Mellora was treated for a bone infection by Canadian doctors on a previous mission to Haiti by Broken Earth.
The five-year-old Haitian girl still needs careful attention and treatment by Simcoe County health care workers.
“In this country, we don't have really good antibiotics or surgical follow-up to heal this well, so preventive medicine is the best thing we can do,” says Dr. John O'Sullivan.
Despite the risk of malaria, HIV and Zika, one of the greatest dangers to life in Haiti can be broken bones.
“A lot of fractures and then complications of those fractures, which often are infections,” Dr. Marco Vennettelli says. “Breaks in the skin lead to infections of the bones.”
Realistically the medical team can only help a limited number of people during their seven day mission, but while they are here, they share their knowledge with local medical staff and physicians.
In the operating room, the Canadian team works alongside Haitian surgeons and medical residents.
“They can see what's going on, they can do them with the Canadian surgeons and they are learning,” says Dr. Karry Felix, a surgeon at Hospital Bernard Mevs.
But it’s not just Haitian medical staff that is learning something through the exchange.
The Canadian team quickly learns to do more with less in the operating room.
