Above: the home of FHM's Delson Merisier after the quake

On-going Earthquake Updates from Family Health Ministries

NEW EMAIL FROM KATHY WALMER AFTER THE FIRST DAY OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE
(received Sunday evening, 31 January)

FHM's medical team arrived safely in PAP from the Dominican Republic border on Saturday afternoon. After setting up clinic the team settled in to their living space at the clinic where they are eaing, sleeping and providing patient care.

The team went to church at the Blanchard church where the congregation worshiped inside for the first time since the earthquake. There was standing room only.

After worship on the team of 16 people including 6 healthcare providers saw 180 patients. A number of patients needed orthopedic and wound care, but the majority of patients need basic health care; a sign that people are moving from immediate emergency care to a more primary care focus. Our next step is to avoid illness that is a result of poor sanitation and close proximity in living conditions.

People continue to sleep out in the streets at night. Even if they have a house to return to they still choose to sleep outdoors on the ground. Their level of tension was very evident today when someone accidently hit a metal gate and the load boom sent the clinic into a panic. My heart just aches for our Haitian friends. - Kathy

UPDATE FROM KATHY WALMER IN LEOGANE, HAITI; DUKE REMEDY SUPPLIES ARRIVE(Received Friday afternoon, 29 January, 2010)

Just experienced my first aftershock…it is a weird sensation. Everyone stood up to run, but all is well. -K

(Received earlier on Friday afternoon, 29 January, 2010)

I am doing well and I am in Leogane. We landed on the by-pass road on our second attempt (yes it was a moment for prayer!). After aborting the first try and competing with airspace with a large Marine cargo helicopter we finally landed right next to our sugarcane field. It was rather surreal to step off the plane and face the UN troops and US military.

We made it to the nursing school where they are continuing triage wound care, surgery, and primary care. I will leave Chris McCain here tomorrow as their OB consultant  for the  facility. I had lunch with Hilda Alcindor, the Dean of the Nursing School today. She looks extremely tired, but is her usual resourceful self. She is an amazing woman.

I have seen both Daphnée and  Sheila. They are both working hard and I am so proud of their accomplishments working in this situation. Dean Alcindor had wonderful things to say about Daphnée.

(Editor's Note - Daphnée is a nursing student from the Fondwa orphanage whose school is paid for by FHM's nursing scholarship program. Sheila is a recent nursing school graduate and an employee of FHM's Leogane Clinic.)

Leogane is almost a total loss. The estimate of 80-90% collapse is not an exaggeration. It does not seem as apparent until you realize every house you look at is actually the second floor.

I stayed with Delson Merisier ‘s family last evening. We had dinner and showers at his parents’ house and then moved to his home where 10 of us slept under a tarp in his driveway.

There are many tent cities all over the town, the largest being outside the nursing school and on the local soccer field.

There are going to be a massive health issues when the rainy season starts.

The Haitian people are already working on the enormous mounds of concrete by hand. Delson has hired a crowd of six who work daily in the sun to make huge pieces of concrete into mounds the size to shovel off the roof. I look at this with such admiration, but it seems so futile.  

The Haitians seem to go about their normal day; selling items in the market which are beginning to reopen, riding down the street two to a bike, and hauling large buckets on their heads. It is not until you stop and watch that you feel the desperation of the situation. You realize all the children our out of school, there are long lines outside of the one open Western Union and people wander the nursing school looking for water.  Yes, water and food shipments still seem to be a significant issue.

Duke Remedy Supplies, Sent by Truck and Airplane Have Arrived

Yesterday we received three pickup trucks worth of supplies that we shipped from Duke Remedy. I will divide up the supplies between the Blanchard and Leogane clinics. It was really great to stand there and look at the boxes we had shipped from Durham and know that not only had the supplies arrived in Leogane, but that our clinics as well as the nursing school hospital will get to use them.

I head into PAP tomorrow and will meet the medical team at the DR border. I have talked with Leon and he is waiting for our arrival. We are planning to stay in the Blanchard clinic space. We will see what next week brings.

Thanks for all your love, support, and continued prayer. Please know I am doing well.

