Elizabeth Bart-Plange Opoku, a vocational nursing instructor at American Career College-Ontario, traveled to Haiti for a weeklong medical mission this April.
Opoku visited the Caribbean country with Mission Haiti, a religion-based healthcare alliance, and 14 other people. The team included a medical doctor, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, a pastor and other lay people.
"We went as a community health outreach to serve the precious people of Bien Aime in the mountains of Haiti. These dear people have never had a visit from anyone outside their village. We took shoes, clothing, toothbrushes and medications," Opoku said. "We had to educate them on tooth brushing because they have never seen or used one in their life."
The Mission Haiti clinic provided care for newborns, children and the elderly. Most of those treated had never visited a doctor or anyone in healthcare before, Opoku said, due to the community's remote location.
"They have to walk four hours just to get to a bus to take them to a doctor in town or the city," she said.
Pregnant women and new moms were educated on breastfeeding and infant care. Clinic volunteers followed World Health Organization protocols for sexually transmitted diseases, de-worming, scabies, ring worm and baby nutrition.
"We also prepared birthing kits for the pregnant moms with simple birthing instruction in them so that if they go into labor they will have all they need to deliver safely," Opoku said. "These people live off the land, and don't have electricity. Education was a big component of this trip on disease prevention and well-baby care."
