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.

Advanced Medical Transport Takes Over in Chillicothe

Fire chief joins with AMT for Chillicothe ambulance service shar.es/YQ3b5 via @sharethis
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) February 18, 2013

Rural EMS in Peoria Area Allowed to Administer Narcan...Hope the Peoria Fire Department Can Too

Lifesaving overdose treatment now available to volunteer EMTs shar.es/YUFm4 via @sharethis
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) February 18, 2013

Haitian Hearts has Two Patients Accepted

Memose--October, 2012
(Photo by John Carroll)

Thirty-four year old Memose was just accepted by a medical center in the United States for reconstructive surgery of her jaw.

Thirteen years ago Haitian Hearts brought Memose to this same medical center for cancer of her right lower jaw. The cancer was resected and her fibula was used as a bone graft to make her a new jaw bone.  It is held together by a titanium plate and screws. After surgery Memose underwent radiation therapy and did very well and returned to her family in Haiti.

Unfortunately, after the 2010 earthquake Memose was lost to follow up. However, she resurfaced on Facebook and let her host family in the States know that she was not doing well. She said that she had a hole in her jaw with recurrent infections at the site of her previous surgery.

In October of 2012, I examined Memose in Port-au-Prince. She looked well aside from her right jaw. As the photograph shows, she has a five centimeter opening over her right mandible which exposes the plate and screws. Memose has radiation induced osteonecrosis, a known complication of radiation exposure.

After my exam, I sent photos and a history and physical to her surgeon in the States. He immediately responded and said he would do all he could to reconstruct Memose's jaw. And the medical center agreed to accept Memose as well. Her wonderful host family from thirteen years ago has her room in their home ready for her. We are working on obtaining her visa now for return to the United States.

I really don't care for Facebook but Facebook is how Memose communicated with her host family and  is the main way we communicate with her. Facebook played a big role in the Egyptian revolution and is playing a big role in saving Memose's life.
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Woodson and Mom--January, 2013
(Photo by John Carroll)

The second patient is Woodson.

Woodson is a three year old toddler who lives on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. In February of 2012, his mother carried him into the pediatric clinic in Cite Soleil.

My exam revealed a very loud murmur over his chest and an echocardiogram proved he had a ventricular septal defect. This is the most common congenital heart disease and is a hole in the wall of the heart that separates the two man pumping chambers.

I put Woodson on some medication which helps rid his lungs of excess water which can collect due to this hole which should not be there.

Woodson has been accepted by a group called CHADASHA which takes Haitian kids to the Dominican Republic for heart surgery. And Woodson will leave for the Dominican Republic with his mother in two weeks for surgery to patch the hole.

Thank you CHADASHA!


John A. Carroll, MD
www.haitianhearts.org

Archbishop John Myers

Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop Myers keep the scandal alive shar.es/YD1Fh via @sharethis
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) February 17, 2013

Silent Doctors

Why Doctors Remain Silent nyti.ms/12pTk17
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) February 15, 2013

Emergency Department Overcrowding

Rise in ED crowding tied to sicker patients needing more tests - amednews.com ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/…
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) February 14, 2013

OSF Blinks Regarding Rescue 33

Rescue 33 care remains a main concern - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com pjstar.com/news/x10375016…
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) January 29, 2013

Peoria's Medical Mafia Alive and Healthy

Confidential document gives detailed information on Rescue 33's problems - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com pjstar.com/news/x15038071…
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) January 25, 2013

Discernment

It is just never a good idea if someone is going to "discern" whether you will receive medical care or not.

George Hevesy Resigns at OSF

George Hevesy, MD resigned last month (December, 2012) as Medical Director of the Emergency Department at OSF.  George is still employed at OSF as an attending physician in the Emergency Room.

He still works for OSF and collects his paycheck.

See this post from November, 2011.

Call OSF (309-655-2000) and ask for the OSF-SFMC spokesperson. Call OSF and ask for the Human Resource Department.

Call OSF to find out why George resigned as Medical Director of the Emergency Department.

I doubt you will get too far, but give it a try. (OSF records some phone calls so be careful.)

Call OSF and ask why George resigned.

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Addendum: In the past George was Chairman of the State of Illinois Disciplinary Review Board and also Illinois Region 2 EMS Medical Director for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

It Doesn't Make Much Difference

It doesn't make much difference if you are poor and uneducated in Peoria or Port-au-Prince. You don't have much of a chance.

If you, or your equally poor neighbor, or the local mafia, or the "good guy" at your community center, doesn't throw up barriers, someone else will.

And for the rest of us silence and keeping one's head buried in the sand is golden.