Dear Family and Friends:
For mobile clinics teams from the United States spending a week here, the HSC Guesthouse is a place to sleep after working all day in the field; with breakfast, a sack lunch "to go", and dinner to boot. Mobile clinic teams, however, barely spend enough time here to know by name all of my co-workers, who I hope agree I can call them my new friends: Jeannine, Madame Bellevue, Tipanyol, Yvette, Lozina, Geralda and Djenie.
In March 30, 2010, I arrived at my "temporary residence" will little idea of what it really meant to be the Guesthouse Manager at Hopital Sainte Croix. After "shadowing" Dr. Robert Sloane and Robin Sloane for four days before they returned to Fort Worth, Texas, I knew better than to tell people that I was their "replacement." Instead, I have said, "I was next." In the span of four days, I got but a glimpse of how important the Sloanes have been to the success of the Guesthouse. (Guesthouse entrance door shown in photo above.)
The past three months, I have kept in touch with
the Sloanes by email and a few phone calls. I'm indebted to Bob, along
with Dr. Emilie Hitron and Rev. John Talbird, for talking me into coming to
Leogane. I'm grateful to Bob and Robin for all of the guidance they gave
me during our meetings here before their departure on April 4, and since
then. The Guesthouse and Hopital Sainte Croix will again be enriched by
their return again in January for three months.
Bob and Robin were here this year from mid-January through April 4. There were mobile clinic teams staying here just about every week. They obviously were very busy managing the guesthouse. My tenure here has been rather different.
When I arrived March 30, a mobile clinics group, made up of Boston College Nursing College students and two instructors, were in the middle of their weeklong stay. After Bob and Robin left the next Monday morning, I was here for the seven days stay of another mobile clinic group from the Boston area.
And then the dust, dirt, spattered concrete, pounding, hammering, chipping away all walls, and other construction work started on the guesthouse floor of the three story north wing of Sainte Croix. When I first met Bob Sloane, Emilie Hitron and John Talbird last November in Miami, at a Haiti Episcopal Diocese Reconstruction conference, I made the mistake of mentioning that I had worked construction and later "acted" - more in the theatrical sense - as a City of Phoenix construction inspector of sorts before law school. I warned them that I didn't know what the heck I was doing as a city inspector. Somehow that experience translated into my becoming a somewhat "informal ad hoc" - and thankfully not "official" - construction monitor for the hospital's project architect in North Carolina.
The seven weeks of construction from April 11 through May 29 were so extensive that we were not in a position to house visiting groups. Construction continues to this day, but the necessary renovation of the large dormitory area was completed just in time to allow the nine member Duke University undergraduates, and mentor, to move into the guesthouse on May 30, for a two months stay.
This is not a mobile medical group. Rather the "Dukies" are gathering information in Leogane for two surveys. The first group is gathering information from survivors of the earthquake for use in a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD") study. The other group is conducting Maternal Mortality interviews, to learn about the causes of death of women who either died in childbirth or shortly after a delivery. It is my understanding that this information will be used to assist in the placement of clinics and midwives in the Leogane Commune. Funding for the two projects is provided through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
During construction, the "long term residents" of the guesthouse have remained here - Dr. Samuels, an ER physician at the hospital, Dr. Pierre, a public health administrator, Pernell Joseph, who works in the hospital's finance office ("Comptabilte"), and Carleigh Ghendt, the administrative assistant to Hospital Director, Dr. Gladys Memnon.
Carleigh originally came to Haiti last year with the All Hands
volunteer group mentioned in Note # 8. But this year she has been
serving as Dr. Memnon's assistant at the hospital. Carleigh has agreed to
stay at Sainte Croix through the end of the year, if not longer.
She has been "drafted" to be the ad hoc guesthouse manager until the
next formal Manager comes aboard. (A photo of Carleigh, with me and Dr.
Memnon from this evening is at right. Dr. Memnon had just come from
wedding.)
On several weekends during April, the guesthouse floor seemed a
bit like the snowed in hotel in The Shining. Dr. Samuels and Prenell
would be in Port-au-Prince, Carleigh was on vacation in the States, and Dr.
Pierre had yet to move into the guesthouse. It was just me and Dr. L from
Friday evening until late Sunday afternoon. But instead of yelling
"Here's Johnny" and chasing after Shelley Duvall with an axe, I'd
sometimes find myself running down the hallways after Dr. Livingston with my
camera. He was as elusive as Danny and Wendy in the movie. (There
are no photographs of Dr. L for this note. He's had his several weeks of
fame, which is quite enough. I know Dylan agrees.)
Seriously though, serving as the Guesthouse Manager at Hopital Sainte Croix has allowed me three months' time to get to know the staff here, each with unique personalities.
I start with Madame Bellevue, because she was the
first person who took the time to teach me some Kreyol, and also because, well,
there is only one Madame Bellevue. (Madame Bellevue
in one of her many hats). She is the strongest petite woman I have ever
met. When we would lose water to the guesthouse, it was Madame who would
haul bucket after five gallon bucket of water up the stairs from a water source
outside of the hospital lobby. Madame Bellevue pesters me a few times
each week to allow her to change the sheets on my bed more often; but I have
won that battle most days ! When she has taught me a new word or phrase
in Kreyol, and I finally use the proper pronunciation, she'll sometimes pat me
on the face - with a giggle from the approving teacher to her student.
