A Tale of Two Hospitals
What if you went to a hospital with no air conditioning, no bed sheets, no cafeteria. No fridge….no duh! Bring your own bedpan/puke bucket, dishes, and washcloths. Families sleep on the floor under the patient bed or outside under the stars. Family members empty the bedpan, bathe the patient, go out on the street to buy food. Carry it in pots from home. Wash the dishes out behind the hospital. Wash sheets, clothes by hand while squatting on the ground using buckets or bedpans. There are no chairs in the big room which has 8 patients on beds (more like cots). Guests are not allowed to sit on the bed so they are on the floor or maybe propped up on a box. There are boxes and bags under the bed, but no luggage. Welcome to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in Léogane, Haiti. It is a wonderful, amazing medical facility with a caring staff and great doctors from all over the world.
We arrived after midnight and spent all night in the emergency room. (Pere Michaud, Georgette and Nicole, the nurse from the Canadian clinic in Trouin, Gail, myself and of course our patient, Caroline) The doctors were very attentive and thorough. French was the main language of the doctors. We were of course the only white people in the hospital which got us some appreciated attention from the American and European doctors. These English and French speaking doctors assured us that the Haitian doctors and nurses were top notch and that we were in good hands. We really felt it too. They did an x-ray and a sonogram and lots of blood work, but found nothing. They were about to release Caroline, saying it was viral and would run its course. They gave me some 500 mg Tylenol and some pills for nausea. Pere Michaud had left early in the morning to return to the mountain for the Palm Sunday service. Nicole went with him and Georgette stayed with us. An hour or so later we heard she was to be released and Georgette decided to get a ride (on a tap tap or motorcycle taxi) back to Trouin to tell Pere Michaud. After she left, another doctor came to check on Caroline – they really needed the room in the ER and didn’t have any beds available for new patients. The doctor checked her again and said NO! She needed to be admitted. They were opening up another room and would move her soon. The emergency room had been quite an experience. We saw a young, motionless girl carried in by a man, given a bag of fluids and hop up and walk out. We saw gunshot victims, watched a motorcycle wreck victim get sewn up. There was a woman with some nasty growth all over one of her breasts, the other one looked fine. We saw lots of tatas. There was a man so drunk or drugged he could not stay on the table while being examined. We think many of the revelers from the ra ra street parties ended up with us. There were people outside the door, lying on the ground, waiting to be seen. It sounds terrible and it was, but the nurses and doctors were amazing. They seemed to be everywhere at once. They were kind, caring and professional and cool, calm and collected.
Someone gave me sheet and showed me room 3 bed 11. I made the bed and returned to the ER until they could transfer her. She was in the surgery unit with seven other patients. The little woman beside us was being cared for by her great nephew. He was so caring and she would come back from the showers with a pretty clean dress on each day. The lady on the other side had a baby boy about two months old. She had had some surgery on one of her breasts. When she would go to the shower or restroom, she would leave the baby on the bed and if he cried someone in the room would take care of him. He did not have Pampers, but some piece of clothing that was folded up and pinned to serve as his diaper. I know someone had to take those diapers out back and wash them.Each person was cared for by family and they were all very friendly to us. We were amazed at the love and care given by family and staff. Another woman in bed #9 had been there for 23 days and her brother Piu (friends call him wuwu) enjoyed speaking English and would walk with me whenever I needed to stretch my legs.
There was another nice Haitian, named Carlos, who worked at the hospital. He would always come by and check on us to see if everything was OK. He enjoyed speaking English and we exchanged email addresses.
Caroline’s fever was very high and the nurses worked hard to bring it down. They wanted to wash her off and asked us for washcloth and soap which we didn’t have so they provided it. After bathing her they placed three freezer packs on her body to help cool her. They did this three different times. The IV that she received was attached to a string that ran across the room. It was tied with a rubber glove.
The first night we were all in the ER, but the second night we took turns sleeping outside on the blanket that Georgette had brought. We would eat the wonderful food that was brought to us from Trouin, prepared by Père Michaud’s wife and helpers. It was always a feast – fried plantains, fried potatoes, rice and beans, fresh bananas and mangoes that taste better than just about any fruit I have ever eaten. On Palm Sunday there was chicken and goat. Another time there was a little bit of ham or fried hotdogs. The best was the grits! It was always too much food, even though we often had guests to join us. The people of Saint Marc’s, some of whom live in Léogone and some in Port au Prince would come to see Caroline and to give us all moral support which we needed and appreciated. In the morning we would eat the leftovers.
