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Archive for January, 2010

Jan312010

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Dr. Scott Nelson Interview

posted by at 8:47 pm

Last week, we were able to find a few minutes with some of the doctors providing aid in Port-au-Prince, regarding the experiences on the ground. Among those interviewed was the leader of the initial CURE Relief team, Dr. Scott Nelson, who is the medical director of CURE’s hospital in the Dominican Republic. Here is what Doctor Nelson and others shared with us.

CURE’s Dr. Scott Nelson in Haiti from CURE Video on Vimeo.

Dr. Nelson’s Latest Blog Post

Dr. Nelson also posted his own thoughts as well as a link to dozens of photos he took from his first several days in Haiti. Warning: Several of the photos are extremely graphic and surgical in nature.

How can you Help?

Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti

or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone.

And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://cure.org/blog

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Jan282010

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Spiritual Ministry Update from Pastor Samuel Reyes

posted by at 10:54 am

Here is a report from CURE Dominican Republic’s spiritual director, Pastor Samuel Reyes, regarding his initial time of ministry in Haiti.

Samuel_in_Haiti_25_Jan_2010

When Pastor Seguerre Bellevue and I arrived in Haiti, we were received with joy. I started by introducing myself to the staff at the hospital to get the proper permission to do the spiritual counseling and ministry. They accepted the help with words of encouragement for us.

We began by visiting the patients outside the building. These patients were inside at one point; but once they were more stable, they were put outside into improvised tents all around the building. Outside tent patients and relatives received Jesus for the first time.

We visited most of the patients at the hospital, and everyone was happy to receive prayers and the message of hope from the Bible. I felt God’s presence at all times; the people were showing tears, smiles and thanks for the time we spent with them.

The Haitian pastors that Samuel was trying to meet to help minister at the hospital were unable to come due to traffic jams. He indicated that the pastors in Port-au-Prince cannot spare the time to help at the hospital because they need to help their communities after the tragedy.

Samuel’s next steps include meeting with a group of Haitian pastors in the D.R. and other Haitian believers who live in the D.R. who are able and willing to spend days in Haiti doing spiritual ministry.

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Jan272010

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Jose’s Story

posted by at 4:26 pm

Story about Jose from Haiti from CURE Video on Vimeo.

In the midst of the chaos of CURE’s work in Haiti, there was one boy everybody was talking about. You couldn’t miss his adorable face and sad eyes as he looked up from his mat on the floor. I saw him and grabbed the first interpreter I could find.  Here is Jose’s story.

Bryce Flurie is CURE International’s multimedia producer. He recently traveled to Haiti as part of the CURE Haiti Relief Team working with the victims of January 12th’s devastating earthquake.

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Jan272010

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CURE Haiti Church Resources Are Now Available

posted by at 10:02 am

You’ve asked what you can do.

Over the past weeks, we have received many inquiries from churches interested in getting involved in CURE’s relief efforts – supporting the work God is doing through our medical and spiritual ministries in Haiti and the Dominican Republic for the victims of this natural disaster. In response, CURE has put together a set of resources designed to help churches provide corporate and individual means for getting involved in CURE’s Haiti relief work.

How can your church get involved?

If you or your church wishes to get involved in CURE’s relief and recovery work in Haiti, go to: http://cure.org/haitirelief/churches. There you’ll find bulletin inserts, PPT Presentations, announcement slides and web banners. Also, please follow the updates on our blog, where we will continue to provide news from the D.R. and Haiti as well as stories of the lives affected by the earthquake. We are confident that God is at work to redeem hearts, minds,and lives, and we pray for His continued blessing as He works in and through us all.

Thank you for your continued partnership, prayers and support.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

http://cure.org/haitirelief/churches

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Jan272010

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January 27 Update from Haiti

posted by at 9:54 am

Here is the latest from the field:

Saving lives and limbs

So far, our CURE medical team and other volunteers have set up six operating rooms and have performed approximately 500 surgeries. According to a UN assessment team, the CURE site has the best run operating rooms of all the hospitals in Port au Prince. Please pray that our efforts continue to be blessed and that our team can treat as many patients as possible in the best way possible.

One of the challenges in providing post-operative care for more than 100 patients a day is the lack of nurses. Many of the Haitian staff are not back to work, so our doctors have been taking on extra shifts to ensure this vital part of the healing process is covered.

Freeborn & Greg - right femur fracture

Creating order out of chaos

In addition to saving lives, CURE has assisted the leadership at the Haitian Community Hospital in establishing and restoring basic management systems. Beyond direct care to patients, there are so many things to be done. Those include paying electricians to hook up the OR, developing patient records/registration, developing a supply closet, hiring security guards and supplying anesthesia medicine and surgical consumables.

