(This is Brent typing.) It is about 9:30 Saturday night, and I just received an email from Mark L., the coordinator in Haiti. He said they ran about 50 people through the eye clinic today. All the Haitians seemed healthy, bug-wise (no cholera, gastro-intestinal problems, etc.), and the I-Team staff are all still free of ''bugs''. Connie said she did a corneal transplant on an 11-yr-old girl, helped a 6-yr-old cross-eyed girl, fixed another girl who was double-cross-eyed, and also helped a 6-yr-old boy with cataracts. Mark mentioned a couple other corneal transplants--that's *live* tissue, folks!--and a couple other cataract patients. All in all, it was a productive day thanks to additional skilled team members: 3 pre-med students and 2 Opthalmic resident doctors. Having the extra, knowledgeable staff allows for teaching to flow more easily down the experience stream. There will be plenty of people to help the Haitian Opthamologists, who will be coming around Monday, to learn more and more. There are no Drs. capable of operating on eyes on children in Haiti. The I-Team are slowly working to change that. For those of you who are wondering about baby Joseph (the boy in the photos below): they took a good look at him, and, I don't know why, but they can't do surgery on him at this time. He will have to wait for corneal transplants in a few years. :-( Maybe Connie can help him see then! I know she will be eager to help.
Tomorrow is a Day of Rest, so there will be no surgeries at the mission. Even so, the team will go to La Baie (not too far from the mission) to host a field clinic to help people in whatever way they can, as long as the river isn't too high.
It sounds like the travel, all the setup and opening of the mission, and the heat have made it hard for most to get rest. I hope they sleep soundly tonight. Bless you all!!!
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