe numbers of localities served and children seen up to and including May 19. Gerald, bless his heart, called each team between Wednesday night and Thursday morning for the latest. This is from March to the present.
 
1st section          35 (out of 43 villages)          1,927 children
2nd section         33  (of 41)                         1,952 children
3rd section          19 (of 24)                          1,126
4th section         27  (of 34)                          1,480
5th section         28  (of 30)                          2,054
6th section         15  (of 17)                          1,280
 
Totals                157 localities visited              9,816 children seen
 
 
I am impressed. You are to be commended for putting this program together so well, and training the workers so thoroughly. Bravo!
Gerald also tells me that people continue to come back to thank them for this service. They are very appreciative of the program because they see such good results. Even other sections outside our commune have asked us to come to them. Gerald told them we could not, but invited them to come to one of our villages which they did. Palmis in Baradere came to Toma Eli recently.
One of the reasons it is so popular, accesssible actually, is that there are no shots, and the med and Vitamin is tasty. Kids and  don't oppose it.
Many blessings on your meeting with the board and your presentation Sunday.

On another note:   I have been very overwhelmed lately by the amount of work related to this upcoming Haiti trip, the many other responsibilities related to my work at the medical center (which all seemed to come out at the same time...literally).     Some of the electronic issues related to taking the household survey using a PDA have been great sources of frustration and nail-biting.   But some of the key elements are coming together at this point.

I really want to thank my wife Jen, my friend Jon Eager who will be going down with me, my friend Dennis who prayed for me last night when he saw I was discouraged, my in-laws for watching our kids this weekend, and all who have helped out and prayed to make this work.   

It is a great relief to me to know that people are praying specifically for me and for the work going forward in Pestel.

Ben

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My Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Next weekend....

Hi all,

Next weekend Jen and I will be going to Hollywood where I will be doing a lunchtime presentation to Variety International about the work being done in Pestel.  In the evening of next Sunday I may have opportunity to talk briefly about the work at a black-tie event for the same organization.  

I'd like to think that I'm to the point where I'm always in a state of wonder but never surprised (Because, hey!  Why shouldn't it happen?!?).   But this black-tie event which will feature certain celebrities is a different twist.  

The inescapable truth is that God is being made known for His Goodness through my weakness.     

And that's my prayer.  I want others to see how Good and Great, how Mighty and Merciful/Compassionate He is.  

I'm also beginning to realize, if this is accurate, that God seems to have a sense of humor.   Perhaps I'm wrong about that one, but all this sure does tickle my funnybone.  And while God doesn't have a funnybone, He certainly does have all Joy.   And this might be one expression of joy.  

So this is yet one more area where I feel quite outside my comfort zone.   I feel over-stretched beyond my abilities.  This is in many ways, UNcomfortable.  Jen reminded me of a statement I made once to her when I told her that I will always take up the opportunity to talk on behalf of the people of Haiti.  

"Always" is a bit of an exaggeration.   She didn't buy that cop-out, though

:)

 

I've got a lot on my plate right now, preparing for a number of significant activities in a short period of time.   Thank you to all who pray for me, my family, the people of Haiti.  

Ben
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My Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

CNN Video

Hi all,

This slide-show is very touching and powerful.  I would encourage you to take a few minutes to watch it:

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/05/12/basu.haiti.recovery.cnn

The reporter captures the current sense of Port-au-Prince vividly through words and pictures. 

Ben

--
My Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Immunizable diseases in Haiti

This is another potent appeal from Sean Penn related to diseases in Haiti.   He is passionate about a 15 year old boy that just died of Diphtheria.   

We don't get diphtheria because we are immunized--it's part of the Tetanus immunization (Td = tetanus + diphtheria;   Tdap = Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis).  It is fortunately rare in the US  (about 1 cases per 100 million people; prior to immunizations it was 100,000 cases to 100 million people).

One my first trip to Pestel Dr. Seneque told me about a boy that had died the week prior from Tetanus.   That both floored me and angered me.

No one should die (and suffer through) tetanus and diphtheria.   The same is true of Diphtheria.  They are both very preventable.  

The concern with Diphtheria is that it is very contagious.  In an under-immunized country such as Haiti there is potential for an epidemic.  I just learned that the case-fatality rate is around 5% in kids <5  (and higher in adults).  That means, if there are 100 cases of diphtheria, 5 people die.  To put it in perspective, seasonal flu has a case-fatality rate of 0.4% (or 4 deaths per 1000 cases).  

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/05/07/ac.penn.gupta.haiti.med.supply.cnn

Please pray that the epidemic would not develop.  Pray that God would move in people's hearts to move quickly and seriously.  And perhaps, pray that there would be a concerted effort to improve the basic health of Haiti..all of Haiti.

Thanks,

Ben
--
My Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Data entry

Hi all,

I'm preparing for my next trip to Haiti in 3 weeks.  My friend Jon Eager will be traveling with me to Pestel, and we'll meet Anderson in PAP.

As part of that trip I'll be collecting data from the workers who have been out doing measurements on all the kids.  I'll be bringing back thousands (literally) of intake forms that have info to be entered into a spreadsheet.   I'll develop the spreadsheet.

If you would be willing to help with data entry (basically, just typing the hand-written info from the intake forms into a spreadsheet) please let me know.  Each form probably has about 10 data points (i.e. name, age, village name, height, weight, etc).  It's not particularly hard work, just A LOT of work.  

So my thought was that perhaps many hands could make for light work.

:)

Thanks

Ben

--
My Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Update on Project

By the sounds of it, the health campaign in Pestel is going great!    The health workers have already reached over 2800 kids in the first 3 weeks!   Sister Fidelis has been out-and-about, taking lots of photos of the workers in action, so I'm anxious to see those.  I will send some along when I get them!

The workers are finding a lot of malnutrition, and we'll be able to report exact numbers from their data.  Also, the deworming (anti-parasite) medication is a big hit!  The parents are thrilled to see the dead worms after the medication is given!  One kid had about 60 worms!

And another kid had over 100 worms (they counted them!).   

 

This is going to lead to BIG improvements in their growth and health.   We'll measure the kids again later this year to see what kind of growth improvements occurred as a result of this.  We received the donations from a very generous organization called Vitamin Angels.  They have been fantastic to work with and I'd encourage you to support their work.  For places like Pestel these kinds of programs accomplish a great deal for very little money, as you know.  You can imagine that the villages are likely to be even more receptive to the campaign when we run it again at the end of this year because of how these seen the tangible results of the medication working.  That'll allow us to build on this success and make strides in educational initiatives, for example.  

We're also exploring a potential arrangement with a group that works in Haiti called Medika Mamba.  They are graciously providing us with a $500 donation of "RUTF" = ready-to-use-therapeutic foods.  RUTFs are the mainstay of therapy for severe malnutrition.  They have a program to rehab severely malnourished children back to health.  The challenge after that will be keeping them out of malnutrition, so if you have thoughts or want to help with that planning, let me know.  

I'll plan to pick up the donation in Port-au-Prince on my next trip, and then Sister Fidelis will be piloting the project with one of her nurses.  If we find that the program is successful, and if we can come up with a sustainable way to keep it going, we very well may embark on one of the most pressing and important campaigns for Pestel--malnutrition.

To put modern medicine in a bit of perspective, antibiotics will do very little good in a child with severe malnutrition.  Antibiotics help the body fight infection.  The key here is that the medications help the body.  The body must still ultimately kill the remaining infection.  

Be encouraged!  God has done and is going to do great things in Pestel!    He is mighty and powerful, and I just love that He finds it good to reveal His power and might in these ways.

Ben
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My Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/