Carol and I worked with Remote Area Medical(RAM)in Haiti after the quake. They were instrumental in flying in and delivering to us crucial supplies and logistics. When the governor of Louisiana asked RAM if they would provide medical care for those people suffering from the oil spill, they asked us if we would help round up volunteers. Carol, my sons Eric and Austin, and three members of my dental staff volunteered to go. It may be too late to sign up, as paper work for licensing needs to be done, but usually where there is a will there is a way. Some details below:
Remote Area Medical® has scheduled a free medical, dental and vision expedition to Louisiana. This will be a two prong clinic, the Oil Spill Coastline of Plaquemines Parish and Orleans Parish. We have a great need for doctors,nurses, dentists, hygienists and dental assistants at both locations.
The Plaquemines Parish location is also set. It is about 45 minutes south of New Orleans. There is really limited lodging there so we have arranged another civic center to be available and we are going to house volunteers there. There will be cots available and bathroom/shower facilities. We also hope to set up some type of shuttle services between the lodging areas and the clinics.
The airport has a shuttle to the downtown hotels, but not south to Plaquemines Parish. The cost of all transportation is the responsibility of the volunteer.
The most important dates of attendance are Friday, August 27th to Sunday, August 29th. If you want to attend set up on Thursday and tear down on Monday that is great, otherwise arriving sometime Thursday and departing late on Sunday or early Monday is fine. We are happy for any part of this you can make work out.
We need your help to make this two part clinic a success. Please email laurak@ramusa.org or call 865-579-1530, if you need any assistance.
Remote Area Medical
Knoxville, TN
www.ramusa.org
Saturday, August 14, 2010
A report on The Haitin Dental school Meeting in July
n July 16th, 2010, the deans of the Haitian Dental School, Dr. Sam Prophete and Dr. Denis met with me at the school to discuss how our group might be of service to them and to assess what changes are already underway. I also had the opportunity to meet and spend time with some fifth and sixth year students.
please Go to Monday, May 24, 2010 blog post to see rest of report.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Haitian Dental School
On July 16th, 2010, the deans of the Haitian Dental School, Dr. Sam Prophete and Dr. Denis met with me at the school to discuss how our group might be of service to them and to assess what changes are already underway. I also had the opportunity to meet and spend time with some fifth and sixth year students. Dr. Prophete took me on a much more detailed tour of the facility than I had taken during my last visit to the school in the fall.
I must be clear from the outset that I make only observations, not to be taken as criticisms. I believe the fact that the school is up and running so well under these post-quake conditions is nothing short of miraculous. These are my findings:
Coordination and Transparency
These are two issues we discussed for some time, and we reached the following conclusions:
Coordination of efforts to improve and promote dental education in Haiti should be handled by The Oral Health of Haiti Coalition, formed by the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, for issues of a more global nature.
My thoughts were to create an internet portal or even a blog where the world community can come together and interact, exchanging information about what is being done specifically for the Haitian Dental School. This will avoid duplication, will prioritize efforts and will promote transparency and coordination.
Transparency seems to be the trend in relief funds management today. We discussed that issue, and the deans were more than happy to share their accounting methods as well as to generate any of their reports for analysis. It was thought that an accounting entity could be brought in to coordinate which computer accounting program would be best for the school, and to what standards would be used to ensure transparency in the distribution of funds.
We also discussed the creation of a completely separate fund, which would be accessed by the deans for emergency needs or very specific projects.
Educational Materials
The chief request has been and continues to be educational materials. The following is a list of needs that has yet to be satisfied in any appreciable way since my last report:
LCD Projectors – There is only one projector for the entire school.
Typodonts – Used to practice cavity preparations and root canals.
Practice blocks for endodontics.
Manikins – My assistant Debbie has procured donations of two dental manikins valued at $1,500 each. We have sent out inquiries to the University of Maryland School of Dentistry as to where the manikins and typodonts were disposed of from the old school facility.
Books – The library was locked and was without a librarian since the quake, as she is recovering from a leg amputation. The library has no computerized indexing and lacked sufficient up-to-date volumes, but the students nonetheless used it to its full potential. Here, one possible solution would be a book drive in the States, or better yet from a French speaking country, for a uniform set of textbooks that could be made available to the students.
Computers
I believe the more important and more easily attainable solution would be to connect the school up to the internet and provide student access to computers in addition to online dental libraries and journals. The school had this capability in the past. There was a dish on the roof with a security cage and a room dedicated to computers, all of which was out of date and nonfunctional.
With little effort and minimal cost, I believe the school could be fully WiFi’ed, preferably with Apple computer products, as computer viruses are a large problem in Haiti. This could be achieved if funds could be made available to maintain the internet connection service. This connectivity would bring immediate improvements to dental education in Haiti.
