a visit to Midwives for Haiti

Tuesday afternoon Ted, I & Hugo packed it up to get out of the city for a couple of days. We picked up Jenna Schmitz, the education coordinator for Midwives for Haiti & three of her friends, Sam, Jordan & Mary who are global health fellows working in a remote medical center in Thomasique, Haiti, who were all returning from a long hike through the mountains from Furcy to Jacmel. We had a pleasant 3 hour drive through the plush farmland up north to the homebase of MFH in Hinche.

It was fun & new to be with a vibrant group of young people all working in the medical field here & sharing dinner with the resident staff of MFH. Part of the plan was just to learn more about the organization first hand, to get to finally meet face to face with Nadene Brunck the founder and also to tour the local facilities where they teach their skilled birth attendants kind compassionate, quality, hands on care. I also hope to return & provide preceptorship for the new class of midwives late this spring & wanted an idea of what it would be like beforehand.

photo: MFH

We had great conversation & I was intrigued by a firsthand look at the rural Haitian hospital setting and the scope of care. There is a group from Ohio State, currently working alongside the pediatric nursing staff, to develop better neonatal care for preemies & high risk infants. We enjoyed visiting the bedside of day old preemie twins as the American RN modeled and explained necessary care of the little ones for her Haitian nurse counterpart.

photo: MFH

The disparity of care here in Haiti vs the US, where I’ve recently practiced, struck me solidly. We helped examine the mother of the twins, who had a vertical abdominal incision as well as a small unrepaired episiotomy from the birth of her babies. I watched as her mother changed the saturated rags that took the place of the nicely wrapped fresh white disposable peripads that I handed out to my patients these past few months. Patients or their families bring all of their own care items, including food. I could actually see that working in the US where my family would bring all of the best for me & yet we have each necessity included. Here in impoverished rural Haiti, there wasn’t much to choose from for families to provide.

photo: MFH

On Thursday morning Ted & I took a small hike on the land behind the MFH compound and went up to the top of the local hills. We shared our personal thoughts & ideas while pondering further where God was taking us next. The view that we had up there struck me as very SYMBOLIC of our current place in life & ministry right now…there were roads leading in EVERY direction around that hillside!

SO MANY roads...which one should we travel? where will it lead us? That prompted us to spend some time in prayer then & there and afterwards we built a small monument of local rocks (a tradition I follow whenever I meet with God in nature) to commemorate our time with Him there.

We drove back to the beauty of the central plateau, soaking up our thoughts & experiences. I’m looking forward to spending this International Women's Day, this Saturday (3/8) further immersed in maternity care at a forum on birthing center development that MFH is hosting in Petionville.