Madame Bellevue is in charge of housekeeping at the guesthouse. She
always is wearing a hat when she cleans up at the end of the work day, and
changes into a dress for the walk home. She has dropped by on Sundays a
few times, to visit on her way home from church. On Palm Sunday, she was
wearing a long purple dress and a black hat - my favorite outfit
for this remarkable woman who displays so much grace every day.
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Tipanyol shown at right usually is the first to come to work
each day, so I open for him the locked entrance door on the second floor.
He always greets me with a high pitched "Bonjou" and a soft crossing
of one of our hands. (Haitians do not usually give you a firm handshake,
which is a common American style. Rather hands are often brought together
in more of a soft slap or a quick grasping. Peterson, however, is a fan
of firm handshakes.) From Watson I learned that Tipanyol has been working
at Sainte Croix since at least 1998. Watson remembers seeing Tipanyol
working at the hospital, when Watson, age 6, would be doing his homework
waiting for his mother to finish work at Sainte Croix. Tipanyol is a
general handyman around the guesthouse and assists Madame Bellevue with
housekeeping. I think it is fair to say that he and I have developed a
better working relationship as my Kreyol has improved, because Tipanyol speaks
very little English. He is a hard worker, and a good man.
Yvette, Lozina, Geralda and Djenie are the staff
members who have worked with Jeannine in the kitchen and dining room my entire
time here. Djenie is the youngest, and is Jeannine's niece. (in green top) She has only worked here a few weeks, because she still attends
secondary school.
During the seven weeks of construction when no
groups were staying at the guesthouse, only Madame Bellevue, Tipanyol and
Jeannine worked full time each week. Jeannine and I agreed we would
rotate in one additional cook to assist Jeannine each week, so that Yvette,
Geralda and Lozina, and one week Djenie, would be able to work at least once
every 3 - 4 weeks. During the Dukies stay, Jeannine is being assisted in
the kitchen and dining room by two additional staff members each week. I
hope the guesthouse will once again return to full capacity by September, so that full time employment is available to all of
Jeannine's co-workers.
Yvette (in brown top) is the most serious one in the group; and the best dresser. Early in my time here, when Yvette was working, she made sure that promptly after 5 p.m. I had locked the metal door leading down from the roof, and all three doors accessing the second floor. She was adamant that I secure the guesthouse immediately after the construction crew left for the day. Because she doesn't speak much English, these "polite reminders" were done with hand signals. Yvette must now think that I know what I'm doing, because for more than two months she has not found it necessary to get my attention after 5 p.m. by walking in front of me to point to the roof. Now Yvette's "Bonjou Dave" greetings at the beginning of the day are quite friendly. Yvette is like the co-worker who reserves judgment until a new employee proves he is not totally incompetent. I think I have finally made the grade in Yvette's mind - of at least not being totally incompetent. Next to Jeannine, I now am closest to Yvette among the kitchen and dining room staff.
Lozina (in black top) is the oldest member of the staff.
Until two weeks ago, she had the most amazing braided hair I have seen in
years. She is very reserved and most quite kind. When Lozina is
working with Yvette and Jeannine, we most definitely have the "A Team” on
board.
The first few weeks I worked with Geralda (purple top), I
thought she was quite shy. But during the past month or so, she has shown
a different side. She actually is quite outgoing once you get to know
her. As with Tipanyol, improved communication between me and
Geralda has been directly tied to my learning more Kreyol. I now can make
her laugh; which never happened in April. 
And then there is Jeannine (in blue stripes), the
glue that holds together The Guesthouse at Hopital Sainte Croix. She's
like an older sister, even though I have many years on her. People in Leogane, and mobile teams in the States, know of the reputation of
the Guesthouse having the best meals in town. This is a reputation well
deserved, in large part to Jeannine always trying to improve the cooking
here. But Jeannine is much more than the person I meet with each week to
decide how much "lajan" she needs to buy food supplies for next
week's meals. She is the one person at the guesthouse who everyone looks
to for guidance. She knows who to call among the non-medical
hospital staff to get something fixed. She takes great pride in her
leadership role. I could not have survived the last three months without
her counsel and polite shoves.
Carleigh leaves tomorrow for three weeks of vacation with her family in the States. It is just like Jeannine that for last two nights she has been surfing the Internet to find a few baking and dessert cookbooks she has asked Carleigh to bring back to the guesthouse.
I have learned important life lessons from the grace and wisdom displayed by Madame Bellevue and Jeannine. I hope that counsel stays with me long after I leave Leogane.
The past few months, I have received a few emails asking me how I liked managing the staff at the guesthouse. The answer is quite simple - I don't. That is, I haven't been managing the people who were working here when I arrived in late March and who still will be here after I leave in two days. This has truly been an experience where the patient veterans have brought the rookie along slowly but surely, so that he could eventually feel that he has made some small contribution to the goings-on of the Guesthouse at Hopital Sainte Croix.
I hope this note finds you and your loved ones in the same good health and spirits.
David
28 June 2011
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