Home \ Initiatives \ Haiti

Haiti Earthquake Relief

Haiti Relief efforts
March 1, 2010
By Jonathan White

• Number one issue is provision of adequate shelter/housing.
• Food assistance moving into second surge phase with food baskets.
• Decongestion of settlement camps and creation of adequate sanitation is top priority.
• Rubble/Debris removal begins with over 86,000 Haitian workers hired.

The latest OCHA situation report from the UN reports that while the immediate emergency needs (food, water, health care) in Port-au-Prince are being covered, organizations continue to deal with many requests from outlying areas.

While the Port-au-Prince and directly surrounding area suffered the highest levels of destruction, the other provinces of Haiti have seen an inflow of over 400,000 people from the capital.  This has put a tremendous strain on already struggling communities and the humanitarian assistance provided must be balanced between these two areas.   Updated figures in this report include the latest estimate that 222,517 died and over 1.2 million are in need of shelter.

The World Food Program reports that they have thus far been able to reach over 4,000,000 with food assistance as of the end of February.  They are now entering a second surge phase of their response and are planning on distributing “full food baskets” of commodities (corn-soy blend, beans, rice, oil, and salt) to 300,000 families.

Rubble Removal and Shelter

Approximately 86,000 Haitian workers are involved in cash-for-work activities focused on rubble/debris removal, drainage of canals and the management of solid waste.  The task of rubble removal is an enormous one that will take many months as it is estimated that 285,000 houses were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, leaving over a million without adequate shelter.

Thus far over 130,000 plastic tarps and 23,000 family tents have been distributed and an additional 230,000 tarps and 17,000 tents in the pipeline.  While this is estimated to provide temporary shelter for close to 100% of the displaced people it is not an adequate solution for the rainy season or the longer term.

Construction of temporary “transitional” shelters are the next phase of tackling the shelter issue, but they are being complicated by not only the rubble removal but also the need to have land officially allocated by the government for this purpose.

Heavy rains and flooding, arriving earlier than usual last week, have killed at least eight people, illustrating the dangers ahead when the rainy season begins in true in several weeks time.

Health

The public and private hospitals are slowly starting to offer some services on a regular schedule with regular health care staff progressively returning back to work.  International Volunteers and NGO’s are leading the provision of specialized services through both existing institutions and through clinics/hospitals set up in the wake of the earthquake. 

According to the OHCA report there appears to be a lack of sufficient basic reproductive health care available in the Leogane region in either mobile or stationary clinics, such as basic care for pregnant women and newborns. 

Children and Schools

According to the Ministry of Education in Haiti, some 4,000 students and 500 teachers were killed in the earthquake and 80 percent of the schools were either partially damaged or destroyed.  There are currently some 2.5 million children with no access to a school as a result of the earthquake damage.   Authorities are aiming to have the majority of children in schools by the end of March.

Schools that are stable and have adequate infrastructure are also being to start a school meals program that will provide children with alternating cooked meals for the upcoming months.  Also of concern is the fact that a large proportion of the displaced person sites are reporting the presence of unaccompanied children. 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
February 20, 2010
By Kevin Connell

Much-Needed Rehab Equipment Obtained through Portlight.org
We made a great connection tonight with a supplier from Portlight.org working out of Quisqueya University.  The school was shut down after nearly all of its building collapsed in the earthquake, but it is currently being used (along with the other Quisqueya schools) as a staging point for relief operations. 
As mentioned in the previous post, our partner, Sacred Heart Hospital, has been inundated with amputees for weeks without the proper human or physical resources to treat them.  In our efforts to get help with supplies, one of our contacts here in Port-au-Prince Tweeted a request for physical therapy equipment (crutches, walkers, etc) on our behalf, setting the process in motion early this afternoon. 
Two hours later through the help of Twitter users all around the world, we were sent word of Portlight’s supply of rehab products located less than five minutes from our location at the hospital and ready for distribution.  After a simple phone call, we had setup a time to meet their coordinator, Richard Lumarque, fifteen minutes later for pickup and were on our way.  With a little help from Google Maps, Mel (physical therapist) and I made it to Portlight’s depot at Quisqueya before sundown and were reviewing inventory with Richard for receipt.
Soon we had stuffed my small SUV rental from Avis full with a three-wheel walker, 23 walkers, some crutches, two boxes filled with platform attachments used for complex mobility needs and a load of neck braces.  The equipment was added to the supply room at Sacred Heart, set to be handed out to the 50+ Sacred Heart amputees who have been bed-ridden since January 12th.  Mel estimated the equipment to be worth roughly $5,000—a big score for the community at Sacred Heart, waiting to walk again.. and not bad for two hours of effort. 
Many thanks to Richard Lumarque, Portlight.org, and the Twitter community for making it happen.

