Friday, August 17, 2012

The Volcano

Montserrat Hearts 2012 has many more posts for the readers to follow. There are countless stories and aspects of the trip that we want the world to hear about. But it's time to deal with the culprit - the Soufriere Hills volcano. SHORT HISTORY LESSON
"After laying dormant since prehistoric times (pre 1632 for Montserrat), the Soufrière Hills Volcano in the southern part of the island began erupting on 18 July 1995 with a phreatic explosion (steam and ash) following a 3 year period of seismic (earthquake) activity which began in 1992. The first large event occurred in August 1995 blanketing Plymouth in a thick ash cloud which brought almost complete darkness for about 15 minutes. Shortly afterwards the first evacuation of southern Montserrat was initiated. Plymouth itself was finally abandoned the following year. It now lies buried under layers of volcanic debris deposited by pyroclastic activity and mudflows - each time it rains here in the Emerald Isle, a little more of the former capital disappears forever. 1997 is probably uppermost in people's minds when they recall the eruption to date, and saw pyroclastic flows and surges sweep down the north-eastern flanks of the volcano causing the abandonment of the W H Bramble Airport. By this time more than half of Montserrat's inhabitants had been moved away after their homes and businesses were destroyed and the island's tourism industry was also adversely affected. Since then an Exclusion Zone encompassing the Soufrière Hills Volcano has been in place and life has refocused to the north. "
These are just words to most of us who didn't witness the devastation to this beautiful Emerald Island. On Thursday, August 2, 2012, the team went up to see the volcano in a helicopter and were able to see the infrastructure and land below the volcano - or whatever was left of it. The land was baron and covered with soot. The plethora of buildings including the newly built hospital, the government headquarters, churches, stores and homes were covered to the rooftops. It's difficult to articulate the emotion we all felt seeing the remains of this mass devastation.
It is so hard to put into words so pictures are attached.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Blood Pressure Screenings on Montserrat

This year, Radio Montserrat assisted our team by announcing all of the screening sites during the week of our trip. Nadines, the St. Peters Schoolhouse, the Cudgoe head Police Station, the Montserrat Cultural Center and the Government Headquarters were the sites of the screenings. Over the four days, despite the tropic storms that hit the island, over 200 people came out and had their blood pressures taken. We plan to analyze the results over the next few weeks. It appears that diabetes is still prevelant on the island.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

I did what the doctor ordered......

Tuesday, July 30 August 2011...Note to diary..I just returned from seeing Dr. Fergus, the NY Cardiologist visiting Montserrat and she told me that I am having so many health issues because I am over weight. She told me that if I changed my eating habits, the weight loss would follow. She told me to start taking out "Me time" to concentrate on the task ahead, my goal of loosing at least 75 pounds.
Dr. Fergus gave me so many reasons to do it, but I know in my heart, I need to do it for me!!!! /">............About one year later . . . . . Dear Diary... I saw Dr. Fergus today and I was so excited to show her the new, great, beautiful and improved me!!! So far I have dropped over 40 pounds of weight........... How many of us have been told this and actually listened? Delmaude Ryan is living proof!! After nearly a year, Delmaude is a different person. She is confident and she is full of self esteem. Delmaude has a few rules to live by. She didn't want to go on a "diet", she wanted to modify her life style. The old Delmaude would leave the house in the morning and usually eat nothing for breakfast. Sometimes she would make up for it at lunch, and sometimes she would just gorge herself at dinner. In her discussion with Dr.Fergus, Dr. Fergus touched on diet and exercise. She also explained which foods were the ones to stay away from, so Delmaude took it in her own hands. At 5:30 AM. each morning she starts off with a 90 minute walk, followed with a good breakfast, lunch and dinner. She does little or no snacking during the day and she stopped eating three house before bed. After a while, her 90 minute walk only took 60 minutes. Her clothes were falling off her. Delmaude has a wonderful outlook. There are monments during the day where she will call her "me"time. This seems to help her refocus on the next deeds on hand. She also steps away from her desk at lunch time and eats her lunch somewhere else. She found that she was "inhaling" the food and not enjoing it, so now she sits outside by the office buildings and relaxes. When asked for the trick to loosing that much weight that quickly, Delmaude said "you just open your eyes one day and say "I am going to do it and I am doing it for me!!! Delmaude just had her year celebration in a skinnier body and she is loving life. She is truly inspiration to all. Before

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

First Day Medical Experience

Good morning.. today is our second day of work on Montserrat. Yesterday, Dr. Scobie performed 17 echocardiagrams on patients. While most results showed evidence of hypertension, there were some that showed great need for further medical attention. "It was very gratifying to perform good quality echos on people who needed them. People were not only grateful and thankful for this service, they were most interest in learning about what their results. We had a great first day!" This message was posted by Dr. Janice Scobie, Cardiologist, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Monday, July 30, 2012

