The Red
Zone. In Iowa they call it the “Case-IH”
Red Zone. Can you tell that we play our
sports in the middle of a cornfield?
#FieldOfDreamsReference. I’ve
been going through crazy football withdrawal since I’ve been down here. Here’s hoping my fantasy teams survive and my
return will inspire them to a playoff run!
In keeping with my fantasy football theme, I’m going to borrow a bit
from @MatthewBerryTMR and do a love/hate on the color red.
Things I
love about the color red: According to
Will Smith in Wild Wild West red is strong, it is the color of passion #DidIReallyJustReferenceWildWildWest. Studies show that red is the color that girls
wear when they are on the prowl. And
Rachel looks pretty dang good in red if I do say so myself. I would be remised if I failed to mention the
STL Redbirds #12in13? And in Haiti that
Digicel sign in bright red can often be a welcome sign when you need to charge
up your phone. But that’s about all that
is positive about the color red in Haiti.
I learned
during my first trip down here that wearing red is a fashion faux pas. It’s not like the people I’m working with
have a very expansive wardrobe, but the color red is intentionally avoided
(unless you’re Digicel). If you wear red
then you are telling other people that you are in mourning. You are saying that within the past year you
lost a member of your family. Needless
to say, an NGO can experience a big problem if they try and dress their
employees in the wrong color. So
whenever I see red I see it in a different light now. As a medical person, I often wonder what the
past medical history of the decedent was.
I wonder if they were a victim of the social adversities that plague
this country. I wonder if there were treatments
or medicines that would have gave them a second chance at life. I wonder if the family attributes death to
Earthly causes or if they assume it was a voodoo curse. Basically I think too much. But at this point you almost have to because
this culture has made a point to make the color red something sacred. In the U.S. you wear black to a funeral for
fear of having color display something other than a somber mood. Even though we should be celebrating their
life and praying for their life eternal we choose to don black clothes and walk
in silence to pay our final respects.
And after that, you may carry the grief of death in your heart and mind,
but we don’t announce our grief for the rest of the world to see. Some keep it bottled up deep down inside so
that it never crops up again. Such a
stark difference.
#ChangingGears
During a teaching lesson shortly after the big clinic had arrived I had the
unfortunate opportunity to talk about a little girl with reddish hair. Now, I didn’t perform any epidemiological
studies or genetic testing, but I don’t think that there has been too much
Irish DNA injected into the gene pool down here. The red hair you see is often brittle and
more coarse than normal. It’s a sign of
disease. I take a peak in the little
girl’s mouth and it too is a fire engine red.
The tongue almost appears irritated.
The gums weepy. The corners of
the mouth cracking. Red dominated above
her shoulders.
I grabbed a
MUAC tape and wrapped it around her arm.
She was a tad older than 6, so technically it was no longer sensitive or
specific for malnutrition, but it was important to do for the sake of
teaching. The mid-upper arm
circumference is the best measurement for detecting malnutrition in kids and
pregnant ladies. It’s quick, cheap, and
easy #TheseAreAFewOfMyFavoriteThings.
And it has solid sensitivity and specificity for a screening tool.
She was at
the bottom of the green. According to
the color lesson, she was not malnourished, but per her exam she was suffering. Her age might indicate that she is
malnourished as her arm should be expected to be larger than a younger child’s. A few times we have had kids who measured in
the red zone of the MUAC. Not near as
exciting as when your favorite team enters the red zone. But certainly a million more times
significant.
Fortunately
for us working in Haiti there is an awesome resource located in the mountains
near Casale. The hospital turns no one
away and they even have inpatient treatment available for children suffering
from severe malnutrition. They are
pretty rockin and have been extremely helpful during my time here. I have complete confidence that they will do
everything possible when presented with a child who is malnourished. I know I've mentioned them in previous posts, but @RealHopeForHaiti (
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