Team 5 - the last days

06.01. Monday

Today I go to Tacloban and Palo with Mark. We buy food and several other things; in Palo I buy some missing medicine. We need acetaminophen syrup, for days the number of hyper pyretic toddlers has increased. I also buy antibiotic ointment since we continuously see infected wounds. I don’t buy gloves because they are nearly as expensive as all drugs together and they don’t have enough gloves anyway.

After 3h rattling and high stress for our respiratory tracts due to smoky fires next to the street, we arrive at the camp and have lunch. We have MRE, for me salmon salad, fruits, rice cake and coffee.

At 2 o’clock Florian, Ralph and I set off to Dulag to support the Nurses and Midwifes. We are already expected by about 50 people, we will be able to treat 20. We take Emilie with us. She is 13 years old and has an infected toe. The nail needs to be removed and the wound cleaned. Emilie stays with our interpreter and comes for the surgery the following day. A small boy with an hand injury had to come the following day as well.

At 5.30 we are back at the camp. Our respiratory tracts are highly stressed and Florian stays at the camp this evening because he has almost no voice. The rest of us go to Papos, the mayor or better the voluntary municipal administrator. He invited our team for dinner as a thank-you.

Papos tells us touching stories about the typhoon. He himself lost his father, as well as numerous relatives and friends. The typhoon in itself was not the problem, but the following tsunami brought many victims and destruction.

He doesn’t really want the tents of UNHCR. He says that they make the people lethargic. He would rather like money for building material. The people should build their own houses that are more stable and continuous.

07.01. Thursday

Yesterday our container arrived and waits to be filled. Slowly we really need to say good-bye.

We ask the midwife if she is interested in our medicine. She is keen to come in the afternoon to have a look at everything. Together we look through the Health Kit. She is familiar with the content (also the medicines). She could also use the infusion solutions and the tetanus vaccination. I have a good feeling and we agree to bring her the medicines on Saturday. She is going to distribute the medicines to other delivery wards and to the hospital in Tacloban where they have a great lack of medicines as well.

The midwife has several students who she hopes to study medicine later. We agree that 2 of them come to us for a training with the medicines. We are going to try to set up a pharmacy with our medicines at the delivery ward on Saturday. The midwife and her helpers will be in charge of this pharmacy.

Today you can feel a spirit of optimism in San Joaquin. School has started, Christmas time finished on 6.1. and nearly 3 months after the typhoon the people start to increasingly tidy up and to work.

So I am looking forward to a good completion of our work here. While I was sad in the beginning that I was part of the last team that breaks camp, I now see a positive development.

09.01. Thursday

My „students“ turn up on time. They are highly motivated and are looking forward to their work. We talk about the basic medicines. They can deal very well with the Essential Drug List. They are able to find the medicines in the book and the originals and we talk about the usage, dosage and intake.

When patients come from the medical tent, Hannaj, Glenn and Felmark give the medicine out and take record independently.

After a long lunch break (48 degree!!) I explain the stockcards to the students. We want to have a card for every drug when we set up the pharmacy for Joy on Saturday. We start with the copy the stockcards at a cooler place, so that we only need to add the amounts on Saturday.

10.01. Friday

In the afternoon I was in Dulag with Florian, Lisa and our students. We have 20 patients; some changes of dressings, some fevers, cough and cold, older patients with very high blood pressure. We take one girl with us in the evening in order to operate her down to the bone festering finger. Glenn explains a salbutamol spray to an elderly, asthmatic women and it turns out that she already has one at home. It has not helped her so far since she did not know that she needs to remove the cap of the mouthpiece. Again you see how important pharmaceutical care is!!

11.01. Saturday

After lunch break we start to move the pharmacy. The cupboards are finished. We have 2 tables, 2 daybeds and medicines, bandaging material and infusions solutions. I hope that the rain stops in the afternoon, at the moment it rains so heavily that after 1-2 minutes in the rain everything is completely soaked. At the moment we cannot think about striking the medical and pharmacy tent.

The joy of the people here really gives us food for thought again and again. We never hear anybody complaining, everybody tries to take the day how it is and simply is glad to have survived. But there are also other moments. Lisa gives Ed, one of our interpreters, one of our stuffed animals for his little sister. He is delighted and names the rabbit Eve. Lisa asks him why Eve. After a while he tells us (obviously really moved) that today would have been the birthday of his mother Eve who lost her live at Jolanda.

Sunday 12.01.14

The priest invited us to curch today. In the beginning he mentions already that we will soon depart to help at other places. The choir sings wonderfully. In his sermon he thanks as again for our work. While preparing for the Holy Communion, Papoose comes to us and tells Lars and me to carry the bread and the wine to the altar. An honor – but he surely did not know that we were more or less the only Protestants in his church.