Ready to go back

Tonight's my last night in the states after 10 weeks externship in Madison Wisconsin. I ask you to pray for me because at this time prayer is the thing I need the most. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this trip possible for me. I don't know what is waiting for me in Haiti, and even if I don't know where I will sleep, God has a plan for me. I don't know when my next meal will be, my next shower, my next place to rest my head at night.... but Haiti is where I'm supposed to be and I'm excited to go home to my country. Good night I will write more soon and keep you up to date.

I miss the dopf

I miss the Dopf. I miss Verona............. I don't have the concentration i need to write tonight. I am also sa, very sad tonight.Cause I miss Verona. I will be back to Haiti next week. I am spending some time with my family in Cape Coral, Florida. And then going back to my country, my dear country Haiti. I miss Haiti, i miss Madison. My heart is where it should be, but not where I want to be. I should be with the people that's need my help. The People who can make me cry and Happy. It is best to forget yourself when millions of people can have a better life with your help. I AM READY TO GO BACK TO HAITI. EVEN IF I HAVE NO HOME TO SLEEP OR A BASIC BATH ROOM to use or the basics foods I need ... but "home is home and no one will make it better than us, lets DO it" God in my left, my skills in my right, nothing can stop me.
i will keep you update about the situation in Haiti. Good night.
Post more soon.

Things I cant forget about the earthquake.

Tonight I was in my room at the Dopf's House listening to Christian music and playing with the kids, we were laughing and dancing, felt very happy and good... Suddenly, I was thinking about my own nieces and nephew. I used to play with them a lot in Haiti... and later I think about Haiti and the quake. I stopped playing cause I couldn't. I felt that I was in Haiti in the earthquake was going to happen... I saw things that I never remember and talk about before tonight.It was so fast, so deep so strange, so scary that day of January 12. it was like some time when you are having a bad dream and after when you wake up you see that it's not real, it's a dream. You feel very happy that it was a dream... but "it was true" 45 seconds.. 45 little seconds. people that was by the epicenter of the earthquake in Haiti that day, like me, did not experience these 45 seconds the same way. Some cant talk now to share with us, they are not in this world, some cant walk to show us where they was... when I was in Haiti, any time I saw that house I was going to enter which is collapsed now, I ask my self why I am alive. But I do know now.
Now I remember why I was talking to the Vodoo priest that day. When he asked me to stop and wanted to try my bicycle. Mostly they don't talk very often to people. if I didn't stop, I would be inside the house and may be I would lost my life, or got damaged. But even if he stopped me, he didn't saved me. Its why God say : "I will use your enemies to rescue you"
I would like to know if he is still alive. when I will be back to Haiti next week, I would like to find him and tell him that God used him to save me. Now its is turn to be using by God to save him, not from the earthquake but hell.

I cant forget these 45 seconds. it's take 23 328 000 seconds from the fecundation to the to the last second of deliver of the the new baby. so confuse and hard for u and me to believe, right? but it's true. the same way that is true, it is also true that one life(23 328 000 seconds) was giving for millions and millions of life(infinity of seconds) The Bible says it clearly and many people had a new life because Jesus died.
Many people died from the earthquake and now all the world want to change haiti, they give a lot of money for Haiti and lot of attention, it will take time lot of energy, lot of strategy. its might be difficult or impossible to have a Haiti that everyone wish to have a day, but only the lord, our God can change Haiti.
Good night post more soon

Still learning hard, still busy. cant wait to go back to Haiti,share and use my experience from Madison and to restart the Mobile Clinics. I have met a lot of Good people here in Madison. one thing I will miss is the hospitality and the kindness of all the staff I worked with and also the very good treatment that Krista D, Dr Dopf wife gave me. I will be back in Haiti at the end of June. I still don't know where and how I will sleep. its still raining in Haiti in plus of the big aftershock that we have every 1 or two days. My desire is not to be in a good place and having a very nice life, but its to be some where I can make a change, I can create, provide, help people healing, smiling , hope and recovery they autonomy and they health. “helping people healing is providing health to my soul” God give us Life with a lot of struggles. Time to go back almost arrive no more than two weeks. when I go back to Haiti, Some things I will work on: Back to my Life in Haiti, see my Family, helping them having a better place to sleep. Restart with the Mobil Clinic Create A Nurses association i(stat in Leogane) Back to the Nursing School and setup a Fracture department in which I will be able to teach the Student: Mastering the human skeletal anatomy How to identify an open/ close fracture how to reduce it how to diagnosis and trait any compartmental syndrome how to put a cast/ splint how to remove an external fixator how to remove a cast Teach them the essential about physiotherapy for a post-op orthopedic patient Renew the CPR skills 2010 American hearth ass. Teach them how to take care of a new or old wound teach them how to take care of a patient by them self on a emergency situation Sterile technique Suture techniques ... working at the tent Hospital and help with my new Nursing skill I will be able to work as a orthopedic assistant at the Operating Room A circulant nurse or instruments Nurse working on a 24 hours opening emergency room at the hospital create a new system to manage the medical supplies and the patient records at the Hospital promote the infection control inside the Hospital Enhance the sterile technique at the OR helping with a electronic system for the pharmacy and a better maintenance for the Drugs and fluid. create a PT(physical therapy department at the Hospital for the Post-op patient) ... participate to my Graduation ceremony in December take the national exam for nurses in Haiti Getting more Education to provide a better care in Haiti. Staff I need and

