One Hundred Friends: a long term investment

When we decided to do the One Hundred Friends for Haiti campaign we were very selective about the conditions that we chose to treat.  We considered the available epidemiologic data and reviewed treatments for cost-effectiveness and potential long-term impact.  Without a doubt, parasitic worms and malaria came out on top.  


Our decision to treat these diseases was reinforced by a recent article in the Proceedings of The Royal Society here.  The authors concluded that "infectious disease remains the most powerful predictor of average national IQ when temperature, distance from Africa, gross domestic product per capita and several measures of effect are controlled for" (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0973).  


Parasitic worms rob a child's body of the nutrients necessary to grow and thrive.  Malaria puts extreme physiologic stresses on a developing immune system unable to deal with the infection.  In the cases of cerebral malaria the consequences are devastating.  


By focusing on these diseases we are investing in the long term health and development of the people in this region.  We are maximizing our resources, your donations, to have a broad and lasting impact.  


Please support our efforts by donating $10 on the Paypal button on this blog or here at iscmed.org.

Today we are kicking off our small donation campaign: One Hundred Friends For Haiti.  Our goal is get 100 $10 dollar one-time donations from our supporters by July 15th. We promise that your $10 donation will only be spent treating the top three diseases seen at Visitation Hospital and the surrounding communities: anemia, worms, and malaria. Visitation Hospital has identified these three conditions as the most prevalent and burdensome and here is how we plan to use your donation to address these issues.

First, we will provide every patient that shows signs of anemia with iron supplements a three month course of multivitamins.  Second, parasitic worm present a significant challenge to adequate nutrition and long term health and we are prepared treat each patient we see with a three day anti-worm medication that will last for six months.  Finally, we will use your donation to treat all acute malaria infections will a full regiment of chloroquine.  We have been assured that the malaria endemic to this area is sensitive to chloroquine and we feel that this will be the most efficacious and cost effective treatment we can provide.  

We can do all this but it will cost $1000 dollars to achieve.  If you believe in our endeavor please join us by donating $10 to our campaign.  With your help we will be able reach our goal and make a meaningful impact.  Thanks for your continued support and interest in this student led endeavor.

Why I Want To Go To Haiti

By Justin Hall, OMS-II and Jessica Hall (my wife)
This type of service is the reason I first felt called to the medical profession. I aspire to serve not just in the clinics at home in the states, but across the oceans and international boundary lines amongst the under-served and sick that are in the greatest need of medical care. In the United States, we go to the doctor, take a pill that relieves our pain, and quickly kill the bug that made us sick.  In these countries, there is no doctor to see, the pain only gets worse, and the bugs that are so easy for us to control will kill the afflicted in days. We have the means to help these people with our medicine, and through our actions, spread the love of Christ. Jess and I have decided that working internationally will always be a part of our lives; this opportunity is the first of many for the Halls.


Medical mission trips are something that both my wife and I have dreamed about doing together as couple. I couldn't think of a better opportunity for us and we are ready and willing to leave our comfort zones to help those in such dire need of service. Though this is really the last "summer vacation" that any of us will ever have, it is the perfect time in our professional lives to step out and use the knowledge and passions we have for medicine. I am so excited to fly out and I couldn't have asked for a more passionate, kind, devoted, organized, or ambitious group to be travelling with. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and support!


Eric Sugihara, OMS-II:
My personality and goals make this opportunity very appealing to me.  During undergrad, I volunteered for Global Medical Brigades, a full time student run sustainable organization which made annual medical mission trips to Honduras.  Through this experience, I became fascinated with the Honduran people, their culture and the idea of contributing to a sustainable effort in a third world country.  This trip to Haiti will enable me to engage in similar efforts and see more of the world.  It will introduce me to what I read about two years ago in a book about Dr. Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains.  


I look forward to this trip just as much as my first trip to Honduras- which was eye opening and awesome.  My second  trip to Honduras challenged me to think long-term initiative and evaluate issues of global health.  These trips were powerful experiences and created a personal drive in me to participate in local and global humanitarian efforts throughout my medical career.  I’m a second year medical student, and my experience is limited.  However, the needs of the Hatian people are significant and I feel I can use what I learned in my first year of medical school to make a meaningful contribution.  I look forward to helping the many people we will meet and am excited to help a country with such significant needs.

Nathalie Nguyen, OMS-II:
I have never done anything like this before. It is completely out of my element but I am looking forward to helping those in need. 


By Nolan Crusat, OMS-II:

The earthquake that hit Haiti earlier this year not only destroyed a vast amount of infrastructure, but it affected an estimated 3 million Haitians, left 1 million homeless, and injured 300,000.  Consequently, many Haitians were left without a place to go to get the medical care they needed.  

