On
our day trip across the border to Haiti there were three patients with
cholera.
They have their own small
building known as the cholera ward. We were told that cholera is not that
uncommon in the more remote areas, many of which lack latrines. A few days
later we were surprised when a patient showed up at the hospital in
Restauracioń with cholera.
The doctor
has treated cholera patients before and made a clinical diagnosis, that was
later confirmed by a laboratory a few days later. Fortunately, this patient was
the only one we saw.
This presented an
opportunity to go out to the community and educate about cholera.
We prepared scripts and we literally went
door to door in selected neighborhoods.
Dr. Ricardo also anticipated the
need to educate and raise awareness about Zika virus, so a few days after the
cholera education, we hit the streets again and spread the word about mosquito
borne illnesses (dengue, chikyngunea, malaria, and zika). Much of the education
was geared at eliminating mosquito breeding grounds, ie.) standing water.
I am happy to report that we finished this
project before the CDC travel warning. All credit goes to Dr. Ricardo, he is
amazing!
We do get to
have a little fun too.
More on that
later.
On
our day trip across the border to Haiti there were three patients with
cholera. They have their own small
building known as the cholera ward. We were told that cholera is not that
uncommon in the more remote areas, many of which lack latrines. A few days
later we were surprised when a patient showed up at the hospital in
Restauracioń with cholera. The doctor
has treated cholera patients before and made a clinical diagnosis, that was
later confirmed by a laboratory a few days later. Fortunately, this patient was
the only one we saw. This presented an
opportunity to go out to the community and educate about cholera. We prepared scripts and we literally went
door to door in selected neighborhoods. 
Dr. Ricardo also anticipated the
need to educate and raise awareness about Zika virus, so a few days after the
cholera education, we hit the streets again and spread the word about mosquito
borne illnesses (dengue, chikyngunea, malaria, and zika). Much of the education
was geared at eliminating mosquito breeding grounds, ie.) standing water. I am happy to report that we finished this
project before the CDC travel warning. All credit goes to Dr. Ricardo, he is
amazing!
We do get to
have a little fun too. More on that
later.
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