Mel with our impromptu supplier, Richard from Portlight.org

Mel and I after loading the car full of rehab equipment for her clients at Sacred Heart.

The car, stocked nearly to the brim.


Unloading at the hospital after close.



Snapshot of the score that night.

Port-au-Prince,
Haiti February 18, 2010
By Kevin Connell

Haiti – Learning to Walk Again

Real Medicine, in partnership with Chadasha Foundation, has been allocating volunteer medical professionals to Sacred Heart Hospital (Hôpital Sacré Coeur) near the heart of the city to help in ongoing treatment and rehabilitation services. One of the biggest challenges in Haiti is rehabilitating the new population of amputees. The first few weeks are critical to getting these patients mobile as much as possible, strengthening what physical resources remain in the process. Oftentimes this process is more mental than it is physical.

Today I had a chance to catch up with a physical therapist working as part of our team Sacred Heart, Mel Hoffman, and learn more about her work at the facility. As the only PT currently working at the hospital, Mel has been in high demand, serving the 60 in-house patient populations by herself, about half of whom need daily rehabilitation sessions. Mel is also working to provide each of them with training regimen overviews, introductions to their new prosthetic equipment and direct counseling.

Mel is very comprehensive in her approach, going out of her way to build relationships with each of the patients she serves. Mel says that building trust is critical to making progress in her physical therapy sessions, and is particularly important with the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Most of them are suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), having been trapped under rubble for hours or even days before being found. Having suddenly found themselves living in tents out in the day’s heat, surrounded by strangers and missing a leg, it’s understandable how many could feel uncertain or discouraged.

Mel also tells me that many patients refuse to do therapy until they’ve been assured that the therapist is not leaving. They have been subjected to a constantly-revolving staff of medical professionals, probing, prodding, measuring them each day since the disaster hit. The patients may only know a professional for the few minutes he or she visits with them before passing them off to the next volunteer rotating through. Mel insists on being present at the hospital as much as possible to build rapport with the patients, something that is unheard of at most facilities treating victims. It is also a real world example of RMF’s mission to build sustainability into its clinics, ensuring that patients develop relationships with 

their providers and receive care and treatment not just during the immediate humanitarian crisis, but on a regular basis well into the future.

When I caught up with Mel, she was busy prepping a 32 year old man named Jonathon for his session. I had a chance to ask him a few questions about his experience with the earthquake. When it hit, Jonathon had been walking along the sidewalk in the center of town with a friend. As the shaking began, he saw a mass of people frantically running to get out of the 4 story apartment building next to him, falling as they ran from the force of the shakes. Not knowing what to do and unable to move without falling himself, he dove under a parked car just as the building started to collapse. The wall fell on the car he was under, and pinned his leg under a car door, crushing it against the ground. Fortunately, the friend he was with found him and was able to rescue him from the rubble only a few minutes after the earthquake was over. However the damage to Jonathon’s leg had already been done. He was taken to a nearby hospital and took his place in line amongst the countless other patients. A nurse eventually treated his wounds, but according to Jonathon, he laid in bed for 4 days before any doctors realized his leg had been crushed in the disaster. By then when they tried to salvage the leg with external fixation and a tissue graft, the leg wouldn’t respond. They amputated soon thereafter, and Jonathon now lives in a tent in the Sacred Heart Hospital parking lot with 9 other strangers of various states of injury.

Struggling to bridge his life before the earthquake to his new life in its aftermath, Jonathon has required an extra bit of encouragement to agree to do rehab each day. It is clear that he has not yet come to terms with the loss of members of his family, his house and his leg. Mel is constantly pushing him to focus his thoughts on getting stronger so that he can eventually walk out of the hospital, but the discouragement he feels has been a major hurdle. We’ve learned that prosthetics have a certain taboo in Haitian culture and most patients would rather have nothing at all than to have a false leg. This stigma also extends into receiving help or therapy for their amputation, as they are being seen in open tents and in front of the other patients. The cycle that results (and was the case with Jonathon before Mel saw him) is that many patients are too weak to get better and unwilling to try because they are too weak.

