Haiti Earthquake: progress, but help still needed
This is the 2nd report in a series of daily blogs. The 1st report is here.
It is amazing how different each day can be. We are on day three here at the hospital, and we continually see additional teams of people coming in from around the world. Additional supplies are also coming in, though much more equipment and personnel are needed.
Here you can see mattresses arriving en masse. Everyone arrives on stretchers in the back of ambulances, trucks, and flatbeds. Many are without proper bedding, and these will help in providing at least more comfort for the intense pain that comes with major bone fractures.
Boxes of needed pain medications like Tylenol, above, have also arrived.
Everything is still grossly overcrowded. People continually line hallways, floors, and almost stairwells.
There are severe cases here, one of which that touched us all was this man, below.
What you’re seeing is a man who has over 35% of his body charred from a propane explosion that occurred when the earthquake hit. He was found at a gas station, put in the bed of a pickup, and laid with incomprehensible pain while his saviors attempted to get him to a hospital for 5 days. He has been at our location for 5 additional days while under the care of nurses and physicians, making it 10 total days he’s endured his pain.
Today, though, he is in the operating room, painless under anesthesia while the surgeons clean and debride his skin. This will ensure he’ll have a faster, healthier recovery. The amount of compassion for his situation is immensely touching.
The care that Operation Rainbow, and other compassionate teams from around the world, is providing is affecting positive change. Kids are healing. Kids whose situations have ripped some of us apart at times.
But we still need much in the way of funds. An Operation Rainbow team is arriving on Saturday, and they will need supplies. Please donate to Operation Rainbow – and please forward this blog to anyone you think may be interested.
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