The team has also shared information with other hospitals on how to set up and manage their operating rooms to lessen the enormous burden everyone is facing to get medical facilities back up and functioning.

Providing spiritual and emotional care for the victims

Samuel Reyes, the spiritual director from CURE’s hospital in the DR, and Haitian pastor Seguerre Vellevue are on the ground in Haiti tending to the spiritual and emotional needs of the patients and team members. Pastor Reyes and Pastor Vellevue hope to connect with other Haitian pastors and determine how to best provide this critical need.

Pastor Reyes and Pastor Vellevue praying with a victim of the Haiti earthquake

Hundreds surround the hospital seeking care

Many now homeless earthquake victims wait for medical care outside the hospital where the CURE team is working. The patients are afraid of staying indoors for fear of aftershocks so instead they have surrounded the hospital forming a “tent city”. Watch this video to see the tent city firsthand.

How can you Help?

Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti

or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone.

And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://cure.org/blog

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Jan262010

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Video from the Tent City Outside of HCH

posted by at 4:00 pm

This video was shot by CURE’s Bryce Flurie outside of Haitian Community Hospital (HCH) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Many patients seeking care at the hospital reside in a tent village outside of the facility.  This is because there is limited space in the hospital.  Many of these people are also afraid to stay indoors for fear of the effects of the  aftershocks that have followed the initial earthquake.

Tent City at HCH in Haiti from CURE Video on Vimeo.

Bryce Flurie is the multimedia producer for CURE International. He recently traveled to Haiti to record the stories and images of Haitians seeking medical care at Haitian Community Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti., where CURE International has based its medical relief work.

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Jan242010

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Samuel Reyes

posted by at 7:50 pm

In Bryce Flurie’s story, he mentioned CURE International’s spiritual director for the D.R. hospital, Samuel Reyes.

Pastor Reyes and Pastor Seguerre Bellevue, a Haitian chaplain, had left the D.R. on Friday to help provide comfort and hope to the suffering people of Haiti.  Watch the video to learn more…

How can you Help?

Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti

or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone.

And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://cure.org/blog

CURE’s Noel Lloyd and Bryce Flurie are in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reporting on CURE’s work there to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

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Jan242010

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Saturday Update from a CURE Haiti Doctor

posted by at 8:44 am

This update comes from Julie Bellig on behalf of Dr. Greg Bellig who is serving with CURE as part of the Haiti relief team in Port-au-Prince. The content is current as of Saturday evening.

Julie writes:

Greg says things are crazy but going OK. The hours are long, and there is a lot of devastation and death. The CURE team is saving a lot of limbs. But there are also a lot of amputations including children, and that is horrible. The anesthesia and surgical equipment is fine.

When I spoke to him Saturday morning, he had just done a rapid sequence induction on a little boy who had a full stomach. The boy needed emergency surgery on his arm which was most likely going to need to be amputated. The ventilator had a huge leak, but God was in charge and working. The arm was saved!

Greg has emphasized the amazing spirit of the team he is working with in Haiti at the Community Hospital. Shara is an OR scrub and fantastic organizer. She helped sort all the OR equipment and anesthesia equipment. Greg describes her as amazing, with a happy soul and spirit. Freeborn is a CRNA we are working with in the OR. He is a very hard worker and very good…he’s here all the way from Atlanta. Pastor Trey Little is from Albany, Texas. He’s never been in the OR but is now the best OR circulator around. He opens the equipment for the surgeons as they need it, literally carries the patients when they need to be moved, works endlessly and is always positive. He hands out a verse of the day for everyone. Saturday was Psalm 121:1-2: “I look up to the mountains, does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and earth.” Trey is an integral part of OR team and an amazing spiritual encourager for our group. Greg says, “I truly love this brother. Trey the encourager! He stayed up with us until 4 AM this morning helping with the cases, and then was up at 7:30 AM to go again – all with a grin on his face.”

Please continue to pray for the safety, health and endurance of all the men and women ministering to the people of Haiti.

Look for more updates throughout the day and next week.

How can you Help?

Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti

or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone.

And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://cure.org/blog

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Jan242010

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Update from Haiti and the D.R.

posted by at 8:12 am

Good morning from the D.R.

