Haiti

Niel had the opportunity to go to Haiti in January for a medical mission. He went with Dr. Tingey (the doctor he works for) and a local anesthesiologist. Here is a brief summary written by Niel of his trip.

I recently made a visit to Haiti for a medical mission. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting...it was worse. There are still approximately a million people living in tents.Only 5% of the damage has been restored or cleared away since the earthquake a year ago. Most people don't have running water or electricity, and toilets are a luxury. Due to the poor sanitization, lousy plumbing, and unclean water there is an epidemic of cholera.

We had a chance to do quite a few surgeries including broken arms and legs, amputations, reconstructions, etc. We only stayed for a week, but we met a lot of volunteers who committed to stay for a year or longer. It's hard to truly appreciate what kind of sacrifice that is until you've been there. If it wasn't for the volunteers people would go without treatment and be subject to orthopedic impairments for life.

Some observations from the trip:

It took about an hour to drive to the hospital from the airport even though it's only 10 miles. Traffic is horrendous. There are street lights, but none of them work. The city is very densely populated--people are everywhere. Even at night the streets are packed--It seemed like everyone was just out socializing in the dark. As far as I could tell, there isn't any organized trash disposal. Trash is just piled up in the streets, and the people walk around it. There didn't seem to be anything that even resembled a rebuilding effort.

Below are some of the pictures Niel took with his phone while he was in Haiti.

This is one of many tent-cities near the airport

The "market."

Just in case you were wondering where the donations go.

This little boy broke his humerus and had to have surgery. He was a trooper...never cried.

One of the hospital wards. The hospital can only provide one meal a day, so family members are expected to bring the patients food.

Dr Tingey with some of the local kids.

This cute little girl was playing with a barbie outside of her tent.

We spotted women carrying things on their head

If you know anyone that would be interested in volunteering, I can direct you to the right people. You don't have to have any medical skills or training to volunteer.

It was a sweet adventure, and a good opportunity to be reminded of how good we have it here. Nothing beats a trip to Haiti when you need to be reminded of how easy your life is.