Power Point lectures and educational materials - (again, preferably in French) enough to teach all six years of dental education - could now be gathered and stored on a large thumb drive!
It is my firm belief that there is an abundance of unused dental education materials in the States that could be brought in to Haiti, to eliminate Haiti’s lack of such materials. The Association of Dental Education (ADEE) in Europe and/or The American Association of Dental Educators (AADE) would be logical places to start this appeal and to follow it through.
The Mechanical Room
The mechanical room was undergoing some compressor repairs. The staff had just finished changing out a large capacity compressor for what appeared to be a different one with insufficient capacity. There were two larger compressors, and one of those had been almost completely scavenged for spare parts. I believe the other was in need of a coolant pump. My best guess is that they need the capacity to run more than 30 dental units and 20-25 lab handpiece units. The school only has five air driven laboratory units with need of twenty more. New York University was to supply dental chairs to replace the aging ones.
As Tobias mentioned in his report, there is no central suction for any of the units. The one single unit suction appeared to be inoperable.
Possible solutions would be to have engineers or dental lab technicians make a thorough review of the school’s future and current needs, and determine if their larger compressors can be brought back online. The plumbing and compressor capacity needs to deliver adequate suction to each dental unit. Perhaps the UN or engineers from other countries could be brought in to repair or assess the situation. The dental schools in the Dominican Republic could also be asked to send technicians.
Supplies
The supply room seemed to suffer from lack of shelving in order to conduct a proper inventory. A problem that we have seen in many medical facilities throughout the developing world is the inability or knowledge of what to save and what to discard as either obsolete or unfixable, under the best of conditions.
From our warehouse in Jimani, Dominican Republic, I was able to bring in about 5,000 doses of antibiotics. From the States, I brought in approximately 2,500 doses of local anesthesia and needles, along with 150 pounds of assorted supplies and two ultrasonic scalers.
My assistant has been able to obtain a new donated emergency kit for the school and is working on acquiring accessories for the existing portable oxygen cart. We will need to know what type of oxygen bottles are used so we can find the correct connections for the hoses.
Some of these immediate needs could be purchased in the future with the institution of the aforementioned emergency fund. The limited supplies and funds that the International Medical Alliance (IMA) helped us deliver in February seemed to make a significant contribution toward the continued function just after the quake. It has been our goal to be flexible and to meet the requested supply needs of the school in a timely fashion.
Infection Control
One of the two sterilizers that we had shipped through MedShare in their first container after the quake was there, but appeared not to be in use. The school was still using dry heat sterilization. From the provisions brought with us from the States, we supplied some sterilization pouches with indicators on them. It would be beneficial to use these to determine if their current methods of sterilization are working.
Infection control improvement is an area of great importance, and would be a Herculean task for any one person. My thinking is that before any visiting faculty or student exchanges could take place, this issue needs to be addressed.
A possible solution is to appoint some member of the staff or faculty to take responsibility for overall infection control implementation and to educate the remaining faculty or staff. That person could then be paired with their counterpoint in one or more US dental schools.
The issue of infection control issues is closely linked to the lack of infection control materials, such as sterilization pouches, barriers, paper products, distilled water, more sterilizers, cold sterilants and surface disinfectants.
Things That Need Follow-Ups
New York University’s equipment donation or transport and installation.
Commitments from Sullivan Schein, the ADA and Health Volunteers Overseas – what are they doing to follow up on their promises of aid? The deans are very discouraged.
Dental laboratory involvement – The students I saw had no way to place dowel pins in crown and bridge models or to bake porcelain onto metal.
Students expressed desire to interact and exchange with other students internationally. I met with some of them, and I believe that every effort is being made on the school’s behalf to provide a quality dental education. The students should be included in the process. They, as children of the internet, Facebook and other social media, may be able to help us in ways we old-timers could ever begin to comprehend.
I must be clear from the outset that I make only observations, not to be taken as criticisms. I believe the fact that the school is up and running so well under these post-quake conditions is nothing short of miraculous. These are my findings:
Coordination and Transparency
These are two issues we discussed for some time, and we reached the following conclusions:
Coordination of efforts to improve and promote dental education in Haiti should be handled by The Oral Health of Haiti Coalition, formed by the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, for issues of a more global nature.
My thoughts were to create an internet portal or even a blog where the world community can come together and interact, exchanging information about what is being done specifically for the Haitian Dental School. This will avoid duplication, will prioritize efforts and will promote transparency and coordination.
Transparency seems to be the trend in relief funds management today. We discussed that issue, and the deans were more than happy to share their accounting methods as well as to generate any of their reports for analysis. It was thought that an accounting entity could be brought in to coordinate which computer accounting program would be best for the school, and to what standards would be used to ensure transparency in the distribution of funds.
We also discussed the creation of a completely separate fund, which would be accessed by the deans for emergency needs or very specific projects.
