rainy season

I decided that I prefer the dust that was here in early February to the mud that is now here. It's rained every night - except tonight - and the ground just doesn't get a chance to dry out. Many of the patients tents flood every time it rains. We've tried to give all of them cots so their mattresses aren't soaking up the water, but it's still is a miserable situation.
As part of my "charge nurse" duties here, all of the camp discharges go through me. I make sure that everyone who leaves has some supplies - tent, cooking oil, rice, soap, etc.. and any other things I can pillage out of the supply warehouse. Most of the patients are going down the road to the ARC (American Refugee Camp) and some are choosing to return to Port-au-Prince. There aren't many good options for most of them. We're averaging about 4-5 discharges per day, and the plan is not to admit any more patients so they can shut the hospital down in the next couple of months.
The rest of the Operation Smile team arrived today. The plan is to remove every external fixator that's in the camp - about 40 patients. So it will be busy. Those patients should be able to be discharged about a week afterwards if there are no complications.
There are 4 Mennonite nurses who come in every day from a center a few miles down the road. They have been so helpful with staffing the rows of tents and taking care of the patients. Today we had a young girl (about 6 years old) who fell off of a motorcycle and hit her head. She was unconscious and we arranged emergent transport to Miami for her. The triage nurse had to accompany her on the transport and one of the Mennonite nurses stepped in to cover triage, even though she really didn't have much experience in that area. She did an awesome job, and saved the day. It's easy to be in charge when you have such remarkable, inspiring nurses to work with!
I was able to talk with my family via Skype tonight, and my translators all got a kick out of seeing them on the computer. And it makes me a little less homesick.
Better get to bed and pray for no rain tonight.