arriving at Port au Prince airport...luggage chaos arriving in a heap, crawling over people in the heat to get our bags.
Quickly aware of who is in charge of the airport, and how much security presence is around.
The road in front of the airport, from our bus.
Some local Haitian's provide impromptu entertainment on our ride through Port au Prince
First evidence of crushed home...and lives.
One of MANY "new" cities.
Building supplies lying around outside wrecked homes
Another new tent city...approx 300,000 people are curently living in tents or on the streets of Port au Prince, and those #'s are unofficial.
Countryside just outside the main city centre. Old Colonial French buildings, started then the money ran out--and so did the people.
Erick demo's a chest tube while unpacking our HUGE pile of supplies and donations.
Trying to organise at least our part.
Anyone need suturing?
A' shotgun' wedding by north american standards. The bride was about 7 months pregnant, not smiling and both were very subdued.
The front yard of Haitian Christian MIssion (HCM) looking down from the balcony.
The bride.
Looking out towards the street, constant noise hussle and bustle.
Our "room", mats on the floor outside with carefully hung mosquito nets or tents. The only place with a SLIGHT breeze, making sleeping a little bit more likely. If it wasn't for the goats, dogs and chickens...
Red cross tents set up at "love a child" rehab hospital, which is run by a university in the states. It is set up on the grounds of an orphanage with the hopes of having it be permanently there for 1 year to house and rehab the thousands of amputee patients.
The bathrooms and showers that belong to the orphanage.
Trucks bringing supplies to "love a child."
Looking into the hills beyond the orphanage. Gorgeous countryside, even though it is completely deforested by the French.
Erick and Dennis check in to spend the day working at Love A Child.
I also spent the day working there.
Love a Child's well organised supply room.
It takes a village to move an operating room, especially when its in a tent!
When 25 people lifted and moved this HUGE tent, many many mice ran out from underneath. --many of the amputations took place in there OR's.
An afternoon visit from a military helicopter.
Offloading Italian military officers and supplies.
Sunday Morning Church Service. With return of traditions comes a sense of security and normalcy.
The "charting system" at Love a child. Paperwork and assignments are organized by rows of tents.
Some children of one of the patients spent some time with us.
New refugees are arriving from the Dominican Republic with ALL their belongings as all of the temporary clinics and hospitals over there were being shut down and patients returned to Haiti.
A look at the lanscape.
Yup I was there too.
Back at the HCM, in the kitchen.
Teaching some of our translators to play UNO in the warm evening air.
Erick and Dennis relax before bed.
The operating room with Mary (Nurse Anethetist from LA), Tanner (kid from MIssouri out of school for 2 weeks to volunteer in Haiti) and the surgeon from Missouri.
Adam from Missouri, a surgical physician's assistant spent countless hours making sure all the equipment was steralized and organized.
Adam's "room". They left behind all their equipment so HCM would have better supplies.
The recovery room/hospital ward/temporary housing for refugees/post partum and materity room. Also the HOTTEST room at the mission.
Official signage in the new clinic at the mission.
Not so official signage...
My project, when I arrived this table was a giant pile of unorganized and basically unusable supplies. But alas! I managed to find some semblance of organisation.
Sorry non medical folks! Had to include this one. This woman was 80 years old with Alzheimers and spent 3 days with her foot stuck under a building. This is post debridement, she was sent in to Port Au Prince for a potential amputation. Yup those are her tendons showing.
Our first clinic, 4 "doctors" and 400 patients in a very warm church.
Dennis and I aren't sure about anything right now!!
George has a look at a baby.
our translators made EVERYTHING possible.
The masses...that seemed to be ever increasing, and ever moving forward to listen in on the assesments and stories.
One by One we see them all.
The power of the human spirit, shows in these people...still smiling despite the incrdible devastation that is their world.
The mountain view behind HCM.
Jim and Tanner from Missouri are heading home.
A large inland salt water lake just down the road from HCM
Erick sporting the latest in white men's scrub pant fashions
Erick meets his children. These are local kids who are now homeless and live behind HCM in the temporary housing.
Our Group with some local kids.
Manol a Haitian doctor who runs an orphanage and woman's shelter. He was the recipient of the "hygiene packs" lovingly made and donated by a Girl Guide group here in North Vancouver.
A woman and her kids live in this tent, set up between HCM
The tent city that we provided mobile care to.
Orphan's waiting for care in the tent city
"main street"
the temporary shelter the communities "mayor" set up for us to run our clinic under
The line-up kids and orphan's at the front
Our mobile pharmacy for the day
the line up gets longer, kept organized by Ribinson
Ribinson our mightly translator keeps the chaos at bay.
Mary gives one of our interpreter's instructions on medications for a patient.
Sorting through the meds in our pharmacy, never had quite what we were looking for.