Educational Materials
The chief request has been and continues to be educational materials. The following is a list of needs that has yet to be satisfied in any appreciable way since my last report:
LCD Projectors – There is only one projector for the entire school.
Typodonts – Used to practice cavity preparations and root canals.
Practice blocks for endodontics.
Manikins – My assistant Debbie has procured donations of two dental manikins valued at $1,500 each. We have sent out inquiries to the University of Maryland School of Dentistry as to where the manikins and typodonts were disposed of from the old school facility.
Books – The library was locked and was without a librarian since the quake, as she is recovering from a leg amputation. The library has no computerized indexing and lacked sufficient up-to-date volumes, but the students nonetheless used it to its full potential. Here, one possible solution would be a book drive in the States, or better yet from a French speaking country, for a uniform set of textbooks that could be made available to the students.
Computers
I believe the more important and more easily attainable solution would be to connect the school up to the internet and provide student access to computers in addition to online dental libraries and journals. The school had this capability in the past. There was a dish on the roof with a security cage and a room dedicated to computers, all of which was out of date and nonfunctional.
With little effort and minimal cost, I believe the school could be fully WiFi’ed, preferably with Apple computer products, as computer viruses are a large problem in Haiti. This could be achieved if funds could be made available to maintain the internet connection service. This connectivity would bring immediate improvements to dental education in Haiti.
Power Point lectures and educational materials - (again, preferably in French) enough to teach all six years of dental education - could now be gathered and stored on a large thumb drive!
It is my firm belief that there is an abundance of unused dental education materials in the States that could be brought in to Haiti, to eliminate Haiti’s lack of such materials. The Association of Dental Education (ADEE) in Europe and/or The American Association of Dental Educators (AADE) would be logical places to start this appeal and to follow it through.
The Mechanical Room
The mechanical room was undergoing some compressor repairs. The staff had just finished changing out a large capacity compressor for what appeared to be a different one with insufficient capacity. There were two larger compressors, and one of those had been almost completely scavenged for spare parts. I believe the other was in need of a coolant pump. My best guess is that they need the capacity to run more than 30 dental units and 20-25 lab handpiece units. The school only has five air driven laboratory units with need of twenty more. New York University was to supply dental chairs to replace the aging ones.
As Tobias mentioned in his report, there is no central suction for any of the units. The one single unit suction appeared to be inoperable.
Possible solutions would be to have engineers or dental lab technicians make a thorough review of the school’s future and current needs, and determine if their larger compressors can be brought back online. The plumbing and compressor capacity needs to deliver adequate suction to each dental unit. Perhaps the UN or engineers from other countries could be brought in to repair or assess the situation. The dental schools in the Dominican Republic could also be asked to send technicians.
Supplies
The supply room seemed to suffer from lack of shelving in order to conduct a proper inventory. A problem that we have seen in many medical facilities throughout the developing world is the inability or knowledge of what to save and what to discard as either obsolete or unfixable, under the best of conditions.
From our warehouse in Jimani, Dominican Republic, I was able to bring in about 5,000 doses of antibiotics. From the States, I brought in approximately 2,500 doses of local anesthesia and needles, along with 150 pounds of assorted supplies and two ultrasonic scalers.
My assistant has been able to obtain a new donated emergency kit for the school and is working on acquiring accessories for the existing portable oxygen cart. We will need to know what type of oxygen bottles are used so we can find the correct connections for the hoses.
Some of these immediate needs could be purchased in the future with the institution of the aforementioned emergency fund. The limited supplies and funds that the International Medical Alliance (IMA) helped us deliver in February seemed to make a significant contribution toward the continued function just after the quake. It has been our goal to be flexible and to meet the requested supply needs of the school in a timely fashion.
Infection Control
One of the two sterilizers that we had shipped through MedShare in their first container after the quake was there, but appeared not to be in use. The school was still using dry heat sterilization. From the provisions brought with us from the States, we supplied some sterilization pouches with indicators on them. It would be beneficial to use these to determine if their current methods of sterilization are working.
Infection control improvement is an area of great importance, and would be a Herculean task for any one person. My thinking is that before any visiting faculty or student exchanges could take place, this issue needs to be addressed.
A possible solution is to appoint some member of the staff or faculty to take responsibility for overall infection control implementation and to educate the remaining faculty or staff. That person could then be paired with their counterpoint in one or more US dental schools.
The issue of infection control issues is closely linked to the lack of infection control materials, such as sterilization pouches, barriers, paper products, distilled water, more sterilizers, cold sterilants and surface disinfectants.
Things That Need Follow-Ups
New York University’s equipment donation or transport and installation.
Commitments from Sullivan Schein, the ADA and Health Volunteers Overseas – what are they doing to follow up on their promises of aid? The deans are very discouraged.
