Over the next eight months, I will be working on a number of projects to help the hospital get the supplies it needs. Among other things, I will be doing administrative work to move shipments of donated items through customs (which tends to be an arduous and expensive process), I will be working on a computer system for the hospital's depot (in order to track monthly usage of medicines and supplies so the hospital has a better understanding of what is really useful to them, and in what quantities), and I will be helping to inventory the hospital's biomedical equipment (much of which is in need of repair).

Everything here at the hospital depends on the supply chain. There's no surgery without gloves and sutures, no x-rays without film and developer, no cholera treatment without IVs, saline, and oral rehydration salts. Possibly the biggest problem the hospital administration here faces is a chronic shortage of gloves, gauze and trash bags (yes, trash bags. You don't want to see what happens when they run out of 'em!).

Isemanie Lucien is depot manager at the Justinian. She runs the hospital depot with military precision, copes with mountains of paperwork, and apparently knows the exact location of every item in her charge. Before Isemanie had charge of the depot, there was no system of accountability, and no one knew what was available for patient care. Now, donors can have much more faith that the materials and supplies are scrupulously accounted for, and are not being diverted from their intended use for patients.

-Update Provided by Bretta Hixson