Saturday, so no outpatient clinic, but not as many physicians for the hospital service. Dr. Touissant, the head of Paediatrics phoned me today from Port-au-Prince to advise he is on official leave to marry and a well deserved vacation from his regular onerous duties. I congratulated him.
Dr. Isadore and I managed to cover the inpatients in about five hours. She did about 75% of the children. I don't seem to be able to take less than 15 minutes for any one patient. I saw about 20 and she saw many more.
The boy with meningitis is better this morning. He is apparently a good student and his only question for me was whether the meningitis would make it hard for him to do well in school. My sense is that if he is smart enough to ask this question, then everything will be ok. His hearing however might not come back.
I "created" a social problem. Gerard, my interpreter is poor. I have had him back to the place where I sleep and shared my lunch with the him on two days last week. This is apparently against the rules. My sense was that the ladies who cook always make three times as much as I can eat and that Gerard should be able to eat too. Apparently not. This became a big problem that involved the Head of Paeds, the Medical Director of the Hospital, and Junior, the Visitor Coordinator. I offered to pay for Gerard to eat with me and this seemed to be possible ($10 per lunch, which does not make sense), but in the end Gerard refused. He thinks he will get in trouble with the Medical Director and might not get more work as an interpreter. I understand. Too bad.
The photo below shows how much the ladies make me every day for lunch. I always leave most of the food. Too bad. The table that day was set for two so Gerard could eat, but he never came.
Dr. Isadore and I managed to cover the inpatients in about five hours. She did about 75% of the children. I don't seem to be able to take less than 15 minutes for any one patient. I saw about 20 and she saw many more.
The boy with meningitis is better this morning. He is apparently a good student and his only question for me was whether the meningitis would make it hard for him to do well in school. My sense is that if he is smart enough to ask this question, then everything will be ok. His hearing however might not come back.
I "created" a social problem. Gerard, my interpreter is poor. I have had him back to the place where I sleep and shared my lunch with the him on two days last week. This is apparently against the rules. My sense was that the ladies who cook always make three times as much as I can eat and that Gerard should be able to eat too. Apparently not. This became a big problem that involved the Head of Paeds, the Medical Director of the Hospital, and Junior, the Visitor Coordinator. I offered to pay for Gerard to eat with me and this seemed to be possible ($10 per lunch, which does not make sense), but in the end Gerard refused. He thinks he will get in trouble with the Medical Director and might not get more work as an interpreter. I understand. Too bad.
The photo below shows how much the ladies make me every day for lunch. I always leave most of the food. Too bad. The table that day was set for two so Gerard could eat, but he never came.
No comments:
Post a Comment