Diquini II

Well apparently, Quisqueya crisis center is in the 'good' part of town. Yesterday, when I was assigned to Diquini Hospital, we were driven for an hour and a half through some of the worst urban landscape imagineable. As we neared the 'downtown' area of the city, we saw the worst destruction, and people just lived on top of the rubble. Its difficult to put into words how I saw people living. Piles of rubble everywhere. Sewage filled canals. People living in shanties in the middle of the street. Tents pitched right on sidewalks and in every spare corner. There were thousands of people EVERYWHERE. So many people. The dust from the gravel roads, or burning garbage, or both forced us to wear masks during the long bumpy ride there and back. At Diquini I found 3 American midwives who welcomed me warmly. The rest of my team was assigned to the very busy ER and OR. The maternity unit was a separate small building adjacent to the hospital. The building held the 4 bed maternity unit, a gyn clinic, a pediatric unit, and a tiny room devoted to the NICU.