A Picture Paints a Thousand Words...

... at least I hope that this is the case, since although I asked my husband to write a quick blurb here about his trip, he is underpaid, overworked and sick to boot... not the characteristics that are ideal to sitting down and writing about his trip... maybe I'll get him to do it soon :)

I didn't feel like posting all his pics (I think the group took over a 1000 pictures), but here are a few (or quite more then that)...

 

All the donated supplies...

  

Boarding the Hendricks Motorsports jet (think Jeff Gordon).

Apparently a film crew taped them for a cable airing-- alas, I don't have a tv.

  

Not quite the restrictions that the commercial flights have these days.

  

  

King's Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

Notice the block of bricks helping to hold up one of the walls.

Everytime there was a tremor, they had to evacuate just in case the bricks didn't hold.

  

Med Supply Room. Not the most organized.

  

How to treat an open wound in an emergency situation...

make a paste with sugar to draw out the bacteria.

Below are some pics of the damage in Port-au-Prince

  

  

  

  

  

People were living in the streets for fear the aftershocks would cause the building still standing to crumble

  

A cathedral

  

  

  

Outside the gates of the Presidential Palace

  

 

 

  

Tent cities set up all around open lots and parks.

  

On the 5hr drive to Cayes/Bonne Fin, the team experienced cracks in the road, rock slides and overturned vehicles...

  

  

  

  

An open air market

  

The Team:

Back: Jan Gutwein (missionary in Haiti), Dan Leman, Tess Leman, Bill Hauter, Keith Knepp, Jeff Lehman, Joel Virkler.

Front: Linnea Shick, Jeff Traina, Molly Black, Marlo Penn, Lydia Bertschi, Tim Reinhard (missionary in Haiti)

Sights on the way and in Les Cayes and Bonne Fin

  

  

  

  

The Hospital where Joel worked for the week. One of it's specialty services was orthopedics, which was a real blessing.

 

 

The courtyard of the hospital

The UN was gracious enough to supply the hospital water.

  

  

 

  EMT and Translator (and newlyweds :)

  

WARNING: Graphic Content Below

Viewer Discretion is Advised :) 

This is the kind of thing they saw when they came to the hospital (not ours!!)
(a very primitive external fixation)

Jeff Traina, a general orthopedic surgeon. He taught Joel a lot on the trip, showing him what they were going to do in each case, and then explaining how it would have been done if they were in the US. Pretty much, the procedures were about 40yrs behind the times.

  

I and D of a septic leg.

Lots of I & D's were performed.

  

  

  

When you don't have sterile drills . . . 

  

Leg Amputation.

  

  

Running out of sanitary supplies calls for creative mindsets.
In this case using a hemostat to hold a knife blade.

  

  

Tibial Traction Pin.

  

Traction Device.

  

Spica Cast

  

Full casts were not always able to be put on due to chance of infection from open wounds.

  

  

 

See one, do one, teach one. After seeing several ex-fixes, Molly let Joel put this one on

 

Finished product

  

One of the guys Joel became close to while he was there. He was going to school in PaP. One leg had to be amputated and the other was fractured. He didn't want to live, but told God that if he did, he would finish his studies in economics and help his people. He comes from a more well-off family, hence the laptop.

His family. Joel was especially impressed by his brother, who stayed by his bedside the entire time; he refused to even leave for a quick pick up game of soccer, because "family comes first".

  

He loved "Doctor Marlo", who would give him pain medication

  

Although this little girl's father lost his pregnant wife and 2 other children in the earthquake, he was constantly juggling and cheerfully entertaining the others.

  

The team plus other surgeons at the hospital.

 

The orthopods.

It was not uncommon to see family camped in the hallways to be near the injured loved ones.

  

  

  

PaP International Airport. 

Nobody was inside the building; everyone waited outside on the tarmac for their flight.

  

God bless our troops :)

  

Joel was not too thrilled with this air force jet. Apparently it kept its engines running after it landed and parked within 50ft of them. No one could hear anything, the engines were so loud. :)