March 21- up early heading through the mountains back to the airport. Next time I will take Dramamine even though I never experience car sickness this ride is a little rough! Sharing this week with my eldest daughter, Kara and friend Andrew has been fantastic. The two together, are a comedy duo they had me laughing all week! I can never thank the Bastians enough for the love and care they give to all the children. This was my fourth trip to Haiti and this country and people truly touch your heart and I can't wait to come back! If [...]

March 20-today was a very busy day.  After the clinic we took a group of children swimming. Kara did a few swimming lessons.  The kids were doing great, wish we had more time to work on this. Back to the orphanage and a little jump roping and tag, it's so awesome hearing little voices squeal with delight as you are chasing them around! Then a change of clothes and a group of kids and us went and watched a soccer game and the kids sold jewelry to some mission workers. Then eighteen of us piled in the van and into Jacmel [...]

March 17- the older kids have been very busy with their projects!  They were taught how to make necklaces out of pop cans. The necklaces are for sale for $10 each.  The money earned will be placed in a savings account for special activity like Christmas celebration.   We continued seeing patients today.  The same as back home when treating high blood pressure, that medicine makes me go to the bathroom all the time.   Education on meds and diagnosis is so important !  We cleaned up some skinned knees and head bumps from the school.  After the clinic is some of the best times, [...]

March 16 our first day seeing patients. Thank you to Great River Medical Center for donating a suitcase full of meds. The first patient we saw was a 95 year old patient carried in by family. He fell 1/28, was having difficulty walking prior to the fall and now was unable to walk. He had pain in his hip plus his foot was rotated out, most likely he had a broken hip. Unfortunately there was not much we could do except give Tylenol and refer. We treated many for high blood pressure, the awesome part about having the clinic at La Concorde people can [...]

March 14 we decided to take in Biasson Blue before we started the week.  Karen, Elsee and two of the boys came with us.  It was a hike up the mountain, but well worth it, the view was incredible. Haiti is truly breathtaking. Kara and I decided to take a swim and do the jump, great memories!

DSN nurses arrived in Jacmel with swarms of misquotes. Their trip was with out event and they have quickly jumped into life at La Concorde. The clinic has many more items of use with the arrival of duffle bags. We have been receiving some patients and also had time to start assessing the children at La Concorde. Doing a finger stick Hgb on 62 children is a little chaotic. We now have the information to treat those who are anemic. Little steps that can have a big impact. We also have had the recent Haitian nursing graduates with us. They [...]

Hello all.  I am pleased to report the teams that have been at La Concorde over the last month have done amazing work! The clinic is up and running. We have had patients daily and are excited about the future. The Haitian nurses who are soon to visit the United States for Continuing Education are at a meeting for visa's today. The school is having examinations and very excited about the new learning they will have with the projects completed by Sacred Heart. We are going to Google chat between schools  this afternoon. Or at least try. The children continue to [...]

The second team has now taken over the next shift of opening up the Medical Clinic at La Concorde in Jacmel, Haiti. There are many urgent emails to the next team, of things that are needed, things that have been learned and types of patients seen.  There is a call out to resources both in health care providers to mentor and partner with the Haitian staff. And any resources for basic medical equipment. Contact us if you can help in anyway. The returning team had much success in their visit. They got the ball rolling in clinic and set up some [...]

March 9th was an exciting day for La Concorde and LOVE Takes Root. The Medical Clinic was opened! There was a staff of volunteers from both the United States and Haiti working  the clinic opening day. Notes from team was confusion, and lots of excitement but the day was filled with care and medical attention!  LOVE Takes Root has 4 teams in place to follow each other, that will give support to clinic for the first 6 weeks.  If there is anyone with an interest in helping to teach and staff the medical clinic in the next year please contact US!