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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.

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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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Jan222010

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More Pictures from Haiti

posted by at 12:50 pm

More pictures are coming in from Haiti.

Freeborn & Greg - right femur fracture

Haiti team doctors with a 16-yr-old girl after a successful surgery on a broken leg and spinal block

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Jan222010

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Updates from CURE Haiti Relief Team Members

posted by at 11:01 am

Today we received two updates directly from two individuals on the CURE relief team in Haiti.

The first is a text message from team member Jeff Douglas, regarding the plane that arrived yesterday with food, supplies and volunteers:

“What Erin, Heather and Robbie pulled off was a miracle.  They had no time, no road map and no dedicated infrastructure.  And the medical supplies are saving the day.  Those items were either gone or nearly out.  From tearing small portions of surgery blankets and gowns not covered with blood for use on the next patient to anesthesiologist re-engineering what faulty equipment—that airlift saved lives, limbs and only God knows what else.  To get pain meds, antibiotics, anesthesia, sterilization equipment, tents, cots. MRE’s delivered along with 25 selfless nurses workers and doctors was akin to being rescued from a siege.  Know that they made a difference in this country and the world.”

IMG_2162

The second is an email update from Greg Bellig via his wife,  Julie, describing his first day in Haiti:

I first heard from Greg this morning at about 5:30 am.  He said they had landed at Port au Prince.  He said the airport was just as you have seen on the news, very bottle necked. They waited for about two hours to get everything unloaded off the plane and moved to their transportation.   There were a lot of armed UN guards keeping the people out of the airport where all of the supplies are being delivered.  They are fearful they will be bombarded with people who have such severe needs right now and things would be even more out of control.

They made their way to the hospital along a two-lane road.  Greg said the road was moving very slowly, just bumper to bumper trucks, UN vehicles.  People lined the roads, landfills on the side of the road .   Greg, another anesthesiologist and a documentary person were in this bus, riding along the top to avoid any issues of people trying to take supplies off.

When I spoke with him later at 6:30 pm, there were at least 30 other surgeries that needed to be done.  Today his cases were a femur fracture, another femur case, a left arm fracture, a severe wound cleaning, and a precious little eight year old girl had to have her leg removed below the knee.

We have a little discussion game we do most nights at dinner called “Hi/Low.”  You just read what his low was… “this little girls going to live life without a foot.. that’s it… gone.”  His high is that “there are so many Christians working together trying to get this stuff done.”

Please continue to keep our team members in your prayers!

You can donate to our relief efforts here.

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Jan222010

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CURE Haiti Relief Update

posted by at 10:25 am

There are so many pieces that need to fall into place to get supplies and volunteers to our hospitals in order to bring healing to those suffering in Haiti. We are grateful for all of the support that has made this happen.

Supplies Arrive via Land…

Wednesday CURE was able to send the first supplies in over land from the DR. The staff at CURE’s hospital in the DR loaded a truck with more surgical supplies, another anesthesia machine, drinking water and sleeping bags. It arrived in the nick of time as supplies were getting extremely low. The staff managed to coordinate this all while still running a hospital that has been left short-staffed by the crisis.

IMG00003-20100121-0840

…and Air

After much packing, unpacking, sorting, repacking, a large 737 full of urgently needed supplies, food and volunteers touched down at 7:30am Thursday morning in Port au Prince.

Our amazing ground logistics team spent most of last night wheeling, dealing and renting vehicles. The result was a combination of buses and cargo trucks waiting to transport the team and supplies to the community hospital.

This team’s arrival, along with an earlier team this week, brings a HUGE boost in morale and needed supplies. Our team was literally out of food and water for our patients, staff and volunteers.

Rays of Hope Amid Suffering

Our doctors have shared tragic stories that sadden us all. There are patients that they can’t help due to the severity of their injuries and those who don’t understand why a limb must be amputated. But amidst the suffering, the CURE team has been able to treat hundreds of patients and save many lives. With your help, we will be able to sustain these efforts for the days, weeks and months to come.

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

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our relief efforts in Haiti.

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Jan222010

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On the Ground from Haiti

posted by at 12:46 am

Hi, Noel Lloyd from the DR.

It’s been a pretty eventful day here at the hospital in Santo Domingo.

It started with the arrival of a patient from Haiti about whom I had written earlier in the day…and ended with the homecoming of two original members of the CURE Haiti Relief Team:  Steve Bostian and Susan Beemer.  Both are exhausted, but safely home.

Another safe arrival we celebrated on Thursday was that of the team from Dallas into Haiti.

Coming in with the Dallas crew was Bryce Flurie, from the CURE Pennsylvania office.  Bryce is on the ground to get stories and images from the hospital. We’ve already posted a couple of his pictures.

I received a call from him this afternoon right after his arrival at the Community Hospital of Haiti, and he reported that there was activity everywhere as the trucks that had accompanied the team were being unloaded.

“People have formed a bucket brigade unloading supplies from the trucks that came with us.  The local kids are helping out,” he said.

Bryce went on to describe the tent city that had been created around the hospital by the patients who were waiting for their turn for treatment.

Later on in the evening, he sent me this update.

So, I haven’t had more than five minutes of sleep in close to two days, but that is nothing compared to the sacrifice of the folks here. No one is turned away, there are doctors making rounds and as everyone sits in the makeshift group room they discuss the cases…like how do you treat tetanus since no one has seen it in the states.

I’m hearing stories of the kids that melt your heart…listening to a veteran doctor talk about how difficult it was to amputate a girl’s arm…then to see her in a pretty dress smiling the next day, knowing she’ll be ok.

I had prepared for the worst…sure there are still hungry people here, people who are in excruciating physical pain and people with absolutely nothing but a sheet and a piece of cardboard to lay on.

But nothing can replace the smile on the young girl’s face, who had just lost her arm a couple days before, when she sees a proper cot brought in to replace the rotting foam she had been laying on.

People are still people, kids still smile when a weird looking man with a big camera makes a funny face at them and God is still good…even in the midst of complete devastation.

Keep looking for more posts (and photos) from Bryce.

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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Jan212010

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New Pictures from Community Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

posted by at 4:36 pm

Here are the first pictures we’re receiving from our team in Haiti. They come from Community Hospital in Port-au-Prince where CURE’s teams of doctors and nurses are working to save the lives of Haitians injured in last week’s earthquake.

haiti_web_6820

A patient being taken from the tent city into Community Hospital

Haiti_web_6848

A mother and child outside of Community Hospital

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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Jan212010

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First Haiti Patient at D.R. Hospital

posted by at 10:59 am

Hello, this is Noel Lloyd from the D.R….

We received our first patient from Port-au-Prince.  Her name is Bernadine, and she’s 22 years old. She is suffering from a fractured pelvis and fingers. Other family is here with her at the hospital.  She’ll be going into surgery tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted.

DSC_0010

Bernadine and a family member

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Jan212010

2comments

The Team from Dallas has Landed in Haiti

posted by at 9:50 am

We received notes and pictures this AM that the team from Dallas, Texas has landed in Port-au-Prince. Our communications colleague is already on the ground and shooting video and photography, as the entire team unloads the supplies brought from the U.S.

IMG00003-20100121-0840

You can follow the CURE photos being uploaded to Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helpcurenow/sets/72157623130550035/

Or follow CURE’s Flickr photostream at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helpcurenow/

We also have an article from the Dominican on the rescue aid companies in the DR are providing regarding a company that’s helping ship supplies to CURE’s operations in Port-au-Prince.

Look for more updates throughout the day from CURE HQ as well as CURE Haiti and CURE Dominican Republic.

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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