I never imagined that a patient would drive himself to the clinic to be treated for a gunshot wound, but nonetheless a man bleeding from his abdomen and elbow appeared on our doorstep. He was on the verge of fainting but stayed conscious while Jeremy explored his wounds and assessed his injuries. I kept talking to him while I searched for any additional injuries. He said he was trying to get a gun off someone in town when it discharged. I didn’t ask too many other questions as the violence did not appear to have followed him to the clinic. There are definitely advantages to traveling with Emergency Medicine PAs. My brain is equipped for juggling multiple diseases and theirs is created for immediate action. Thankfully, we had suture material and supplies to care for wounds (thank you angel donors!). His abdominal wound was a graze but his elbow definitely took some damage. Jeremy cleaned the wound and sewed him up and then the patient left as quietly as he appeared.

Aside from that excitement, we had a day full of viruses illness, hypertension and follow-ups. The pediatric cases I was worried about yesterday did a complete turnaround as only children seem to do. We saw another 90+ patients today and felt sufficiently exhausted from almost 300 patients in three days.

Tomorrow we are going off-site (about 1.5h away) to serve another community. I’m not sure what to expect but I am always curious to investigate other parts of Haiti and experience new adventures 🙂

Please note: There is a photo of the bullet wound in repair so please avert your eyes if you are squeamish.