He's Home

For all of you who checked to see whether Joel's flight came in ok... it did, though delayed a wee bit :) He's home, rested (for the time being), and slightly burnt (the result of sleeping outdoors by the luggage) and looks forward to seeing you all soon! :)

Haiti- Fri AM Pic

Not much to report. They arrived safely in Port this morning... which means Lord willing, I will be picking up my exhausted husband at midnight! Yay!! I'll try to post some of his pics (and maybe a video??) of his trip. Maybe I'll have him do it with a recount of his experiences. I'll probably throw all of the pics in an album on his fb account.

Here is a pic of one of their patients. Once again, this was texted from Molly Black's iphone.
This gal was rescued by her father from their collapsed home. Her pregnant mother & 2 siblings were not as fortunate. She has a right femur fracture & a right below knee amputation. Her father walks around the pediatric ward, singing, juggling, & playing games with the kids....amazing perspective.

Haiti- Thurs PM... descriptive email and pics :)

The pics are courtesy of Molly Black's iphone. She is one of the orthopedic surgeons on Joel's trip. After Joel's team's update is a much more descriptive email from someone on the 2nd team that arrived in Port today.

Talked with Keith. Both of the replacement teams are there.  There are 5 members from the South Carolina Team and 5 members from the Apostolic Team.  These 10 include 2 orthopedic surgeons.  They are doing rounds which is taking approximately 2 hours to introduce the new team to the patients in the hospital.  Our Team plans to load the van and begin to journey back to Port au Prince at 2:30 am tomorrow morning.  They are looking forward to boarding the MFI plane at 9:00 am in Port au Prince which will fly them back to Fort Pierce.  Keith plans to call when they arrive in Port au Prince and we will share that with you. 

 

Specific message to Rich & Tom:  The Team assumes that you have arranged the transportation for them from Fort Pierce to West Palm Beach but they currently do not know the details of those arrangements.  If there is anything they specifically need to know, could you let us know so we can share it with Keith in the morning.  We can also email Molly tonight with any specific instructions they might need.  They are also assuming that transporation issues related to returning to Bloomington rather than Peoria have been worked out by all involved. 

 

Gary had a good conversation this afternoon with Hank Haskins of LMM from SC that has been arranging the SC Teams.  Hank and Bob Honniger had a conference call with Dr. Morquette this afternoon.  Hank will be taking on the responsibility of scheduling all subsequent trips to Kings Garden Hospital in Port au Prince.  Dr. Morquette hopes that there can be a continuous presence of Teams at the facility for the next several weeks.  He would like to continue to work closely with Hanks LMM organization, Christ Community Church in the Chicago area, and the Apostolic World Relief Teams as the source of the Teams.  These 3 organizations have been his primary sponsors over the last several years and he longs to see that relationship continue.  He sees continued need for orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons as wounds and orthopedic injuries go through the healing process.  He sees a significant need for nurses as well as physicians.  He also feels there is a large need for psychiatrists/psychologists to help the patients deal with the emotional trauma.  He is encouraging each team to bring a minister to minister to the spiritual needs of both the Team and the patients. 

 

Please keep the Team in your prayers as they begin their long journey (on rough terrain) back to Port au Prince.  Continue to pray for Cheryl and Team 2, who are divided between Bonne Fin and Kings Garden Hospital.  

 

  

 

 

 

 

We received this from Alice Widmer who is the communication link for Team 2. We are not sure who the author is.

Hello back home from all of us here to all of you there, This is a mass email to all of you. Left Missionary Flights International airport by 10 today on a plane owned and sponsored by Hendricks Motor Sports (never heard of them, but the rest of the group all seemed to. Something to do with racecar driving.) This company also paid for the crew and fuel to get here. Posh leather seats. . . the last of  the luxury! Touched down in Port au Prince with a many Haitian men anxiously awaiting outside the door to take our  bags and help us in any way possible. . . all looking for a job, Florida was freezing, Bahamas, where we refueled was pretty cool, too. Felt like an ice cube until the blast of Haiti air hit us our faces. . . it hasn't quit since. (P.S. It's not cold anymore!) Jan Gutwein (brother who has lived her for 10 years) met us with a 15 passenger van. The easiest "customs" that we ever passed!   In 5 minutes we were all hot and sweaty in a pretty hot van, on a very bumpy road with more potholes than not, no paved roads, no lanes, each guy for himself, the most agressive driver with the loudest horn and most gall to inch forward wins. Makes the worst road in Romania look like Main street usa. Lots of piles of rocks and rubble and toppled buildings in a heap.

