This past week at Be Like Brit was special for a number of reasons. We hosted an incredible group from College of the Holy Cross who built a home for one of our own security guards who is expecting his first child with his girlfriend in the coming months; Dr. Vicki Kvedar and her daughter Julie spent countless hours in our medical clinic, conducting eye examinations and fitting our children and staff with glasses, curing the occasional common ailments, and diagnosing more complex ocular disease and illness, referring (when possible) to providers in Haiti for surgery or follow up. We also paused to remember and recognize the 6th Anniversary of the Haiti Earthquake together with our children, our staff, and our Britsionarys.
We thought it would be interesting this week to share with you the experience of our Medical Britsionary Team. Dr. Vicki and Julie have come to Be Like Brit in Haiti for three years now. Their experience and their speciality (ophthalmology) give them a unique insight into the needs of the population, and the barriers to accessing care in a place like Haiti can be truly challenging! Here's a bit of what Julie and her mother Vicki had to say about their experience:
_________________________________________________________________________________
from Julie:
A smile spread across Asline's face when she first put the glasses on. At 17 years old, she had never before had her eyes examined, altough she had an inkling her eyes were 'not good'. When we first tested her distance vision, we disovered she couldn't read a single letter on the eye chart! The next day, she couldn't contain her excitement upon learning one of the donated pairs of glasses we had brought with us was her exact prescription. By the time she was reading the smallest letters on the eye chart, I was nearly in tears. For the first time in her seventeen years, Asline could actually see the movies being shown on movie night; she could see the individual leaves on the mango tree outside and she could finally read the blackboard at school. Being a medical volunteer in Haiti may present its challenges, but the smile Asline couldn't wipe off her face made everything worth it.
Haiti is full of juxtapositions, and healthcare in Haiti magnifies those challenges. Before my first trip to Haiti, I was prepared to see malnourishment and tropical diseases, but I didn't expect to be conducting eye exams for adults who needed picture charts vs. letter charts because they were illiterate, or to be working with patients who didn't know how old they were or when their birthdays were. I didn't expect things like electricity (outside of BLB), surgical referrals and follow-up care to be so elusive. My mother, Vicki Kvedar, is an ophthalmologist, and we travel annually to Be Like Brit to perform eye exams on the children, staff, and members of the community. We have discovered that a number of children need glasses, and we had the pleasure of learning that their school performance immediately improved upon receiving them. We have diagnosed staff and other community members with things including glaucoma, cataracts, and sun damage. We've provided them with with the necessary medications to preserve their vision. Thanks to a number of generous donors, we have brought to BLB all of the necessary eye equipment, medicine, and over 1000 pairs of glasses to run this eye clinic every year!
We have been lucky enough each year to have the opportunity to see patients at local clinics, in addition to members of the BLB Family. It is here that we directly see the fate from which we are saving our children and staff at BLB. Our hearts break anew each year to see the ophthalmic and systemic maladies that often go untreated in Haiti. Patients come to see us with extreme cataracts, glaucoma-induced blindness, and eye growths called pterygia, inflicted by sun damage that slowly destroy the patients' vision. Each of those diagnoses could have been detected and treated at earlier stages in a developed country, and yet we often have to break the heart-wrenching news to patients that we do not have the necessary equipment available to help them in Haiti. Patients who could have been rushed to an operating room in the USA, we often have to let walk out our door, untreated. Although we refer patients to free clinics for surgery when possible, follow-up is challenging and travel is a huge barrier for patients.
Amongst our most memorable cases are two babies and a young man.On our first trip to Haiti, we went to visit a child whose eyes were giant, glassy, and a strange blue color. My mother diagnosed him with congenital glaucoma. We were too late. He was already blind in one eye, and nearly blind in the other.We gave him eye drops to lower the painful pressure in his eyes, but his vision was beyond saving. His glaucoma would have been easily detected early and treated in a developed country -
Another baby on our most recent trip captured our hearts, on a trip to a remote clinic in the mountains. A beautiful young mother brought her sick son to see us in the hopes of a diagnosis. The boy had previously been diagnosed with conjunctivitis, but we immediately knew that his situation was far more dire. He had been born with a rare and serious genetic condition which essentially leads to severe dry skin and everts the eyelids outward. His skin appeared to be like patches scales on a fish. His skin was so taught that it actually pulled his eyelids open. Instead of lubricating his eyes, his tears streamed down his face. We referred his mother to a free clinic where he could receive treatment in surgery, but we don't know if the family will actually be able to make that journey from the mountains to the city of Port.
Finally, I was struck by a patient who was the same age as me whom we met last year on our trip to BLB. His vision was so poor that he could barely see two fingers held in front of his face. After further testing, we discovered he had been born with cataracts which had been obstructing his vision his entire life. We referred him to get the cataracts removed - an easy procedure in the USA. I wondered what it would be like for him the first time he really saw the world he had been living in for the past 23 years. Upon returning to Haiti this year, we hopefully inquired as to his surgery. We were heartbroken to learn that he had sought treatment upon our recommendations but had been misdiagnosed at the referred clinic as having glaucoma. He never underwent the operation. He is still, in essence, blind...
The triumphs we have experienced in Haiti, however, have outweighed the tribulations a thousand fol. The joys of watching Brit's Children grow up are simply unparalleled. We have the privilege of seeing new children learn their letters every year; hearing about their progress both socially and in school, and starting to connect with them ever more closely through their newly learned English language skills. Among our favorite quotes include when Dalandya exclaimed to us, "My eyes is good!" upon arriving for her eye exam, and Medlens remarking to us, "you have beautiful glasses" while surveying our donated collection.
For every heartbreaking case we came across in Haiti, there are a dozen that bring a smile to my face. These memories keep my hope alive while I anticipate my next trip to Haiti, knowing that although some experiences will bring me a deep sadness, Haiti will ultimately fill me with unbridled joy.
Until next time, Haiti...
_________________________________________________________________________________
These are the types of experiences we can expect in Haiti, and please know that we at BLB are considering all of these challenges and continuously looking for ways we can connect people to better services, and how we might be able to offer them as an organization at some point in our planning for the future.
Our group from Holy Cross spent their week busy with building a home for one of our security agents, Nerva. He and his girlfriend are expecting a child soon, and our own Melissa really captured what the week was like working with him and his family:
Nerva, today was amazing and it was an honor to be a part of it.
Your job at @blbhaiti is to protect our family, and now we are able to provide you with a safe new home where you can protect yours.
Mwen renmen ou, zanmi mwen 💜☀
Our sincere thanks go to Father Hayes, Colleen, Matt, and the students from College of the Holy Cross for bringing such joy and peace of mind to this young family in need.
As we gear up for another busy week here in Haiti, we'd like to remind you that on January 21, 2015 (Thursday), we invite you to GO BLUE FOR BRIT! In celebration of Brit's birthday (she would be 26!) we are asking our friends to wear their Be Like Brit gear - or anything in blue, really - and send us your photos of you, your classrooms, schools, colleagues, and more wearing their BLUE for Brit! You can email us your photos throughout the day, and we ask you to share them on social media, too! You can find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BeLikeBrit) or on Twitter @BeLikeBrit or Instagram @blbhaiti! Donations in memory of Brit on her birthday will go directly to Haiti, so that we may continue to offer our resources, skills, and talents to help those most in need!
Thank you for helping us help the children of Haiti at Be Like Brit!!!
