Its kind of lengthy, but interesting all the same. And I hope he doesn't mind me posting this here.
Dear Friends,
So many of you responded to Denise's prayer request for my while I was in Haiti. I'd like to share an overview of God's guidance.
1. I am thankful to be back in the USA safe and sound.
2. I am so thankful for the experiences I had while directing ADRA Pakistan during the aftermath of the Kashmir earthquake over 4 years ago. Those experiences really helped me to be effective in Haiti.
3. I am thankful for friends like Dr. Ron Fleck and Ricky Kearns who called me to Haiti 48 hours after arriving home from a busy itinerary in India.
With Appreciation,
John
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Here are further notes of events and people related to our time in Haiti. You can see photos on Second Hope's Website,
www.secondhopeministries.orgContacts made:
ACTS – Dr. David Canther,
ADRA – Wally Ammundson Inter-America Division director
Adventist Hospital Chief Dr. L. Archer
La Belle Hotel
Haitian Environmental Ministry/Livio Valenti
Dr. Chmsiian Sanon (US/Haitian doc) (CEO) entrusted by government to implement
backed by Greater Carribean Energy & Environment Foundation
whose president is Anitra Throuag.
Local clinic director is Dr. Max Jellia Located at Haitian government headquarters, Port Au Prince
HERF Kevin Pina Video recording professor and community supporter
Partners in Health Located at General Hospital HUEH Port Au Prince
Renee Cevil – community organizer who can handle distribution for the
Champ Mars camp in the center of Port Au Prince via 30 deputies.
(We need to contact an NGO called “Action Against Hunger” because
they are the major NGO handling the Champ Mars camp)
University of Miami / Medishare logistics Nathan Sprague
Located at the UN log base Port Au Prince
Taxi S. Located at Port Au Prince
UN Clusters Information
World Vision/Manuel Januario Mucuho Located at two locations in Port Au Prince
Our team:
Each of us was given a satellite phone in Miami.
Dr. Ron Fleck, leader
Dr. John McGhee, administrative & logistic liaison
Dr. Scott Hutson, Orthopedic surgeon
Dr. Greg Saunders, General surgeon
Dr. Raquel Collins, General surgeon
Dr. Jacqualine Tracey, General surgeon + MPH
Eddie Wickward, professional diesel mechanic/heavy equipment
Admin Support
Ricky Kearns
Jerry Caloroso
Marcia Trott
Formation of this Team:
Upon receiving a phone request from Ricky Kearns (AMEN) on Friday, January 22, 2009, Dr. Ron Fleck prayerfully was successful to assemble the above team on an urgent basis in 24 hours. There were many miracles associated with this. Since there were no funds available for purchasing equipment, medicines, supplies, and airline tickets to Miami , Florida , from Walla Walla , Washington and Seattle , Washington , these funds were provided by Second Hope Ministry International, founded by Dr. Ron and Bobbie Fleck. It is my opinion that the best, and maybe only way to best serve in international disaster relief operations is by key organizations partnering and networking to share resources and ideas.
Briefings
Sunday, January 25:
Departed SEATAC at 1:15 pm, joining 6 out of 7 team members on a flight to Miami arriving by 10:30 pm. Our 7th team member named Eddie joined us at the airport. Dr. Fleck decided that 3 of us should take the 5:30 am flight to Haiti . Had to be at the airport by 2:30 am so went without sleep all night. Received sat. phones
Monday, January 25:
Arrived in Haiti with Dr. Hutson and Dr. Saunders by 7:30 am. Waited an hour for Kevin to pick us up. Visited SDA Hospital , ADRA, and SDA University . None of them needed docs.
We met a French SDA who operates several orphanages and 3 clinics who offered to put Drs. Hutson and Saunders to work in primary care. They decided to go with him.
I visited UN logistic and food clusters at the United Nations Tent City, Port Au Prince Airport .
I observed:
* Good organization and facilitation;
* Reasonably good attendance, most of us sat on tent floor or stood;
* Very good networking opportunities.
I learned:
* UN is seeking to coordinate not dominate the decision-making process;
* Working aggressively to distribute food;
* Military coalition realizes there are many shortcomings;
* The NGO of docs managing volunteers at the General Hospital welcomed us to send patients and volunteer docs;
* UN is open to the idea of community empowerment by distributing food more equitably through community leaders;
* Salvation Army is using a system of making a list of families one day prior to distribution, giving cards to each recipient, punching date of delivery, making a promise that another portion would be delivered in 5-days.
