"Hands on Haiti" Response Effort (1/28/10)
POSTED ON Jan 28, 2010 / UPDATED ON Jan 27, 2011
Nurses and doctors at COTN's medical clinic in Barahona work round the clock to care for the children.
COTN medical team member Bonnie Doyle, an RN from Arizona, checks the blood pressure for one boy in COTN's meical clinic.
Dr. Vicki Sakata of Seattle greets Jodani.
Luciano Josene smiles, in the midst of having recently lost his arm.
"My mother died and I have broken my pelvis," shared a young boy in our COTN clinic.
* * TOP THREE MOST URGENT NEEDS * *
(List will be updated accordingly or as needs are met. Please check back often.)
- "To reach into Haiti we desperately need TWO 15-PASSENGER VANS ($19K each) and a TRUCK ($35K)," pleads COTN founder, Chris Clark, currently on the ground in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. To donate to this urgently needed fund CLICK HERE.
- "Let's Eat" SmilePacks and other urgently needed supplies posted to our Haiti Needs List.
- We are also in urgent need of a FLIGHT SERVICE willing to fly much-needed supplies into Barahona in the Dominican Republic. Please contact Dave Schertzer at daveschertzer@cotni.org.
Please donate to COTN's "Hands on Haiti" Response Effort TODAY! Your help is still needed for immediate relief and long-term support.
THURSDAY – January 28, 2010 (6:15pm)
An update from Debbie Clark, COTN co-founder...
As we near the end of Week 3 of our response effort in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, I am amazed at the servanthood, stamina, and compassion that our US teams and Dominican staff express each day. "What an amazing set of Dominican and American hands joined together caring for Haitian children and families who have lost everything," shared Chris [Clark, COTN founder]. "It is amazing to watch our Dominican nurses wash each Haitian child. Generational walls are being torn down amidst this chaos," he shared.
It is especially encouraging to see how hard our Dominican staff have worked these past two and a half weeks—ministering to the hundreds of Dominican children in our daily care, participating in the Haiti response effort, hosting an extraordinary number or Venture participants, all while tending to their families and day-to-day responsibilities. After working long hours during the day, our Dominican staff are selflessly spending their evenings debriefing with the parents of the children in our clinic, visiting them, and offering reassurance and encouragment. They are passionate about helping their Haitian brothers and sisters regain hope and get the assistance they need to rebuild their lives in Haiti.
Today, I saw so many heartbreaking things—more missing body parts than I could ever have imagined. Chris and I visited several hospitals today to see where else our medical teams could help. I met a 15-year-old Haitian girl missing her arm and shoulder with a broken leg and who knows what else. She was in a house with eleven others who all died. She does not know where her parents are—or even if they are alive or dead. So many of the other children we saw are missing limbs, hands, fingers, toes, etc. Many have severe burns. Tragic injuries and emotional trauma that no child should ever have to endure—and that most cannot even comprehend. But in spite of this the children are so resilient. They almost always have at least a small smile.
And amidst the tragedy and suffering, there is also joy and celebration. A young girl, rescued from the rubble in Haiti shortly after the earthquake and brought to Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani, was among the eleven children transferred to our clinic in Barahona earlier this week. Yesterday, she was reunited with her mother, who up until that point had no idea if she was alive or dead. Somehow the mother was directed to our clinic. The reunion of mother and daughter had our whole clinic in tears.
For the next few days, we hope to help out in some other hospitals where the needs are great. Thank you for your continued prayers. They sustain us—and God is answering them!
Please donate to COTN's "Hands on Haiti" Response Effort TODAY! Your help is needed for immediate relief and long-term support.
THURSDAY – January 28, 2010 (3:15pm)
The COTN medical team from New England departed today after a week of serving in a variety of areas in the Dominican Republic, aiding in the much-needed Haiti relief. Doing whatever was needed, the team of medical staff spent much of their time here responding to the desperate needs of Haitians at Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani. The team served relentlessly in spite of long night shifts, a lack of equipment, aftershock scares, and a chaotic organizational system. The team also participated in caring for the eleven children and their families who arrived at COTN’s medical clinic in Barahona a few days ago. When asked for a few words that describe their week here in the Dominican Republic, following are those that came to mind:
- The strength of individuals
- Life changing demonstration of unbelievable human spirit
- Humbling. Painful. Heartwarming.
- Resilience of children
- We came. We saw. God conquered.
- I have finally lived my faith.
- Broader family (human) making a difference
- A new understanding of humanity
- Seeing their smiles kept me going.
- The true meaning of team and family
- I learned to love God more.
- Great need + willing hearts = God’s provision
- Hurting. Healing. Hope.
- Inspiring
- Really privileged
- Profound suffering
- So much tragedy, but so much compassionate help
- Overwhelming; Exhilarating; Joyful; Devastating
- The children broke my heart.
- Amidst the devastation, I found hope—for the people of Haiti and for humanity because there are good people in the world who are alive with the spirit of compassion.
One team left, but two more arrived this evening into Santo Domingo—one from Central Florida and the other from Seattle, Washington. Now, with three COTN medical teams here in Barahona, COTN hopes to honor God by utilizing their gifts, talents and knowledge to help care for the eleven children and families in COTN’s care, as well as explore other areas where COTN might be able to help. Some team members may serve out of the Love a Child orphanage just over the border in Haiti where a refugee camp has been set up with doctors. Others may possibly help with more needs specifically in Haiti.
Please donate to COTN's "Hands on Haiti" Response Effort TODAY! Your help is needed for immediate relief and long-term support.
Click here to read previous posts (1/27/10 and earlier).