Boots on the Ground, Dealing for Electricity, and Doing the Dishes

Livestock grazing on a soccer "field"

Our driver Makende drove Meer and I out to the former Red Cross hospital in Gressier that is now run by the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP). I wanted to visit one of the sites for our pilot study on sexually transmitted infections (STI) and introduce myself to the doctor and nurses and see how they were running the study. The preliminary data so far have been good, scary good. In the initial 100 subjects enrolled, we saw a 25% rate of STIs. I thought it would be high but not this high. Dr. Celestin, a Haitian doctor, is our point of contact at this clinic. Meer introduced me and I explained who I was and what I do and my plans for my sabbatical here. During our visit with Dr. Celestin, his immediate boss, the head of the Léogâne-Gressier Regional Public Health Office, dropped by. Dr. Celestin introduced us and I immediately regretted not having at least put on a decent polo shirt today. And since it was laundry day, I was also wearing my torn jeans. Not a very decent first impression, I thought. The regional director was dressed in a dark suit, crisp white shirt and tie and here I was dressed in a Penn State THON T-shirt, old jeans, and black Chuck Taylor low cuts. Meer assured me that it was okay and that people from the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) always dressed that way. Yeah, right.

Meer coaxed me to take advantage of this chance meeting to explain the mission of the UF lab and our on-going projects. I speak French, Meer does not. So I was the point person on this unexpected opportunity to promote our work and generate some goodwill with someone higher up on the MSPP ladder. I was not exactly ready to give the classic 30 second elevator pitch, in French, but I wove it into a five minute presentation about the lab and included how we were training Haitian lab techs while carrying out our studies in the region. I finished it off by inviting the director to visit the lab some day. I wish I had my business card to give him. Maybe he will stop by, maybe not. But I think we made a good impression science- and public health-wise. That should offset the fashion statement I had chosen for today.

After the director left, I asked the Gressier clinic nurses, Youseline and Lancy, to take me through a mock enrollment interview in the STI study. I sat down opposite Youseline and she asked me the questions that are part of the informed consent process that patients go through before they can participate. Since this is a pre-natal clinic, the first question Youseline asked me was if I was pregnant. For this morning, I was pregnant. All kidding aside, I was impressed at the thoroughness of the process. The nurses were well trained and I felt confident that they were carrying out the informed consent process for our study in a professional and ethical fashion.

Our next stop this morning was along the Gressier River to take a water sample.  We drove down a long, dirt and rock road toward where the road crossed the river, a spot only about six feet wide. Meer took a reading for dissolved oxygen and then filled up a bottle with about 500 ml of water. Further down the river Meer let me take a reading and a sample.

Meer taking a dissolved oxygen reading in the Gressier River

Public health message along the Gressier River.
"Don't drink river water"; "Don't poop in the river";
"Treat water before serving to avoid catching microbes"

Back in the lab after lunch, Meer and I had a discussion with Edsel and Keith, an electrical engineer from UF, about the power requirements for the new autoclave. It turns out that the power needed to run the autoclave would easily max out the generator capacity for the entire compound. Plus the lab will be drawing additional power for the blowers and AC for the BSL-3 bubble once that becomes operational. Edsel wanted us to restrict use of the autoclave to before 8 AM and after 5 PM, basically after work hours. We explained that an autoclave is a critical instrument in the workday of a microbiology lab. We went back and forth educating each other. We explained the role an autoclave plays in a microbiology lab and they told us about the limitations of the current power generating structure and the costs for various solutions. The Christianville Missions compound is not on the Electricité de Haiti grid. It generates its own electricity. After a while, I think we came up with a reasonable solution that fits our needs and stays within the power budget. We will discuss these issues with Glenn Morris, the Director of the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute (the lab here is the UF-EPI lab) tomorrow.

I was ready for dinner. As I got into the food line, I remembered that I had signed up to wash dishes tonight. I guess all of the Christianville regulars do their share once a week so I figured I would do my part. There are usually about 15-20 people for dinner. Tonight a mission group arrived from the States just as I was finishing dinner. Another 30 people! I picked a bad night to do dishes. There were three of us signed up but John, the accountant, was called away for a meeting. So it was Meer and I again, just the two of us, washing, rinsing and drying dishes for about 50 people. I knew that coming down to Haiti would be an adventure. Just did not expect washing dishes to be part of it. But as I said, once you have been to Haiti, you understand that we as Americans have nothing to complain about. We are the fortunate ones. I’m not complaining. Just let me have what I need to do my job. I would do dishes every night if that is what it would take to get the juice to run our autoclave. Hope it does not come to that.