Arrived at King's hospital without even getting motion sick. The 80-second airborn military men were outside the gates (just keeping an eye on things, we were told). The place is owned or run, I'm not sure which, by a husband-wife doctor team. We were all in for a big surprise that things seemed quite under control. Nothing like what we heard and saw from home. Another missionary medical team had been there for a week and they said the chaos has died down. A military truck was taking away an unresponsive girl with encephalitis as we walked in. Based on quick glance, her long term prognosis looked very poor. The biggest shock of it all was the haitian culture as presented to American medical people. Our culture is that in time of crisis and need, we are trained to hit the ground running. We expected it to be like walking into an out of control Emergency Department at the worst of the worst. Not at all. They took us aside and chatted a while and gave us a tour of the place. The present medical team leaves tomorrow and will hand off report to us. But more than people and supplies, they are in dire need of organization, national organization. They are not organized and equipped to handle overwhelming amounts of supplies. Surely, it is direly needed throughout this impoverished country, but the where-with-all to mobilize everything to the places of appropriate need seems to be overseen by no one. Every room was someone else with a cast or fracture, but we were told that there was no Xray abilities there. go figure that. . . how do you have a hospital full of orthopedic patients and no X-ray abilities. Film, yes. . . Machine. . no! The person that they needed to X-ray, it took 3 days to get the leg x-rayed done elsewhere! They have two OR's with the anesthesia machine dropped down via helicopter onto their roof. Unfortunately, one OR was shut down today because sewage was leaking through an unstable wall into the OR suite (so much for the sterility there!) Supplies are everywhere. One of the ortho guys was so frustrated looking through a heap of stuff for something he needed in the mess. One thing they do have though is a good pharmacist who has his end under control. The outside of  the north side of the building was shored up with cement blocks and rocks with a big crack that they were watching. As the group of us was standing at the entrance talking, our tour guide suddenly yelled for everyone to get outside! Some of us felt it; some of us didn't. It was another tremor. . . With that, many people left the building. No one seemed too alarmed. . . so we weren't either. They said they've had lots of tremors. . . no big deal, they thought. Dr. Marquette, the owner is still sleeping outside at night, like most of the Haitians are doing these days.

On the way home, the roads were equally as chaotic. The entire city is pitch dark because there is no electricity back anywhere. People everywhere on the streets in the darkness. We are staying at the doctor's house with a generator that has gone off several times since I started this email, my internet access is by one of the missionary's laptop that so kindly let me use his.  There are many dogs barking through every open window. Each dog barking back at another one. We feel very safe here. Don't worry about us. These are good people. The other missionaries staying in this house are good people, too. Hope this wasn't too verbose. Oh, by the way, we have no running water. Toilet being used by the whole works staying here but no flush or sink water, and of course no shower. There are buckets of water outside the bathroom. Right now the hosts are preparing to serve us a wonderful breakfast. Last night's supper was wonderful and we were all quite hungry.

Today the plan has taken a mid-course adjustment. Our team is splitting up into two groups, one will stay here, the    other will go out to another hospital in the mountains, Bonne Fin. Greg, the surgeon, Katie, Heidi, Cheryl and Karen  will go and the other 7 of us will stay here at King's. Hope this finds all of you well as it leaves us. We are all  doing fine. None of you, our dear family and friends back home should worry about us. We're fine!

Haiti- Wed PM

 

The Team did 22 cases today. Most of them were I&D's (incision and drainage for infections) but they also repaired several fractures.  They are still getting some new patients.  They had 2 just show up today. A 5 y/o with a crushed leg and an adult with severe hand injuries.  They also received 3 transfers today from Les Ceyes Hospital that were open fractures that needed surgical repair.  They currently still have 12 femur fractures awaiting for surgery. 

 

Because of the number of cases still to be done and their desire to overlap with the incoming team tomorrow, they are going to work all through tomorrow and plan to leave for Port au Prince at 3am on Friday morning.  They will have a short night tomorrow night. 

 

They are looking forward to the Team coming in tomorrow.  Team 2 arrived in Port au Prince today and are spending the night at Dr. Morquette's house.  7 of the new team are going to stay at King's Garden Hospital in Port au Prince.  The orthopedic surgeon, Cheryl (the Team lead) and 3 other's will be going to Bonne Fin.

 

Keith met with the MEBSH Administrators today.  MEBSH appears willing to accept Administrative as well as financial assistance if it will help keep the Bonne Fin Hospital open.  The entire Team is tired but is in good spirits, feeling that their work was appreciated and so desperately needed by the Haitian patients. 

 

Keith did not feel that we needed to call in the morning.  They would like to get an early start on the remaining patient care issues. 

Haiti- Wed AM

Kathy forwarded the following update.  The satellite and cell phone is still very erratic. If you are placing a call, to a cell, sometimes it takes multiple (and we mean multiple) times before it connecting.  Following Kathy's report will be a few more pieces of information:

 

From Kathy:  Jeff said the workers there went on strike Tuesday for a couple of hours but then came back to work. They were protesting not being paid for  6 months.  

 

He said they were averaging around 15/16 cases a day but will not finish with all the patients there that need surgery before they leave.  A urologist is supposed to be there to do surgery on Wednesday  and will take one of the surgery rooms so they will not be able to do as many cases.

 

They are mostly trying to get wounds cleaned up and/or closed. There are about 4 to 5  very sick patients that really need to be transferred or get specialized care.  He said it seems the 4 y/o who may be an American citizen does not have any documentation of American citizenship which may be what is holding things up. I am not sure who would still have any documentation after the earthquake. Hopefully she will still get transferred and get the care she needs as well as the other patients. People are still working to make that happen.

