Good Friday in Haiti

It is very early Good Friday morning.

Marie just texted me: "Dr mwn pa kapab respire bien ni donmi" ("Doctor I cannot breathe well or sleep.")

Jesus actual cause of death as He hung on His cross was suffocation. Marie is having fluid from her heart backing up into her lungs, which floods her alveoli and impairs oxygen transfer. Marie is suffocating on her cross like our Lord did on His.

Jesus could text no one. Marie can.

Jesus had to die. Marie doesn't.

Our response hasn't changed much in two thousand years.


John A. Carroll, MD
www.haitianhearts.org

More ER Crowding Means More Inpatient Deaths

See this abstract from the online version of Annals of Emergency Medicine, December 2012.

"They are going to let me die..."

Early this morning Marie texted me: "They are going to let me die, Doctor Carroll."

I quickly called her on Skype. She does not sound good. Marie cannot breathe well or sleep well. She seems to be dying of congestive heart failure due to her mitral valve which has been destroyed.

I have e mailed multiple people in the States and in Haiti requesting help for Marie. She needs to be hospitalized for oxygen and aggressive diuresis. And then she needs valve replacement.

@micheljmartelly Please help young lady with heart problem. She was operated in Illinois...needs help today..Marie at 47735075. Thx.
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) March 26, 2013

OSF Please Follow Your Philosophy

Please, OSF, follow your Mission Philosophy....blogs.pjstar.com/haiti/2013/03/…
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) March 25, 2013

Sounds Like Peoria to Me

Lyons: U.S. patients the victims of health care profiteers shar.es/ezQUa via @sharethis
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) March 20, 2013

Pope Francis

Clearly defining his vision of his own role, he quoted from scriptural texts to say that as Bishop of Rome, he was endowed with “a certain power.”

But he went on: “Let us never forget that authentic power is service and that the pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross.”

“He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked St. Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison.”

New York Times--19 March 2013

Social Sin

"We live in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the most yet reduced misery the least. The unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers."

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio
2007

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine?livefromhaiti.blogspot.com/2013/03/can-yo…
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) March 9, 2013

With the Greatest Care and Love

OSF-Saint Francis Medical Center (OSF-SFMC) is the largest medical center in Illinois south of Chicago. It used to be called St. Francis Hospital.

OSF's bills are sent to patients from OSF HealthCare Patient and Accounts and Access Center from 7134 Solution Center in Chicago.

After you read what your "total amount due" is there is a statement that says:

"Thank you for choosing OSF HealthCare and OSF Saint Francis Medical Center as your health care provider where we serve persons with the greatest care and love. The balance on this statement is now your responsibility."

When OSF-SFMC was St. Francis Hospital it did serve patients with the greatest care and love.