St. Patrick's........Island Church

Pictures of the Countryside

Today is the first day to see patients.  Drs Fergus, Scobie and Sumner will spend their day seeing about 30 patients for echos, ekgs and exams.  But first, they will test out the island equipment to familarize themselves with the equipment and to set standarized protocols.  . Having not just one, but having two more cardiologists on this health mission, will extend the great care we are able to provide. Dr. Fergus, who is the lead physician, will see the patients, many for a second time, in two years.  Drs. Scobie and Sumner will run the Echos and will assist in the interpretation of results.  Dr. Sumner, who has been practicing medicine for over thirty years, is also an engineer, so we are hopeful that if there is an equipment malfunction, Dr. Sumner will be able to work through that challenge.

Yesterday, the team attended mass at St. Patrick's church. The congregation welcomed our team and gave blessings to our work.  The music was an amazing blend of carribean and traditional religious hymn that echoed through the countryside.


Monday, July 23, 2012

Dear Colleagues;

We are about to embark on our second medical mission this Saturday, July 28th, 2012. Thanks to Dr. Sharma for providing the funds to make this possible. The mission is now registered as part of the Mount Sinai Global Health Initiative, thanks Dr. Landrigan. I would like to thank Dr. Anne Sumner from the NIH and Drs Bonnie Green and Priscilla Dass Bailsford from Georgetown University for their assistance in creating a wonderful post traumatic stress tool to be used as part of our community outreach. Thanks to Drs Fuster, Narula and Landrigan for their guidance and support. I know Dr Narula really wanted to come but due to obligations at Sinai he couldn't.

The team will consist of Drs Janice Scobie, Jon Sumner, Nancy Thomas, Gilda Caputo Hansen and myself.

We arrive Saturday late evening with the final leg of the trip being a ferry ride from Antigua to Montserrat.

On Sunday, July 29th - members of the team will attend religious services on the island, we will then have lunch at Olvestion House ( former home of Sir Elton John) and debrief for our week ahead.

Monday  and Tuesday, July 30th and 31st - I will begin seeing patients at the hospital, there are 30 follow up patients. Echo scans will be performed by Janice and Jon. Nancy and Gilda will go around the island, adminstering the questionnaires and checking blood pressures.

Wednesday, August 1st - The same activities will occur until Mid day. Then we will host a mini symposium geared towards education of lay people and primary practitioners about Cardiometabolic risk factors. Questionnaires and screening will occur at this venue as well. There are 200 invited guests.

Thursday, August 2nd - There will be a helicopter tour around the island including to the peak of the volcano, for those brave enough to venture on this trip. This will be followed by a jeep tour around the island. The after will be spent with government and health officials where we will be informed of the current health situation on the island and plans for the future.

Friday, August 3rd -  will be a repeat of Monday and Tuesday; there will be local entertainment for the team in the evening.

Saturday, August 4th, will be a day of relaxation and a visit to a carnival in "Cudjoe Head".

Sunday, August 5th -  we return home.

Please visit the blog at www.ashoutreach.blogspot.com<http://www.ashoutreach.blogspot.com> for further details and a day to day update when we are there.


Warmest regards

Icy Fergus

Friday, July 20, 2012

Montserrat Hearts 2012

It's Friday, July 20, 2012 and we are 8 days and counting until we leave on our second annual Heart Mission to Montserrat.  In 2011, our team started with Dr. Icilma Fergus, Nancy Thomas, and Gilda Caputo-Hansen.  We have now grown by two; Dr. Janice Scobie and Dr. Jon Sumner will be joining us on our expedition to Montserrat.  They are both cardiologists and will be a great addition.

This year, we will see patients in the hospital, and on Wednesday, August 1, 2012,  we will present
 "Cardio Medabolic Risk Factors: What we need to Know
 to the medical professionals and the public at an educational symposium held at the Montserrat Cultural Center.  We will cover topics including Hypertension, Diabetes and Coronary Artery Disease.  We will also screen blood pressures an hour before and after the session.

Throughout the week, Nancy Thomas and I will  once again travel the island to take blood pressures at several locations including:  the Lookout Community Centre, Old Salem Primary School, Nadine's Grocery, Old St. Peter's School, the Old Police Station in Cudjoe Head.  The final major health screening will be held in the Montserrat Governmental Headquarters Building.

We will record data about the participant's cardiovascular wellness, as well as data that deals with the emotional effects the volcanic eruption had on their lives.

What will we find? Higher rates of hypertension and diabetes than we saw last year?  Will we see a dramatic drop?  Will there be any significant changes?

We are looking forward to our week on this mission to discover the answers to these questions.

Montserrat Hearts 2012  

Stay tuned for our daily reports and updates.
Author - Gilda Caputo-Hansen
Director, Hypertension Community Outreach
American Society of Hypertension, Inc.