After I heard his story, Mel began her session. She used a mixture of positive reinforcement and tough-love, and eventually got Jonathon to do some simple stretching and flexing exercises. Five minutes later and after some more encouragement, he was standing next to the bed, flexing his weakened quadriceps on his left leg that seems to look more like rubber band stretched across a stick than a muscle strapped over a bone.

By the end of the session, Jonathon seemed empowered by his success at handling the initial exercises. Having sensed an opportunity to push further, Mel reached for his new walker and placed in under his hands. To the surprise of everyone, Jonathon grabbed it and took a step. Seconds later, he took another, and then slowly began walking out of his tent with Mel’s assistance. That day, Jonathon proudly stepped 30 feet down the parking lot and back to the claps and support of the staff nearby. They were the first steps he had taken since the earthquake.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
February 17, 2010
By Jonathan White

URGENT PRIORITIES for Haiti Relief efforts as of February 17, 2010

-Shelter and sanitation in preparation for rainy/hurricane season
-Rubble removal
-Medical outreach to outlying communities
-Cash for work programs

Haiti Situation update: February 17, 2010:

Just over a month after the earthquake, and with the arrival of the rainy season just a few weeks away, the challenges for the international aid efforts in Haiti are still monumental.

As of February 15th, the national civil protection agency in Haiti estimates that approximately 217,366 people died from the 12 January earthquake, and other sources estimating that number to surpass 250,000. Current estimates are that 97,294 houses were destroyed and 188,383 were damaged across all areas of Haiti.

According the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the arm of the UN responsible for coordinating the many humanitarian organizations at work in Haiti, there are approximately 1,100,000 Haitians in need of shelter. As of it’s February 16th published report, the OHCA’s top priority needs for humanitarian assistance in Haiti include: the provision of shelter material and site management, sanitation and hygiene, food security, cash-for-work programs to support livelihoods, and the protection of vulnerable groups.

The United Nations World Food Program and many other partners have so far been able to reach over 3.4 million people with food assistance since the start of the response; and 850,000 people are receiving 5 liters of water per day. As of the 15th of February, 2,437,566 individuals had received a two-week ration of rice with a total of 10,000 metric tons of rice distributed.

The Ministry of Public Health has confirmed that medicines and medical products will be provided free of charge to all public health facilities until the 12 of April. The Ministry is also completing a National Plan for Disability by March 1st, including topics such as rehabilitation centers, prosthetics, orthotics, and accessible structures.

Rainy Season approaching

With the rainy/hurricane season rapidly approaching, the concern around sanitation, hygiene and appropriate shelter is rapidly becoming the most urgent issue. Overcrowded temporary encampments, serious sanitation/hygiene issues, and the predicted rainy season spike in Malaria and Dengue fever cases are presenting a significant challenge to relief efforts.

According to a recent BBC news article, there are “as many as 700,000 people are living out in the open, in makeshift shelters. The luckier have found old and rusty corrugated iron roofs. Others huddle under bed-sheets strung between wooden poles. Shelter is, according to aid agencies, a monumental challenge.”

Complicating the challenge of building or creating any kind of permanent structures are the difficulty in finding large enough open spaces because of the immense amount of rubble created from destroyed buildings.

A plan is currently in place to attempt to combat the hygiene issues through the OCHA to provide an initial 12,950 emergency latrines in April to the displacement camps, and a second wave of 21,000 within 6 months.

“Most destructive natural disaster in modern times”

From an economic perspective, an article on NPR’s Planet money website, writes that “the cost of rebuilding Haiti is expected to be at least $8.1 billion, according to a recent report by economists at the Inter-American Development Bank, that's nearly one billion more than the amount of goods and services the country produced in 2008.”

“The economists that compiled this report are saying that it’s likely that the Haitian earthquake will be the "most destructive natural disaster in modern times, when viewed in relation to the size of the Haiti's population and its economy." The damages are estimated to be between 104% and 117 % of the country's GDP, compared to the 2004 tsunami which caused damages equal to 7 % of Sri Lanka's GDP.”