The doctors were so wonderful. They gave us their cell phone numbers and said to call if we needed them. Andrea, the head nurse, did the same. My cell phone was dying and Père Michaud had not brought my charger yet so one of the doctors gave me her phone to use. She told me to make all the calls I needed and she’d be back in a few minutes. If it rang, I was to give it to a nurse to take to her. Finally they said there was nothing more they could do and that Caroline needed to go to a hospital in Port au Prince. They gave us the names of two private hospitals. They tried to get a contact person, but no luck, nor did we get a phone number.
We had spoken with an administrator of the hospital who I think is British. He had told us that the hospital could provide transportation to transfer Caroline, but by the time the decision was made, this was no longer an option. They do not do any transfers to Port au Prince in the afternoon because it is too dangerous for the driver to return after dark. So we had to get her there ourselves. (See Find us a hospital) Médecins Sans Frontières (Dr. w/o borders) was a wonderful facility with excellent medical care and there was NO CHARGE!!! Please consider making a donation to this cause!
We were told that the private hospitals in PAP (Port au Prince) would be expensive. It was repeated several times, but they said it was what we had to do for Caroline, so off we went. At the Hôpital du Canapé Vert, we were admitted to the courtyard by the guard but then told that this is not hospital for emergency care. PM (Père Michaud) explained that this was a transfer and that we had the necessary paper work. It was a hand written paper from the other hospital. The guy acted like this was not acceptable, not on letter head or something (all in Creole). But he took it to the nurses station, they made a call and we got her admitted.
We had to choose what kind of room. There was this elaborate chart with room numbers and lots of columns with different numbers. PM talked to the guy and we chose the cheapest room, I think is said 17,000. I had heard 8 Haitian dollors= $1 American so I figured $2000 a night! We signed anyway – I used my VISA because Caroline had not brought hers….I know she is good for it! She, Gail and I are sisters now! We got her up to the private room via a wheel chair and saw a clean bucket with toothbrush and toothpaste, clean sheets on the bed….wow what a change! But it was HOT. The office had AC, but not the room. We certainly were not accustomed to the comfort but would have liked it for our friend, burning with fever. The sweet nurse suggested that we might want to opt for a nicer room with “climatisation.” I asked Caroline how much she would be willing to pay, and she said $3000. So PM and I went back down to the office and studied the chart again. He explained that I needed to divide by 40 because the price was in Haitian gourds, not Haitian dollars (I tried to get him or the office guy to explain that but to no avail.) So we chose a room that actually cost $900 and had AC and room for guests. Caroline could have 3 visitors plus 
one family member and we usually had that many people spending the night on the floor.
The room was nice and Gail and I took showers – still didn’t have any clean clothes, but it felt great. There was no hot water, but we were clean. The bed was a regular hospital bed with buttons to lower and raise it, but there was no button to call the nurse. There was a chair that could fold out to a single cot size and we took turns sleeping on it. There was a little sitting area with 3 stackable chairs and a refrigerator. The next day, PM brought down all of our luggage. Georgette and Kercia had sweetly packed our things for us and also sent some sheets and a pillow.
Caroline was cared for by sweet Dr. Sam. He also gave us is cell number and PM called him many times. He called in an infectous disease specialist, Dr. Elsie, who did her specialty training in Paris and carried a Coach or Louis Vuiton doctor bag. She gave us her cell phone number too! Caroline seemed to rally after receiving some antibiotics and cortisone. I woke up at 2:45 AM hearing her talking away with Gail. I was thrilled – she was back. She never lost consciousness, but she was often too weak to even talk. We thought we had turned the corner. Angela had been trying to get us on an earlier flight so we could get home. The doctors thought she could do it, but then she slipped back again. Her numbers were low, not dangerously low, but we were told to wait another day. If the numbers (blood, platelets, iron?) went down she would be in danger of hemorrhaging during our trip home! They did more tests and called in another specialist, I forget his name. He was going to test her bone marrow! When he came and saw that we were trying to get back to the states, he said there was no point in his test. He took more blood and said we could leave on our scheduled flight the next day if Dr. Sam and Dr. Elsie agreed.
This private hospital was such a contrast – both had professional caring staff, but we really didn’t see any patients. They were all behind closed doors. We appreciate all the concern and care of the staff – all Haitians and all great people.
Thursday morning, Gail and I got up and prepared to leave. She had done a wonderful job of repacking our things so that we would have minimal luggage for the return trip. It was a hurry up and wait day. Wait for the doctor. Wait for the check out guy to show up for work. They needed the doctor’s Ok to prepare the bill. Then they needed the bill from all three doctors. Then they told us we had to pay the doctors separately! HOW? Cash? No time to go to an ATM and I can’t get that much money out at one time. PM called Dr. Sam who was upstairs trying to get all of Caroline’s records together for us. He came down and convinced an unwilling employee to let me pay the hospital for the three doctors. Their total fee: $750. Then we got the hospital bill. As it turned out, the $900 was not per day, it was a deposit. After three days in the hospital, lots and lots of tests and medicine, the hospital owed me $50. But they couldn’t give it to me. They said to come back in five business days! Right! Angela said she would pick up the check and send it to us. (I wish they could just make it out to her – we owe her about $100.) Can you imagine? Caroline had spent 5 days in the hospitals and seen many doctors and the bill was under $1700!