Dental laboratory involvement – The students I saw had no way to place dowel pins in crown and bridge models or to bake porcelain onto metal.
Students expressed desire to interact and exchange with other students internationally. I met with some of them, and I believe that every effort is being made on the school’s behalf to provide a quality dental education. The students should be included in the process. They, as children of the internet, Facebook and other social media, may be able to help us in ways we old-timers could ever begin to comprehend.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Six Months lLater
Haiti, six months later, is a continued lesson in extremes. Living side by side are the rich and poor, sick and healthy, living and dead. The frailty of life is so close to the surface of everyday living that it almost becomes invisible to the eye. Tent cities precariously appear everywhere as an immutable way of living. It scared me when even I passed them without seeing them in the midst of a bustling work day. Staying one night at the Plaza in Port au Prince was a surreal experience. An old Holiday Inn that easily withstood the 7.0 quake, the Plaza hosts celebrities like Sanjay Gupta, and Anderson Cooper who enjoy the good life of buffet meals, air conditioning and an indoor pool. Outside an amoebic mass of black and blue tarps surround the parks statues, where our attention was taken when a rock fight broke out in front of our car, necessitating our quick departure. It`s only been six months since the biggest urban disaster in the history of modern man. It took two and a half years to rebuild after the tsunami in Sri Lanka, so we need to keep the faith that the rebuilding will continue with conscious direction. There is little solace at least that major disease has not become rampant in the streets.
Visit with Nadia and Gaetan
We had a brief yet wonderful visit with Nadia and Gaetan last week at her home outside of Port au Prince. When Frantz, our driver, finally found the street after several passes, we arrived with big smiles and hugs for all. Gaetan is a perfect baby, with rolls and rolls of baby love. He barely cried when his Godmother gave him his 6 month shots. Their garden is large and flourishing and the house is rebuilding nicely. Unfortunately we missed Jonathon and Manasse who were out at school and work. We had planned to circle back and see them on the other end of the trip but had gotten delayed too much because of the fatal accident on National Hwy 1. I did get a chance to talk to Jonathon on the phone though. It didn`t matter that we couldn`t speak each others language. Language is incidental with us.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Tragic Accident
Sent by Tom via text message, Saturday, July 17, 7:55 p.m.:
Just made the day even longer. There was a fatal accident on the road. Spent an hour stabilizing the driver for transport, with a broken leg and possible spinal injury. Made splint out of sticks and loaded him into our pickup truck - another day in paradise!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Finally Made it over the Mountain
Tom by text message 2:08 p.m.:
Made it over the mountain and started surgeries three hours late. Going to be a long day ... very, very hot here, but at least we did not have an earthquake.
Should we fly in and help with bury survivors? Send private jet, please!
Plan B on the Container
Tom by text message at 11:46 a.m.:
My phone is finally working again. Since my last e-mail, we could not get the right paperwork for the container, so we took three small trucks to no mans's land at the border and unloaded it. We sent half to the DR and food to the orphanage in Haiti. Dorothy was very happy, but a lot of IMA money was spent.
Today, we headed out with Sheila. One hour north of Port au Prince - it took us 1/2 and hour to climb up into the hills. One truck fell off the road, but we were able to get moving again. The road is washed out - we need to go back down and start over on a different road - nothing is easy here.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Still Stuck at the Border
E-mail to me from Tom:
As usual, when I need this Palm phone the most it decides not work! Dorothy is off to see if she can get papers to cross the border. She doesn't want to put pressure on the powers that be as it makes people with jobs work even slower when pressed from above. So hopefully they will find an answer but time is ticking and the truck is costing $500 a day. If needed, I can be reached at the Plaza Hotel. Wish I could send pictures - they say a thousand words easily.
The plan is for Carol and Eric to join me here tonight. We will see. I told Dorothy to pack supplies for us to take to them to NLO in August. Off I go. Love to all - Tom
As usual, when I need this Palm phone the most it decides not work! Dorothy is off to see if she can get papers to cross the border. She doesn't want to put pressure on the powers that be as it makes people with jobs work even slower when pressed from above. So hopefully they will find an answer but time is ticking and the truck is costing $500 a day. If needed, I can be reached at the Plaza Hotel. Wish I could send pictures - they say a thousand words easily.
The plan is for Carol and Eric to join me here tonight. We will see. I told Dorothy to pack supplies for us to take to them to NLO in August. Off I go. Love to all - Tom
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Text Conversation Between Carol and Tom Today
Carol via text message at 7 p.m., detailing text conversations today between she and Tom:
Tom: Things are looking grim for our mission. We're stuck on the border - there are changes in the law and need for paperwork. Still waiting. Call me now, please.
Carol: Ruth got a room for you at the Plaza Hotel tonight.