 

He said that everyone is working well together, working hard, and things are getting done. They seem to be safe and there have not been many aftershocks. In fact he only knew of one and he did not feel it. The Haitians are very appreciative of all that the  medical team is doing for them. He said they still smile all the time even after what has happened to them.

 

The plan at the moment was to leave Bonne Fin on Thursday evening to be in city for the flight out on Friday.

 Kathy

 

Received this morning from Molly (one of the surgeons on our team).  Molly had titled her post to us "Courageous": This lady cut her arm off with a rock to free herself from earthquake rubble. She started with her fingernails but figured out that would take too long. Will be ready for repeat washout & possible closure tomorrow. Makes me redefine having a "tough day."

 

Update from Keith last evening:  Miracles continue to happen in the midst of all the tragedy.  As you are all aware they have been operating without their supplies (until yesterday).  Before their supplies arrived, he said, these people showed up with boxes and boxes of supplies and said they had heard there was a Team at Bonne Fin that needed supplies and wanted to know if they could use anything they had.  Keith said, they were able to use some of the supplies and wasn't even sure where the people were from.  They said they had a helicopter and flew in!!  God is definitely in control. 

 

Then, after the supplies from IL arrived, Keith said it was like "Christmas".  Others had packed the supplies so they weren't sure what was in each box. When they opened the food packs they found cookies.  So, they shared them with their patients last night.  He said there was much happiness in the hospital last night! 

 

The deep concern however, is the Administrative issues at the Bonne Fin Hospital as Jeff referred to above.  Many prayers need to be lifted for this situation.  There is a meeting today, we believe, between the Administrators, Keith and some others. 

 

This evening, Shelley will be placing the call to Bill and you will receive the update as soon as we have it.

 

Peace to you all and praise God for the work He is doing through the hands of His servants.

Update from Another Surgeon (long but good description of whats going on)

This update isn't from one our team but is from a surgeon from Michigan who has been donating his team (long before the earthquake) and going to Haiti for an entire week every 4-6 weeks to perform needed surgeries.  He is in Les Cayes where our Team had gone after leaving Port au Prince.   His message was one that I thought you would all appreciate.

Forward from Dr. Bill:

Sent: Mon, January 25, 2010 9:16:41 PM
Subject: Update, 25 Jan

I know this gets excerpted and sent on, for which I am thankful, my wife can fix it up. The internet has been running better at times. Electricity is a bit more stable from 8 pm to 5 am, then very rare during working hours. This is a big problem as we are running pretty much full tilt at the hospital. Starting [Tuesday] we will run both ORs at once for at least part of the day and I really can't expect the American medical people helping to not use the AC. I also use it when doing larger cases, when I have to wear a gown over
the scrubs. For smaller ones we wear just the scrubs). After a week, I am more adjusted to the heat, they less so.

First of all, I have to praise the Lord and thank Him for all the generous givers in the US who have helped us in so many ways. Tonight was the first night I have been able to use the landline we purchased so that the hospital personnel could communicate with the U.S. This has been very useful with complicated problems like bringing home the body of little Gabriel Reinhard a couple months ago, plus his injured father and sister (who are doing fine). Reinhards are helping us tremendously with the work. They normally do construction, coordinating and working with teams in helping build churches, schools, etc for our Haitian people which has come to a standstill for a bit, but they come to the hospital, help us put on body casts for fractured thighs, haul patients in their vehicles to town for x-rays, as our machine is down. They also help with food distribution, hauling supplies and medical personnel up to Bonne Fin. This is true of pretty much all the
missionaries, but I think the Haitian people who know them are especially amazed at how they trust the Lord and keep serving Him in this capacity despite their tragedy. Actually, it seems that all the mission groups have been working together incredibly well, doing whatever needs to be done: God's people working together His glory. What a wonderful example.

Anyway, getting back to the landline phone, it was pretty much a one-sidedconversation, as I could hear Karen but she heard very little from me. She was able to tell me of all the people who have been giving individually and through several churches, so extremely encouraging. As many of you know, almost as soon as I got here, I gathered the committee that runs the hospital together (Administrator Mondesir, Drs. Moise/Moses, William, Adulte, Nurses Beth Newton and Gettie Consolable and me - thought you might
like the interesting names, pray for these people as we try to run this hospital for God's glory) and shared with them that I really felt we had to give these people free care, as most have nothing left. They agreed, but
expressed reservations as to what the total could be, perhaps $250-300,000, as many of these people are very sick by the time they get to us, with neglected wounds, open, infected fractures, etc. I admit my faith stumbled a bit at the thought, still does some, but the response we have already received has shown me the love of God's people for others in need, specifically the Haitians in this instance. As there seems to be more fuel available (Rod and others buy it in gallon amounts out on the street from the vendors, a messy process), there has been an increased number of patients coming from Port as they have given up on
trying to get help. I can't remember how many beds the US ship has (it looked beautiful all lit up at 5 this morning as we went to Port at 3 am in 4 vehicles/trucks, to get 85 of our church members who lost everything and have no relatives to live with. They will live at the camp Rod and Debbie Wray are putting together. It is by the ocean so they can wash, etc.. They have put up tents to house those who won't fit in the buildings, or maybe don't dare to stay inside. Anyway, the patients now coming out in our direction seeking help are complicated cases, due to neglected, delayed care, etc.

