Dr. David Vanderpool

Marie is struggling today in the oppressive Haitian sun.

It's not that it's hotter than usual today, it's always hot here, but as the baby grows in Marie's womb, he takes the last of the nutrients out of Marie's already depleted body and today she feels it more than ever. She thinks of her other six children and remembers how hard their births were as she cried out on the dirt floor of her mud hut with only her sister to help her. She sees the faces of her two little ones that she laid to rest in that same dirt the year before.

The next two weeks I found myself much better able to engage in the hospital system. Now I had learned the names of Benson, Mugo, Humphries all clinical officer or medical officer interns. It became my pleasure on night and weekend call to lead them through surgical triage or procedures. On subsequent calls I was able to help one of the medical officer interns through two chest tube placements. These patients had spontaneous pneumothoraces, but were not in extremis, thus I could take my time and coach the intern through the procedure. By the second placement, Mugo was able to anesthetize the patient appropriately, make the incision, and perform this life saving procedure. He remained a bit tentative, but I had seen vast improvement by this second time. These guys and gals are the front line of the Kenyan medical system, and are seeing patients in isolated places with no surgeons, or even residency trained physicians available. Teaching Mugo to place a chest tube well could benefit multiple Kenyan patients in the future.

Spoiled. That’s the only way to describe how I feel heading back to the states. I feel that I had the opportunity to practice medicine the way my 6-year-old-self imagined it while in Guyana and I couldn’t be more thankful for the experience.

January 13

I can’t believe my time here in Haiti is over—but it is. I’m
writing this from my guesthouse in Port-au-Prince, in preparation for
my flight home tomorrow.

I would like to thank Senator Frist for forming the Frist Global
Health Leadership Program, and for allowing me to have come to Haiti
to work at HIC. I’d also like to thank the many people at Vanderbilt,
Dartmouth, and HIC who helped me make the needed connections and
organize the details of my trip. Last but not least, I’d like to give
a special shout-out to my boyfriend, for supporting and encouraging me
to leave him—and the U.S.—for three months and go work in Haiti.
Thank you.