Tom: That's great. We are still not across - going to make a run for it at the border without proper paperwork. Say a prayer.
Carol: Are you across?
Tom: No, but we hope to be within the hour. Rattle your beads.
Carol: Hail Mary.
Tom: Call our driver tell him to return to car - do it now. Leslie here.
Tom: Still in between DR and Haiti. Still hope to cross after dark. Leslie went away - he did not see us but saw Cedric and Widza - Leslie went in to Haiti.
Carol: Did the trucks cross?
Tom: No, we are still waiting but we have not been thrown out yet. Do not stress Dale with details - I'm teaching Dorothy to breathe - I just bribed another person $160.
Tom: No luck - gotta go to Port au Prince to get the right paperwork. I'm going to rest at the Plaza Hotel.
Stuck at the Dominican/Haitian Border
Today we loaded up the truck with gloves and drugs for the dental school. We found our 40 foot container, but they have changed the law about bringing in humanitarian supplies without charging taxes, and we need more paperwork. We sit at the border trying to get clearance amongst the worst chaos - you can't even begin to imagine. Carol will be doing surgery into the night.
We need a miracle to allow the truck to enter Haiti. I wish we still had a team of people to call on to research with their higher connections.
Warehouses of Unused Supplies
Tom via text message Wednesday, July 14, 5:42 p.m. :
After the OR was set up, Dorothy, Eric and I went to their warehouse where a small amount was obtained from the tons of supplies sent down for the quake, that either came too late or were too much of a wrong thing at the time. Mountains of them need sorting and need to be sent to a clinic of hospital that can use them. We already prepared one mountain for distribution. All in all, a good day.
Thursday we head back to Port au Prince with a 20 foot container of supplies and food for the orphanage.
After the OR was set up, Dorothy, Eric and I went to their warehouse where a small amount was obtained from the tons of supplies sent down for the quake, that either came too late or were too much of a wrong thing at the time. Mountains of them need sorting and need to be sent to a clinic of hospital that can use them. We already prepared one mountain for distribution. All in all, a good day.
Thursday we head back to Port au Prince with a 20 foot container of supplies and food for the orphanage.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Initial Impression of Port au Prince Six Months Out
It is just not the same crossing the border without Dr. Marc Pinard. What would have taken five minutes with Marc took at least an hour, with lots of hand gesturing and loud voices. There were road blocks every two to three miles.
Some 200,000 Haitians have fled across the border. Our initial look at Port au Prince does not seem as bad as I had imagined. The Haitians are getting on well. It's surprisingly normal, except for the presence of huge tent camps everywhere.
Some 200,000 Haitians have fled across the border. Our initial look at Port au Prince does not seem as bad as I had imagined. The Haitians are getting on well. It's surprisingly normal, except for the presence of huge tent camps everywhere.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Our Arrival in Haiti Six Months Post-Quake
Tom and Carol via text message:
We arrived and made a successful rendezvous with Dr. Dennison (the dean of the Haitian dental school) and Duplan at the Port au Prince airport. The streets of Port au Prince are hot and dry with fewer people than I remember before the quake.
Cement blocks are stacked along the roadsides with many men shoveling piles of rubble to the other side of the road. Attempts at rebuilding are slowed to a snail's pace due to the oppressive heat.
It was great to see Nadia and Gaetan in the home they are rebuilding. Gaetan barely cried when his godmother gave him his six month old shots!
We arrived and made a successful rendezvous with Dr. Dennison (the dean of the Haitian dental school) and Duplan at the Port au Prince airport. The streets of Port au Prince are hot and dry with fewer people than I remember before the quake.
Cement blocks are stacked along the roadsides with many men shoveling piles of rubble to the other side of the road. Attempts at rebuilding are slowed to a snail's pace due to the oppressive heat.
It was great to see Nadia and Gaetan in the home they are rebuilding. Gaetan barely cried when his godmother gave him his six month old shots!
Luggage Issues at BWI
Tom texted me at about 8:45 this morning. He, Carol and Eric arrived at the airport to discover that each one of them could only check in two bags instead of three and not be able to pay extra to take on additional luggage. This caused them to sit on the airport floor and do a little creative rearranging! If you've ever been on one of these trips with the Ritter's, then you know that every square millimeter of their luggage space is utilized to the max!
One of their first stops after they land today is to visit Nadia and her family. Gaetan is 5 1/2 months old now - I'm sure he is just chunkalicious. I miss holding that little bundle! and look forward to seeing them soon.
One of their first stops after they land today is to visit Nadia and her family. Gaetan is 5 1/2 months old now - I'm sure he is just chunkalicious. I miss holding that little bundle! and look forward to seeing them soon.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Carol ,our son Eric and I leave for Haiti on July 13th
Some good news from Haiti
People often ask Carol and I "Are things getting better in Haiti?"