Somehow I have inherited the job of coordinating the medical teams coming to our area, trying to get people into the places where their talents can best be used. I am very thankful that Dr. Keith Knepp and his ACC (Apostolic Christian Church) team of 12, including 3 orthopedic doctors , could be put to use at Bonne Fin when they weren't needed in the hospital they went to in Port. Keith asked me on the phone if they were needed here, sent the entire group up to Bonne Fin the morning that Dr. Belding left, the one who did 46 amputations in 5 days, yikes. They are a smooth running outfit, though have needed us to help them get supplies up the hill. Again, I am so thankful for all the missionaries here who drop whatever they are doing to bring people and equipment/supplies to where it needs to be. Being somewhat in charge of coordinating the medical people does not mean I always know who is coming when, and what they will be doing. Since I don't spend much time at the computer, when internet is even up, there can be glitches.

Yesterday morning I went to church with one of my OR nurses, where I had never worshiped. I know the pastor pretty well from operating on several of his kids, etc. About an hour into the (7 am to 9 am, before it gets too warm), in come 12 Americans, making a total of 13 of us who stuck out rather clearly among 1500 Haitians. About that time the songs and announcements ended and the pastor got up to preach. He had the U.S. pastor who led the team give a brief greeting, then announced how nicely coincidental it was that this team he had arranged to come for a week to work with me had arrived the same day I happened to attend. This was the first I knew of their coming! We do seem to be doing very well together in our first day, but surprises never end.

Since I suddenly had another 12 medical types to add to the situation (and already had 2 Family Practice docs from Missouri helping me for a week, which has been a great help), I thought I would run to Cayes General, the government hospital, to see if some might be needed there. I have only been there once, about 3 years ago. Dr. Moise and I stopped there on the way home from church. There were hundreds lying everywhere on pallets, on the bare floor. Many had not been seen yet despite being there for a week or more. Doctors without Borders had arrived there on Saturday, the day before, and they do an incredible job, doing medicine more like I do, which is trying to help the most with the little resources we have. I had a brief conversation with heir medical leader. He has been having to deal with considerable ego problems with the administration in the situation, and said they might have to pull out tomorrow if they can't get resolution. If they do, there will be hundreds more with delayed care. Without God changing our attitudes, we can be our own worst enemies. Pray that this situation will be ameliorated quickly.

As mentioned above, Rod Wray and another missionary have brought pickup loads of people from our churches in Port who have lost everything, planning on about 200 people out at the camp, buying fuel along the road. Since we seem to have a little more available in Cayes right now, he asked if I wanted to split the driving with Tim, his son, for a 4th vehicle convoy early this morning so I could see firsthand the terrible situation. The holes in the road were huge, defying navigation; the university of 3 stories is now 1/2 story high. At the hospital in Leogane, where the wall is about 4 feet further out towards the road at the top than the bottom, there were bunches of men standing on the top of buses lined along the roadside of the
wall, trying to push the wall back, or so it seemed. Since we were making an early morning run in, trying to get the people out before traffic picked up, we didn't have get long to see, but though it has made for a long day, I appreciated understanding better the devastation and also seeing the appreciation of the people we can help, even for just a few months. Getting through the streets of Port was difficult as thousands of people have just strung a covering on poles and put their bedding in the street, using damaged vehicles, etc to block the roads. They either cannot sleep in houses which no longer exist, or just don't dare, they are so afraid of the earthquake coming back. Even the large church where we picked up the 85 people who had made it a central gathering point, and where probably 2000 plus people were worshiping the one time I was there in 2003, held its services out in the parking lot yesterday, as people are afraid to be inside. A big chunk of a cement ornament they have on the front wall had fallen off onto the roof, bending the well-made steel trusses, but things aren't falling now. Yet the incredible fear persists and one cannot reason with them as no one knows whether it will indeed be safe now. Tomorrow will be two entire weeks since the earthquake. One lady I saw for the first time today had a crushed arm which I think I can fix once I get
the wounds healed and the infection out, but she has lost her husband and all her children and just cried continually. I have put the team's pastor to work helping her and others, as the psychological stress is sometimes more severe than the physical/medical burden.

I have rambled on considerably today, but I wanted to express some of my feelings of thankfulness for all the support and encouragement from so many and ask that you continue to pray as we serve these people with such incredible physical, medical and emotional wounds and so little hope for the future, only fear of it. Also, pray for God's direction for my plans for the next day, week, etc, including when I can properly pull out of here, not sure yet when that might be. A lot depends on how things pan out as far as patient flow and availability of help. I think I have really felt my age being on the top side of 35, what with the intense days and long nights of helping my youngest doctor with the complicated cases such as typhoid perforations (which I fear will increase a lot if it rains, as sanitation is nonexistent), so will head to bed for a good sleep, as Dr. William, my most able doc, is on starting tonight for the next week, PTL.

