Dear Family and Friends, Part 2
It is almost midnight here and seems much quieter. The volunteers here are from everywhere. California, Texas, Nebraska, NY, Louisiana, Tennessee, Brazil, huge group from Puerto Rico who come at night in starched white coats (haven’t asked yet how they manage that), and of course Missouri.
It is heart breaking to see the suffering of these Haitians. We feel about cried out, and then another situation comes up and one can find 4 gray haired orhtopaedic surgeons with tears we can’t control. The Haitians sing together in the night, unbelievable. They want to comfort their hurt. I operated on a 14 weeks pregnant, 20ish woman today and through the haze of medication she was trying to sing. Dr. Mike Cobb (Jackson, TN) and I both were red eyed with that. He believes she was singing a religious song of praise to God.
We usually never know how they come to be here at Jimani. We had a young man come to us at the pre-op area with an X-ray of his grandmother’s hip. She was in a van, if you can call it that. This is the only X-ray I have seen here, and was obtained in a nearby town where he told to bring her here. She has a partial pelvic dislocation. Craig Greene, a trauma specialist from Baton Rouge put our last external fixator on her 2 hours ago. We hope to get more from the Domican Republic tomorrow. The Puerto Rican in charge of their group, a pediatrician, promised to help us get more. Luke, thanks for all your efforts on the procurement and money raising side. I will send you a separate email with special requests.
Turns out the helicopter guys who are helping us try to get Xray equipment are Mormons from Utah. They are flying 6 orphans to Miami tomorrow and have the adopted parents waiting! I am very impressed by the energy of these young men and how fast they make things happen.
It is hot here, like August in Houma. No mosquitoes, thank God. The one real OR room is air conditioned and we’re letting the orthopaedic team from California use it. Don’t know how that happened! The other ortho teams are using dental and exam rooms for OR’s. These are not air conditioned, have screens over open windows and flies at times. Like I told Kit, we are doing battlefield aid station surgeries. At one point today, we had 3 teams putting on external fixators at the same time with doors open in between each room so we can consult with each other, share drills and 2 orthopaedic residents from NY and the one OR nurse. Can’t send the pix because internet connection won’t support that. Luke, that may change when your satellite tech shows up tomorrow and hooks up our dishes. We are all taking pictures, it is the only way folks will ever believe this.
Two babies have been born here in the last 24 hours, one by emergency C-section early today. I can’t imagine what their lives are going to be like.
Drop off your FOOD donation to HudsonAlpha
6900 Moquin Drive, Huntsville, AL, 35806
Make CHECKS PAYABLE TO TRINITY United Methodist Church
Times: 10am - 4pm Daily
Questions: email us at haitifooddrive@gmail.com
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