And You Think You Can Start When?

     I arrived back in Haiti on Monday with renewed enthusiasm and high expectations to start my sexually transmitted infections study in Gressier. I finally received Human Subjects Research approval from my Institutional Review Board and another approval from the oversight committee that has to sign off on overseas projects. So everything was good to go as of September 12, 2014. It was only about 10 months later than I had hoped to start the project but I was very naïve and overly optimistic about how long it actually takes to get a study of this type underway.

     My equipment and supplies were all in place in the UF-EPI Haiti lab in Gressier and I brought down more supplies when I came back on Monday. So one of my goals was to hire my staff that I had trained in July. When I flew down here, I still did not have a contract in place between the Henry Jackson Foundation (HJF), the organization that manages my grant for the study, and Christianville Foundation, who will handle hiring and paying my staff as well as other in-country expenses such as housing, lodging, transportation, use of the UF lab, etc. Negotiations had begun in June and when I left my office in Bethesda on October 10, I still did not have a contract. I had been through several weeks of frustration trying to find out what was holding up the final contract. I cannot tell you how many emails I received that said the “final” contract was ready to be signed. Then something else would come up and nothing was signed. It was infuriating. I had already scheduled my trip with the expectation that the contract would be in place and that I would be free to hire my staff and start the project. I could not wait. My travel office required a 30 day advance to process the paperwork for a foreign trip. Don’t ask why. I would not be able to tell you. The forms are all filled out the same way as for my previous half dozen trips in the past year. Why should it take so long and require so much advance notice? I don’t understand. It is just one more frustration.

     So I arrived in Christianville on Monday and met with John, the person who is the Christianville contact for the contact negotiations. He could not understand why it was taking so long either. I apologized for the delay. I told him I would contact my Program Manager and see where we were on the contract. Tuesday, I contacted my Program Manager to get an update. Things were still a mess and no contract was ready. Tuesday night, John forwarded me an email he had received that afternoon from the person at HJF who was handling the contact. It said that she was no longer handling the contract and that someone else had been assigned to work on it.  John said he assumed that I had received the same email and that I was aware of the change. I was not. My Program Manager was not informed either. I was furious. It was embarrassing. I had dinner with John earlier that evening and he knew about the change while I was completely unaware of what was going on. Now what? This turn of events was very depressing and unexpected.

     The good news is that the person now handling the contract is very good and efficient. The better news is that on Wednesday the advance money was approved which means that I could hire my staff. We called them on Wednesday afternoon and told them to come to Christianville on Thursday. We hired them this afternoon! I have my Gressier team. We are ready to go.

     Or so I thought.