Thanks again very much, Bill

Haiti- Tues PM

I was able to talk to Joel tonight. :)  He finally called my cell after I kept trying to call the satellite phone to no avail (if you guys can pray for the communication efforts, I know the team would be very grateful as they are having trouble getting connected with the right people to evacuate some of their patients)...

The surgical supplies from Medline and Methodist hospital came in this afternoon. They were flown in by helicopter. The OR was again able to perform 10-12 surgeries on patients today, mostly amputation revisions and closures, as well as taking care of a lot of open wounds. The water was shut off for a brief period this morning, but came back on in the afternoon. They are all still healthy and doing well, and have not felt any tremors or other aftershocks while they have been in Bonne Fin.

The two patients spoken about previously (the 4 year old girl and the woman with the head injury) are still here, and the team is hopeful that their connections will get these patients and possibly others evacuated soon. They are still having difficulties getting in touch with the State Dept.

Specific Request:

The team and hospital are needing  TMAT G-RA x-ray film. They said without this, they are not able to do much with x-rays.

Prayer Requests:
- that the administration in Bonne Fin will continue to get the resources they need to stay open and be able to treat patients.
- one of the patients, Linda Leone, has an amputation that is above the left knee. She is septic.
- several patients have severe muscle/skin loss and are in need of muscle flap surgery... pray that a plastic surgeon will be provided.


Joel wanted me to let you all know how so very grateful and appreciative both he and the rest of the team are for your continued support and prayers. Although they are doing well, he said it is no vacation... but to always remember that to God be the glory!

Haiti- Tues AM, part 2 (and pics :)

The following is an email from Val Gutwein. Her family has been living down in Haiti for a few years. She even sent some pictures along...


From Val Gutwein:

Hello everyone. Just thought I’d touch base since it seems like it has been awhile. Things are here continue to be calm and “normal”. We are starting to see tankers of fuel moving into town, which is a big plus in keeping the people calm. I hear the banks are starting to open, as well as the stores. Jan witnessed some small trucks loaded with bags of rice, so food is available, at least for now. I have not been into the nicer grocery stores to see if their shelves are staying stocked. I am assuming they are not receiving much of anything from PaP yet.

One young man named James, who lives here in Simon, went to Port au Prince  last week to find his mom. It took a couple of days.  He went from park to park and kept asking.  He finally found her, alive, but weak.  Seems that the food airdrops are great for the strong, the ones that can run and get the food.  Also, the bus system works fine for the strong, but his mom was too weak to make it on.   

Many in our area are now housing 4-8 extra people. Many are relatives, some are friends. This is a wonderful show of the love amongst the Haitians. But, the reality is that there is little "extra" to give. Most here do not have the means to do this long term. Pray for the people here who are in this situation.

The kids helped Sheila package rice and oil, and also sort through clothes that will be given to people at the Hospital, and to missionaries to give to their house help, who have family members living with them now.  Most of these people came to Cayes with the shirt on their back.  Last Friday, Alisha and I helped a team of ladies and kids prepare an old hospital room for receiving patients.  The ways to help are unending!

We have a medical team with 2 orthopedic surgeons on board that is very busy at a hospital about 1 ½ hours away. They arrived Friday into PaP, and re-located to Bonne Fin after finding King’s Hospital well staffed. They found many patients needing surgery.  200 people showed up, when they heard that the first doctor was coming.  Our daughter Tess and her new husband Dan are on the team. We were so excited to see them again. Pray for them as they perform many surgeries and care for patients who have amputated limbs, and other serious problems. I had a chance to visit the hospital Sunday. It is heartwarming to see all the caregivers. Many of them have lost everything. Everyone has a story...

Many people have limbs amputated, and many other surgeries will be performed.  The girls and I scrubbed the 4 operating rooms, cleaned bathrooms and help sort through the meds in the supply room.  Jan held the light for several surgeries, and even helped set the shoulder for one patient.  I am amazed at what the Doctors can do in such primitive circumstances.  As I walked through the hospital, several family members would pull me aside and try to get help from the Doc through me. They have been through so much. One man told me his sister was with him and I noticed her leg was amputated.  His other sister died, and they lost their house.  Now what....so many like this.  Mind boggling...

 

Right now Jan is in PaP with our Haitian well-drilling team. Lord willing they will be able to drill several wells in the coming week. One is badly needed at King’s Hospital, where our 2 nd medical team is set to arrive on Wednesday. We praise God for these wonderfully talented people who are coming to give to these needy people. Tess is translating at Bonne Fin, and she told me that the Haitians are all so appreciative of everything that is done for them, even after a very painful dressing change…they say thank-you.

Thank-you for continuing to pray for Haiti and for the safety of these medical teams. We are unsure when our normal “operations” will begin. In the mean time, we will continue to do what God lays on our hearts each day. So many are banding together to help in one way or another. The effort put forth to help these people by everyone involved is so neat. To God be the Glory. We know that God is sovereign, and we can’t question Him…we only believe He will and is being glorified through this tragedy.

