JUN-C-6

 

AN AMAZINGLY RAPID CONFLUENCE OF LIKE MINDS

IN ORGAINIZING A HAITIAN HUMANITARIAN MISSION

FOR OUR NEXT FORAY INTO HAITIAN HEALTH CARE

HAITI HAS TEETH”

 

 

 

 

 

From:        Glenn Geelhoed

To:          Paulhaiti@aol.com

Date:        6/18/03 5:23PM

Subject:     Re: You have photos from PhotoWorks

 

Wonderful!

 

In an amazingly rapid confluence of kindred spirits, all experienced in the bite of the "dental impressions" still carried from the "Haiti has teeth" proverb, we have just come from the meeting with our boss at GWU, Skip Williams.

 

Skip is very enthusiastic about our commitment, and would like to join.  He must first check with Tom Ridge and the Homeland Security advisors about his ability to travel, since he is special advisor to this administration on bioterrorism  But that is a formality that he is eager to clear so as to join in with us as we plan the next trip to Haiti.

 

Skip has a longstanding interest in and experience with Haiti.  His cousin worked with Aristide both in Haiti and in exile; she is now High Commissioner in East Timor- - a regular hot spot afficionado!  Skip had expressed an interest in returning to Haiti and may be especially delighted with the prospect of giving anesthesia in a series of our cases.  (I had already delivered "promissory notes" to several patients with hydroceles, and other elective simple cases to await my return.)  We can gather these as well as collect a new series we may find from our screening clinics in Monmart and surrounding areas and carry with us to Cange. 

 

I am a strong believer in the credibility of preventive care enhanced by accompanying competent treatment.

I also prefer to teach treatment than to do it as a skill that is dropped from the air without being indigenized. I think we may be able to help out all along this spectrum, and the rapid confluence of like- minded humanitarian concern means we can likely institutionalize this assistance, to just as rapidly "work our way out of this job."

 

As we get the pieces assembled and the timing in place, we will ask for the most appropriate interval for your purposes- - how would the week immediately following Christmas work out?  This may mean that the students of both MD and MPH programs would have vacations and the travel may be worked out and vehicles rented to transport the people and supplies.

 

 I have suggested to our student coordinators that rather than soliciting samples of some specialty kinds of "designer drugs" we try to solicit funds for the generic variety of basic pharmaceuticals already warehoused at Cange.  "More money/less drug samples=more appropriate therapy!"

 

Peter Hotez advises me that the pilot manufacturer of clinical trial batches of hookworm vaccine in yeast has yet to be selected, but that this work will be done within the year.  In the interval, he suggests "GCP" practices for clinical trials, and I suggested to him that you would already have the infrastructure in place for that kind of standardization in a development milieu from your prior experience with clinical trials in HIV/TB therapy.  We might come equipped for a training session for personnel in gathering data as well as contributing good clinical care, so as to satisfy the requirements for vaccine efficacy determination.

 

I heard from Bryan that Luone may be stateside soon in receiving an RFK Award!  This might mean that you will be back on this end of the commuting run, and we could rendezvous, if I am not abroad at that time.  Loune in Cange and Marie in Thumonde and the CWH are the kind of people I would be most enthusiastic about supporting, and anything we can do to encourage them would be a wise investment.

 

So, all within an hour of our exchange of emails, we have met with the student coordinators and I have met with every major leader in the process of getting this effort launched toward the continuing support of the good people of the Central Province.

 

  Strong Bright Haitian Teeth Indeed!

 

GWG

 

>>> <Paulhaiti@aol.com> 06/18/03 02:27PM >>>

In a message dated 6/18/2003 1:37:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, msdgwg@gwumc.edu writes:

 

 

 

Dr. Raphael of the Central Plateau Province and Dr. Claude Surena of the Health Ministry "gave me a present" on departure- - Dispensaire Monmart" and its catchment area population.  I have pledged to adopt this area for screening clinics, like the one I just participated in leading student groups in Project MediShare, with a GW contingent around the coordinators that accompanied me from GWU on this trip, two of whom you may already know.

 

 

this is good news my friend. and you can count on us to help. please tell dr surena that- - he's a very fine man. dr raphael would simply assume that we'd help.

 

let me make a proposal: you support good community based care for HIV disease, and well get the meds and also help train the CWHs

 

dr leandre and loune are copied too.

 

we need to build more alliances like this to make things roll. our only stipulated is that the MSPP be involved, and you're already doing that. i said as much when i met with the missionaries from marmont . . .

 

bravo!

 

best

paul

 

 

Return to Jun  Index

Return to Journal Index