-Kathy

PICTURES OF DESTRUCTION IN FONDWA (29 January 2010

       
Guest House before the quake and two views of the guest house post-January 12, 2010

   
Ste. Antoine School before and after the earthquake

The Fatima House Orphanage after the quake, with the new section still intact

Ste. Antoine Church (below the school in the valley) after the quake

FHM EXEC DIRECTOR ARRIVES IN LEOGANE (29 January 2010)
Kathy Walmer, Family Health Ministries' executive director arrived safely in Leogane yesterday with Dr. Delson Merisier.

She and Delson landed on the road in Leogane on the CDC plane yesterday morning.  They had to pull up the 1st time because they were coming in too fast and a military helicopter was landing simultaneously next to the road.  They landed successfully on the 2nd approach.   Kathy is sleeping under the stars with Delson’s family tonight.  

She found some of the Duke Remedy supplies in Leogane and will take some of them to Blanchard with her & her medical team into PaP.  She said that Leogane looks like Cite Soleil because of the large dense tent/tarp villages that have been set up.  The locals are getting some calories by eating the sugar cane in the field where our hospital will be located.  The markets are beginning to open.  Kathy and Leon will meet the remainder of her team at the DR/Haitian border on Saturday at 1 pm and head to PaP to start seeing patients.
 
FHM is very grateful for our Duke friends and family.  Duke has been there for FHM in our time of need.

NEWS FROM HOSPICE ST. JOSEPH, PAP (27 January 2010)
New pictures showing earthquake damage at the guest house where many FHM mission trips have stayed.

AT LAST - RELIEF COMING TO FONDWA
(27 January 2010)
Sr. Kay from Leavenworth was able to get through by telephone to Sr. Carmelle in Fonwa.  The Sisters are OK, but feeling the stress of their circumstances.  Sr. Kay reports “good news” though!

Sr. Judy Dohner, HM (who before the earthquake lived with the Sisters in Fondwa and worked in the medical clinic there) was able to get to Fondwa with two tents (and a crew to set them up) that will provide temporary shelter for the Sisters!  Sr. Judy is also arranging for additional, substantial relief to be delivered by helicopter tomorrow!!   

We also heard from the good people at Heart to Heart International (KS) that they were attempting to deliver more food and water to the Sisters and others in Fondwa.  Heart to Heart is the first (and so far only) relief agency that has been to Fondwa. 

We expect additional news from Fondwa in the next day or so.  The Sisters know that many people here are continuing to pray for them and that we love them.  Let us continue to remember them and so many others in our prayers.  Thank you all.

VOLUNTEERS PACK; TEAM READY FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRIP
(27 January 2010)
Thanks to a large cadre of volunteers and many donations, FHM bags are packed for the January 28 emergency medical mission trip to the Blanchard Clinic on Friday. The team hopes to begin service Sunday afternoon or Monday morning.

The sixteen team members are led by Executive Director Kathy Walmer. Kathy will arrive in Leogane on Thursday. The rest of the team will fly to Santo Domingo on Friday. They will then travel on to the border town of Jimani, Haiti, where Kathy and Pastor Leon will pick up the group for the rest of the trip to PAP.

FHM is grateful to all the people who have helped procure and donate emergency supplies, for all those who transported the supplies, for all the volunteers who have helped in FHM's Durham, NC, office, and for those who are transporting the heavy bags to the airport. Team members have also been soliciting supplies from their employers and other contacts; the response has been tremendously generous.

The team of 5 doctors, nurse, and nurse practitioner is accompanied by 9 others who will help dress wounds, distribute pharmaceuticals, and do all the other work required to run a health clinic. One team member and new FHM board member Alan Britt will also assess FHM's buildings for safety.

ASSESSING THE NEEDS/PLANNING THE FUTURE FOR FHM IN HAITI
(27 January 2010)
While in Haiti for the next two weeks, Kathy Walmer, executive director of Family Health Ministries, will visit the leadership of the three communities (Blanchard in Port-au-Prince, Leogane, and Fondwa) FHM supports.

Kathy will deliver emergency relief funds and supplies as well as assess community needs and priorities. Together with FHM Haitian partners, Family Health Ministries will begin to develop plans for the future. This week's medical team will help Kathy assess firsthand the current medical needs of the Blanchard clinic community and plan for long term support.