As a future health care professional, it has always been my goal to travel and provide free medical care to those who had limited access.  What better opportunity to fulfill that goal than to go to Haiti on a medical mission?  This experience working with a third world country that desperately needs our help will undoubtedly prepare me to become a more prepared, compassionate physician, ready to provide care to people from all walks of life.  Additionally, this opportunity will provide me with more insight as to the health care problems that other people face on a daily basis. 

By Bethany Mullins, OMS-II:

I am eager to have the opportunity to travel somewhere where I can do some real good in people’s lives after just one year of medical school.  Even though we will only be there a little over a week, because there is so much need for medical care, I think we will be able to help in some profound ways.  I also love to travel and have always wanted to visit Haiti and see its culture.  I have read a lot about the country and people, but I’ve never had the opportunity to visit prior to this trip.  I think that this will be a life changing opportunity for me, and I can’t wait for July 19th!

By Yang Li, OMS-II:
I love to travel – this is a great opportunity to do something I enjoy and also do some good in the world. We are in a unique position to help others, especially those that don’t even have the bare necessities we take for granted here in the US.  This trip presents challenges and experiences I may not otherwise encounter. It is also very rewarding to see a year’s worth of planning come to fruition, and to establish a long-term prospectus for the area.

Dr. Safaoui spent the afternoon teaching us how to suture.  It was a great workshop!!  Throwing a knot and following it up with square knots is much harder than practiced physicians make it look.  Thanks to Dr. Safaui's guidance we are well on our way.

Thanks to Justin Hall for getting all the supplies and organizing the event!  Find us on Facebook to see more pictures from the workshop.

Challenges to creating sustainable community building

This American Life (a production of WBEZ in Chicago) recently did a show on Haiti titled "Island Time".  Click here to be taken to the broadcast.  It is a wonderful program that captures the struggles of current Haitians, the NGOs who operate there, and the well meaning individuals who travel to Haiti to provide assistance.

As a group we will be discussing the issues raised in the broadcast.  In many ways, providing medical care will be much easier than creating a culturally sensitive framework for the mobile clinic.  We are grateful for our partners at Visitation Hospital and Global Health Review.  With their help, we hope to create a sustainable model for the mobile clinics that will focus on capacity building and community partnerships rather than one time medical care.  It is a lofty goal but with your help and continued support we hope to achieve it.

Planning is in full swing!

Planning for our trip to Visitation Hospital is in full swing.  Today we spoke with Killy, and administrator associated with Visitation Hospital, for over an hour.  It sounds like our group is going to be very busy during our time there.  From assisting on site at Visitation to deploying our mobile clinic framework in the surrounding villages, Killy was very excited about the potential of our ideas.  

The latest updates from Visitation Hospital reinforce the need for our mission.  According to the Mayor of  Petite Riviere de Nippes, over 6,000 refugees have flooded their town.  These people do not own anything beyond the clothes they carry.  This is placing an increasing significant burden on the existing services provided by Visitation Hospital.  Please visit www.visitationhospital.com for more information about the current conditions in Petite Riviere de Nippes. 

The next few weeks will be very exciting and busy for us as we finish up our first year of medical school and continue to plan for our trip.  We hope to announce a new partnership in the coming days and provide you with the opportunity to show your support through online donations.  You can also follow us on Facebook at the "International Service Club: Haiti 2010" page.  Thanks for your continued support!!!

About the International Service Club

The International Service Club was started five years ago by several first-year osteopathic medical student at Western University of Health Sciences. Their initial goal was to provide aid to those affected by the tsunami in South East Asia. Since then, groups of students have carried on the tradition of traveling to locations through out the globe to provide health care services to communities in need. In 2005, ISC sent medical students to Sri Lanka. In 2006, members travelled to Pakistan to work with the Islamic Medical Association of North America in response to the devastating earthquake in Kashmir. 2007 and 2008 saw ISC WesternU students travel to Peru and Guatemala and the flooding of the 2008 monsoon season prompted students to lend relief to residents of Bihar, India.

This year we have elected to travel to Haiti to provide medical supplies and services to the residents in and around Petite Riviere De Nippes, a rural village southwest of Port-au-Prince. We will be working with our partners at Visitation Hospital (www.visitationhospital.org) to provide these services. While this area did not suffer significant damage during the earthquake, the flood of people out of the Port-au-Prince has added more stress to an already fragile health care system.

We will use this blog to share with you our experiences, photos, and provide you with opportunities to show your support and get involved as we near our departure date of July 19, 2010. Please check back often as we will be relying on your support to help make this service experience possible.