No, you didn’t misread that, the study estimated that the earthquake damage is equal to an entire year’s worth of Haiti’s GDP plus 4%...or 104%.

The initial few weeks of international relief efforts have made a significant positive impact on the people of Haiti and are worth noting; but the challenges in the coming weeks, months and years are daunting, and will take the continued focus and generosity of the international community to have any hope of rebuilding this shattered country.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
February 11, 2010
By Kevin Connell

There has been a lot of activity in Port-au-Prince in the past few days.  Overall in Haiti there has been a lack of coordination between medical facilities and suppliers.  In response, Real Medicine has been networking with hospitals, NGOs, and UN agencies to build our own network to support the continued efforts at our clinics and partner facilities.  The solidarity of the Haitian people, particularly through our partner, the First Baptist Church in Pernier, has been a major asset in maintaining our efforts despite the lack of coordination from the international players.
        
We were able to establish contact with Direct Relief International’s (www.directrelief.org) team in Port-au-Prince who is working to distribute medical supplies to health organizations in the relief effort.  Direct Relief has already supported RMF’s work in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Peru. With the help of our partner organization, Chadasha, we were able to get several trucks over to DRI’s warehouse and receive about $200K worth of supplies, including antibiotic and hypertension medications, Pedialyte children’s rehydration drinks, adult electrolyte supplements, IV stands, sterile water and other materials that have proven vital to our ongoing services at the Real Medicine Foundation, Good Shepherd clinic in Pernier. 

        
In addition, we have delivered about ¾ of the supplies to our new partner, Sacred Heart University Hospital, in central Port-au-Prince.  The hospital has been a major placement for many of the doctors coming in through Chadasha, and they have major need for ongoing support.  To illustrate the situation at Sacred Heart, the building that was originally designed to hold only 14 patients, yet has between 50 and 65 patients in-house on a given day (placed in numbered tents on donated mattresses out front).  Dr. Crowley told me they have seen 4800 patients since the first day of the crisis, and are currently seeing about 90 a day.  The volunteer staff of revolving doctors, nurses and EMTs has so far been able to rise to the challenge.  Yet with new patients streaming into the makeshift triage tent every hour, there seems to be no end in sight for their efforts. 

 
In addition to the challenges of staffing (Dr. Crowley and her head nurse had been working 17 days straight), they are forced to make critical medical decisions often without knowing whether or not they will have the materials to carry them out.  We are working with DRI to bring in additional supplies to specifically fill Sacred Heart’s critical needs for laxatives, stool softeners, suppositories, surgical supplies, orthopedic hardware and other items they have been unable to obtain.  To underscore their desperation, when I was discussing these needs with the medical officer at the hospital, Dr. Justine Crowley, she and her head nurse were crying out of sheer frustration for the lack of an ongoing stream of effective supplies to meet the spiking patient flow.  We hope to rectify this in the coming days with the support of DRI.
While en-route to Sacred Heart yesterday, I stopped to survey some of the damage off of Martin Luther King Junior road, which runs through the heart of downtown.  Passing down an alleyway, the walls opened up to reveal what was essentially a wasteland of broken buildings and ruined livelihoods.  One building had nothing remaining but its front door, a startling reminder that these aren’t just broken stones—that people used to live here. 

      

As another team of doctors (staffed by Chadasha) leaves today to head back to the US, it is clear that more will be needed.  We are working with our head nurse at our clinic in Pernier to establish a local Haitian staff.  However the available medical workforce in the city is extremely limited, as 450,000 people have now left the city.  We will work to maintain day-to-day operations through Chadasha’s assistance while we continue to search to fill the longer-term need.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
February 9, 2010
By Kevin Connell and Michael Lear

Despite substantial progress made by the international aid agencies in coordinating food and water distribution, challenges continue as many, out of sheer desperation, cannot wait for help to arrive.   On our way home from the UN compound last Friday, crowds overthrowing food and water delivery trucks entering Port-au-Prince stopped traffic.

