One more sleep!

As all the little ghosts and goblins were out trick or treating tonight, I was packing, unpacking, re-packing, shuffling things from one bag to another... Packing for Haiti is always part science, part art and part luck!

Managed to get most everything I wanted to get into my bags... but had to leave some things behind... they'll make it next time I go!

I must say that this afternoon departure is much more civilized than having to get up at 3am to leave, which is what we usually do when we travel on Tuesdays!  Note to self - Friday departures are a good thing... although... there will be a 3am wake up in Fort Lauderdale so we can catch our flight to Port-au-Prince on Saturday morning!!! At least it'll just be a 2 hour flight and not a whole day's journey!

Looking forward to seeing my teammates! Looking forward to seeing my dear friend Gail, who began her journey back to Haiti today from Portland! Looking forward to seeing Haiti again and all that she teaches me!!!

Stay tuned for updates!

Na pale pita!
Karen

Haiti November 1-19, 2013

Haiti November 1-19, 2013

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog, and I felt it was time to do so again.

There have been a few trips to Haiti since my last post in November 2011.  I was in Haiti in November 2012 with a group of 10 people from Team Canada Healing Hands TCHH where we worked at Ile-à-Vache and Jacmel.

I returned solo in May 2013 where I spent 2 weeks in Jacmel working at Pazapa re-assessing and providing new goals of therapy for the kids requiring Speech and Language Therapy.  The first week, saw me continuing with the practical component of the Communication Disorders Assistant that we are training in Haiti, and the second week was focused on the teachers and kids at Pazapa.  Being in Haiti solo was definitely a different experience, and one which allowed me to do more in-dept SLP stuff.

I am once again getting ready to return to the country that has definitely become a huge part of my life.

A small, but mighty team of 4 will be leaving for Haiti on November 1st.  We have an RN, a PT and a P&O tech.  This trip will be another new experience for me and us.  

After we've all taken a day to recuperate from our crazy busy lives in Canada, we will be heading to Mirebalais, where we will be teaching Stroke Education at the Partner's in Health Hôpital Universitaire Mirebalais HUM. This is an acute inpatient setting, where we will providing training to MDs, RNs, and therapists. I'm very much looking forward to being there and having this opportunity to partner with a new organization and helping create sustainable rehabilitation for those living and working with stroke.

After a full day in Mirebalais, we will return to Port-au-Prince and organize ourselves for our short flight to the south-west of the country.  Here we will be teaching Stroke education at Medical Teams International - Haiti Advantage Program HAP, another new partnership for my team. Here we will be helping develop sustainable outpatient rehabilitation services for those living with Stroke in the community as well as working with the local P&O technicians to create prosthetics and orthotics.

After 2 days of training and working at the P&O clinic at HAP, we will hop on a boat and travel to Ile-à-Vache where we will be working at the Orphelinat St. François where we have been providing training and education to the teacher and therapists who work with children with disabilities.

After 2 days there, we hop back on a boat and onto a plane for a short flight to Jacmel where we will spend the next week working at Pazapa.  A school for children living with disabilities.  Here we will be working with the teachers in order to re-assess the children and provide them with new goals of therapy.  We will also be doing home visits and outreach clinics in the surrounding communities.  On Saturday, we will be providing a workshop on developmental disabilities to the teachers of the school.  Our RN will be partnering with Friends of the Children of Haiti FOTCOH for a couple of days.

After 2 full weeks of work, we will be heading back to Port-au-Prince to do a little promotion of local economy and hopefully find some lovely treasures at Artisan's Business Network ABN and the Iron Village at Croix-des-Bouquets.

The team will return to Canada on the Monday and Tuesday.

Stay tuned for posts from Haiti!

One last thing - if you feel so inclined, click here to make a donation to support me in my quest to help Haiti develop a sustainable rehabilitation system.

Mesi anpil e na pale byento!

Karen