Barcode night in Boston
Posted on Jan 26, 2012
Elise Garrity, PIH – Boston
January 26, 2012
We had one week to find 50 supporters around Boston to help with a ‘mystery project’ – Didn’t advertise details, just that it was an urgent task for our Haiti team. Although we’d hosted a few “Volunteer Nights” at the office before, this was the first time that the night’s task would lead so directly into our work on the ground.
Sure enough our mix of 50 volunteers arrived. Students, long-time supporters, friends of PIH supporters, and newcomers too. Dr. Ivers appeared over Skype to greet our eager volunteers and fill them in on the importance of this task, one of a series of events which would lead to our cholera vaccine roll-out in Haiti.
The 50,000 blue vaccine cards that our volunteers were about to assemble – each marked by a unique barcode sticker – would be distributed to patients upon receiving their first dose of the vaccine, and later used to track follow-up and outcome.
For the next two hours, our volunteers began to ‘stick and stack’. Working in pairs around the office, their barcodes ribboned across the floor. Our staff gathered all completed stacks of 500 cards in a side office, and soon enough had covered every surface with finished blue stacks.
When 8pm rolled around, we made the obligatory announcement that our time had ended. “…And you’re welcome to stay,” we hinted, explaining that all 50,000 cards would have to be packed by the end of the night. That’s when nobody seemed to move from their seats.
Naturally, some volunteers were unable to stay. Nektarios left only to recruit his fiancée, and then returned for another good hour of work. Jimi earned several papercuts by the time he left around 10:30. At last we had ‘stuck’ and ‘stacked’ all 50,000 cards.
Our handful of remaining staff lined up 8 open suitcases to fill with cards. In the hallway we knelt over the luggage with packing tape, and soon enough the stacks of cards were ready for travel. Written on the wall above us was a Haitian proverb, Men Anpil Chay Pa Lou, which means “Many hands lighten the load.”