I think this report from NPR says a lot about the current conditions in Haiti.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128245622
People often ask Carol and I "Are things getting better in Haiti?"
I think this report from NPR says a lot about the current conditions in Haiti.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128245622
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Isn’t it odd that while in Haiti, in the midst of all the chaos and very long days, Carol and I had “more time” to post to blogs than we now seem to find time for back home in Baltimore?
I want to share with you what Carol and I have been doing since our last blog posts that came more frequently- not as some kind of lame excuse for not blogging more. However, I think our schedule has been a testament to the unwavering focus and outpouring of compassion that continues as strong as it ever was, just after the Haitian earthquake.
Perhaps in reading over the many varied groups that ask us to meet and talk with them about Haiti, you’ll come across an area where you or someone you know may want to get involved.
January 19th-24th: Tom was supposed to be in Port au Prince for a conference of groups interested in stoves and alternative fuels. Had he been there one week earlier, he would have been at the Hotel Montana - and dead.
January 25th: Returned from Haiti.
January 31st: Bruce Winand’s funeral. Bruce was a local Towson hero who ran most of the Towson Recreation Council sports programs. He coached or managed leagues for all three of our children. He died suddenly of a heart attack at age 51, and is an almost irreplaceable member of the Towson community.
February 2nd: Nadia gives birth to Gaeten Thomas at GBMC in the middle of Snowmaggedon.
February 4th: Ignite talk. Five minutes of discussion of a subject during a slideshow that advances automatically. When five minutes is done, you are done. See “Talk about Stoves” on this blog on February 4th.
February 5th: Nadia and Carol gave a press conference at GBMC. Nadia says all the right things like such as “GBMC cares more about people than money”.
February 6th: Real Simple Magazine fights their way thru Snowmaggedon to do a photo shoot of Carol and Nadia for the March issue.
February 11th: Baltimore Acts benefit concert at Meyerhoff gets cancelled on account of Snowmaggedon. Carol and I are actually somewhat relieved that we do not have to speak publicly so soon after our return.
February 14th: Shower for Nadia and Gaetan.
February 16th: Mia Farrow’s “people called our people” to see if we wanted to have dinner with her, accompanied by John Waters. An interesting dinner conversation ensued with John Waters wanting to talk Hollywood, while Mia Farrow wanted to talk to us about our work in Haiti and her work in Darfur – a very unforgettable evening.
February 20th - March 6th: Carol and Sarah in Thailand.
February 23rd: Tom spoke at the Baltimore County Dental Meeting about Haiti and the work with the Haitian dental school.
February 25th- 27th: Brought Samuel Prophet, the Dean of the Haitian Dental School to Chicago to meet with dentistry’s movers and shakers, such as the ADA, Sullivan Schein and the global outreach heads of several dental manufacturers. The Dean was able to deliver a speech to the ADA. Many promises of aid made - we will see.
March 5th: Met with Mrs. Needles and her middle school class at GBMC to sort medical supplies, and had the crutches they collected shipped to Haiti by Med Share.
March 6th: Carol returned from Thailand and was appointed as VP of MedChi.
March 11th: Met with dental students at UMD interested in helping the Haitian dental school.
March 28th: Spoke at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer (these are the people who continue to support the work we participated in for many years in Honduras).
That same day, Nadia spoke at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, where the Reverend Heber Brown, III has committed his churches’ social activism to Haiti for the whole next year. What an inspiration Reverend Brown is. Visit his website at Faithinactiononline.com.
March 30th: Memorial Service for another great man – Sean, a scrub tech at Hopkins. We were working with Sean to bring Med Share to Hopkins, and whom just the night before his untimely death at age 32, invited us to work with his surgical team in Ghana.
April 11th: Had a meeting with Dave, past CFRE Vice President of Development and Marketing for Med Share, to discuss bringing about a Med Share sorting, shipping, and receiving warehouse to Baltimore.
April 18th: Patricia Arquette’s “people called our people” to ask if we would like to have breakfast at her hotel in DC where she is filming her show “The Medium”. Carol and I discussed Haiti and kids.
April 30th: Dental Access Day at the University of Maryland. My assistant Karen and our intern Nicole spent the day providing free dental work for Baltimore’s citizens in need.
May12th: Baltimore Acts Fundraiser for Haiti, at Nick’s Fish House. These were the folks who tried to pull off a large concert fundraiser soon after the quake but had to cancel due to the snowstorms.
May 16th: Spoke at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Ruxton. This church was a huge supporter of IMA and Med Share after the quake and continues to raise money.
May 14th-16th: Eric stars in the musical “Curtains” and it’s a smash hit. He is a smash hit, of course.
June 13th: Mount Washington Yoga holds an open house and donates 10% of sales to IMA.