We arrived after midnight and spent all night in the emergency room. (Pere Michaud, Georgette and Nicole, the nurse from the Canadian clinic in Trouin, Gail, myself and of course our patient, Caroline) The doctors were very attentive and thorough. French was the main language of the doctors. We were of course the only white people in the hospital which got us some appreciated attention from the American and European doctors. These English and French speaking doctors assured us that the Haitian doctors and nurses were top notch and that we were in good hands. We really felt it too. They did an x-ray and a sonogram and lots of blood work, but found nothing. They were about to release Caroline, saying it was viral and would run its course. They gave me some 500 mg Tylenol and some pills for nausea. Pere Michaud had left early in the morning to return to the mountain for the Palm Sunday service. Nicole went with him and Georgette stayed with us. An hour or so later we heard she was to be released and Georgette decided to get a ride (on a tap tap or motorcycle taxi) back to Trouin to tell Pere Michaud. After she left, another doctor came to check on Caroline – they really needed the room in the ER and didn’t have any beds available for new patients. The doctor checked her again and said NO! She needed to be admitted. They were opening up another room and would move her soon. The emergency room had been quite an experience. We saw a young, motionless girl carried in by a man, given a bag of fluids and hop up and walk out. We saw gunshot victims, watched a motorcycle wreck victim get sewn up. There was a woman with some nasty growth all over one of her breasts, the other one looked fine. We saw lots of tatas. There was a man so drunk or drugged he could not stay on the table while being examined. We think many of the revelers from the ra ra street parties ended up with us. There were people outside the door, lying on the ground, waiting to be seen. It sounds terrible and it was, but the nurses and doctors were amazing. They seemed to be everywhere at once. They were kind, caring and professional and cool, calm and collected.
Someone gave me sheet and showed me room 3 bed 11. I made the bed and returned to the ER until they could transfer her. She was in the surgery unit with seven other patients. The little woman beside us was being cared for by her great nephew. He was so caring and she would come back from the showers with a pretty clean dress on each day. The lady on the other side had a baby boy about two months old. She had had some surgery on one of her breasts. When she would go to the shower or restroom, she would leave the baby on the bed and if he cried someone in the room would take care of him. He did not have Pampers, but some piece of clothing that was folded up and pinned to serve as his diaper. I know someone had to take those diapers out back and wash them.Each person was cared for by family and they were all very friendly to us. We were amazed at the love and care given by family and staff. Another woman in bed #9 had been there for 23 days and her brother Piu (friends call him wuwu) enjoyed speaking English and would walk with me whenever I needed to stretch my legs.
There was another nice Haitian, named Carlos, who worked at the hospital. He would always come by and check on us to see if everything was OK. He enjoyed speaking English and we exchanged email addresses.
Caroline’s fever was very high and the nurses worked hard to bring it down. They wanted to wash her off and asked us for washcloth and soap which we didn’t have so they provided it. After bathing her they placed three freezer packs on her body to help cool her. They did this three different times. The IV that she received was attached to a string that ran across the room. It was tied with a rubber glove.
The first night we were all in the ER, but the second night we took turns sleeping outside on the blanket that Georgette had brought. We would eat the wonderful food that was brought to us from Trouin, prepared by Père Michaud’s wife and helpers. It was always a feast – fried plantains, fried potatoes, rice and beans, fresh bananas and mangoes that taste better than just about any fruit I have ever eaten. On Palm Sunday there was chicken and goat. Another time there was a little bit of ham or fried hotdogs. The best was the grits! It was always too much food, even though we often had guests to join us. The people of Saint Marc’s, some of whom live in Léogone and some in Port au Prince would come to see Caroline and to give us all moral support which we needed and appreciated. In the morning we would eat the leftovers.
The doctors were so wonderful. They gave us their cell phone numbers and said to call if we needed them. Andrea, the head nurse, did the same. My cell phone was dying and Père Michaud had not brought my charger yet so one of the doctors gave me her phone to use. She told me to make all the calls I needed and she’d be back in a few minutes. If it rang, I was to give it to a nurse to take to her. Finally they said there was nothing more they could do and that Caroline needed to go to a hospital in Port au Prince. They gave us the names of two private hospitals. They tried to get a contact person, but no luck, nor did we get a phone number.