I shared:
* That I was available to consult any organizations who wish to use community leaders in their distribution system ensuring that a maximum number of families receive packets;
* About my observation of 2 food distributions yesterday resulting in;
1. multiple members of same family getting goods.
2. same member of family going to various distribution points to obtain extra measures.
3. Observing that armed guards contributed to social upset when only 200 received supplies while almost 8000 stood in single file thinking they would receive something. They tear-gassed the crowd and fired rubber bullets hitting two men.
* I registered my name with the UN Clusters and will be receiving and forwarding pertinent email to successive teams until a permanent logistics person is identified.
My Response:
* Kevin has done his best to place our team in places where they can work effectively, however our team is widely disbursed throughout the city. And none of the surgeons have done any surgery as of Tuesday morning, January 26, 2010,
* Kevin introduced us to a community leader located at Rue Saint Martin block K. Dr. McGhee decided that our team should stay there the first night (Sunday) because he trusted that Kevin knew these guys. He didn’t.
Tuesday, January 26:
Consequently, when on Tuesday, after a full day of providing primary health care via Dr. Ron Fleck and Eddie to nearly 100 people, some of the local ruffian’s tried to bring their mattresses into the clinic because it was supposedly going to rain…I resisted their effort by saying “why are grown men trying to get inside when all your mothers, brothers , and little sisters are left outside”… they retreated. However the comments from the crowd were of such a nature that Dr. Fleck made an appropriate executive decision…we should move out. It was dark. There was no electricity. By flashlight we packed up 500 pounds of meds and our own stuff and were just leaving when Kevin showed up.
He had told us at 2 pm that he would be back in half an hour. It was now 7:30 pm. He did find an adequate hotel for us and talked with the ruffians. They said “they meant no harm” and that the whole incident was due to a lack of information.
Tuesday night: Kevin did find a good hotel for the lady surgeons. And found a lesser hotel for the three of us men simply because there was no space left in the good hotel due to the UN delegation. We stayed at La Belle Hotel, Names of owners/managers who are brothers are Pierrot Laroche (excellent cook and very nice) and Raynold Laroche (elder brother who is the owner due to the fact that their father was murdered recently in connection with an affair).
Wednesday, January 27:
Result of Cluster Meeting contacts:
1. Verified that the Salvation Army has the best food distribution plan (using cards) of any NGO. And they do operate several clinics which may need docs. Commanders name is Cedric. Administrative assistant Damaris Frick
2. Must contact Anitra Throuag office to coordinate AMEN’s docs. Note: She is the shaker and mover having experience at high levels of the UN, to work through the local Hatian Environmental Ministry (Refer back to Livio Valenti).
3. Dr. Fleck was able to attend a UN cluster meeting and then found WHO where he met Dana from Holland who told him about Jacmel:
1. 3.5 hours from Port Au Prince
2. Has a huge population of refugees
3. Has great unmet needs
4. Currently being served by docs from Cuba , Canadian Military, and UNICEF
5. Only completely self-sufficient docs should go without depending upon the Jacmel community for lodging, food, transportation, or communication.
After this Dr. Fleck confirmed the process of getting flights out of Haiti.
We were told to show up at the airport and wait for the next flight out, …time is from 2-4 hours. There are two ways to go:
By special NGO-funded passenger planes or by military transport planes
Dr. Fleck then checked in with Drs. Jacque, Raquel, Greg who were doing post-op care at General Hospital . Dr. Greg wasn’t being utilized too much, so decided to go to another camp on Thursday.
On January 27, Denise and Bobbie both relayed a message from Ricky to contact Dr. David Canther, SDA running clinics and orphanages
Tried calling Claude, David’s admin. Asst, with no success. Also tried calling Dr. David Canther many times with no success. He is located in Port Au Prince across from SDA hospital. This will be done by Ron on Thursday when he visits his operation.
Thursday, January 28:
I hired a pickup truck with 2 side-benches in back for hauling people. It cost us $100 for the entire day, a bargain, considering what other taxis were charging. Another advantage was that the owner spoke both French and English, a huge advantage. We transported Dr. Greg Saunders out to the clinic where he was to work.
Due to traffic jams, and extremely poor road conditions, it took us about 1.5 hour to get him there, and another 1.5 hours to return to the center of town in PAP. We had planned to go to try to connect with Dr. David Canther, close by the Adventist Hospital . We had tried multiple times previously without success to contact him by phone to see if he could use more physicians and nurses. Since we were to meet the other team members at the airport to return to the USA by military transport plane at 4 pm, we did not have time to go to the Adventist Hospital to meet Dr. Canther.