The following June 9th trip was canceled due to the death of my mother Nancy Ritter . On June 13th Carol and I wheeled my mom's hospital bed outside at the hospice center in Wisconsin and 30 minutes later she simple flew away. So ended a life that provided so much love to so many. She was buried on Thursday June 17th
June 9th-14th: Carol and Tom and RN Mandy head back to Haiti to do some GYN surgery. While there, we visit with Nadia and Gaetan Thomas. We also brought much needed supplies to the dental school and clinics in Port Au Prince.
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Hatian Dental School
On July 16th, 2010, the deans of the Haitian Dental School, Dr. Sam Prophete and Dr. Denis met with me at the school to discuss how our group might be of service to them and to assess what changes are already underway. I also had the opportunity to meet and spend time with some fifth and sixth year students. Dr. Prophete took me on a much more detailed tour of the facility than I had taken during my last visit to the school in the fall.
I must be clear from the outset that I make only observations, not to be taken as criticisms. I believe the fact that the school is up and running so well under these post-quake conditions is nothing short of miraculous. These are my findings:
Coordination and Transparency
These are two issues we discussed for some time, and we reached the following conclusions:
Coordination of efforts to improve and promote dental education in Haiti should be handled by The Oral Health of Haiti Coalition, formed by the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, for issues of a more global nature.
My thoughts were to create an internet portal or even a blog where the world community can come together and interact, exchanging information about what is being done specifically for the Haitian Dental School. This will avoid duplication, will prioritize efforts and will promote transparency and coordination.
Transparency seems to be the trend in relief funds management today. We discussed that issue, and the deans were more than happy to share their accounting methods as well as to generate any of their reports for analysis. It was thought that an accounting entity could be brought in to coordinate which computer accounting program would be best for the school, and to what standards would be used to ensure transparency in the distribution of funds.
We also discussed the creation of a completely separate fund, which would be accessed by the deans for emergency needs or very specific projects.
Educational Materials
The chief request has been and continues to be educational materials. The following is a list of needs that has yet to be satisfied in any appreciable way since my last report:
LCD Projectors – There is only one projector for the entire school.
Typodonts – Used to practice cavity preparations and root canals.
Practice blocks for endodontics.
Manikins – My assistant Debbie has procured donations of two dental manikins
Books – The library was locked and was without a librarian since the quake, as she is recovering from a leg amputation. The library has no computerized indexing and lacked sufficient up-to-date volumes, but the students nonetheless used it to its full potential. Here, one possible solution would be a book drive in the States, or better yet from a French speaking country, for a uniform set of textbooks that could be made available to the students.
Computers
I believe the more important and more easily attainable solution would be to connect the school up to the internet and provide student access to computers in addition to online dental libraries and journals. The school had this capability in the past. There was a dish on the roof with a security cage and a room dedicated to computers, all of which was out of date and nonfunctional.
With little effort and minimal cost, I believe the school could be fully WiFi’ed, preferably with Apple computer products, as computer viruses are a large problem in Haiti. This could be achieved if funds could be made available to maintain the internet connection service. This connectivity would bring immediate improvements to dental education in Haiti.
Power Point lectures and educational materials - (again, preferably in French) enough to teach all six years of dental education - could now be gathered and stored on a large thumb drive!
It is my firm belief that there is an abundance of unused dental education materials in the States that could be brought in to Haiti, to eliminate Haiti’s lack of such materials. The Association of Dental Education (ADEE) in Europe and/or The American Association of Dental Educators (AADE) would be logical places to start this appeal and to follow it through.
The Mechanical Room
The mechanical room was undergoing some compressor repairs. The staff had just finished changing out a large capacity compressor for what appeared to be a different one with insufficient capacity. There were two larger compressors, and one of those had been almost completely scavenged for spare parts. I believe the other was in need of a coolant pump. My best guess is that they need the capacity to run more than 30 dental units and 20-25 lab handpiece units. The school only has five air driven laboratory units with need of twenty more. New York University was to supply dental chairs to replace the aging ones.
As Tobias mentioned in his report, there is no central suction for any of the units. The one single unit suction appeared to be inoperable.
Possible solutions would be to have engineers or dental lab technicians make a thorough review of the school’s future and current needs, and determine if their larger compressors can be brought back online. The plumbing and compressor capacity needs to deliver adequate suction to each dental unit. Perhaps the UN or engineers from other countries could be brought in to repair or assess the situation. The dental schools in the Dominican Republic could also be asked to send technicians.
Supplies
The supply room seemed to suffer from lack of shelving in order to conduct a proper inventory. A problem that we have seen in many medical facilities throughout the developing world is the inability or knowledge of what to save and what to discard as either obsolete or unfixable, under the best of conditions.
