She's Got Worms

During the summer of 2013, I worked with a group of American doctors who ran a free medical clinic in Jacmel, Haiti.  Below is one case we handled.

August 8, 2013

A little girl comes in to the clinic by herself. She is nine, slight in build. She has a very quiet demeanor.  But she sits right now and tells the doctor that she is having some problems. Brett, the doctor, begins to interview her.  She tells him she has worms coming out of her rectum.

“Little ones or big ones?” Brett asks her.

“Big ones”, she tells him meekly, quietly.

Brett extends his fingers about 4 inches, “this big?” he asks to clarify.

She extends her fingers just a little longer. She doesn’t say a word.

“Wow” Brett responds, a little dumbfounded.

Brett begins to talk about an antibiotic plan for her.  The translator is repeating the instructions to her.  She leans forward to listen.

I step right up to then and interrupt this discussion. “Are you going to give these drugs to a child?”  I ask.

"There is no one else", he tells me defensively, "she says there are no parents.  She came in by herself".

It wasn’t my intention to make him defensive or to criticize his actions.  But I can’t believe what I heard as she described her condition.  I am standing in front of a tiny girl who is seeking her own medical treatment for such a gross, medical issue.  She is completely on her own and she is just a baby.

“Who takes care of you”, I ask her.  I am desperate to find a parent.

“My aunt, I live with my aunt”, she tells us.

“Where is she now?” I ask, hoping I can go get this woman and bring her here right now.

“I don’t know” she says with no further information. Brett tells me that she had indicated she hasn’t seen her aunt for a couple days.  The little girl smiles at me as Brett and I talk about her.  Her sweet little face glows with a mistaken perception of innocence.

Brett and I just look at each other and shake our heads.  “Now what?” he asks me.

And I don’t know.   In the US, we would never give a child this dosage of drugs without a parent or guardian.  But we aren’t in the US and this little girl needs medical help today, right now.    To complicate matters, we pack up the clinic tomorrow. So it’s now or never if we are going to help her.

So Brett gave her a bag of medicine and specific instructions.  He asks her to repeat the instructions so he can confirm her understanding.  She repeats the instructions perfectly.   She takes her bag and thanks us.  She walks out on her own.  We watch her and comment on how different our worlds are.