Trips & Events
March 2010 Medical Mission
May 2, 2010
Lines of Patients Greet
March Med-Dent Team
St. Malachy’s 32nd health mission to St. Marguerite Church in Port Margot, Haiti, March 13-20, was one of the largest in terms of numbers of persons treated on one trip to our twin parish.
The 16-member team is estimated to have seen 1,200 medical and dental patients. There were long lines of people awaiting care every day.
According to Sheila Zielinski, Nurse Practitioner making here 22nd visit to St. Marguerite since 1998, Haiti’s January earthquake had a definite impact on the mission. “Many families have migrated northward from the area where the tragedy caused so much death and pain and our clinic continues to see patients with related injuries and for follow-up medication and care,” she said.
Though the quake happened a hundred miles away in the south, countless St. Marguerite people have relatives, friends and acquaintances who were near the epicenter. For some time afterward, Father Pierre Michelin, St. Marguerite pastor, officiated at daily funeral Masses for the victims with ties to Port Margot. The staff doctor, nuns and helpers at the parish clinic have been busy since January not only with treatment but with providing exams of those who experienced the quake and are simply concerned about its effect on them.
The mission team featured a corps of students and faculty from the Indiana University School of Dentistry, where St. Malachy’s Larry Garetto is Associate Dean for Dental Education. IUSD Clinic Director Theresa Gonzalez, and students Johnny Amazan, Cratisa Caldwell, Connie Michelle Hunt, Sheena Khilnani, Anand Patel and Eric Serrano also spent their spring breaks there. It was the second St. Malachy mission for Amazan, Caldwell and Serrano. Also with the group was Dr. Tonya Stewart, dentist in the Marion County Health Department who teaches part-time at IUSD.
Rounding out the team with Sheila were her husband Paul and their daughter Kathryn, Nurse Judy Meyer and her husband Brian, along with Dr. Melissa Halliday and Dr.Tyler Pearce of Methodist Hospital. In addition to offering medical care they dispensed prescriptions and did triage and support chores in the clinic. An Electrical Engineer, Brian set up a power converter in the parish rectory along with lighting improvements in the clinic.
The next medical mission to St. Marguerite will be June 19-26 this year.