The Last Patient of the Day is Always the Hardest

Jul 14

Posted by doctorben in CAPTAINS BLOG | 1 Comment

July 8, 2010. Port Antonio, Jamaica.

The Back Of His Head Was On Its Way To Healing

I have time to think about some of the patients we saw in Haiti. I told my mom about a burn victim—a guy who had, 32 days before he saw me, fallen and been knocked unconscious for 7 hours, left lying on the metal deck of the boat he was working on alone in a Santo Domingo boatyard.

The HOT metal deck…cooked him. In Ireland, I used to see cases of elder neglect. Elderly people, especially over-medicated or with dementia, would fall asleep with their leg or body against a radiator. Overnight, they’d get terrible burns. This guy had burns on his right buttock, on both calves, his ankle and on the back of his head. Read the rest of this entry »

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Passage From Petit-Goave, Haiti To Isla Roatan, Honduras

Jul 6

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July 5, 2010. Port Antonio, Jamaica

Well, our passage from Haiti to Honduras was briefly interrupted. Our first day sailing from Haiti brought fine cruising downwind and down current, but as we began to cross the Windward Passage between Haiti and Jamaica we hit heavy weather. A beam sea of 8-10 foot waves made for a miserable roll. After 48 hours of fighting the helm, driving through lightning and winds reaching 55 mph, we found ourselves passing north of Port Antonio on Jamaica’s NE coast.

With our generator overheating and crew exhausted, we turned south and arrived in Port Antonio just after daybreak. Errol Flynn Marina in Port Antonio has been giving free dockage to boats coming to or from work in Haiti. Only a mile from land, the seas subsided, and we got shelter. We cruised into the protected harbor and pulled gently up to the dock. I was at the helm, and I will never forget the enormous feeling of relief that washed over me as I heard ‘All lines secure’ called out from the deck. I shut down both engines and relaxed fully for the first time in over 2 months.

We lived at anchor, enduring squalls and gales and constant maintenance, for well over 8 weeks in Haiti with nowhere to tie up or deep water to try and anchor in. Once or twice in Haiti our anchor dragged on a windy night and we had to pull and reset. An hour after we tied up at Port Antonio, a squall came through with 40 mile an hour winds, and I paid zero attention to it; a luxury we never had the whole time in Haiti.

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Another turning point

Jun 30

Posted by IM in CAPTAINS BLOG | 1 Comment

June 28, 2010. Petit-Goave, Haiti.

“Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road,

Time grabs you by the wrist,

Directs you where to go,

So make the best of this test,

And don’t ask why,

It’s not a question,

But a lesson learned in time.”

–Green Day, “Time of Your Life”

Meyomene And Sky Sharing Cooking Knowledge

Ah, calm seas and a gentle night breeze. Tropical Storm ‘Alex’ made things interesting for us over the last few days.

At the western edge of the bay of Petit-Goave, we were exposed to a 5-6 foot swell rolling straight into the bay, with 35 mile-an-hour winds holding us beam-on to the seas. Misery! Imagine that your house is the head of one of those bobble-head dashboard ornaments. During a break in the weather, we moved the boat under the mountains at the eastern edge of the bay, giving us much needed protection and a good night’s sleep. We are getting ready for the 800-mile transit to our destination in Honduras…fueling, taking on supplies, clearing the decks, lashing down gear, ballasting the boat, and the thousand small things that have to be done to clear Southern Wind for a crossing.

Most importantly, though, we are waiting for a weather window. Tropical waves are continuing to pass over this area. The water between here and Colombia is pretty rough and pushing north across our course to Honduras. Alex is messing up the whole western Caribbean—not a good time to push your luck on the water. Besides readying our boat for sea, we have also used the time to say farewell to our friends here and to catch up on some last minute patients. The farewells are very, very difficult for me—to see people and places that have become important to me grow smaller and smaller until they disappear below the horizon.

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Man is the measure of all things

Jun 27

Posted by doctorben in CAPTAINS BLOG | 1 Comment

Captains Blog June 27th 2010

Petit-Goave, Haiti.

“Man is the measure of all things.” –Protagoras, ca 450 BC

He suffers abuse at home and still tried to save this bird injured by someone's slingshot

Last night I watched Frank Capra’s great 1936 masterpiece ‘Lost Horizon.’ Set in a mystical land called Shangri-La, it is the story of a man who worked for peace in a world constantly at war. It is about a man, a diplomat, who dreams of a world run on compassion and dignity.

After his plane crashes en route from China, he finds himself far up in the Himalayas in the hidden valley known as Shangri-La. The valley is a community based on kindness and simple courtesy to one another. It is a paradise.

This is a beautiful story about what everyone wishes were true, but no one believes is possible.

When Frank Capra premiered the film, many snide comments were made about how silly it was. The movie that proclaimed the secret of a happy life is to “Be Kind” to one another was considered “Capracorn.”

That selfish cynicism nearly destroyed Frank Capra.

Almost everyone secretly wishes there were some place they could lay down their stresses and burdens and pains and needs. That place, as fanciful, exotic and remote as Shangri-La, can be wherever people practice kindness to each other.

And kindness is always a choice.

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Dr. George’s Observations 4

Jun 24

Posted by IM in Crew Blogs | 1 Comment

Reflections on being with Floating Doctors in Haiti

The efficiency with which the Floating Doctors delivers care is astonishing. They arrived in a small town which had no significant docking facilities and no airport for relief flights. On board the 76 foot Southern Wind they carried several thousand pounds of construction material, several thousand pounds of medical supplies, water filters, and hundreds pounds of clothing. 11 tons of relief supplies. They are a high tech outfit bringing medical care to remote coastal areas of the world on an ancient platform…the sailboat.
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