However, this turned out to be providential, since Dr. Fleck was asked by Jerry Caloroso by satellite phone to meet the incoming medical team, which was already at the airport with no one to greet them or make transportation arrangements for them to go to the Adventist Hospital . Dr. Fleck was able to get through security at the airport and found them waiting for someone to help them.
They were given a briefing, and many questions were answered. Before entering the airport to get them, Dr. Fleck had made arrangements for vehicles to transport them. They seemed happy that someone was able to receive them and get them on vehicles to take them to the Adventist Hospital.
Dr. Fleck never was able to communicate with Dr. Canther about receiving them, although Jerry tried to connect him and Dr. Canther on a conference call by Satellite phone. I could only catch about every third word that Dr. Canther was saying.
Result of Cluster Meeting Contacts:
1. I met John from OXFAM who has been offered a helicopter for this rescue operation assuming he can get numbers to justify its operation. I contacted him and told him he would send him specific numbers within 24 hours. In fact he was contacted by email 8 hours later confirming our need of 15 trips per day by our 80 health care professionals from AMEN, Dr. Canther’s operation, SDA Hospital , and ADRA.
2. Discovered that today is the first huge food distribution done by the UN people. They predicted complex traffic snags. And they were right. It took us two to three times longer travel time.
3. Dr. Fleck had asked our team to meet at 4 pm so we could fly out together. In fact Dr. Hutson arrived by early morning helicopter and flew out before 11 am. Dr. Fleck saw him off. Dr. Jacque and Dr. Raquel, our two female surgeons also flew home in the morning. However, we waited for 7 hours for them, because they were not able to make a phone call to Dr. Fleck via sat phone. As time went by, we were very concerned about their safety. Finally at 8:30 pm Eddie was able to talk with them via sat. phone. They were already in Miami . Dr. Jackie Tracey did not have a USA passport (she is from Antiga in the Carribean, and has her Green Card, but no US passport), so she could not ride on the US military transport plane. She and Dr. Collins were able providentially to catch a ride on a charter plane to Miami .
4. Miracle stories:
Dr. Fleck was given free food and water from the Red Cross and we had a wonderful lunch with much left over to share with thirsty and hungry people along the road;
Prior to this gift Dr. Fleck and I went to the PX on UN base where we had been purchasing water all week. However, while standing in line with 10 liters of ice cold water and 4 liters of fruit juice, someone put up a sign saying only military (UNHAS) people could purchase commodities and the cashier made us leave all that juice and go outside into the oven without anything for our team and taxi drivers to drink. I was tempted to be resentful, but gave it up to God. And less than an hour later we were given far more food, juice, and water than we could ever have purchased! AMEN
I finished attending the cluster meetings for logistics and food distribution and was supposed to meet Dr. Fleck and our drivers by the exit gate of the UN compound. While waiting, a mob of about 50 men descended upon me asking for jobs. I wrote a couple names down. Instantly I became the center of attention.
The military police kindly asked me to move because the crowd was blocking access to the UN exit gate. So I told them that I was going for a fast walk and whoever ended up with him would be the next name that I wrote down.
I walked, then jogged, then ran. Thinking I could outlast them, I was shocked to be running in the middle of 50 young, hungry, and very motivated men. We passed up the snarled traffic, including several military convoys. The soldiers looked at me with questioning eyes. I knew they were worried about my safety. So I just waved and smiled. Several of the armed guys took pictures.
The pace I was setting wasn’t even making a dent in the crowd. In fact a bunch more kids joined in…the guys started a cadence song in French like army guys do when jogging.
I ran at least 2 miles back to the airport. My shirt and pants were drenched with sweat. When they arrived at the entrance, Haitian police guards angrily brandished their batons at my new friends. I immediately told the guards through a translator, “these are my friends, please do not hurt them.” But they still looked mean enough so I led the mob away from the entrance.
Now they were begging me to write down all their names…that was impossible. So I made a speech telling them that they were all winners and that I would boast of their fitness and desire to work to people I met in America . Most of them smiled... and let me walk into the airport where I met Dr. Fleck.
I told Dr. Fleck, "I really do wish I could hire every one of those guys. They were tough, motivated, fun-loving, and amazingly persistent…all qualities I cherish in employees."
Although we really worried about the ladies on our team who had left Haiti without informing Dr. Fleck, we realized that it was part of God’s plan….so that Dr. Fleck could save a baby’s life…While waiting we made friends with the crack “ICE” team representing Homeland Security who were guarding the boarding area.
