Bagely/Call Team

The Utah Valley Bagley/Call team traveled from March 24 – April 5, 2006. 

Front kneeling: Richard Call MD, Rheumatologist/Internist. 
Middle Row: Left to right, Cory Bagley Construction, Lisa Bagley RN, Celeste March COTA, Sue Ann Call Support, Monistenin Severe, O&P Tech, and Susan Bale RN. 
Back Row: Left to right, Angie Burton RN, Nita Hooker Support, Dorene Jones RN, Joe Cardon Physical Therapist

The Bagley/Call Team was established and began traveling to Haiti with Healing Hands in 2001.  Dr. Rick Call and Lisa Bagley co-lead this team and although there are several regulars on the team, first timers are always welcome.  The team originates from Utah County, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. Both Rick and Lisa work at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center located in Provo, Utah.  Over the years, team members have joined from several areas in Utah, Oregon, Missouri, New York and even Montreal Canada.  Interested in joining the Utah Valley Bagley/Call Team?  Contact Lisa @ lisa.bagley@hhh.ination.com

Here are a few highlights from our last trip.

Travel and Logistics

We left SLC on Friday March 24th on an afternoon flight.  We flew to Dallas and overnighted at the Sleep Inn in Irving Texas.  Left Dallas on the 6:00 am flight which required us to get up at 3:30 am.  That was rough.  We flew to MIA and barely made a tight connection to the 10:20 flight into Port-au-Prince.

3/26 - We woke up to omelets, fresh fruit and cereal.  It was wonderful as always.  We met briefly with the neurosurgeon and team from Miami who were doing follow up on several children who had the hydrocephalus ventricular endoscopic procedure done last fall.  We loaded into the van at 9:00 am and spent the day shopping, hiking to Fort Jacque, taking in the culture and ended with a late lunch at La Conquille restaurant.  We were served the typical Haitian cuisine.  We were entertained by a group of young women dancers and companion drummers.  Back at the guest house we prepared for the real work to begin. 

Kay Kapab Rehabilitation Clinic

Rick MD and Celeste COTA were in the clinic each day.  The clinic became busier each day that we were there.  Much of the population seen are strokes. 

Gym - It was great to see the Haitian rehab techs.  They are very competent and know their stuff.  They were transferring stroke patients to the correct side, lifting them properly- not lifting them under their armpits!!  It made me happy to see the clinic run so well with the Haitian staff.  We saw quite a few stroke patients and I was able to show them some OT stuff.  They are very PT oriented, but they are very good.  Celeste-COTA

Care Givers School @ St. Damiens/Petit Frere et Soeurs

3/27 - Had an excellent day today.  The subjects taught were Motor Development in Infants and Toddlers, Proper Feeding Techniques, Therapeutic Play, and OB and Childbirth.  Thirty five parents attended the class; all had at least one child with some sort of disability.  The students were very attentive, and the interaction between students and teachers was very good.  Gina, the woman in charge of the Day Program at St Damiens translated for us and did a fantastic job.  At first, she said she could only translate Monday and possibly Tuesday, but at the end of the day, she told us she was rearranging her schedule to be with us for the entire week.   She said she was very pleased with the material that was taught.  Overall, it was a very good day for us at St Damiens. 

3/28 - 39 students showed up today to the care givers school.  The word must have spread!  We secured additional hygiene kits from the depot and decided to leave the 20 first aid kits at St. Damiens for distribution at a later time.  The administration office graciously made more copies of the graduation certificate for us.  The topics taught today included first aid, burns, splinting, hand washing and oral hygiene.  We have great pictures of the students using walking sticks for splints.  The students loved the therapeutic play so much from yesterday; they had a special request to sing the hokey pokey again. They had been practicing before our arrival. 

3/29 - Today’s topics included Skin and wound care, dehydration and rehydration and nutrition. 