things I still don't have to go back to Haiti:
I need a complete nursing kit DUAL HEAD PROFESSIONAL NURSING STETHOSCOPE
Mini Otoscope/Ophthalmoscope Kit Pocket Resuscitator Mask
AED (automated external defibrillator) for trainer (training the nurses and the student) real AED for the hospital
We need an x-ray Machine at the tent Hospital
We need to have laboratory access
I need support with the Mobile Clinique
Camping rechargeable lantern Coleman
Inflate-All Quick Pump many other suplies
...
post more soon

hope for haiti

Today, May 12, 2010; 4 months after the quake killed about 300 000 kids and adults, left thousands of new amputees and many injured and destroyed houses, schools and others public and private offices in Haiti. Many things have been changed since that Tuesday, January 12, 2010.
Many poeple were planning to do something on Wednesday, January 13. Like a birthday celebration or a trip to another country or a having a wedding or a graduation ceremony anything we can imagine.
I remember Angela and I was talking at the Library of the nursing school around 4 pm at FSIL, the nursing School. She was talking about her life, her daughter. Angela was a smart student at the nursing school we spent 4 years together she was fighting to get a license in Nursing and try to get a good job to make the education of her 2 years old daughter and to help her family. She has one younger sister who is a nurse student too at the national nursing school in Port-au-Prince.





She was one of these Haitian like me too that believe in education and also that being educate is the key of success.
In Haiti, most of the parents have not been to an elementary school. They think that it’s a crime and they make a lot of sacrifice to educate their children as they can. Some of the sells water in the streets, or sell bread or sugar or make a little activity where they. That was not the case for Angela because her mother was sick and I don’t know may be she had a scholarship because she was really smart. Angela was pregnant for her boyfriend, so she got married with him. Pregnancy, nursing school and live as an Haitian was a big struggle for her but she sacrificed herself completely and success for her future, her family and her country. But… she was killed by the quake and her Sister perishes with the other 200 students at her school. They were taking an exam in Port-au-prince. It’s hard to say and to believe but that was the surprise of the quake.
Who know when something like the earthquake will surprise him too?
Sometime we forget who we are, where we are from and what we are made of.
We are NOTHING!!!
Angela is a perfect example. 22 years old, smart, young and beautiful. With Lot of energy, she had a dream, a goal and a vision like we do too.
Who want to be like Angela? And who can avoid that thing that happened to Angela?
Sometime we need to recognize that “we don’t own life and we have to live everyday as a gift. A day life, dream and goal will disappear. But love that we share with others will never died “. Love’s manifestations are multiple; Jesus shared his love with us by giving his life in the cross. This is the biggest proof of love that we know since the world is world.
Haiti needs Love, especially at this time thousands of people need food, safe water, health, electricity, job, education, infrastructures…this list is long, and it means a lot in time and money. But they are the basic things that a country need. Our politician doesn’t have a good mechanism of action to enhance these systems. They tried but don’t success. We need education for the young, and a good condition of life that will give them the opportunity to stay in Haiti and rebuilt the country. There is a lot to do. The task is hard, but if we want and believe, we could.

Many things have been changed since the earthquake of January 12. Many people heard since a long time about Haiti, but never had a chance to visit. Once they have this desire to go and help after the quake hit in Haiti, they fall in love for Haiti, and also they have a new vision about life. They think more about helping, giving, loving, caring…and less about money, power. Race...
Many people left them family behind them go to Haiti and help. What they saw in Haiti. Make a change in their life. By sharing that with other people, they give more hope for Haiti.
May 18, will be a national celebration in Haiti. Its remind the 207 th anniversary of the Haitian flag.
Thank you all of you, for your prayer and support for me and Haiti.

Good night! Post more soon
lrigan@yahoo.fr

Peace to my Grand mother

Tonight I want to post a quick update. Last night my sister Alcie, email me and tell me that my Grand mother was died, I was sad and think about her when I was leaving her in Haiti, she was old and was burned by a kerosene lamp one week before she died. right after they brought her to a tent hospital in Leogane, 67 % of her body was burned... poor grand ma. she was in coma right after her burn. now she is in peace and I hope that she goes straight to the haven.

