The Right Place at the Right Time

Monty Jacobs and Dr. Edmundo Justino, (a Gastroenterologist practicing in Maryland) stopped by the hospital in Port-au-Prince on the way to the airport to fly home on Wednesday. They were there to drop some equipment and medicines off that the hospital could use. While there, one of the nurses that Dr. Justino met on the previous visit remembered that he was a gastroenterologist. They had a patient in the hospital that had been unable to swallow any food for more than 1 week - it looked like he had a stricture (narrowing of his esophgus) not allowing him to pass food into the stomach. They had tried on multiple occasions to pass a tube in to the stomach but up to that point, were unable to advance the tube. Well, this what is Dr. Justino does, so he did a few maneuvers first by advancing an oral gastric tube and once he had that one in, was able to place a more permanent Naso Gastric tube through the stricture and into the stomach. With that, the patient is now able to eat, swallow and get some nutrition.

Dr. Edmundo Justino and an Eden Garden child