Medical Relief Trip Recap

Our group arrived at the Port au Prince airport early Monday afternoon. We were met by a dilapidated school bus, and dozens of Haitian men trying to find work by carrying luggage for us.  When we arrived at the clinic compound, we were told that they had had to shut down after only 2 hours of patient care that morning because they were out of medication and supplies. We set up our tents, dropped our back packs, and immediately got to work sorting our supplies and restocking the pharmacy with the medications we brought. 

Over the next 5 days, our team members saw 1,200-1,400 patients, and provided the medications and supplies for other teams who saw another 1,500 patients.  We were able to provide 5 fully stocked mobile medical clinic kits, as well as 1 dental clinic kit and 1 OB/delivery kit. Through the generosity of our communities, we were able to take 2 ventilators, an AED (automated external defibrillator), 7 glucose meters, a hemocue to test for anemia before surgery, and an autoclave, all of which were critically needed.  The hospital was critically low on lidocaine and baby formula, and we were able to restock them as well.

Drs. Nathan Shishido and Asa Stockton spent most of their time at the Hospital Adventiste, Nathan working with the surgical team and Asa working with the French doctors who were managing the postoperative patients.  Dr. Carlos Moretta, a maxillofacial surgeon, spent 3 days providing urgently required dental care, treating nearly 60 patients.  Dr. Tom Andrews, psychiatrist, with his wife Marie serving as a translator, worked with many children and families who had been traumatized by “The Event”. Jan Sweringen (RN) spent 30+ hours in the Operating Room at the hospital, one of very few surgically trained nurses present. 

Dr. Candy Stockton, Dr. Gordon Lui, Dr. Hugo Leon, Dr. Naren James, Respiratory Therapist Mike Nunn, PA Alice Brayshaw, Rebecca Lui (RN), and Cameron Mooney (EMT) spent most of their time either at the main clinic base camp or on mobile clinic teams that went out into different areas in Port au Prince. They provided medical care in areas that, in some cases, hadn’t received medical care in nearly a decade. With no transportation system to speak of, and few functioning medical centers, they routinely used their bus as an ambulance to transport critically ill patients—often babies—back to the hospital .

The hospital had been without running water since the earthquake. They were unable to flush their toilets or shower, and the surgeons had to wash their hands in buckets to prep for surgery.  Drs. Asa Stockton, Candy Stockton, and Carlos Moretta, along with 2 nurses from another medical team and some local Haitians, laid 3000 feet of pipe to connect an artesian well to the hospital’s water supply, restoring water to the 800-1000 patients at the hospital as well as the 200 hundred foreign and local medical staff based there.

We are grateful for the chance that we had to help Haiti and overwhelmed by the generosity of our communities, who supported this effort. We now know that the only prosthetic lab in Haiti was destroyed during the earthquake, killing the only 2 trained prosthetic technicians in the country.  This is a devastating loss to a country with thousands of children and adults now dealing with amputations.  We believe that the best use of the additional funds we received would be to provide a prosthetic lab and are currently working with several other organizations, trying to arrange this. We will update you as the details are finalized.

To find out how to donate for the prosthetic clinic, click here.
To see photos from the trip, click here.
For contact information, click here.