Our health experiences
Denis is trained as a psychiatric nurse.
CREDO
These experiences in health began with the young people of the Credo, Community of sharks and dolphins, in Cap Haitien for 6 months. There, Denis had to deal daily, among other things, with dozens of cases of extensive abscesses, with bandages, injections and drugs, from morning to night. These abscesses were resolved within three months.
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At the Cité Soleil, where Denis then landed, the first experiences were supervised by the French doctor, Jean Thomas from whom Denis learned a lot.
Mixed School Saint-Alphonse
These on-the-job training took the form of medical visits by students, screening for disease of all kinds, followed by appropriate care in drugs, dressings, extractions of earwax plugs, dental care, surgical follow-up for small interventions such as hernias, phimosis, hypospadias and others, at the Sainte Catherine hospital in Cité Soleil, free of charge.
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A community dispensary was quickly set up with the help of a local nurse, supervised by Sister Anne and Sister Thérèse.
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These school screenings were done once a year for each pupil and the follow-up was done at the dispensary. This has grown and extended its activities with vaccination sessions for children and pregnant women (followed by the FACS, a state body), pharmacy, dental office, consultation rooms, nursing, preventive health, then 'a nutritional recovery center in 1997. About a hundred children were followed there with weight gain, eating a balanced and rich meal, training for mothers.
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The school screening program has been extended to 44 schools in the surrounding neighborhoods with more than 18,000 students screened and monitored, with vitamin A and antiparasitic supplementation.
Center of the Plain
The Center de la Plaine, built in 1994, includes many premises. A hospital center was built on the 1st floor, including a surgical branch, patient rooms, consultation rooms, nursing, pharmacy, analysis laboratory and dental office in 1998/99. EU funding enabled the opening of CHF, Center Hospitalier de Fourgy, with two doctors, four nurses, a dentist and laboratory technicians. It receives an average of 50 patients per day. \
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The stoppage of financial and material aid and especially the growing insecurity of the area prevented the surgical unit from being operational and reduced the number of visitors to the center, also caused by the financial difficulties of the population.
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The year 2004 saw an upsurge in insecurity and acts of kidnapping, scenes of violence and looting. The generator and laboratory and dental equipment were also stolen on these occasions.
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Attendance at CHF has fallen. This has led to changes in strategies. The CHF became the CMEF (Center Médico-Educatif de Fourgy) in August 2004 with a single doctor and two nurses with adequate pricing conditions, given the cost of drugs on the local market. Attendance at the center grew in a saw-tooth pattern, depending on the insecurity of the moment. Vaccinations and nutritional monitoring are then done at the center but also at home. A maternity and nutritional center project were then under study.
Mobile clinic
A mobile clinic was quickly set up, intended for the populations of the provinces, in Artibonite but especially towards the south of Port-au-Prince, in the departments of the west, Nippes and the South. Episodically, it lasted from 1997 to 2008.
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This mobile clinic included a doctor and Denis for medication and treatment monitoring. An optician often joined us for an ENT consultation and delivery of glasses and ENT medication The outings were several days, or even more than a week, about once a month and mainly awarded about fifteen points, throughout the national road N 2. For a modest price, the population had the right to a consultation and to basic and follow-up medicines. These mobile clinics have also experienced decreases in frequency during periods of insecurity.
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Other forms of mobile clinics continued until 2008, in certain districts of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area.
Provincial schools
The provincial schools, subsequently regrouped in the OEP, also benefited from several health programs.
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In addition to the canteens organized for the students, systematic screening consultations were organized for all the students each year with follow-up of care, drugs, extraction of earwax plugs, with vitamin A and antiparasitic supplementation. Some students suffering from small malformations were either referred to a medical center in the area or received at the La Plaine Center for scheduled surgery at the Sainte-Catherine Hospital in Cité Soleil.
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Depending on the time, other schools in the area also benefited from these systematic screenings.
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Health workers from each school have benefited from training provided at the La Plaine Center for better monitoring of children. Sanitary kits were given to each school with materials, dressings, basic drugs including Vit A and antiparasitics.