As tensions rippled through surrounding communities, our clinic in Pernier was being transformed into a food distribution center.  Over the weekend a tractor-trailer dropped off food supplies, which were stored on the first floor of the clinic.   When news spread that there was food stored at the clinic over 1000 persons lined up to receive rations the following day.  Although emotions were high, the day went smoothly with the help of five Jordanian UN Peacekeepers.  Our staff even treated over 80 patients on the second floor of the clinic.

Lines wrapped far and wide in both directions from the clinic entrance an even late in the day the crowd continued to arrive.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
February 4, 2010
By Dr. Martina Fuchs, Michael Lear and Kevin Connell

We saw 166 patients at our medical clinic in Pernier, Port-au-Prince, on February 3, opening day; already more than 200 today.

Pernier, Port-au-Prince Medical Clinic

Dr. Martina Fuchs and Michael Lear at the opening ceremony and  healthcare education on February 3, 2010

One of the many patients with an amputation

Part of the team on opening day, including RMF’s Kevin Connell and Nurse Carolyn

RMF’s Dr. Ann

Waiting area

Nurse Yanick and Dr. Will

 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
February 2, 2010
By Dr. Martina Fuchs and Michael Lear

Real Medicine Foundation will open its first clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, tomorrow, Wednesday, February 3! Patients have already been lining up yesterday when they saw first signs of cleaning, carpentry, stocking medical supplies in a 2-story building in Pernier 19, Port-au-Prince. We’ll have 3 examination rooms on the first floor as well as waiting and triage area, and 3 examination rooms on the second floor – pediatrics, internal medicine, minor surgery, OB/Gyn including deliveries and day beds. We’ll also have our own lab and will provide rehabilitation, physical therapy and prosthesis outreach for the many amputated earthquake victims. Lab equipment and Ob/Gyn exam table are being secured in Santo Domingo, DR, with the generous support of our angel, Mirtha Cabral. We are working in collaboration with The Jimani Project group in Haiti and are very excited about this new partnership. Everyone has been fantastic, making this possible in record time. Following our global model, we will employ a Haitian Medical Staff and provide support through our volunteer network of international physicians and nurses, as well as medical supplies. Photos to come shortly.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 31, 2010
By Dr. Martina Fuchs and Michael Lear

At a meeting today with the US Army and the World Food Programme, we were updated that everyone is very aware of the precarious food and water situation. The extent of the disaster is of a magnitude that no one has ever experienced before.
Today, a 2-week effort was launched by USAID and the UN to feed the nearly 2 million homeless earthquake victims. 10,000 metric tons of rice, beans and oil are coordinated per day targeting at least 1,700 families per day through 16 distribution points. Because there are no warehouses to store food, distribution efforts are coordinated with the US military to ensure security during distribution. What is important to mention and what we experienced personally, is that there is no violence. People are very peaceful, though the despair is palpable.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8489790.stm

Brief situational update:
Food and shelter remain the priorities for assistance to hundreds of thousands of people in need. Health priorities include mobile clinics for first aid, psychosocial support and post-operative care. Cases of tetanus have been reported. Suspected cases of measles were confirmed as chicken pox. The WASH Cluster is reaching almost 500,000 people a day with water. The port has been declared unsafe for incoming ships following an in-depth assessment. Port-au-Prince airport is operating at peak capacity with an average of 120 incoming flights per day. The Government reports that some 340,000 people have now left Port-au-Prince with the largest number of arrivals in Artibonite department.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 30, 2010
By Dr. Martina Fuchs and Michael Lear

Refugee camp – St. Peter’s Place, Petionville

On Friday, January 29, we got an overview of at least 10 refugee camps holding hundreds of thousands of refugees, that seemed to be very much out of the way and not in the spotlight yet. We were led by 3 young Haitian men, one of them who lost his house in the earthquake, was living on one hour of sleep per night and was trying to help the victims of the earthquake as much as he could with the resources he had left. Under his guidance, we bought food to give out, especially to the children, as well as basics such as soap. He was very passionate in his upset wanting us to see thousands of homeless earthquake victims who had not received food and water and supplies to cover their most basic needs. The situation was very similar in all of the camps: hundreds of thousands of persons side by side on cement, protected only by tarps, if at all, infants lying on cement – a sea of humanity none of us had ever seen before to such an extent. Children fought over food in despair. We spoke with community leaders and they told us that they would receive food sporadically, but not consistently so they couldn’t count on it. They were trying to help each other with the little they had left. We had children grab food out of our hands so violently and desperately. It was heartbreaking.

