By Alexander Germanis
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” is an extremely common idiom in the English-speaking world. Of course, when one actually gets to the other side of that fence, reality sets in, and one realizes how fortunate one was to begin with.
For instance, the Caribbean islands seem like tropical paradises, where one can escape from the cares of the industrial world. They are places where people live simpler lives and enjoy the sand, sun, and beauty of the region on a daily basis with hardly a care in the world.
However, that world is on the other side of the fence; the reality — not perceived from the resorts on the shorelines — is very different. Yes, Haiti is a Caribbean nation that presents luxurious resorts with gilded beaches, but there is another side of the fence, as maxillofacial surgeon Stephen Doran, DMD, of Doran, Capodice, Efaw, and Ocheltree, LLC in Bloomington found out.
“A lot of people in the U.S. don’t have a reference for how destitute things still are in Haiti,” Dr. Doran explains. “In 2016, people in Haiti still die of dental infections. A tooth infection will spread to their jaw and their neck. And they have no access to dental care. None. And unless they can obtain access to care, people still die from that sort of thing.”
Dr. Doran started heading down to the island nation twice every year, beginning in 2011. Following in the footsteps of Richard and Barbara Hammond, founders of Friends of the Children of Haiti, the doctor now brings dental and facial care to those who did not have it.
Dr. Doran and his assistant, Maggie Baar, CNA, spend a total of four weeks every year in Haiti, but even that amount of time is never enough. The sheer number of people who require help means every morning must begin with triage. “We take the most likely people to have problems first: all the little kids, all the pregnant women, anybody who has an infection in their face or jaw that seems like it has the potential to be life-threatening,” the doctor explains. “Then we take care of the elderly people.”
Then there are the exceptionally poor — those without electricity, indoor plumbing, or even running water. “These are people from the mountains who start to trickle in day four or five of the clinic. We give those patients priority as soon as they arrive.”
Dr. Doran and Maggie readily agree there was, and still is, a huge degree of culture shock when they go to Haiti. “I have to take sleeping medications when I go down there, otherwise I wouldn’t sleep — the stuff you see during the day,” Dr. Doran recalls. “As soon as I hit the pillow, I’m thinking about the AIDS baby I saw or the cancer I could have treated here very successfully, but I had to send that patient home with no treatment. It was hard to sleep that night.”
“The first time I came back was incredibly difficult for me,” Maggie concurs, “but it gets easier. Those babies keep me coming back. It’s not uncommon for Dr. Doran to ask where I am, and he’ll find me outside holding a baby.”
Lack of resources is a major problem. Even when people are willing to put in their time, there is still a lack of the proper facilities, necessary equipment, and medication for every case. “It’s really hard to walk away from these people,” Maggie continues, “especially when you know how to fix them, but you just don’t have the resources.”
To learn more about the people who work tirelessly to bring better healthcare to the Haitian people, read Healing Haiti, Part 3 in an upcoming issue of Healthy Cells Magazine.
Photo courtesy of Doran, Capodice, Efaw & Ocheltree, LLC