"A loaded kamyon has tipped over and there are a lot of people hurt"

    This was the phone call we received while we were in the forest Monday evening for a wiener roast. The accident happened only a few miles from the clinic. A kamyon loaded with potatoes, onions, and cabbages and then people riding on top of that was in too high of a gear climbing a hill. I guess the truck stalled then started rolling backwards down the hill. The only way to stop was to turn the wheel. Anyway, the whole truck tipped over.

There were probably 20 people altogether on the truck. We arrived to see sacks of vegetables strewn all over. Some of the passengers had been carried to the ditch bank and some were still sprawled amidst everything. The only lights were from a few flashlights then lights from people's cell phones. One patient was not doing well at all and we quickly realized that we would be unable to help her. She was a pregnant mother who had no obvious injuries but had either internal injuries or a head injury. She was breathing very sporadically and had a barely palpable pulse so we went on to others. There was not a lot of blood and no obvious broken bones. One lady quietly told us she thought her neck was broken. She couldn't feel or move her legs at all. She had already been carried to the bank but we tried to impress upon everyone close that she should not be moved at all! Everyone seemed to understand so we moved on. The ambulance wasn't there yet so we had no stretchers available. Another man was drunk and hollering and writhing around on the ground. An older man was having problems breathing. Others were in shock, asking us if they were going to die. There were fourteen injured people we could see. It was hard to get an accurate number because we would just think we had seen them all then realize a patient was over there yet, then find out it was one we had already seen and counted, they had just been moved. We finally had everyone loaded and took them to the clinic to try and evaluate which ones we could treat and which would have to go down. Thankfully our ambulance is an old army ambulance and so has room for four stretchers. We chose the four most serious looking cases and loaded them up with some family members and the ambulance headed down. Needless to say, it was a pretty full vehicle! We worked until a little after one o'clock in the morning on getting wounds dressed, pain meds given, etc... Of course the man who was drunk couldn't pee... Anyway, it was a long night of work and a short night of sleep. Only the one lady died on the scene. Now we have heard that the lady with a broken neck died also. It was bad... But could have been so much worse...
   We are truly in the time of no rain. It is supposed to be rainy season here and it hasn't rained for several weeks. One day we got a few sprinkles but not enough to water the crops. They are going to suffer if it doesn't rain soon. The locals say they never remember a July that was this hot, dry and dusty. I haven't met many Haitians with allergy problems but my nose seems to run very well.
   The other week a truck pulled up in front of the clinic and an unconscious man was carried in. He had high blood pressure but nobody knew what had happened to him. Supposedly he had been found unconscious in his bed. His family readily admits that this man drinks a lot and doesn't eat well at all. The family says they are all Christians except this man. The only conclusion we can come to is that he drank too much and almost died. We give him several liters of IVF's and try to get his blood pressure down but aren't successful. Then the truth comes out that this man is a witch doctor. Wow! It gave me a very strange feeling to know I was treating a witch doctor, whether he was conscious or not... We sent him down to a hospital in Port-au-Prince because we couldn't get his blood pressure low enough to feel comfortable sending him home. He never regained consciousness while at the clinic. I don't know if he did at the hospital or not. We don't know, he may have had a stroke from the high blood pressure. Now we have heard that he died.