From our warehouse in Jimani, Dominican Republic, I was able to bring in about 5,000 doses of antibiotics. From the States, I brought in approximately 2,500 doses of local anesthesia and needles, along with 150 pounds of assorted supplies and two ultrasonic scalers.
My assistant has been able to obtain a new donated emergency kit for the school and is working on acquiring accessories for the existing portable oxygen cart. We will need to know what type of oxygen bottles are used so we can find the correct connections for the hoses.
Some of these immediate needs could be purchased in the future with the institution of the aforementioned emergency fund. The limited supplies and funds that the International Medical Alliance (IMA) helped us deliver in February seemed to make a significant contribution toward the continued function just after the quake. It has been our goal to be flexible and to meet the requested supply needs of the school in a timely fashion.
Infection Control
One of the two sterilizers that we had shipped through MedShare in their first container after the quake was there, but appeared not to be in use. The school was still using dry heat sterilization. From the provisions brought with us from the States, we supplied some sterilization pouches with indicators on them. It would be beneficial to use these to determine if their current methods of sterilization are working.
Infection control improvement is an area of great importance, and would be a Herculean task for any one person. My thinking is that before any visiting faculty or student exchanges could take place, this issue needs to be addressed.
A possible solution is to appoint some member of the staff or faculty to take responsibility for overall infection control implementation and to educate the remaining faculty or staff. That person could then be paired with their counterpoint in one or more US dental schools.
The issue of infection control issues is closely linked to the lack of infection control materials, such as sterilization pouches, barriers, paper products, distilled water, more sterilizers, cold sterilants and surface disinfectants.
Things That Need Follow-Ups
New York University’s equipment donation or transport and installation.
Commitments from Sullivan Schein, the ADA and Health Volunteers Overseas – what are they doing to follow up on their promises of aid? The deans are very discouraged.
Dental laboratory involvement – The students I saw had no way to place dowel pins in crown and bridge models or to bake porcelain onto metal.
Students expressed desire to interact and exchange with other students internationally. I met with some of them, and I believe that every effort is being made on the school’s behalf to provide a quality dental education. The students should be included in the process. They, as children of the internet, Facebook and other social media, may be able to help us in ways we old-timers could ever begin to comprehend.
Funds and Forceps for Haiti
In a matter of 35 seconds, on January 12th, 2010, 80% of the government buildings in Haiti became a pile of rubble. One of the few buildings still standing is the Haitian Dental School.
The school has been producing twenty dentists a year to treat a population of nine million people. Having been helping the school over the past few years, I found it to be lacking in almost everything necessary to teach and practice dentistry before the quake - except commitment.
The school needed a helping hand before the quake but needs to keep operating, especially now - so that the building is not requisitioned by some other governmental entity. If the school is closed, I can’t only imagine how long it would take to get another dental school up and running.
From us they have requested forceps, oral surgery instruments, oral surgical and operative handpieces, and of course, monetary donations.
Instruments can be dropped off at the MSDA office or at my office at 8320 Bellona Avenue, Suite 110 in Ruxton. Tax deductible donations can be sent to imaonline.org. Carol and I will be leaving on JUNE 8th - (that’s sooner than you think!) to personally see that the funds and instruments get to those who need them.
For questions or for more information, you can reach me at tom@tomritter.com, or go to carolandtominhaiti.com. If you have made a donation by either PayPal or by mail, please send me an e-mail so that those funds can be designated for the Haitian Dental School.
The school has been producing twenty dentists a year to treat a population of nine million people. Having been helping the school over the past few years, I found it to be lacking in almost everything necessary to teach and practice dentistry before the quake - except commitment.
The school needed a helping hand before the quake but needs to keep operating, especially now - so that the building is not requisitioned by some other governmental entity. If the school is closed, I can’t only imagine how long it would take to get another dental school up and running.
From us they have requested forceps, oral surgery instruments, oral surgical and operative handpieces, and of course, monetary donations.
Instruments can be dropped off at the MSDA office or at my office at 8320 Bellona Avenue, Suite 110 in Ruxton. Tax deductible donations can be sent to imaonline.org. Carol and I will be leaving on JUNE 8th - (that’s sooner than you think!) to personally see that the funds and instruments get to those who need them.
For questions or for more information, you can reach me at tom@tomritter.com, or go to carolandtominhaiti.com. If you have made a donation by either PayPal or by mail, please send me an e-mail so that those funds can be designated for the Haitian Dental School.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Dr. Marc Pinard - Death Notice
It is with the deepest sorrow that the International Medical Alliance of Tennessee announces that Dr. Marc Pinard, with whom we have worked closely for the last ten years, collapsed and died suddenly on Thursday, April 15, 2010, at Jimani, the Dominican Republic.
Dr. Pinard selflessly devoted the last fifteen years of his life to providing charitable medical care, feeding programs and hospital and orphanage
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