Solving a Problem in Haiti

[Tinker]

So, we're having some personnel difficulties with our operation in Haiti. So I had an idea that I think is kind of brilliant.

Cloud-Sourcing medical training videos. Putting out a call to Doctors, Nurses, and Medics who speak French, and have them produce a video for different lessons. Then compile all of those videos.

Separate the people from the problem, as my friend says. I can create a repository that can be accessed by people in Haiti online, and I can work to put them on different video formats and send them to people in Haiti who would like access to the materials.


First thing's first though. One of the problems we are running into, as we are Americans, much of our materials are in English, and must be translated. So I want to get copies of French language textbooks. They don't need to be EMT manuals, in fact, I kind of just want straight up anatomy texts. As I do not speak French very well, I want to make sure that if I am going to purchase some textbooks and ship them to Haiti, I get some good ones. Any help from French speakers on that front would be appreciated.

[Caskhades]

I was convinced this was gonna be a play on the Sound of Music. Sorry, can't help with French anatomy. The only bit I know:

The French, they are a funny race,
They fight with their feet,
And fuck with their face.

[Torchwood]

I can obviously help with French, but not with anatomy (indeed probably lethal if I tried). To assess reviews in French, even to do a bit of research on appropriate texts in French, anyway I can help, just PM me.

Do you have a French speaking organisation you are linked with, or French speakers on your team (not that Haitian creole bears a huge resemblance but at least they read standard French).

[rednblacklumberjack]

Tinker, I had some thoughts on this idea - you might have already thought through ideas or methods like this, but I thought I 'd add my $.02:

To make this work we need French instructions synched to a well-performed video demonstration. The French narration can be handled a number of ways and adds a bit of complexity, but the logistics of what you discuss is not unusual - I work in healthcare and am not unfamiliar with the (recent) need to generate lots of pedagogical tools - for every aspect of the medical business. The downside is that medical expertise is scarce and expensive, unless (sorta-kinda) you're at a medical school.

I'd say, work with a medical school/hospital system to find some usefully located (and secure) room where we can store AV recording equipment. The system would be always on, and would be available to any and all who want to deliver their expertise to the video medium. We could remotely grab these valuable recordings and then work on syncing the French narration (which might not need be done by a physician). That sort of post-processing could be intensive, but Adobe's Captivate makes this sort of thing very doable, providing you're syncing good instruction to good video.

Maybe you could crowdsource this to francophile health care providers and residents etc via facebook, but I feel completing the AV requirements, post-processing etc could make this more appealing.

I've worked with a physician who regularly goes to Haiti as part of an ongoing humanitarian mission, but I think they're mainly providing care, scarce medications etc. But what you want to do is at least as necessary. And if this formula works with Haiti, well, you have an entire planet that needs better medical knowledge. I recall my history of medicine courses where small things reverberate loudly across medical practice and video instruction delivered to any language, with the stamp of Pritzker or Harvard, well, that'd be pretty cool. What do you think, Tinker?

[Tinker]

I think it would require someone with connections to a medical school to make it viable. I'll look into it. My first step is to see if we can maybe secure some of the Canadian government's French language resources first.

[rednblacklumberjack]

[Tinker]

Glad you're excited. We're basically leaning toward a social network of the types of people who will use their vacation time to do things in another country.