David's Mobile Clinic Experience

Disclaimer: Certain details/names changed and conditions deidentified to protect patient privacy. All photos taken and shared with consent of subjects; for minors, parent/guardian approval was obtained.

Even before departing for the mobile clinic in Lavale, I was aware of the bleak depiction of everyday life in rural regions of the country. People living in these communes would rarely, if ever, have any access to health services, let alone medicine or medical supplies. These impressions only seemed to add weight to our daunting task - assisting and providing health care at the rural clinic with the Angel Wings International staff in Jacmel.

We had spent nearly two weeks in Haiti, volunteering at the clinic and shadowing doctors and dentists, all while learning more about Haiti’s people and culture. Even so, I had no idea what to expect from our three day trip to the rural clinic in Lavale. During prior discussions with Angel Wings’s founder and hero behind its mission, Myrlande Affriany, our student team’s tasks seemed simple enough - we would take turns triaging patients, working at the pharmacy, and shadowing Dr. Alix as she meets with patients. After packing our supplies from the clinic, our student team and the clinical staff departed for Lavale, about an hour away from our mission house in Jacmel. It was only when we got out of the van that I finally began to grasp just how significant our task was.

The school building that we set up our mobile clinic in seemed rather unimpressive, with dark rooms and dusty floors. That was not to mention the long line of Hatians already waiting inside and outside the building, ranging from young infants to the elderly. As we unloaded our supplies and set up the pharmacy in a classroom, I continued to marvel at the sheer number of patients - nearly a hundred people waiting patiently for their rare opportunity to meet with a doctor or dentist. Our tasks began immediately, and they quickly proved to be anything but simple or mundane. From filling bags with medicine and drugs in the pharmacy to recording patients’ diagnoses with Dr. Alix to taking patients’ pulse, blood pressure, and temperature, our team began to feel the weight of every action that we took. Even after we developed a systematic approach to our tasks, the line of patients seemed to get longer. By the end of the second day, we had seen over two hundred patients at the clinic, including those at the dentist's office.

Once we began to work at an efficient pace, I was able to focus more on the actual impact that we were making in these people’s lives. During one rotation, I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Alix about the great need for medical care in these communities. I still remember how she teared up at the thought of so many young children suffering from painful infections and other diseases without a way to even consult with a doctor. Looking at the long line of patients again, I began to understand that we were doing a far more important task than simply filling out a form or a bag of prescriptions. For us, this trip can be just another good medical experience, but for these patients, our visit could mean the difference in the continued well-being of themselves and their children. What truly makes an impact on these people is the hope, the promise of compassion and love, that Myrlande and her staff leave behind. Even after leaving Lavale, this lesson still resonates with me, and I can confidently say that the best reward from the trip was the opportunity to make a significant individual impact on these people’s lives, which far outweigh the medical experience or knowledge I gained.