I am still doing progress on my externship at Meriter Hospital. My suture skills are great and I learn a lot about orthopedic instruments, cast, splinting and sterile technic. I also spent time on foot and ankle care. These new experiences or knowledge will be more than helpfull for me in haiti. words are not enough to thank Dr.Dopf and meriter Hospital for this opportunity they give me and the sacrifices they are making to help Haiti. Hope next week I could start to work with some physician at University of Wisconsin Hospital.




I still thank God because he shows me his way and tells me what he wants me to do and opening all door for me and giving me a lot of opportunities and put a lot of good poeple in my way. At this time I would never think I would be here In Madison, but God was planning and wrote some where in his book that I should be here , and his words are true I am here. I didn't choose Him he did. But when He called me, I said yes. Since, He is using me showing me that there is nothing in this earth that can compare to his love, his power and what he save for us in the haven. I am surprise about what I am seeing here in the states and also think about what kind of life I was living in Haiti, some time I ask my self: " why God choose this time right after the earthquake in Haiti, where life is so difficult at this present moment to bring me in the states?" why, why? I dont know. when I went to the nursing school right after the earthquake and help the people. I didn't know who I was; I leave my house and never come back, leave my bed room with all my supplies, leave my family and spent tree weeks without seeing them. my house is at about 10 mns from the nursing School. It was not me but God, because when God is in you, you forget all that you have, and who you are. and the more you care about materiel, the less you are close to God. ist why He said that It's very difficult for a rich man to go to the haven.

The Nursing school is open now. And the task become more difficult for the student and the Dean of the Nursing School cause we had a few people that really have a good qualification to teach in Haiti. the earthquake killed many of them.I cant wait to go back and share my experience with them. Now WE need support all kind of support. education, infrastructure, health, development... we need to restart. I cant change haiti by my self but I believe that God can and will. Next week I will be very busy with my new schedule. God give me a passion and energy to learn. Now I am asking Him to help me to get a master in nursing, Or help me to become a Surgeon. because I want to learn more and be more help full for Haiti, We have a few among of doctors and most of them are not really qualified because all they objectives are making money and have a cute life. God Give me a passion for Haiti.
I am lucky and very gracefull to be a Christian and a health provider at the same time, it's like a blessing.
Haiti for god God for Haiti
it' almost 1: 44 Am I need to get some rest. will post more soon
Love you all!

My trip to Madison Wisconsin

I am finally enter the USA, after a lot of effort that Dr. Dopf A. Craig one of the first orthopedic doctor I work with In Haiti right after the earthquake, made to get me here. with the help of many other people and institution like the UWHC, where I will get my training. My trip to Madison is a blessing. I will be able to get some more experience in nursing and be more help full for my community in Haiti. We still need help and specially health care. Tonight I will be short cause it's late. but I wanted to share this experience and keep this blog up date then people will still know what I am doing and how thing is doing in haiti. even I am not in Haiti, but I still have connection with my family and some friends in haiti. Today I was talking with my mom and I was very sad for them and for Haiti. I was thinking about them and it makes me cry a lot and it's one of the reason that I up date my blog tonight cause I really want to write to decrease my sadness. actually it's 11: 30 p.m. I am sitting in front of my computer and crying. cause I feel that my place is not here. it's true that I am here for a good reason and I am very comfortable with the Dopf's family where I am living now for the 70 days of training at the UWHC(University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinic. I feel that they was my own family. They give me everything I need or want. they are very nice with me and feel very comfortable with them. I am very happy to see Dr. Dopf again, get to know him more and spend time with his beautifull family. they are wonder full, Craig and his wife Christa and God will bless them. this link will tell you more about who he is and how I met him and my first day in Madison.


http://www.wkowtv.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?clipId1=4688362&flvUri=&partnerclipid=&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Hospitality%20for%20Haiti&d1=162300&redirUrl=&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv&rnd=17200572


I call Haiti today, cause I wanted to finish working on documents before I call them. it was for the first time since I am here in Madison, I arrived here on april 9. I was so happy to talk with my mom. but was also sad because of what she told me about home and Haiti.
Last night was terrible for them, it was raining so much that the tent where my family is living now collapsed into them . the sadness thing is that one of my brother just have two little girls(twins )they have about one month. my nieces, the twins was sleeping inside the tent. Imagine what happened when it collapsed. So my brother was obliged to cover the twins, his daughters with his own body. So that story about my family, and I know that it's not only my family that knows that situation but thousands and thousands of others family. So I just felt abnormal for me to be here at this time. every single things I put in my mouth hurt me heart cause it think about these people in Haiti. and one more thing that make live more difficult is that they still have big aftershock yesterday and this morning they had two big and the people was very scared. I need to go now and i will keep you up date. tomorrow would be my first day at the Hospital. Last week I made all my screening and was will concern about my results cause I spent 3 months in haiti After the earthquake working very hard with the patients and was exposed to all kind of germs and pathologies, blood...So I am fine all my result are normal. So this week will be very busy for me , will start with my training and get immunizations and...
will post more soon.