All of these people had lost their houses, or their houses were damaged so badly that it was and still is unsafe to go inside. There are people who tried and they got injured or killed trying to get their possessions, records, and memorabilia. Soccer fields filled with homeless earthquake victims, the garden of the prime minister, filled with refugees, seas of children and adults everywhere.

Right now, it is still hot and dry here in Port-au-Prince, but everyone is scared for the rainy season to begin. One of our Haitian friends said, ”We Haitians don’t dodge bullets, but we try to dodge the rain.” Even without an earthquake, the rain put everyone who had a house on and up the many hills in the precarious situation that a mudslide could take the whole house down. Now, with instable ruins everywhere, it is not safe for anyone to go back into their houses, and many houses that were hit, but not completely destroyed will probably not survive the next rain. So there might be a few more days, maybe a few more weeks left, but the rain will come eventually. Authorities predict that the rains will compound the devastation and cause more, unseen problems including further collapse of buildings, contaminated ground water sources as decomposing bodies and feces are overwhelming the already strained and destroyed sanitation system and infrastructure.

As we drove from refugee camp to refugee camp, night fell and it got dark in Port-au-Prince. Really dark. There is no electricity in the city. The few traffic lights that work are powered by solar power. Everything else is pitch black. What do you do in a refugee camp with hundreds of thousands at night when you have no light? There is no sanitation, no water either.
We did not see any violence or aggression, just despair. People were actually extremely peaceful.

Michael Lear:

 
Bodies were still pulled from this building on January 29, 2010 – 4 alone in the morning of that day. A total of 250 persons died in these buildings, a popular Caribbean market.

Earth Quake Relief Port-au-Prince Haiti
January 25, 2010
Michael Lear and Dr. Martina Fuchs

Real Medicine deployed to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, January 20, and began performing assessments on the Jimaní border hospitals, the Good Samaritan and the Hospital Melenciano, which have been receiving patients from Haiti since last week.

Both facilities have been overloaded as more patients arrive and the demand for post-operative care increases. Patients with pins sticking out of flesh, with amputations, and many children in body casts line every hallway and ground space.

All of the patients at both hospitals had arrived via ambulance (if lucky enough), or piled in the back of flat bed trucks in numbers as high as 30.  The now congested 30-mile route between Port-au-Prince and Jimaní is taking up to an exhausting three to five hours.

At present the Good Samaritan Hospital is serving 800 meals being served twice a day to patients and staff.

Further complicating the situation have been the intermittent aftershocks in Jimaní.  On two occasions at The Good Samaritan Hospital, all patients were evacuated from their rooms and brought onto the lawn.  The fear was palpable. Everyone refused to sleep inside. 

Upon returning from Port-au-Prince, Michael became friends with one of the many victims that experienced tragedies beyond measure: “I went to help with the relocated patients placed on the lawn in front of the post-op ward.   It was there that I met Stancia.  Stancia lost everything – her whole family, her husband, her children and her house. 

She lay alone in the Dominican Republic with crushed legs, not knowing how to start over.  Her first words to me are – “I am dead.  I have lost everything, my family, my husband and children and my house.  It is just me and God……..and you.  You are my family now.” 

Please help us to provide Stancia with hope and the support to start her life over.

While the situation in Jimaní is overwhelming it pales in comparison to the challenges that face those in Port-au-Prince.  It is tragic beyond words and the magnitude of the destruction makes the transport of critical patients to hospitals and the delivery of food, water and medical supplies nearly impossible.

In addition to supporting the immediate relief efforts, Real Medicine Foundation is meeting with local government health officials in Jimaní and Barahona to coordinate long-term assistance as well as assessing logistics for longer term, ongoing physician deployment in Haiti. We are also preparing to establish mobile clinics.

Michael Lear:
I sit here four days after arriving to Jimaní and am not able to explain what I have witnessed here.  Perhaps I’m tired. Perhaps it is the staggering amounts of amputations, stories of being trapped, crushed, losing everything, family, friends or homes – seeing so many orphaned children lying scared and alone in body casts – oblivious to what awaits them back at home in Port-au-Prince – utter destruction, chaos and collapse.

