The Justinien University Hospital Program
Louis J Auguste, MD, MPH, FACS
The program of support for Justinien Hospital was initiated in November 2009 and has continued yearly, except when political instability was severe enough to cause concerns regarding the safety of the participants. So far, eight missions have been completed. The participants have been some members of the AMHE and a lot of physicians and nursing staff from Long Island Jewish Medical Center and occasional participants from other institutions. We would like to seize his opportunity to thank all of you, who have contributed either financially or otherwise to the success of our efforts. In particular, our gratitude goes to Dr. Talleyrand, who has provided reliable and prompt support in managing our funds and satisfying out financial obligations.
The core group and most frequent participants include, besides Dr. Auguste, Drs. J. B. Poulard, Jean-Michel Loubeau, David Livingstone, Marie-France Conde, Maxime Coles, Antoinette Sakaris, Michael Ziegelbaum. Among the nurses, we count Edna Joseph, Elizabeth Leconte and Victoria Prevost. We have also had the participation of Northwell residents in Surgery, Urology and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The goals of our program have been:
- to provide formal didactic teaching in all specialties, including: Surgery, Medicine, Pediatrics, Urology, Orthopedics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Anesthesia. We have also organized daylong seminars to explore some topics more in depth. For example, we have organized symposia on Diabetes mellitus, Infectious Diseases (Chikungunya, Dengue fever, Hepatitis, etc.), Ano-rectal malformations and Esophageal surgery.We have also presented ATLS and ACLS courses to the residents and attending staff as well.In addition, a complement of late edition textbooks of Internal medicine, general surgery, thoracic and vascular surgery, Urology was donated to the resident staff.
- Our second goal was to elevate the technical skills of both the residents and attending staff at the hospital. Specifically, the residents have been trained ina. Endo-urology – TURP
b. Urethral stricture repair
c. Correction of Ano-rectal malformation
d. Radical Hysterectomy
e. Modified radical mastectomy - Our third objective has been a strong emphasis on Women’s Health, given the high prevalence of Cervical cancer and late stage breast cancer in the country. To that effect, we have organized large screening program, with PAP smears and breast sonograms, with opportunity for surgery during that same week.
- We have endeavored to provide material support to the hospital and have donated large supplies of:a. Surgical instrument trays, including a complete video-endoscopy set to the urology department.
b. Suture materials
c. Foley catheters
d. Naso-gastric tubes,
e. Endotracheal and LMA tubes
f. Medications such as local anesthetics, anti-diabetics and anti-hypertensives. - At the end, we realized that it was not possible to provide 21st-century medical care in a setting dating from the early 20th or even late 19th century. The physical plant needed an urgent upgrading and this required funding. Therefore, we started organizing fundraisers to collect funds to sponsor major projects at the Hospital. Thus far, we have had two events in October 2018 and 2019. We have collected nearly $40,000. Presently, we are involved in a project that will provide solar energy to the operating suite. The project will cost about $20,000, of which $16,450 have been paid and the balance will be paid upon completion and verification of the project.
- In the future, we intend to continue to improve the physical plant and help witha. the repair of the OR roof, which has been leaking during the rainy season. The project has been estimated at $12,000.00.
b. the replacement of the scrub sink
c. We are also planning to develop a tele-pathology program at the institution. This project is being further elaborated in conjunction with the leadership at Justinien.
d. We hope to be able to resume our annual visits to the Hospital to continue our screening programs and our teaching endeavors.