For thou art my hope, O Lord God; Thou art my trust since my youth. PS 71:5

 Haitian Ambulance Transportation

One of 4 Surgical Rooms at Bonne Fin

Med Supply Room at Bonne Fin

Getting Ready to Head to Hospital

Haiti- Tues AM

From Sam Bertschi:

My mom spoke to Lydia this morning. She tried several times on the satellite phone and then Lydia called her from one of the doctor's cell phones and said the satellite phone was not working.

She said they are very busy, but they felt they are in the right place. Yesterday they performed 8-9 complicated surgeries. Mostly irrigation and debridement of stumps. The risk of sepsis is high. Today they plan to do external fixations. Our doctors are working with 2 Haitian med students.

They are seeing many kids with one leg broken and the other one missing. Every other person they see is missing a limb.

She said that there are 3 nurses for 80 patients. Obviously, there aren't enough nurses and it is very hard for them to communicate. At night they pass out meds to the patients and tell them to take them if they have pain. This way they can at least get a little sleep.

Lydia says the situation seems "overwhelmingly helpless."

Mom told her that we are praying for her and Lydia immediately replied that they are all fine. She said that the people there need our prayers. She also mentioned that the water at the guest house was not working, but they have water at the hospital.

From Gary Knepp:

Just got off the phone from talking with Keith.  He voiced that their frustration is in the unreliability of the phones.  The sat phone has been very unreliable the last 24 hours or so.  It has to be on, they have to be outside and on top of the mountain to get good reception.  The cell phones are also unreliable, working sometimes and the circuits being overrun the next and not being able to get through.  He fears that he has lost calls from the authorities trying to evacuate their patients.  So, the plan is to have the cell phone in the possession of Sheila at the hospital who is in a fixed location.  Keith had us try calling right back to make sure it worked and it took 6 tries to get through, but it worked.  Please lift up the communication problem to the Lord.

Haiti- Mon PM

They were able to do 12 surgeries today.  Everyone is doing fine.

It was an active day on our side, with Gary obtaining contact information through the US State Department, phone numbers and email addresses that the Team can use to try to arrange supplies and arrange air evacuations if possible.  The US State Dept. Staff were very helpful.  At the end of the conversation, they shared spontaneously, "God bless your Team for the work they are doing".  Gary was able to talk briefly with Molly and she didn't know whether they air lifted out the 4 y/o because she was in surgery all day.  Keith is doing rounds and wasn't available to talk. 

2 Teams are leaving tomorrow, 1 being led by Cheryl Herrmann, who currently plans to relieve the people working at Kings Garden Hospital in Port au Prince, the 2nd Team from North Carolina who will be relieving Keith's Team in Bonne Fin (They are set to return on Friday).  They are hoping they will overlap on their arrival and departure times.  Gary has been fielding questions between Keith and the other 2 Teams with regard to the type of supplies they need to bring.

As of late this afternoon, our Team had not yet received their supplies.  The shipment left FL on Saturday and mid-way, the plane had an engine go out and had to return to FL.  They tried again on Sunday and again, the plane had to turn back due to mechanical problems.  The supplies were scheduled to arrive in Port at 5:45 this evening.  Rich said it had 35,000# of supplies on it.  We are glad they aren't using these planes for people!!  In our conversations tonight, no one mentioned whether the supplies had arrived and we failed to ask.

By the way, some of you have asked who is on the team besides Joel. I'm sorry I didn't post this on my blog earlier (For those that I knew their occupation, I placed them after their name)...

•     Bill Hauter- Anesthesiologist
•     Jeff Traina- OS
  
•     Marlo Penn- CRNA
  
•     Lydia Bertschi- CCN
  
•     Molly Black- OS
  
•     Andrea Johnson- CRNA
  
•     Daniel Leman- EMT
  
•     Tess Leman- translator
  
•     Jeff Leman
•     Linnea Schick
•     Keith Knepp- FP
  

Haiti- Mon AM

Everyone is remaining hopeful that they may be able to evacuate the 4 y/o American child with the assistance of the US Navy.  Revealing news this morning is that one of the Team members has a cell phone with ATT International Calling Plan and it works perfectly!  So, we now have a way to get a hold of them, should there be an urgent need from our side.  We will still maintain the calling schedule that has been set up.  The phone is an answer to prayer because if an evacuation can be arranged, the Team will need to be made aware of those arrangements. 

he Team is looking forward to the first full day of surgery.  While the Team is hopeful that the work they are doing will make a significant impact, the magnitude of the disaster is at times overwhelming.  A good insight as to what they feel in their time of reflection is captured very well by Shelley in the email below.  Please keep them and their Haitian patients in your prayers.

E-mail from Shelley:  I  received a call from Bill tonight at 11pm central time.  It was great to hear from him, but I could hear how overwhelmed he was.  I will just relay what he said from my sketchy notes.  It sounds unbelievably sad, nearly hopeless.  I can only pray that when these people have nothing else left, that they have Jesus.

He said the needs are so overwhelming.  The suffering is unbelievable and so sad.  Ecuador was paradise (having been there on a mission trip in August.)

