Day Seven

Our last day at Hospital Adventist d'Haiti was fairly uneventful, thank goodness. I watched Derek do an ORIF on a man whose leg was crushed in the earthquake, it was an exciting case with positive results. I helped him in Ortho clinic as well. I removed staples from a girl's ankle and we gave her a two tone cast (purple and blue), she was the only complainer I met. She was not happy to have the cast put back on, and even more unhappy when she saw that it would be two colors. She made me laugh out loud, she was nothing like the other patients I have seen in Haiti. In the afternoon I gave a lecture on cardiovascular fitness to the Haitian PT team. It was a lot of fun teaching them about the cardiovascular system, they soaked up every piece of information. I had to laugh preparing the lecture. When I teach a class like this in the states, the focus is almost always doing cardio exercise to burn calories and lose weight. It was totally different preparing the lecture for the Haitians. It was more fulfilling to talk about the benefits of cardio without focusing on weight loss. The group of 7 Physical Therapists are being trained by Ruth, a therapist from England. They will make a difference to the patients in Port-Au-Prince, they will be some of the best trained therapists in Haiti. It was an honor teaching them.

Post op overflow & line for General Surgery Clinic

We said goodbye to the local staff early in the evening. On our way out I saw a little boy waving to me from pre-op, it was Sondi! I was so excited to see him, but my heart broke to see him in pre-op. His bone was sticking out of his wound. He is frightened that he might lose his leg, which is a harsh reality that he most likely will face. I will pray my heart out for him. We gave each other the I love you sign, me with both my hands and Sondi with one as the other was hooked up to his IV. It was so hard to turn and walk out of his room, not knowing his future and knowing I wouldn't be there to see him in post-op. Out at the Canada tent I was saying goodbye, a woman motioned me over to her. She was began to breastfeed her toddler, she looked at me and said, "I have nothing, don't forget about me". I will never forget her, I don't know what I can do for her or the rest of the people I have met. My entire trip I tried to figure that out, my only conclusion was to love them.

Local post-op nurse

Derek's ORIF patient

David's Mom, wish I could have taken her and her son home with me.

Denise and her beautiful mother

Young boy in the Canada Tent, playing with a broken mirror

The dynamic trio

OR 2 Crew

St. Matthew 25:40
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these,
my brethren, ye have done it unto me"
The last day , Pam went home from the hospital in her socks.
She gave the shoes off her feet to someone in the hospital.

We had a nice evening at the hotel (Auberge de Quebec). I was thankful we did not stay at the hospital, as the hotel was a nice escape from the realities of the hospital each night. Our spirits were lifted as we knew our time here was limited. Me, Derek, Jeff, Dr. Rubbo, LeAnn and John stayed up at the dinner table enjoying our last evening together. We were sharing a moment. A 15 yr old local boy was standing alone in the rain. We invited him to join us and we bought him an ice cream. He was a lot of fun to try and converse with, as his English was fair. I am so grateful to have been a part of this great group. Every person added a special gift to our team.

Our hotel, an oasis amongst the chaos

Day Eight

Here we are at the airport, we are going home!! I slept well last night, but woke early to the sound of roosters and an uneasy feeling in my lower gi. I made my way to the bathroom and had a seat. Hunched over with my head resting on my knees I slowly opened my eyes. I looked at my legs and for the first time in my life saw how beautiful and flawless they are. I looked at my arms and was so grateful for them. For the last week I have seen mangled limbs with huge scars, infections, hardware, casts and distortions. I have seen many people with missing limbs. I am so grateful for my health and strength. I prayed that God would bless us with safety and health. We were safe. We have been exposed to many things and I can feel my body working overtime to compensate. I am going forward with faith that God has protected our health as well, that we won't bring home the things we were exposed to.

The drive to the airport was emotionally taxing once again. We saw mass amounts of poverty and destruction everywhere.

These are "houses" built in the median of the road, they were here before the earthquake.

This is the equivalent of the White House in Haiti. It looks the same as it did the day of the earthquake, nothing has been done to restore it.

Garbage is everywhere. Mountains of styrofoam boxes and plastic bottles.
You can see a tent city in the background of this open air sewer.

This is an average street in Port-Au-Prince.
Look in the middle of the picture, there is a pig scrounging in the garbage.


USAID tarps were the only sign of foreign aid we saw. Billions of donated dollars are in American banks. Red Cross money, US Relief funds, Hope for Haiti money, less than 5% of the donations have been distributed. There is no infrastructure in Haiti, no channels to distribute the money. Medical and relief supplies have been shipped and are sitting in containers at the port. Tariffs on the supplies are extremely high, relief workers cannot afford to pay to release the shipments. Once they earn the money to release the supplies, the port fines them with storage fees that are outrageous. So the money sits in banks and the supplies sit at the port, while the people here live in tarps. Why can't we make it happen? What can be done?

God bless America, we are home! It brought a tear to my eye to see the American flag as we passed through customs here in Miami. Unbelievable, it takes less than three hours to fly from destruction, devastation and human suffering to stability and safety. We are so close to Haiti. Now here we are back on American soil. So what have I gained from this? Experience, perspective, compassion, possibly some character? Maybe. I am so blessed, so very blessed. I'm not sure why or if I deserve to be so blessed, but I am. When much is given, much is expected...this is by no means my last mission trip. So what have I gained? I have learned that love truly is the universal language. I have learned that those who have so little, can have so much. It's gratitude. So instead of returning to my daily life carrying guilt and sorrow, I will return with gratitude and joy, because that is what the Haitian people taught me.