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Staff Spotlight: Gina

Gina is a 35 year old woman that began working in the clinic in July 2004.  She comes from a nearby village called Germain.  It takes her around 40 minutes to walk here.

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For the last ten years she has counted and bagged up pills, made birthing kits, poured medications into bottles, cleaned and organized the pharmacy area and more.  She is always ready to lend a hand when needed.

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She has always been a quiet person and was very shy when she first came, but over time she became one of the team.

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Her role has always been appreciated by everyone that has worked in the clinic.  Here she is in a group picture of the clinic staff many years ago (2006, I think) in the green shirt.

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She is quick to smile and see the positive in any situation.  She has a sensitive heart towards others.

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She likes to work in the clinic because she sees that there are many people that would die if the clinic wasn’t here and doing all that it is doing.  She especially likes that we are able to care for malnourished and burn children.  She sees that cholera would have killed many people if the staff didn’t mobilize to fight this epidemic.  She is happy to be a part of the solution to these problems.

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The work helps her in her home to be able to live and take care of her four daughters, ages 15, 14, 9, and 6.  The youngest one she delivered in the clinic.

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She wants everyone to know how much the women’s health screening are important.  After her PAP test revealed abnormal cells, a visiting GYN was able to do a procedure to stop remove the bad cells on her cervix and stop the advancement of cervical cancer.  Gina continues to thank everyone involved in this program and be an advocate for encouraging other women to get tested.  We have had to stop the women’s screening for a few different reasons, but hope to eventually start it up again when possible.  She would like for this to always be a service that is available in the clinic because she sees how it saved her life and the lives of other women.

Many of you have put together birthing kits for us to distribute to pregnant women to have a safe and clean delivery.  These are great for mothers and newborns and have saved many lives.  From the time that Gina has started working, she has been in charge of these kits.  She puts them together when we don’t have any, makes sure supplies are stocked, and checks to make sure the ones that come from the states are complete.  She really enjoys this part of her job because of the difference it has made over the years.  Many mothers would not name their children until they were a few month old because so many infants died from fever, sepsis, tetanus, and other complications.  Once they were a few months old and they knew that they would live, they would name them and attach with them.  With the birthing kits and the clinic opened to help treat childhood diseases, many more babies are living.  This is so much so that most every baby has a name when they come in to clinic now.  Gina is thankful to be a part of this improvement in the area.

She wants people to know that everyone is thankful for the help that you send like supplies, medications, clothes, shoes, and other things.  These items are used to help many people.  If you want to send things that is good, but it is better to not send expired medications.  She wants to be able to give good and safe items to the patients that come for help.

She hopes that one day Germain, the village where she lives, will have clean running water and electricity.  These things can help everyone and develop the area.

She attends the Church of God in Cazale and is involved in the choir.  She attends services regularly and also participates in days of fasting and praying.  She enjoys the church and loves to worship God.  Her favorite verse is Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”  In Kreyol, it is Egzod 14:14, “Seyè a ap goumen pou nou. Nou menm, poze san nou.”

 

 

Comments(5)

  1. Janet Pender says

    God Bless her abundantly! She is a beautiful lady inside and out!

  2. Tammy in MN says

    Tell Gina we will be doing our Mother’s Day Event for Haiti again this year, and to expect 100 kits this summer – maybe more!

  3. Deborah says

    Thank you, Gina!

    It’s so lovely to meet you! I very much appreciate all the work and help you do!

    I am praying for God’s blessings on you, your family & loved ones, and the work in Haiti!

    With love…
    ~Deborah

  4. deanna pring says

    Could you give us more information on the Women’s Health Screening Program? What did it involve? What was the cost? Why you had to discontinue it and what it would take to reinstate it? Maybe in honor of Gina and the others it has saved we could all help with funding to get it going again?!

  5. Lori says

    The Women’s Health Screenings are done on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. We were trained and practiced with a doctor and team of resident students in Dec 2009, we took Christmas break, and scheduled to start up on Jan 12, 2010. We were doing well that first day and had seen almost 20 pts when the earthquake struck. We had to put things on hold for awhile, but got it started back up by the spring. We had to stop it again for cholera and a few times when we couldn’t buy tests or didn’t have enough materials.

    The screening includes cervical cancer screen (PAP, liquid based cytology, and VIA), HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, bacterial vaginosis, yeast, bi-manual to check for fibroids & ovarian cysts, and do and teach a breast exam. It costs us around $10.00US per screening and we charge each pt 400gds. All treatment for infections and pre-cancer is free.

    We stopped it for two reasons:
    1. We didn’t hire another prenatal nurse to cover for Benita when she went to school. The women’s health nurse is covering all the pre & postnatals now and doesn’t have enough time to do the screenings with all her other patients.
    2. The main reason we stopped is the person that had been helping do the colposcopies, LEEP procedures, and biopsies stopped coming to see our women with abnormal results. We have tried to send our abnormals to other facilities around Haiti, but have not been able to find any place that gives good, consistent care that we can partner with. There is no reason to screen women just to tell them that they have cancer, but there is nothing that can be done to stop it.

    To start again, we need to make sure that we have a consistent & good way to treat the abnormals & an available nurse to do the screenings. I would like 3-4 GYNs to team up on this and each of them come down at different times of the year (maybe 2-3 days) to do colpos, LEEPs, and biopsies. We could screen throughout the year and make all the abnormals come on the same day the GYN would be here. All appointments and paper work would be set up ahead of time by us. We could also do follow up on them too. We would need to get some materials for them to do these things and a lab that would read the biopsies for free and send the results to us. There are several things that need to fall into place and I’m trusting God to bring the right people together in His perfect timing.

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