I had told them about our team leader and what a good emergency room doc he was. After 2 hours of waiting, the ICE guys came over to Dr. Fleck and asked if he would accompany them to the check point where a doc, still dressed in his green outfit stood holding a tiny one-year-old baby. The primary care doc, while working in a rural area, had diagnosed the baby who was found 2 days ago in rubble, with a possible skull fracture.
However the ICE guys weren’t sure if the doc was telling the truth. So Dr. Fleck did go. He determined that the doc was telling the truth. However the doc wanted to take the baby out of Haiti to the USA for treatment.
Dr. Fleck, after rapid exam diagnosed an obvious severely depressed skull fracture, and pointed out that the flight out might kill the baby due to pressure problems. The doc hadn’t thought of that. Dr. Fleck recommended that the baby be transported to a local hospital for trauma surgeon consult. So instead, the baby was taken to Miami hospital, an excellent field hospital close to the airport in Port au Prince, where many docs are nosing around just looking for cases to work on.
After noting the baby’s coordination, pupils, sucking reflexes, Dr. Fleck believes this baby is stable and should easily bounce back after the depressed skull fracture is reduced surgically by a neurosurgeon.
Had we not been there, it is possible that the doc and baby would have flown out tonight and it was highly probable that the baby would have died.
While on the tarmac waiting for the plane, I tried one last time to get email. Hadn't been able to get on line all week. The military squad IT leader told me, “our server is down and no one is able to get on line.”
But I tried anyway and it worked...and answered about 50 messages in 90 minutes. I also received about 30 messages Denise had forwarded from many you, my friends, who were praying for our team in Haiti . It was such a healing balm after a very intense week.
A value-added dimension was that I was able to keep my promise to OXFAM by giving them specific anticipated number of trips per day coordinated by our Adventists teams comprised of 80 docs. This helicopter proposal is a top priority item. I was able to give a timely response. Praise the Lord.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Please note that the following recommendations are being made along with deep appreciation for the outstanding service of each team member. As requested, Dr. Fleck and I submitted these recommendations for consideration. It may be that these suggestions could be helpful not only in Haiti but also in future emergency aid situations.
Each Team Member
1. Represents the SDA lifestyle such as refraining from drinking alcohol or smoking during the volunteer effort.
2. Represents the respective country of his or her citizenship.
3. Represents his or her respective health profession.
4. Demonstrates emotional stability.
5. Is flexible.
6. Is willing to respect the team leader’s role.
Team Leader
1. Provides spiritual leadership for the team.
2. Builds morale.
3. Matches team members with assignments.
4. Coordinates photo/documentaries of miracle stories.
5. Is responsible for the safety of the team.
6. Is sensitive to differences in people’s expectations.
7. Briefs newly arriving teams who will carry the torch.
8. Is preferably a physician with a gift for administration.
Team Recruiter This volunteer person with outstanding communication skills should be based in the USA or Canada .
1. Matches need-based positions with future team members.
2. Coordinates team members’ ticketing.
3. Selects team leaders.
4. Coordinates funding which is done via local churches, private gifts, or AMEN budgeted line items.
5. Receives email forms from applicants which include:
· Copies of DEA number
· Copies of medical / nursing licenses
· Permission to do a background check
· Identifies how soon the applicant can be available
· Identifies special skills the applicant has in addition to his or her professional competencies
6. Sends e-mail orientation to prospective team members.
Team Logistician & PR This person should be a contract employee for 3-6 months and should be (STATIONED) on site where disaster has occurred.
1. Provides information to the team leader so they can give accurate briefings. This is done primarily by attending daily cluster meetings (AT THE UNITED NATIONS ENCAMPMENT) and networking with other organizations.
2. Arranges housing, transportation, and communication for team members.
3. Produces ID badges.
4. Serves as the PR director with sole authority to meet the press.
5. Has authority to commit the Non-governmental Organization to assist other NGOs in a collaborative effort to save lives. This will be done in consultation with the team leader and the team recruiter.
General Suggestions:
* Purchase a laptop computer, printer, and 32 gig flash drive for the logistician to utilize.
* Procure satellite phones that work within the country we are working in.
* Procure local mobile phones for team leaders.
* Expand the footprint of volunteers to include nurses and allied health professionals.
* Recruit professionals based on evidence of need.
* Take actions to ensure that the team leader can maintain daily contact with each team member to ensure their effectiveness and safety.
pk
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