Rotary District 7020 Haiti Earthquake Relief Overview - Jan. 25, 2010
D7020 Website - Haiti Updates
The day before yesterday we had a couple flights come in from the US
with medical supplies gathered by our South Florida Rotarians with the
pick up coordinated by PDG's Larry Labadie and Phil Lustig. They came
in on two planes owned by friends of ours from Kentucky.
Yesterday was a very rewarding day as were able to reach the suffering
on the ground directly again with 6 flights of medical supplies. There
were 4 from the Bahamas and 2 from the DR with an aircraft provided by
the BVI. There may have been a few others that came in, but I was in
Pignon Haiti and missed all emails and phone calls. Our DR Rotarians
(Charles Adams) have been very generous in resupplying the flights
from Port de Paix in the DR to save the return flight to the BVI for
supplies.
We brought Dr. Kevin Tetsworth into Pignon with us yesterday who hails
from Australia. He is an Orthopedic Surgeon who has volunteered to
help out while on vacation. Unfortunately he is desperately needed in
Les Cayes but Dr. Leger said to hold off until we get the Orthopedic
supplies there necessary to do the surgeries. There are currently 50
waiting at his hospital. Pignon has some limited supplies left so only
the surgeries that they have the supplies for are being done.
I flew into Pignon on one of the flights yesterday with supplies and a
number of Bahamian Rotarians. We were graciously met by Guy Theodore,
Caleb Lucien, ADG Adele, President Evinel and a contingent of local
Rotarians. We went to Dr. Theodore's house and held a meeting at which
we discussed our relief efforts, their needs and tried to understand
clearly how best we could help them and what direction things would
take going forward. This was very productive and helpful. I am going
in on Wednesday with RIDE John Smarge, PRID Barry Rassin, DGE Diana
White, and PP Carla. We will meet with Haiti Disaster Chair Dr. Claude
Surena, PAG Nessim, PAG Caleb, DGN Guy. We are going to try to get a
consensus of the stages relief that will be required and a cleared
understanding of what role our fellow Haitien Rotarians want us to
take. They will guide us on this.
After our meeting we toured Dr. Guys Hospital in Pignon. Most of the
patients came from one of the affected areas. They had been brought
there in the back of a truck bed by surviving family members or total
strangers. These was a young girl going into have both her legs
amputated. The Volunteer Doctor that met us told us that her mother
had arrived with her after struggling for her own life. As I
understood it she had not eaten for days, and had lost her other 2
children and her husband. Carla came with two duffle Bags of Teddy
bears and she gave the first one to her. We gave the Teddies to all
the children in the hospital. Tragically there were some that did not
even know they got one. The pain and suffering that those poor people
suffer is something none of us will ever comprehend.
After that we toured Calebs Camp where he is housing some of the
refugee children. They were cooking up dinner for 200 that were at the
Hospital. The venue could well turn up to be a refugee Shelter site. I
will keep you posted.
Our St. Croix shipment encountered mechanical problems and has been
working on them. It is now scheduled into PaP tomorrow morning.
My classmate Phil Lustig and Larry Labadie have consolidated another
shipment and the flight is due into them in Vero Beach tomorrow
morning. If they can turn the flight around in time, they may make a
run into Pignon with the supplies.
We have 8 doctors that arrived in Miami tonight that we are trying to
get into the hospitals in Haiti. We are trying to coordinate that
right now. Worst case, is they come to Nassau tomorrow and go into
Haiti Wednesday.
We have a couple of Dialysis machine offers that we are still
coordinating. One is on the way to South Florida right now. I am
waiting on Dr. Claude Surena's advice as to where it needs to go.
Dr. Greg Hoeksema from Cayman is in town with us on his way to Haiti.
He has spent the day with local Rotarians inventorying the medical
supplies and sorting them so we can more easily send them out to the
specific hospitals based on their exact needs.
I urgently still need an Autoclave and a Dermatome. The Autoclave is
the tool sterilization piece of equipment, and the Dermatome is used
to lift the skin for the skin grafting. Can anyone help with this?
We have a Telethon tonight in Nassau to raise some additional funds. I
will let you know how we make out.
I know Jamaica was trying to get some goods into Haiti but had been
struggling with the Southern Command air restrictions so I await the
results of that. All disaster coordinators need to send me any new
relevant info so that I can post it.
I'll keep you posted.
Thanks
PDG Dick