BVI Rotarians Aid in Hati Disaster

Rotarian Dr.Orlando Smith mesmerized the club with his presentation on his recent visit to Haiti.   PP Tom Gerker and Mark Stephenson (husband of Rotarian Cate) had flown him and Dr. Jones together with equipment and supplies from BeefIsland to Haiti in their single engine plane.  On arriving the doctors were driven for four and a half hours to their destination.  

Dr. Orlando unwisely assumed that they would be taken care of and had not packed any provisions.  Luckily Dr. Jones was more prepared and had energy bars, etc. which he shared.   They met Rotarian Dr. Surena Rotary's man on the ground and Haiti's medical coordinator.  They then set about work in a hospital and became part of the Caricom team of doctors.   The initial high trauma phase had finished but none the less they still treated fractures and other injuries.   There were adequate general antibiotics but what they severely lacked was specific antibiotics  suited to the type injuries they were treating.   Every nook and cranny in the hospital including the yard (under tents) contained beds, a problem being that patients had no where to go after treatment.   

There was a very well equipped hospital a few hours drive away which was under utilized due to the difficulty of getting patients there.  The roads were not suitable for transporting seriously injured patients and the availability of helicopters was lacking.   Most of the roads in the capital are now passable.  Due to the lack of shelter many of them are barricaded from about 7.00PM until after dawn and the residents make shelters for the night on the street with any materials they can find.

On going problems are housing, waste and flies bringing increased risk of disease to those who survived the initial trauma.  There is also an immediate and long term need for the rehabilitation of the large number of amputees.  Dr Orlando recounted the case of a young girl amputee who had lost both her parents.  When he was first there she was quite upbeat but as the days progressed her mental condition deteriorated with the realization of the reality of her condition.