Here are a few updates for you…

CURE’s Bryce Flurie has arrived safely in Santo Domingo after three days in Haiti with the CURE Haiti Relief Team. Yesterday, he sent us some notes from his day there on Saturday:

On the way to the hospital this morning, the Saturday market was in full swing. Fresh fruit and vegetables were actually on the road side. Last night though, people were still setting up cinder blocks across the the roads so they could sleep in the street…cardboard beds in the middle of the street…lined up by the dozens…I tried to take a picture, but it was way too dark.

As we passed the fruit stands this morning we noticed a human bone sticking out of a garbage bag on top of a dumpster…life-giving fruit on one side of the road and dead bodies in a dumpster across the street – Haiti is contrast after contrast. People starving, but sidewalks lined with fruit no one can afford.

Trying to respect people’s emotional space with all the trauma they’ve gone through and trying to tell you all what is happening here. Like this that happened at the hospital today…

We heard a woman yelling “MAAAMAAA, NOOOO! MAAAMAAAA, MAAAMAAA!” I was on the second floor and looked down to see one of the doctors standing on a chair giving a woman CPR. Then the paddles came out. CLEAR! We’ve all seen it on TV, but this was as real as it gets. Doctors and personnel crowded around…CURE International’s spiritual director for the D.R. hospital, Samuel Reyes, took the woman’s screaming daughter into a room and calmed her down. I can’t tell you what he said; she emerged looking worried, but much more calm. Emotions ran quite high, but her pulse returned; and she was transferred to another facility.

Not all of the stories have happy endings, but there are also amazing triumphs and miracles happening daily in this challenging situation.

You’ll read more of Bryce’s stories in the days to come….

Here at the D.R. hospital, we had two more Haitian patients come to us for surgery:  a little girl named Islande and a teenage boy called Oslin.  They were both referred by a nearby hospital.

Islande arrived at the hospital with her father.  She and her mother had been been trapped in their house in Port-au-Prince after the earthquake, but were rescued.  The father had been at work.  He frantically sprinted home to find his family alive. But Islande needed medical help;  her thighbone was fractured.  Somehow, thanks to the help of many Good Samaritans, they found their way to Santo Domingo and our hospital.  The CURE surgeons were able to perform surgery yesterday, and the prognosis for recovery is positive.

Islande

Islande

The other patient, Oslin, has a heartbreaking story. After the earthquake, his right leg was so badly injured it had to be amputated while in Haiti. He was brought over to Santo Domingo and sent to our hospital for surgery on his other leg. I soon learned that not only did Oslin have no right leg, he was an orphan, alone, with nobody in Santo Domingo. It broke my heart.  After his surgery, he was transferred back to the other hospital for recovery.  He looked so sad and lost as they wheeled him to the ambulance.  As I watched the red lights of the ambulance  fade into the Santo Domingo night, I whispered a prayer as I tried to hold back the tears.

Oslin

Oslin

Also, an update on Bernadine, the patient I mentioned on Thursday.  Her pelvis will be okay without surgery, but she did need surgery on her foot.  We’ll keep the updates coming.

If you want to help patients like Islande, Oslin and Bernadine, please consider contributing to the CURE Haiti Relief Fund here.

How can you Help?

Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti

or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone.

And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://cure.org/blog

CURE’s Noel Lloyd and Bryce Flurie are in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reporting on CURE’s work there to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

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Jan222010

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Celidor’s Story

posted by at 2:48 pm

We received this story from CURE International’s Bryce Flurie from Community Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

I saw this kid yesterday and took some pictures. He asked if I could send them to his email address. I went to write it down, but couldn’t find a pen. I’m sure he thought I wouldn’t return. I stopped back twice yesterday afternoon, but he was asleep. I was sure he thought I forgot about him. When I found him awake today, I sat down in the dirt at the end of his bed, which surprised him very much. I asked him – since he mentioned God – if I could pray for him. I thought his mother was going to cry when I asked.

celidor_6841

Celidor Evenson, 19 years old – his story transcribed in his own words:
“This day I was in my house. It was very bad for me, cause I was asleep and me and my grandfather are asleep, but he is dead… I couldn’t do anything for him because he was crushed. I was very dusty, cause I drank all the water in my mouth. I called out and someone gave me a gallon of water. After hours of this dust, I called again and got another gallon of water. (Laughs) I drink all but I didn’t know what to do.”

“Such as God gave me life, God gave me life and protected and fed me all day, and this day forth. He gave me anything I want… all things… I thank God, I thank my mother, my friend especially the doctor who made me well. But you know this pain makes me very insane, I prayed to God to save my life, that’s all. Thank you CURE International for His help to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

How can you Help?

Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti

or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone.

And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://cure.org/blog

CURE’s Noel Lloyd and Bryce Flurie are in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reporting on CURE’s work there to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

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