Lessons From the Front Line

My June 21st - June 29th, 2010 trip to Petionville Country Club - Tent City, Haiti

The groups who sponsored me to work in Haiti

The International Medical Assistance Team (IMAT) was started by a Snohomish County Fire District 1 paramedic and has continued to send teams down to Haiti. IMAT is continuing to build and grow its network of doctors, nurses and paramedics.

J/P HRO was "founded by actor and humanitarian Sean Penn and philanthropist Diana Jenkins, who has since moved on to other philanthropic efforts, J/P HRO began its work just hours after the earthquake hit."  To date, J/P HRO took over the management of over 50,000 refugees. There have been more than 100,000 pounds of medical supplies given out since January 12th 2010.

More importantly to me, the camp has a DMAT Category 3 Hospital that is designed to treat all medical illnesses and injuries in the camp.  Those cases that are dimmed critical are transported to local area hospitals. On average, during out week long trip, our team treated more than 120 people each day. We also had delivery of newborn babies!

CDC map of malaria in South America

Remember your anti-malaria medicines! I prefer Malarone for my international trips.

Our medical team for the week!

The J/P HRO Hospital where we worked our magic.

We're open for business.

Triage is up and running ~ 120 people per day are seen.

Abscesses to be drained.

The week I was in Haiti, we had a dentist!

His work station.

Here come the babies!

Thanks Mike and Jason!

Yes, we could do x-rays!

Just have the patient lay down on the cot and off we go...

.... to reset that arm and cast it up.

Yes, we had UN protection around the camp. Colorful too!

Triage is all cleared by the end of the day!

And here's what the rest of Tent City looked like:

Goats are every where and forage where they can.

Selling dinner from their homes.

Stop in at the Cyber Cafe!

Or stop in at the Beauty Studio.

If you want to get rich quick, then go ahead and play the lottery.

School is in session.

This is how we lived:

Out kitchen with three bucket cleaning system.

One HUGE tent with several small tents. We still had water leakage problems.

My "home" for the week.

All the extra space I had!

We had showers, b/c water runs down hill.

Filtered water system that the CDC encourages through a complicated mechanism. 

Yes, we were at a county club and we had a pool.  Sadly, no water.  Actually, this was our pharmacy.

Eating well, by eating MREs!

Thanks to our translators for French and Creole.

Relaxing after one very long week!

Both J/P HRO and IMAT are looking for: 

•Volunteers – medical and non medial positions
•Funds for care of specific patients
•Funds for on going community projects

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Things I've Cooked!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are a variation of Quaker Oat's classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, but subbing out the raisins for chocolate chips.  It's really just that simple!  

Next, I'll try making Oatmeal Butterscotch Chip Cookies!  My cooking bag of flour and sugar is ready to go. Is yous? 

This is me "making" tasso.

Which was added to veggies, bacon, and crayfish:

  To eventually make a Crayfish Chowder!

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of Whiskey Bread Pudding that we had for dinner.... :-(


This has been a quick and easy recipe that I found from 5 Dollar Dinners.com!

Pita Bread Pizza!

Go ahead and give it a try!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

What's the Medicine Man Reading?

So... one day I got the bright idea of collecting all the magazines, journals, and newspapers that I received over the course of an entire month.  Surprisingly, I  found that I read over 3 inches of paper every 4 weeks!

3 inches tall!

Granted, some of those sheets are pure advertisements, or sweet, sweet smelling colognes or perfumes, which I may or may not tear out and rub on myself before hitting the streets of Seattle.  No, not really!!!  However, I did find that most of those 3 inches are actually material that I care about and glance through on a regular basis.

Come, let's take a journey and explore what I read:

1. LocumLife focuses on the trends of being a locum tenens physician - short term stints or being a "substitute doctor" for clinics and practices all over the US.

2. Infectious Diseases in Children is one of two publications from the Pediatric Super Site.  This over-sized news paper focuses on infectious diseases that are common and uncommon in children.

3. American Medical News is the AMA's news publication, which covers general topics and political topics in all fields and aspects of medicine.

4. I'm not even sure how I stumbled across Unique Opportunities, or why I even continue to receive copies of it... Actually, this may have been my only issues I ever received.  :-)

5. Pediatric Annals is the other publication from the Pediatric Super Site.  It's not a great journal, but it still comes in my mailbox!

6. Contemporary Pediatrics for some reason always has a great editorial on different stamps from around the world, that are somehow loosely tied to the world of pediatrics.  I know it's not really a reason to read a journal, but it helps. :-)

7. JAMA or the Journal of the American Medical Association is a great journal, but it often focuses on literature and research from the "adult world" side of medicine, rather then from the  "pediatric world."

8. Vindico Medical Education is a small publication that offers free CME (continuing medical education) credits on a variety of topics.  Often these articles are longer and the questions really make you think, and make sure you've actually read those articles!

9. Barron's, for the investor hiding inside of me.

10. BusinessWeek, which has recently changed names to Bloomberg Businessweek, has also changed it's spread layout and has taken a turn for the worse. :-(

11. Ok, so I thought, maybe one day I'll have my own business, and I was hoping that Inc. would be marginally helpful. So far it has not.

12. Money is actually a really good personal finance magazine.  It's no Kiplinger, but it's close.

13. Fortune is my fantasy magazine, for maybe one day I'll have the time and free funds to invests in stocks and mutual funds again.

14. I to like to stay up to date on the development of the world and the Economist helps me to do so. Plus, yearly, they put out the Big Mac Index!