3/30 and 3/31 - Topics concentrated on “meat of rehabilitation.”  We covered the purpose of rehabilitation, range of motion, modalities, transfers and basic wheel chair maintenance and seating.  We ended the day on Friday with graduation of almost 50 participants. 

This was one of the most successful caregiver’s schools I have participated in.  The students were all mothers or workers of disabled children in the day program.  We taught it at the facility, St. Damien’s Day Program in which they work or bring their children so it made the learning very applicable and useful. The students were interactive and the support from Gina was fantastic.  I would highly recommend to other teams to teach the care givers school in a chosen facility.  I think that is the biggest key to success. 

Village Espoir (formerly Rainbow of Love)

Village Espoir is an orphanage which houses both disabled and children for adoption.  During our visit there were 23 disabled children and 43 healthy children.  We were welcomed and given a tour of the facility.  The disabled children live on the main floor and the ones for adoption live on the second level.  We concentrated on the disabled children.  There are several bedrooms in the facility with 5-6 children assigned to each room.  There are 2 caregivers to each room.  All of the disabled children were up in the open court yard, many in wheel chairs.  We were given the charts of all of the children which were in a 3-ring binder.  It was great to be able to read previous team notes on each of the children.  It was also wonderful to see many of the children that the original Healing Hands team worked with back on the maiden trip in 1998.  Glismi, James, Josephine, Michelle, Jesse and others. 

Day one at Village Espoir our team consisted of 3 nurses and 2 support staff.  We spent the day clipping nails, doing ROM and therapeutic play with the children.  We did reassign Fabionne to a different wheel chair.  According to the documentation available, she had been assigned to her current chair one year ago and she had clearly grown during the year.  We found another chair which accommodated her longer legs. 

Construction projects

Cory has been working on a room in back of the kitchen area.  It was cleared out and shelves installed.  This is a room where team can store their totes and suitcases.  He is also building a desk in the administration area for the O&P computers.  He built several shelves for computers.  He traveled to Gonaive and is working on a complete construction/equipment evaluation for the area.

Culture and Travel

St. Joseph’s Boys is a home for street kids who have been given a second chance.  The boys live at the home, go to school and learn to dance and entertain to pay for their expenses.  They also serve in the orphanage that is run by the same organization.  The dance performance is very well done and full of culture and Haitian history.  They are likely the high point for cultural entertainment and well worth making the arrangements.   

JacMel

6 Team members traveled by air (Tour Haiti) to Jacmel.  We left early Sunday morning, spent the day walking around Jacmel and taking in the sights.  We had a wonderful private lunch on the beach at the Cyvadier’s Hotel.  We spent the rest of the day swimming in the ocean and the hotel pool. 

We met with the teaching staff of Pazapa, a day program (school) for disabled children on Monday morning and were oriented to the program.  Class is not held on Monday so we held a mini care givers school with the teachers and taught ROM, therapeutic play, normal child development and positioning while feeding.  The teaching staff are well educated and competent in what they do.  We were very impressed with their skill level.

On Tuesday we arrived in time to see the children eat breakfast-a meal provided by the school.  We encouraged several parents and teachers to allow the children to feed themselves.  We provided bibs for the kids who needed them.  Overall, the kids were much higher functioning than we anticipated.  Most of our recommendations were with the youngest group (<2 years old).  We taught the staff how to use a make-shift standing frame for one child with mild club feet.  We found 2 children with hydrocephalus and provided contact information for the program at Kay Kapab.  We assessed and cleaned a facial wound on a toddler.  Unfortunately this toddler fell a week earlier and should have received stitches.  The wound is clean, but she will likely have permanent scarring on her cheek.   We also assisted with serial casting on an 8-month old.   

The evenings in Jacmel were spent in the ocean, shopping and eating.  I highly recommend this trip for a nice retreat from PaP.  Jacmel is a warm, welcoming town which I was told is much safer than Pap.  The souvenior are unique to the area and lower priced than in Pap.  It was a great way to conclude our trip!