Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Heading into Haiti


The night before we left for Haiti, we got news that a Dominican pastor who had returned from Haiti 8 days before, had just died of menigococcal. I knew for sure there is a vaccine for that, so we started investigating first thing in the morning. We went to the public health department, where we were blessed with an amazing contact who got us connected with the lab in Santiago where it is manufactured. So off we flew to Santiago, where we had just enough time to get 10 vaccines and make it to the bus stop on time.
I vaccinated the 2 on the trip that hadn't had the vaccine yet, and then our director, Jeff, vaccinated me! Yes, we also did that at the bus stop. When we couldn't find anyone who knew how to give a shot, Jeff offered (jokingly) that he might be able to do it because he had vaccinated lots of cattle before on the ranch. Well, that was about the best offer I could find, so I went for it. Thankfully it all worked out and we got on the bus ready and vaccinated...and I packed 7 more for the family in Haiti.

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