Back to Haiti. 2-17-10

Let’s return to the subject of the tragedy of Haiti we were looking at immediately in the aftermath of the earthquake. Here is a report from our own Dr. Katy who has recently returned from serving on a volunteer medical team.

“Our medical team of myself, three RN's, one army medic and one navy corpsman treated over 400 patients during the 8 days we were doing medical care. Many of these patients had complicated deep wounds from primary lacerations that had been improperly dressed or taken care of. These wounds required debridement, and rather intensive follow up care. We were glad to take over the care of a medical team from [another state] which had just left, and to see these patients frequently while we were there. We also saw splinted but not cast fractures, complications of splinting and casting, and many children with chronic needs such as malnutrition and infectious illnesses.

An example of God's provision for our team: An ER doctor from [Colorado], who sat on the plane next to one our RN's, was mobilized through an accredited NGO, but had no way of getting to Port-au-Prince. So this doctor, Dr. [Mike], hitched a ride with us - stayed at [our mission’s] hostel overnight in Santo Domingo, came along for our bus ride over the very chaotic border, attended church service with us the first night we arrived, and then went of the next morning to this big medical complex set up by the University of Miami out at the UN compound near the airport in Port-au-Prince.

One of the first patients that was brought into our little clinic on our first day was a woman carried in by her family on a blanket. She had been struck by a motorcycle that morning (the traffic in Haiti is just plain nuts) and I was very concerned with her exam - worried about internal bleeding and was almost certain she had a hip fracture. Her condition was far beyond any care we could offer at our little clinic. A local official informed me there was no hospital or place for us to take this woman. So then we thought of Dr. Mike! The team loaded this woman up, and drove to the UN complex where they had dropped off Dr. Mike in the morning. As they arrived, the guards at the gate were being told to turn everyone away - there had been a riot there last night. The team sort of laid low with the woman until the administrator went away, then the guards let them through, and when they arrived at this huge complex with many tents, Dr. Mike came walking out just as they pulled up! So the woman got seen and triaged right away - she had no internal bleeding but did indeed have a hip fracture, and was put into the waiting area for an operation to pin her hip.

This opened the door for another young man with an amazing bright and cheerful spirit, to be taken to this hospital for an unstable fracture in his upper leg that had only been splinted with cardboard for 16 days. When we checked on him 5 days later, he had received the operation to put hardware in the leg fracture to stabilize it, and was doing very well.

So thanks again for the prayers and support - I am really grateful for the opportunity to be so blessed working alongside these amazing people to respond to Haiti's need.“ Dr. Katy

In the original blog I wrote that God’s love isn’t hypothetical. The love that emerges in a tragedy matches the loss. It doesn’t compensate for the loss, but it is as real. How great the tragedy. How great the love. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. That is real life.

We can and will grapple with the “Whys” of a great tragedy. Those are big questions. However, the more significant questions are, “Will puzzling over ‘Whys’ paralyze me into inactivity? Or will I wade into the fray bereft of answers and equipped only with God’s compassion and my willingness to be available?”

It is from those who enter the fray that we learn that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. That isn’t an answer to the big “Whys.” It is, however, the redemptive response to the tragedies that inspire those questions. Thank you Dr. Katy, and the countless unnamed “amazing people,” for being the heart of God.

CO