15. Some people call TIME "liberal," while others call it "conservative."  Who really knows?  I call it fun to read.  TIME covers wide variety of subjects on US and world events - all of which I find interesting. 

16. An interesting look at modern live and business is found within the pages of Fast Company.  Where else can you take the Declaration of Independence and turn it into a Declaration of INTERdependence. 

17. Philanthropy and volunteerism are both an important aspects of my belief, faith, and life. Kiwanis has touched my life since high school and I have continued to volunteer with Kiwanis when living in Cincinnati and Seattle.

18. Phi Beta Kappa is one of those honor societies that I joined in college and I continue to get their quarterly magazine. 

19. Town & Country turns out isn't the type of magazine I thought it would be.  I was hoping for good recommendations about living on the West Coast and how to adopt to a new climate and living environment. 

20. Shape on the other hand, is exactly the type of magazine I thought it would be. :-)  New monthly exercises and plenty of good eats ideas to fill my stomach and to feast on the eye candy.

21. This Old House, pretty much follows its name sake. Growing up, my dad and I would watch Bob and Norm work on old houses and give great tips. Such a great father/son experience with my dad.

22. Seattle Met is that zine for giving great updates for local cultural events, hikes around the area, and new restaurant openings.

23. I just read Play for the pictures.... video game picture. :-) It's probably been over 6 years since I've really been serious about playing console games.  While the Final Fantasy series will always have a place in my heart, when I became an adult, it was time to put away childish things. 

24. Psychology Today is just interesting! 

25.  Lastly, I used to read Maxim for the articles.... I mean who are these girls anyway?  Actually I canceled my membership to Maxim several months back (as this is January's issue) after a heart to heart talk with a young women, whom I was interested in pursuing a relationship with.  Do I miss Maxim's artilces?  Maybe, but it was worth losing the magazine to keep her.

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Zombies never get old

One day I'm going to find 8 girl friends who like to play dress up....

Watch out next year's MJ Thriller Dance in Seattle!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

That's so Seattle - #5

Copy cats...

Seen in Seattle:

In the Greenwood area of the city:

I guess everyone wants to be a Medicine Man!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Christmas Through the Ages

There has been a tradition in my family where each each year my sister and I would receive one Christmas ornament that had some sort of special meaning for the previous year.  The thought being, when my sister and I moved away from home we would each have a starter collection for our own Christmas trees.

My Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Now, I've been living alone for a few number of years and still I continue to buy myself a yearly ornament.  Without further ado, (from left to right) I present Christmas Through the Ages:

The Early, Early Years.

1981 - Baby's first Christmas and a manger scene from the Lea's (our backyard Merrillville, IN neighbors.)

1982 - Picture of Santa framed in tooth pics and an Angle with symbols from the Lea's.

1983 - Frosty the Snowman and a caroler with a bell from... the Lea's.

1984 - Little boy riding a dove. (a dove?)

1985 - Wooden rocking horse and a red wooden sleigh (Rosebud).

The Christmas Tree Years.

1986 - A wooden tree with glued on stars and tinsel.  I probably made this in Kindergarten.

1987 - First grade school portrait photo and a rain dear that I tried to write my name, age, and year.

1988 - Handmade drum made from the top of spray paint can, random Santa, and another Christmas tree

1989 - Skates with paper clips and a present that plays Silver Bells (and has a Christmas tree on top).

1990 - Snowman in double wooden rings and... a Christmas tree (4th grade classroom project?).

The Skiing and Water Skiing Years.

1991 - Another rocking horse? (Found one that belongs to my sister that my mom tried to pawn off on me).

1992 - A little dog with a wreath for the year when I received Muffy as a pet.

1993 - Santa Skiing and a Christmas gerbil running on his wheel (random, I know!)

1994 - Speedy Gonzales skiing... a bear dressed as Santa wind surfing.

1995 - Santa and Mrs. Clause water skiing for the year that I learned how to water ski on Lake Hanska in Minnesota.

I'm not really sure if there is a theme for these years.

1996 - I love model trains, and I love to fish!

1997 - I think my mom slipped this one in b/c I was missing a year (plus it's stamped 2008 in plastic).

1998 - Leaving for college at Penn State, a year whole before graduating from high school.

1999 - Graduating from Franklin Regional High School and routing for Penn State!

2000 - A mouse sleeping in his "new home" for when Kathy welcomed me after my dad passed away that year, plus a computer to symbolize the computer I built from scratch.

The traveling years?

2001 - I must have learned how to ski really well that year.  I still like just the easy green circle slopes.

2002 - A plane to symbolize my trip to Japan with Allen, Dave, and Rob.

2003 - A lantern with a Thomas Kinkade painting (the same one hanging in Kathy's Bed and Breakfast), and a penguin with a scarf from my mom.

The Early, Adult Years.

2004 - Missing.... :-(

2005 - A blue ribbon that supports the Red Cross and the Katrina Relief project that I went to support, and a Delta Chi ornament for when I was inducted into University of Pittsburgh chapter.

2006 - Delta Chi for when I helped the University of Cincinnati's colony as their finance advisor, and a blue Santa with a graduation cap for the year I graduated from Temple University School of Medicine.

2007 - Mickey and Minnie from a great trip to WDW with Jamie

2008 - Santa on a turtle for my Caribbean Cruise, a random snowflake that I don't remember buying.

2009 - Amy's "I'm a real doctor now" ornament gift to me and a fat Santa that sings when you press his butt.

And if you ever forget why ornaments are important for children:

It's great to know that all those years and memories fit into a tiny cube!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex