Healthy Travels: "Life" in the Time of Cholera

Monday October 25, 2010

Day 52

Today was a nice start to an exciting week. In the afternoon Teresa and I went to the airport to pick up two people from Project HOPE who are visiting this week. Two people are visiting from Sanofi and they came earlier this morning. The two Project HOPE people were so excited to see Teresa and she was equally excited to see them. We took them to their hotel and we went back to the office to finish some work before dinner. Did I mention that we skipped lunch? That was the only bad part about the day. I really don’t like missing meals. (Right, Mom?)

We went back to the Dominican Fiesta Hotel and picked up our four visitors and went to a restaurant in the Zona Colonial for dinner. The restaurant was very nice and we started out sitting outside with a nice view of Alcázar de Colón which was the home of Diego Columbus , but had to move inside when it started raining. We had a good diner and great conversation to go along with it.

Tuesday October 26, 2010

Day 53

We started off our long but exciting day with a meeting with the person in charge of the national vaccine program for SESPAS (Ministry of Health). We discussed the donations and the cholera outbreak. A note about the cholera outbreak: Everything we are doing now has been altered or must be altered because of the cholera outbreak in Haiti. In the Dominican Republic people acknowledge that this is all one island so not only is the Dominican Republic at too, but as neighbors, they must help Haiti. As we keep hearing, “Diseases have no borders.” For now there haven’t been any cases here and hopefully it stays that way.

Following our very informative meeting we went to see the cold rooms where they store the vaccines. The warehouse has a few big walk-in refrigerators where they store the vaccines. We got to see the donated vaccines as well as the rest of the warehouse. It was so cool (pun?)!

Since our car was very full they sent two of us with the doctor who we just met with to travel a few blocks to the Ministry of Health. That was when I thought “hmm, I am in the car with the person who is in charge of a national vaccine program, how great!” We went to the meeting and the Ministry of Health and unfortunately the Minister had to cancel because he was at the border for a cholera meeting (I know this is true because I saw him on the news tonight in one of the border towns). Instead we met with the Vice Minister of Health. That was still extremely impressive. I can’t believe all of these opportunities I am getting!

After a relaxing lunch at the Dominican Fiesta we went to UNICEF for a meeting. At UNICEF we had the same issue because the person we were supposed to meet with was also at the cholera meeting at the border. Instead, we met with a person who specializes in health in disasters. It was interesting to talk with him and he gave us some good insight about what they were doing at UNICEF. Oh, and this time at UNICEF I brought my passport so I didn’t need to use my gym membership card as identification.

Teresa had an important meeting with important people in regards to the work Ecuador is doing in Haiti. Everyone loves Teresa and it is no surprise that she had to jet out of a meeting to meet with some ambassadors. While Teresa was at her meeting Ruben and I went to get snacks and water for the trip to the border towns tomorrow. The fast paced grocery shopping and the selection of fruit and water reminded me of my days as the wrestling team manager at IU and my many grocery store trips before meets. I miss it!

For dinner we went to the Argentinian restaurant that we went to for Nanita’s birthday the other day. I had some sort of steak and it was delicious. I rarely eat steak but it was a steak place so I think that is what you are supposed to do. Everyone really enjoyed the food and I hope we can find another excuse to go back there.

Thursday October 27, 2010

Day 54

We woke up early today and were on the road to the border towns by 7:45am. We took Teresa’s SUV and hired our favorite taxi driver, Freddy to take some the overflow people. I was one of the overflow people and I enjoyed the ride with Teresa, Orlando and Freddy. The first stop on our trip was to El Limón. We wanted to check out the vaccine situation there at the rural clinic and the regional director of health met us there too. While we were there, one of the doctors was giving a lecture on Cholera to about 30 people crammed in to the tiny clinic. Teresa eventually took over and wow, what a public speaker! She was so animated and passionate and I think she should go to every town and do this. She explained to everyone what Cholera is, how to prevent it, how to treat it, etc. I attempted to videotape the lecture because it was THAT good but silly Jaclyn had it on the wrong setting so it didn’t come out correctly. I can almost guarantee that everyone in the room (more people started coming in when they saw from the street that something was going on) now knows about cholera and how they can prevent and treat it. I hope to do this exact thing one day (the public health talk).

We left El Limón and went to Jimani which is on the border of Haiti. We went to their public health office and met with a couple of doctors there. They told us how they were responding to the Cholera outbreak in Haiti and what they were doing to prepare. We also assessed their vaccination situation and discussed things that they think they need to improve their care. Just a few feet away, across the street was their hospital and we went there next for a quick tour. It seemed surprisingly quiet and empty and everyone kept reminding us how right after the earthquake it was absolutely full with patients, crowding every inch of space in the waiting areas, hallways, etc.

We wanted to go over to the Haiti side just to see the health centers closest to the border but we decided against it. We figured it would be too risky if we went over and for some reason (perhaps an increase in Cholera cases) they decided to close the border, we could be stuck there. In the beginning of the week, or maybe it was last week, they suspended the market days at one of the other border crossings that take place right next to the border where Haitians bring their goods to sell so everyone has been afraid that they might actually close the border. Instead of crossing over we just drove right up to it, took a few pictures and turned around.

We headed back to Santo Domingo and I was grateful to be back after a long day of sitting in a car. It was another good experience so I am definitely glad I got to go.

Fun Facts:

1. None of the toilets I used today out in the field flushed and only one had toilet paper. Am I oversharing? I just thought it was a fun fact. Advice to all traveling: tissues and hand sanitizer gel/ hand wipes are key.

2. I saw a truck with tire flaps (I have no idea what that is really called) from Hackensack, NJ in Santo Domingo.

3. At the military and police checkpoints Teresa continued her public health promotion. She told the military people that when the vaccines are available they need to get the meningococcal vaccine because it is being prioritized for military personnel.

4. We had to stop for a cow crossing the road three different times today. Why did the cow cross the road?

5. There are goats everywhere here.

6. On the way to the Ministry of Health I spotted Haagen Dazs and Baskin Robbins. I call that success!

7. The other day I had such a bad mosquito bite (or something else) and my ankle was swollen almost twice the normal size and it actually hurt a lot. I am alive now so I guess it is OK. It is still a little big but I am not suffering from “cankles” anymore.

8. Sometimes I drink coffee here to be polite because people serve you things and assume you will drink/eat them. Everyone here is just so nice that they want to give you food, drinks, seats, etc.

Peace,

Jaclyn