While all of this has left me silent, nothing leaves me speechless more than the contemplation of how these people will recover – so many doctors, nurses, medical support staff are needed for the next months, probably years to come to ensure their recovery.
Funding is desperately needed to establish long term healthcare solutions, provide psychological support, housing and of course food and water.

Please help us to sustain our effort to aid the people of Haiti. 

Thank you.

By Dr. Martina Fuchs

January 19, 2010

Real Medicine's team is headed to Jimaní on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We have identified two hospitals our doctors and nurses are able to work out of. Jimaní is the border town most overwhelmed by severely injured Haitians seeking medical help. Our contacts on the ground are reporting that severely injured patients are arriving in containers, often 30-40 persons in one container. Many of them requiring amputations. We are accepting more doctors and nurses, especially trauma/ortho surgeons/nurses and anesthesiologists. We will continue to report from the ground. Thank you for your ongoing support making this possible.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/01/world/gallery.large.haiti-1/index.2.html

Haiti Earthquake Relief:
By Michael Lear, January 13th, 2010.

Real Medicine Foundation is presently assembling a logistic and medical team to deploy as early as Sunday evening to aid in the efforts on the ground in Haiti. The recent report from the Pan American Health Organization/WHO highlights the main challenges facing the massive humanitarian effort underway. Please help us to help.   Emergency Operations Center Situation Report #1 Haiti Earthquake One day after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, information is still difficult to obtain. The PAHO/WHO office in Haiti has been unable to communicate with national health authorities and UN colleagues. For the time being, information is being coordinated through the PAHO/WHO Emergency Operations Center in Washington. On the ground, the past 24 hours have been dedicated to search and rescue and immediate lifesaving activities. CUMULATIVE IMPACT A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday afternoon, January 12, 2010, close to the nation's capital of Port-au-Prince. The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic and as far away as Jamaica. Reports indicate a significant loss of life; there are no official numbers at this time but the Haitian President has estimated 100,000 people dead or missing. Impact on health facilities: Several hospitals and health centers have collapsed in the city The UN clinic at the Christopher Hotel collapsed Martissant emergency room/centre (slum in Port au Prince, MSF managed) is damaged and unstable. All patients evacuated and relocated to tents in the ground. MSF staff have been dealing with a flow of casualties from the town. Solidarite maternity hospital, MSF-managed, severely damaged Trinite trauma centre (60 beds) MSF-managed, severely damaged HUEH ( University Hospital) damaged New hospital on Delmas damaged Eliazard Germain hospital (Petionville) damaged Petits freres et soeurs (Port au Prince) damaged Two hospitals were also damaged in the Dominican Republic, in Barahona and Santiago. The Argentine military hospital that had been serving MINUSTAH personnel is being augmented by two surgical teams and supplies provided by the Government of Argentina (White Helmets). The airport is currently not in service. A temporary health facility has been established there to provide care. Roads in Port-au-Prince are extremely difficult to navigate due to rubble and large amounts of people. Roads from the border with the Dominican Republic to the Port-au-Prince appear to be open. MINUSTAH (UN Security building) has collapsed causing a loss of life. PAHO/WHO RESPONSE The Emergency Operations Center in Washington DC is now coordinating logistics and communication. Experts from the PAHO/WHO Regional Disaster Response team will arrive in the Dominican Republic this evening. They will travel to Haiti on Thursday. The UN Health Cluster as soon as possible. Supplies have been released from PROMESS, the pharmaceutical warehouse of Haiti's Ministry of Health. Trauma kits to care for 500 victims for 10 days are on their way. PAHO/WHO has advanced USD 200,000 from its disaster response fund to initiate immediate critical activities. The PAHO/WHO office in Haiti has sustained damage and staff will be working out of temporary facilities until a structural assessment of the building is completed. OTHER ACTIONS Many PAHO/WHO member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have offered and are mobilizing humanitarian aid to Haiti. USAID/OFDA office has deployed a disaster assistance response team (DART) comprised of 11 people as well as Urban Search and Rescue Teams. A UN Medical Emergency Response team will be sent to Haiti, including stress counselors All teams sent to the area must be self-sufficient in terms of food and water as well as financial means (cash) as the banking system is down.