Last week I started working nights. I work three nights, then have three off. I’ve decided that despite the fact that I’m not a huge fan of the night shift, that this is the way that I can be the most useful to the Maternity staff. During the day there is an overabundance of staff: 3-4 nurses, 1-2 interns, and 6 (or so) nursing students from the nursing school associated with HIC. At night however, there’s one intern and 1-3 nurses. As a result, at night I’m actually able to not only use my skills as a provider, but decrease the patient burden that each provider has—thus (I hope) improving the care those women/infants receive.

The past two weeks were full of activities. I conducted a series interviews with the people to obtain a better understanding of the culture and guidelines for my research, including professionals in stress and mental health, as well as people who work at healthy food promotion, obesity control, agriculture, and other various areas. After summarizing my findings, I did a presentation to inform my fellows working at land grant, American Samoa Community College, to get the staff involved with this program. The relation between stress and obesity is a novel concept to most of them. Even in Samoan language, there is not a direct word for stress, and they do not conceive of the tremendous influence of stress on health. Therefore, it is of great significance for land grant to incorporate this stress management program for the American Samoa Community College’s Wellness Center when it officially opens later this year.

Hello. My name is Courtney and I’m a Certified-Nurse Midwife and Family Nurse Practitioner who arrived in Haiti on Monday (the 22nd). I’m working and living in a town called Les Cayes (or just Cayes for short), which is in the south of the county about a 4-hour drive from Port-au-Prince. I’m working at the Hospital of the Immaculate Conception (HIC), which is the main public hospital for Les Cayes (and for a significant portion of the surrounding areas).

Greetings from rain-soaked Munsieville! Over the last two weeks, several storms have doused the Gauteng province, but the rain is necessary to turn the landscape green again and help usher in spring. While the intensity of the thunderstorms is unlike anything I have previously experienced, I am not letting the rain put a damper on my work in Munsieville.