Ribinson and I see pt's...the interpreter's will be medical specialists by the end of our journey
Lots of kids with respiratory problems, scabies and malnutrition. Oh yah and worms galore!
Mary, Justine and Laila relax in the back of our jeep after tent city clinic
Dorlus our driver and interpreter drives us in a beat up old Rav 4. No worries about Toyota's here!
I little evening fun with hair...have to diffuse the stress somehow!
Justine gets the final okay on her new hair do.
Justine and I return to the HCM to provide some entertainment for the boys.
George falls alseep...soundly, while sitting in traffic navigating through Port Au PRince
UN officers and other military vehicles are about every 2nd or 3rd vehicle in the sea of traffic that makes up Port Au Prince.
Tent cities and trucks on sidewalks making up extra lanes of traffic to try to deal with the congestion.
View of the crumpled city through our truck windows.
A city street piles of rubble strew out of holes where houses used to be.
A foot sticks up, as a person rests on their deck
squashed houses and squashed lives, mattresses and other household items tell a grim story
Unbelievable amounts of destruction, really indescribable.
The royal Palace with a makeshift community outside the gates
The palace is guarded by soldiers every few meters, no-one gets onto the grounds
the whole top floor collapsed into the bottom floor. the towers were at crazy angles
Piles of rubble become almost normal after a very short time. Kind of frightening.
People selling goods on the streets, everyone is trying to find new ways to make money and have some income. With most businesses ruined and most buidling un-inhabitable this is a very challenging prospect.
Local walk the streets. some tents are set up where houses used to be, the owners/occupants now living inside them.
Sometimes a picture says it all.
The former Financial Headquarters of Port Au Prince.
People rummage through the piles of rubble constantly looking for usable materials and belongings.
Slightly off kilter but still intact. Reminds me of a movie set false front.
An almost completely intact store front and street corner. A rare find in PAP.
Just happened to snap a photo of this very rare, well maintained and undamaged Toyota.
An entire city block...gone.
Our Por Au Prince mobile clinic, we set up in a church in the middle of town.
Patients start to come in, this is Ribinson's (one of our interpreters) church. He lives in a tent refugee camp now, so really values the time he spends in his church. The pastor is already rebuilding.
I interact with a patient at Ribinson's Church mobile clinic in Port au Prince.
Hard at work providing care, others hard at work rebuilding the church wall.
Listening intently..through my translator.
Smiling boys looking fairly healthy!
A long day in the hot weather.
The end of the line is in sight! At least for today...
A mother with her wonderful children. Lost their dad and their house in the quake.
James looks at more "IWES"...otherwise known at Haiti eye!!
Our crew for the Port Au Prince clinic.
Progress...of a different kind. Trying to return some normalcy.
George in front of our clinic sight.
James take "windmill lessons" from a Haitian girl with Downs Syndrome.
A "tap tap" local cheap bus transportation. Named for how you get on...you tap on the side to stop and let you board!
Garbage is piling up everywhere. Lots of Rats too.
Right now this is a dry garbage filled river bed, soon it will flow with run off during the rainy season.
Alix takes a load of at HCM and laughs at something.
Dennis is REALLY happy to be taking ANOTHER load of stuff downstairs. Serves you right for asking me if I wanted help!!
Boxes of glasses for lineups of Patients. Nice work Rick, James, Jacob and Howard!! You looked in lots of eyes down there. Justine, Lara, Laila and George where quick studies in giving eye exams and fitting glasses.
James in Action on the downstairs deck of the HCM medical clinic
George recites a poem about good eyesight.
The yard in front of HCM.
The hallway in the older part of the clinic
the main hallway and treatment rooms
In side one of the treatment rooms
exhausted and hot at the end of the week, outside the pharmacy room
A haitian doctor and patient attempting to find something in the pharmcy--a constant battle!
Wheelchair Parking...Haitian style.
A well deserved beer break at the end fo the day. A trip to the local bar!
George is the President. And don't you forget it. Despite having UN point and laugh at him while he slept:)
View of the lake for a property down the road from HCM
The front yard. Future sight of another Mission and perhaps a shelter for some tents in the rainy season.
The house itself. Owned by an american who can't afford to finish it. Like so many others down here.
Justine and her kids on the deck during our last few hours at HCM
Boarding the bus to leave for the airport.
Some of our co-workers in Haiti...and the beloved roosters in the background. Who apparently caw all night long and at the wrong times when they are stressed. Fitting I suppose.
Dan Laila and Lara. Awake, dozing and asleep. At the airport in PAP.
Mary waits...
Dennis waits...
And Erick waits, and causes mischief.
Mary and I relax and reflect on an amazing journey. I'll leave it at that, for more details you can read the story I attached to the email this photo link came in:)
