4/7/10 – Team 11, Day 6

Update from John Morrow, MD:

It is Wednesday and the first half of the week has flown by. When we arrived, there was a large dome tent that had just been set up and was full of supplies. It is now a functioning hospital with a 26 patient census. Multiple orthopedic cases have been done and there are some patients that have been admitted and waiting for their procedures. There are several recent automobile injuries that are being treated.

Our first day of clinic, a staff member of Mission of Hope was involved in a major accident, fracturing her femur, tibia, and wrist. She was resuscitated and taken to the OR by a truly talented surgical team. Diana Adams is the OR nurse, her husband, Dr. Adams, along with Dr. Chardack are the surgeons, and Dr. Aaron Ali is the anesthesiologist. They have worked tirelessly all week. The work they are doing is not only very technical, but in this environment , very physical. There are some very tough post earthquake related cases that are surfacing.

The work here by Mission of Hope is major to say the least. One example – they have a generator that powers this entire facility which makes a large portion of this work possible. Laurens van der Mark is in the site manager and is basically in charge of the physical plant. You will just have to come here to see what all this organization is capable of doing on 70 acres on the side of a rocky hill in Haiti.

There has been much said about the hymns and songs of the Haitian Christians. They sing at the beginning of clinic and we all have to wipe our tears away each and every morning. Through their song, they are teaching us a lot about developing a relationship with God.