Dr. Philippe Dimitri Henrys: “Hey Doc Dimitri”

Voices of Haiti – Dr. Philippe Dimitri Henrys

“Hey Doc Dimitri”

[Voices of Haiti intro begins]

Patrick: It was kind of surreal

Loune: I was there just after the earthquake. You have all the aftershocks…

Dimitri: And I could see all the chaos and destruction.

Anany: Why I should continue to live if all this have to happen to me?

[Intro fades out]

Leslie:  Byenvini or welcome. I’m your host, Leslie Friday. Thank you for listening to Voices of Haiti, a Partners In Health podcast that shares the stories of our Haitian colleagues as they reflect on the January 12^th 2010 earthquake.

We love sharing their stories each week, and would also like to hear from you, our listeners. Have you learned anything new about the earthquake or Haiti? Have their stories surprised you, touched you? Maybe even made you cry, or smile?

If so, let us know. Make sure you follow @partnersinhealth on Instagram or @PIH on Twitter, and DM us with any comments or questions.

[Pause]

Today we have a special edition. We want to revisit our first guest, Dr. Phillipe Dimitri Henrys. As you may remember, Dr. Dimitri was in class at medical school when the 2010 earthquake hit. He and his colleagues were among the first on the scene to care for the injured near his school. That experience inspired him to specialize in emergency medicine at University Hospital in Mirebalais.

His journey with Zanmi Lasante, as Partners In Health is known in Haiti, has been inspirational. But it’s not over. It continues to this day.

In this bonus episode, Dr. Dimitri reflects on what it’s like serving the community of Hinche, and his choice to invest in hope.

Dimitri: Zanmi Lasante has got me into a great adventure. When I was starting emergency medicine, it was, it was new. The, it was the very first experience of training emergency physicians in Haiti. And I- I- I got drawn, drawn into this, and I can say from day one, I knew I did the right choice. And I know I was starting a great adventure, and I think I wouldn't want to continue this adventure with no one else. Nowhere else but with Zanmi Lasante actually.

 It’s very often what happen, we're emergency physicians, we see, we see a lot of patients daily. And what, what has happen very frequent- frequently to me, is when I leave the hospital, o- outside of the hospital when I'm in Hinche, when I'm working, maybe I'm going to, to the market, try to, to find food and, and other stuff. And I would stumble upon these, these people, uh, like being, "Hey, Doc Dimitri, how you doing?" And I would not remember these people and sometimes they figure out, eh, on the expression of my face maybe (laughs) and, they remind me they've been to the ER and they really like the way, um, I took care of them and they appreciate it, and this is, this is the kind of thing that really give you a sense of purpose. To know what you're doing is useful, to know it helps people, to know it improves their daily life.

 I remember, um, there was this old lady that they brought into the ER. And they brought her, um, maybe an hour before my shift was starting. And when I arrive at the ER, we're doing handover, and they presented the, um, this patient. And I could sense there was something not quite right from my emergency physician [inaudible] I guess. And they thought this, this lady had um gastritis.                        

Dimitri (continued): Uh, and I remember after handover, I went over and saw the patient all over again. Like it was a new patient, and I could figure out that she was having a coronary syndrome. And I would start, um, planning with my team, and um, start immediately appropriate, management for this patient. And 24 hours later, this patient was leaving the ER on her feet. She arrive, they were carrying her over the ER.  And she left on her feet with, um, a big smile, thanking everybody (laughs). And (laughs) this actually, uh (laughs), made every cell of my body start smiling (laughs).

Maybe I would say on, uh, on the, sort of, personal level. You know, Haiti is- is quite big, and some places of the, of the country, uh, there's virtually no, sort of, healthcare available. And some other places is- is very basic, and not so standard. And I think, what gives a sense to what I'm doing every day, actually, is to be able, I don't know, maybe in 10, 15, 20 years, to know that I'm in  Môle-Saint-Nicolas which is very remote place in Haiti. And know well, if I fell from a bicycle, if I fell from a motor, I'm going to have, the- the proper emergency care, because I'm going to be investigating in- in educating, in moving people forward. And, and raising the level of care, uh, so much that it will, um, expand throughout the whole country.

To think that maybe, um, people are not, um, educated enough. Or not capable enough to embrace certain concepts. To, to go certain ways, if they are given the opportunity to do so. And I think this has proven wrong, and I think, uh, PIH has done a, a great work into showing that, maybe what, a lot of people in the US and other places in the world are thinking, may be not qui- quite right, actually. Because we are a strong people, real strong nation.

Dimitri (continued): And there are valuable people willing to work and invest their self, inverse all their, all their courage, and and- intelligence and skills to get things moving forward for the best.

One last thing I would say, actually, is, I think we've started doing great things in, in Haiti. Well, maybe, the, PIH itself may be in various places around the world. But, um, I'm really, I'd say I'm really grateful for what's been done in Haiti. Um, with Partners In Health, Zanmi Lasante. They created that opportunity out of nowhere after the earthquake to have one of the best, if not the best, uh, University Hospital in Haiti. And they started creating a whole new breed of physicians for the country. And with the highest standards possible. And I think small steps, step by steps, we're moving toward really, um, a great future. And this is the kind of thing that gives hopes, and this is the kind of thing that keep people moving forward, even in adverse conditions. Even in difficult situations, and, yes, ah, I want to thank, uh, all of you guys, uh, for this great job. Thank you.

Leslie:  Continue to learn and explore more stories about Zanmi Lasante and PIH by visiting P-I-H-dot-org-backslash-haiti.

Follow Voices of Haiti on Spotify, or subscribe on Apple Podcast. Also Rate us! Let us know how we’re doing. As always, thank you for listening and talk to you again on the next episode.

[End]