Both Paul and I are members of the Ross student group Friends of Espwa Donmnik which is creole (the national language) for Hope Dominica. It is a palliative and hospice care group that is also a branch off of the national non-profit group Espwa Donmnik. I am the education coordinator on the executive board and have been staying busy organizing events and programs for this very new group. I just finished running a student and faculty raffle to raise money to buy a morphine pump for the hospital. The group was able to form a partnership with the government that if the group provides the hospital with the pump, then the government will be able to supply the morphine. Supposedly liquid morphine is very cheap, but the pumps are over 1,000 US dollars a piece! One of the faculty physicians at Ross is trying to open a palliative/hospice care wing in the hospital and having morphine pumps will be a great start. The island has morphine only in pill form and is very limited. I just finished the raffle and am now working on the actual ordering and shipping of the pump to the island.
Once a month the group offers a community volunteer program where students and "spouses" (b/c that is all I am here!) to visit both the island's nursing home and elderly people who are home bound and living alone through a coordinator from the Catholic Church. Paul and I have really enjoyed going on these visits. Dominicans currently have the most centurions in the world! The oldest woman living on the island is 109! There is something to be said about eating fresh food off the land and having to walk everywhere. The people here are extremely healthy and look so much younger than they always are. They always have so much wisdom to share with us:)
1 comment:
I don't think you can say that you are "only a spouse" on the island because I do believe you said that you were the coordinator of the group. They are so luck to have you there...no one works harder than you!
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