 
I think it will be easier to write this as if Bill is the writer, so I'll continue that way...

I'm so glad I'm an American.  We are trying to triage, change dressings, assess wounds.  Everything moves at glacier pace.  So hard to get xrays, patient medical history. There was an American surgeon who was here just after the earthquake and he worked around the clock for a week, doing surgery, keeping people alive.  He saved lives. There are so many with open fractures, still unfixed since the earthquake.  Lots of kids with amputations.  So many people are jammed in the hospital with all their families crowded around.  We need so much more help, more supplies.  We are making do with what supplies we brought in, what was here already, and now what the new team has brought with them.  (A team of 6 arrived last night.  They expect their supplies to arrive tomorrow, Monday afternoon.) 
The road (that we traveled in Ecuador that was rough, narrow, through mountains with few guardrails) was paradise compared to the washed out gravel pit that we traveled on for 6 hours to get to Bonne Fin.  We had to stop and change from our van to 4-wheel drive vehicles to get us all the way through this mountainous road. People left Port au Prince and traveled over these terrible roads with their open fractures and broken femurs. The stories and suffering...it's startling. I saw a 4 year old ("little Lindsey" as Bill called her) that I was able to speak with her mother for a bit.  During the earthquake a wall fell on her and crushed her leg.  Her mother carried her around Port au Prince for 3 days trying to find her help while the little girl cried and suffered in pain.  She was finally able to get help and rides out to Bonne Fin.  The surgeon did an above the knee amputation.  She is an American citizen born to her Haitian/American father.  They have tried to get her help (through Aaron Schock and military) for further care.  It looks like it may happen. This is possibly the greatest medical need of my lifetime.  These people have nothing to begin with.  It's a war zone. The people are so gracious, patient.  It's amazing.  No one is complaining about their open wounds and fractures.
Many people left Port au Prince because of the devastation.  They traveled out and anywhere else that they could find to get help.  So now many of these more remote hospitals are packed with patients.

The team had a strategy meeting...they plan to start with about 10-12 surgeries tomorrow--revisions of amputations and cleaning out wounds/open fractures. They are staying at a guest house right next to hospital, sleeping in bunks, eating well.
They know we are praying for them.  I know Bill didn't have the words to express what he was seeing and feeling. 

 Keep praying for Haiti.

 

 

Haiti- Sun PM

 

The Team is healthy, they are eating good food but it has been a very busy day.  Because it is a Sunday, the local hospital's staffing was very low so they only did 3 emergency surgeries today.  1 was a shoulder reduction and the others were fasciotomies.  The number of cases scheduled continues to grow.  They are looking at potentially over 40 cases for surgery starting in the morning.  Another 6 person Team, including more orthopedic surgeons arrived and the help is very welcome as there is more than enough for everyone to do.  This hospital has not been fully functional and therefore, there is not strong local staff support although there is functioning x-ray and minimal lab.  They are anticipating arrival of their supplies tomorrow which will be most welcome because they are running low on IV fluids. 

 

Dr. Bob Pflederer was able to attend the meeting with US Representative Aaron Schock and his staff today.  His staff will attempt to identify a number for the Team to use to contact local military resources for transfer and supply assistance.  Hopefully we will have that information to forward to the Team tomorrow. 

 

The Team has identified 2 critical patients, one that we told about last night, plus a 4 y/o child who has a parent who is an American citizen. 

 

We personally know a young woman from Eureka, IL who is stationed on the USS Carl Vinson which is in Port au Prince.  We sent her the email that we shared with Representative Schock's staff this evening, requesting if they had any information on how to potentially transfer this child to a higher level of care.  When she saw the email, she contacted us and through a series of phone calls between Gary, Keith, Jan Gutwein and the Navy, we have been able to give the Navy the coordinates of the Bonne Fin Hospital.  We hope this will lead to potential evacuation of the child tomorrow.  The Lord works in miraculous ways!! Praise our awesome God!

 

We have been able to identify the contacts in Charleston, NC who are organizing a Team that will be part of the group that continues to staff the Bonne Fin Hospital over the next couple weeks.  We are attempting to get the Team organizer directly in touch with Keith so that they can make a coordinated hand-off of patient information and give good direction on what supplies the replacement Team should bring with them.  

 

Haiti- Sun AM

 

The Team is staying in a gated and locked facility when they are resting.  They have local ladies who are preparing their meals.  Their sleeping facility has running water. 

 

The Hospital they are at has 4 wings in which patients are being cared for.  They have had the oportunity to consult on only 1 wing.  They still have the other 3 wings to triage the patients for surgical needs.  As of right now, they have 16 confirmed surgeries they will be starting.  They have identified 1 woman with a significant head injury who needs care beyond what they can provide.  They have requested that when Dr. Bob Pflederer and Paul Streitmatter meets with US Representative Aaron Schock today, they will find out if Representative Schock can assist in obtaining military transport to get the patient the help she needs either in Haiti or in the US. They will explore with Representative Schock 2 options, transportation back to the US if one of the Peoria/Bloomington hospitals are willing to accept this patient, or can he help with getting her to the USNS Comfort, the military hospital ship that is stationed off of Port au Prince.  Hopefully if Representative Schock can identify the appropriate military contact to help expedite the transportation, Dr. Bob will be able to share that information with Gary before tonight's call so the Team can directly start making transfer arrangements. 