We had spoken with an administrator of the hospital who I think is British. He had told us that the hospital could provide transportation to transfer Caroline, but by the time the decision was made, this was no longer an option. They do not do any transfers to Port au Prince in the afternoon because it is too dangerous for the driver to return after dark. So we had to get her there ourselves. (See Find us a hospital) Médecins Sans Frontières (Dr. w/o borders) was a wonderful facility with excellent medical care and there was NO CHARGE!!! Please consider making a donation to this cause!
We were told that the private hospitals in PAP (Port au Prince) would be expensive. It was repeated several times, but they said it was what we had to do for Caroline, so off we went. At the Hôpital du Canapé Vert, we were admitted to the courtyard by the guard but then told that this is not hospital for emergency care. PM (Père Michaud) explained that this was a transfer and that we had the necessary paper work. It was a hand written paper from the other hospital. The guy acted like this was not acceptable, not on letter head or something (all in Creole). But he took it to the nurses station, they made a call and we got her admitted.
We had to choose what kind of room. There was this elaborate chart with room numbers and lots of columns with different numbers. PM talked to the guy and we chose the cheapest room, I think is said 17,000. I had heard 8 Haitian dollors= $1 American so I figured $2000 a night! We signed anyway – I used my VISA because Caroline had not brought hers….I know she is good for it! She, Gail and I are sisters now! We got her up to the private room via a wheel chair and saw a clean bucket with toothbrush and toothpaste, clean sheets on the bed….wow what a change! But it was HOT. The office had AC, but not the room. We certainly were not accustomed to the comfort but would have liked it for our friend, burning with fever. The sweet nurse suggested that we might want to opt for a nicer room with “climatisation.” I asked Caroline how much she would be willing to pay, and she said $3000. So PM and I went back down to the office and studied the chart again. He explained that I needed to divide by 40 because the price was in Haitian gourds, not Haitian dollars (I tried to get him or the office guy to explain that but to no avail.) So we chose a room that actually cost $900 and had AC and room for guests. Caroline could have 3 visitors plus 
one family member and we usually had that many people spending the night on the floor.
The room was nice and Gail and I took showers – still didn’t have any clean clothes, but it felt great. There was no hot water, but we were clean. The bed was a regular hospital bed with buttons to lower and raise it, but there was no button to call the nurse. There was a chair that could fold out to a single cot size and we took turns sleeping on it. There was a little sitting area with 3 stackable chairs and a refrigerator. The next day, PM brought down all of our luggage. Georgette and Kercia had sweetly packed our things for us and also sent some sheets and a pillow.
Caroline was cared for by sweet Dr. Sam. He also gave us is cell number and PM called him many times. He called in an infectous disease specialist, Dr. Elsie, who did her specialty training in Paris and carried a Coach or Louis Vuiton doctor bag. She gave us her cell phone number too! Caroline seemed to rally after receiving some antibiotics and cortisone. I woke up at 2:45 AM hearing her talking away with Gail. I was thrilled – she was back. She never lost consciousness, but she was often too weak to even talk. We thought we had turned the corner. Angela had been trying to get us on an earlier flight so we could get home. The doctors thought she could do it, but then she slipped back again. Her numbers were low, not dangerously low, but we were told to wait another day. If the numbers (blood, platelets, iron?) went down she would be in danger of hemorrhaging during our trip home! They did more tests and called in another specialist, I forget his name. He was going to test her bone marrow! When he came and saw that we were trying to get back to the states, he said there was no point in his test. He took more blood and said we could leave on our scheduled flight the next day if Dr. Sam and Dr. Elsie agreed.
This private hospital was such a contrast – both had professional caring staff, but we really didn’t see any patients. They were all behind closed doors. We appreciate all the concern and care of the staff – all Haitians and all great people.
Thursday morning, Gail and I got up and prepared to leave. She had done a wonderful job of repacking our things so that we would have minimal luggage for the return trip. It was a hurry up and wait day. Wait for the doctor. Wait for the check out guy to show up for work. They needed the doctor’s Ok to prepare the bill. Then they needed the bill from all three doctors. Then they told us we had to pay the doctors separately! HOW? Cash? No time to go to an ATM and I can’t get that much money out at one time. PM called Dr. Sam who was upstairs trying to get all of Caroline’s records together for us. He came down and convinced an unwilling employee to let me pay the hospital for the three doctors. Their total fee: $750. Then we got the hospital bill. As it turned out, the $900 was not per day, it was a deposit. After three days in the hospital, lots and lots of tests and medicine, the hospital owed me $50. But they couldn’t give it to me. They said to come back in five business days! Right! Angela said she would pick up the check and send it to us. (I wish they could just make it out to her – we owe her about $100.) Can you imagine? Caroline had spent 5 days in the hospitals and seen many doctors and the bill was under $1700!
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