The morning started off right with 4 peops coming to meet me at 7a to help get a mobile clinic started.  It was divine intervention with the encouragement that helped me press on.  We boarded a private tap-tap and headed to several pharmacies to stock up on a range of medications trying to anticipate the variety of diseases and make sure there is adequate coverage for potential diseases is always a challenge.  I take for granite the preparation it takes to adequately stalk a stationary clinic.  Clinicians were generalists with experience in internal medicine and a love for pediatric populations so it was an ideal group.  We headed down to general hospital to get equipment.  We drove by the areas I worked in before in a neighborhood called Belair notorious for being dangerous and riddled with problems.   We were driving through the areas around the Presidential palace which sustained a lot of damage from the earthquake.  Reminds me of the impoverishment and homelessness I used to see when living in DC around the white house.  The areas by the Palace are surrounded by people living in tented camps.  The area is covered with poverty but somehow there’s a palpable strength on the faces of people.  It’s always impressive to drive past the Cathedral which was badly damaged and the Crucifix in front of it which appears unscathed.  I see it as a message of Christ’s omnipresence.  After we finished up at the neighboring pharmacy across from General Hospital and I did a little browsing from the vendors on the street we headed to a area not far  where we set up a mobile clinic in the back of the church.  Many people of seemingly all ages were waiting in line seated in the different pews patiently anticipating our arrival.  I had to make a trip to another pharmacy to get some meds we were missing so one of the clinicians got it started which was great.  There were a bunch of meds for peds in liquid form so he focused on seeing the children until I could get back.  Trying to get meds to cover chronic and acute conditions was no small task.  There were infectious diseases that needed treatment on top of many chronic issues I’m used to seeing in the U.S.  After I returned I worked with a Haitian nurse who was doing a good job working in our made up pharmacy.  We set up a station that the translators helped out at to treat fungal infections with Gentian violet and a worm station to treat the many cases seen.  It helped better manage the distribution of meds to a large group of people.  It was hot and stuffy and tough not to grow tired from the long lines and lack of privacy even though I was in the corner of the church.  There was no running water and no fan or AC with a hot climate things one quickly gets used to with mobile clinics.  Just on time, in the middle of the afternoon we were surprised by the church moms with homemade Haitian food.  The homecooked food was tasty enough to make me forget about the worries of typhoid or hep A that can be contracted from unclean inner city areas.  The meal included green lettuce and salad with potatoes a tasty sauce plantains and a meat (that I gave away) with a really tasty sweet and frosty tomato juice.  The warm hospitality is always present and just one more reason I appreciate working in Haiti and long to return when away.  We finished up the clinic about 5:30pm and headed back to the guest house on a taptap after dark.  It was a tiring, but productive day, lessons learned and a good feeling of helping many people who just maybe wouldn’t have received the care as we worked in a disenfranchised part of town.  Patients have consistently been grateful for services, I love that and they always say merci (thank you).  Mobile clinics, although tricky to manage when it comes to setting up, stocking and never being able to fully plan what ailments may come about are very rewarding as it is a means of delivering care to meet people where they are at, closer to their residence.