 

The Team again asked about progress on their return transportation arrangements.  Gary will share information with them from Rich on that subject this evening.  Rich has contacts at American Airlines who will be available tomorrow morning to help with the rescheduling and we will update you as that information is available. 

 

The Team is still waiting for their supplies.  Rich received word from MFI that the supplies should have arrived between 5-6AM this morning in Port au Prince.  Jan is aware of this arrival time and is making arrangements to have the supplies transported to the Team.  

 

Haiti- Sat PM

The entire Team is  now in Bonne Fin and plan to stay there for the remainder of the trip.  There were already 60 patients waiting to be seen there.  They were able to evaluate 10 of them today.  Of those 10, 5 are scheduled for surgery tomorrow and they were able to do their first case today.  Given the high rate of surgeries per patient evaluated, they anticipate being very busy for the remainder of their time there.  The wounds they are observing are patients who have already had 1 amputation but the amputation sight has become severely infected and they are needing to debride the wounds and do further surgery on the wounds.

A little more specific information on what they saw at Kings Garden Hospital yesterday was a Team of 20 physicians and nurses who were keeping up with the patient volume there.  They observed many tent/sheet cities as they traveled. 

Everyone is in good health.  They have heard reports that the hospital at Cape Haitian is receiving over 500 new patients a day. Cape Haitian is north of Port au Prince. 

They didn't report about whether they have felt any tremors or the damage in Bonne Finn.

Haiti- Sat AM

So I realized with me getting updates twice daily (around 8am/8pm), this could be kind of confusing, so I figured I'd put the title as the update that I received. In the mornings, there may not be as much news (unless they work through the night!)

Update from the Team:

Traveling to Les Ceyes.  They will asess the situation there and decide if some go to Bonn Finne.  They drove through downtown Port everything is flattened, the national cathedral, pres. palace etc.  There are tent cities all over the place, the roads are clear, places of business that weren't destroyed are reopening, and people are setting up stands of fruit, etc.  Things were very calm, but everyone is very scared of being inside of buildings.  Keith said even Dr. Morquette won't go in his house, he has a bunch of people staying there,but he sits outside working on his laptop.  Keith said when he talks to them about the quake he tears up, they are all just really shell shocked.

Nothing else really new,  will know more tonight.

 

Haiti

So Joel left for Haiti yesterday. He went with a medical team organized through World Relief in our church; it is comprised by various doctors, nurses and a translator. They flew down to Port-au-Prince this morning using a plane supplied by Hendrick Motorsports, who has partnered with MFI for Haiti relief transportation. (The HM planes are on loan from Jeff Gordon's and Jimmy Johnson's NASCAR teams). They are hopefully returning on Jan 30th, though just last night we found out that flight through American Airlines has been cancelled. So they may be returning Jan 29th instead, again through MFI. They brought down with them about 2,800lbs of medical supplies and about 800lbs of food. Anyhow, we are to be getting bi-daily updates from the team via satellite, so I figured I would just do an update through the blog, as it's kind of simpler this way then trying to figure out everyone's email.

I will have more pictures once Joel comes home... and maybe a video too. But I took this picture before he left. He was only allowed to have a backpack and personal bag (he chose his camelbak over a fanny-pack) for his personal belongings, and they could only weigh a maximum of 35lbs. The other two duffels were filled to the max (it took lots of rearranging) with medical supplies donated from Medline and Botsford Hospital. I've never seen a backpack packed so full. My husband looked like a pack mule ;)

Tonight's Update from the Team:

The trip down was uneventful. Stopped for refueling in the Bahama Islands.  Their supplies have not arrived but are scheduled to arrive in the morning.  They then proceeded to Kings Garden Hospital.  There they found the hospital well staffed with orthopedic surgeons and nursing staff, with adequate supplies and very organized.  (The church has worked with King's Hospital previously). The physicians temporarily staffing Kings Garden Hospital are members of a team from Medical Teams International (MTI), another partner who has supported Dr. Morquette over the past few years.  Because of the presence of this team and adequate supplies in Port-au-Prince, our Team plans to travel to Les Ceyes/Bonne Fin area tomorrow morning where there is only 1 orthopedic surgeon and they are completely out of anesthesia supplies.

Once in the Les Ceyes/Bonne Fin area, the Team may divide into a Les Ceyes Team and Bonne Fin team.  They will decide that tomorrow morning. 

Tonight, they had a good meal and are staying at Dr. Marquette's personal home.  His home was not damaged but for those of you who have been to Port-au-Prince, he said the damage is hard to comprehend with large areas of completely flattened buildings. They have not seen the downtown area and plan to drive through there tomorrow on their way to Les Ceyes.

 

If you could please include in your prayers for all of Haiti and Joel's team, I know they and I would both gratefully appreciate it!