"Hands on Haiti" Response Effort (2/2/10 - 2/3/10)
POSTED ON Feb 02, 2010 / UPDATED ON Jan 27, 2011
COTN medical team member Bonnie Doyle, an RN from Arizona, clowned around last week with 7-year-old Sadwine Lois at COTN's medical clinic in Barahona. Sadwine was recently transported to a hospital in Santo Domingo for a more serious needed surgery.
10-year-old Mebobali watches his mom give his little brother, Luciano, a sponge bath last week at COTN's medical clinic in Barahona. Luciano was recently transported to a hospital in Santo Domingo, DR to receive special treatment on his amputated arm.
Mikeline Charles, 13, keeps herself occupied with a book on January 27 at COTN's medical clinic in Barahona.
The COTN medical clinic in Barahona is busy throughout the day with parents and children from Haiti along with nurses, doctors and interpreters caring for the children.
Mikeline smiles with Lynda Paquette, R.N. E.D., who was part of the New England COTN medical team.
COTN medical team members Bernice McLellan, a nurse midwife and Lynda Paquette, a nurse, help 13-year-old Mikeline Charles stand up and walk around the room to exercise her injured leg. Johnny, a COTN interpreter, stands by to help explain to Mikeline wha
Antoine Blivena, age 6, takes a break from coloring to shade her eyes from the light. At COTN's medical clinic in Barahona, doctors are doing everything they can to ensure that she heals well from the pelvic break that she suffered during the earthquake.
In another area of COTN's medical clinic, four boys eat dinner before going to sleep for the night.
Read HAITI CHILDREN"S STORIES from the field here.
THURSDAY – February 4, 2010 (7:10am)
* * 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.
THURSDAY – February 4, 2010 (7:10am)
Read most recent news and articles: A Child's Story – Antoine of Haiti and An X-Ray Machine for the DR to Help in Haiti Effort.
Please donate to COTN's "Hands on Haiti" Response Effort TODAY! Your help is still needed for immediate relief and long-term support.
TUESDAY – February 2, 2010 (6:38pm)
The COTN medical teams did a lot of preparing today for a big surgery day tomorrow. Many of the Dominicans from Barahona who are getting surgeries tomorrow needed blood work done and other details had to be worked out before procedures could be started. Tomorrow, the team is planning on using both of the OR rooms in COTN’s medical clinic—one for outpatient procedures for the adults and children from the bateys where COTN does ministry and the other for the skin graft procedures that surgeons will be doing on three of the Haitian children currently in our clinic. “Tomorrow is going to be a big surgery day,” said Dr. Mary Wierusz, a family medicine doctor from Seattle who is helping lead the clinic area for the COTN medical team.
The COTN–DR staff and nurses have been particularly helpful as medical teams have come through the clinic, serving the children. “They are working around the clock,” Dr. Wierusz said. COTN head nurse Yaneth is leading the group of nurses and staff and they will have an integral role tomorrow in handling all of the post-op care for the outpatient surgeries.
The dentist and dental hygientist from the Seattle team have been taking advantage of the dental rooms at COTN’s clinic and doing cleanings and dental checkups for the children and adults from bateys where COTN does ministry.
TUESDAY – February 2, 2010 (5:08pm)
Dr. Christine Nieman of Flood Church in California just recently returned form serving on a Haiti Emergency Team with Children of the Nations. Watch her video interview here.
TUESDAY – February 2, 2010 (9:50am)
The COTN medical team made up of Central Floridians and people from Washington State have been quite busy since they arrived in Barahona late Thursday night. They have been treating and caring for the Haitian children in COTN's medical clinic.
"Our surgeons have done some surgical revisions on some of the children and today they were all outside, which was great," said Dr. Mary Wierusz, a family medicine doctor from Seattle who is helping lead the clinic area for the COTN medical team. "Some of them are up and playing together, coloring and singing. There still has been some issues with pain, but it's really hopeful. Knowing where they came from, it's a huge thing to see them laughing and playing together and their parents smiling." A phycologist is part of the team and she has been getting to know the children and their parents—talking to them all and hearing their stories. (Click here to read the Children's Stories.)
With three of the children (with more serious needs) who were brought to the COTN clinic now being treated in a hospital in the Dominican Republic's capital of Santo Domingo, the COTN team is able to offer their medical talents to the Barahona community and children who are in COTN's Village Partnership Program as well. Along with caring for the Haitian children, tomorrow they will start doing minor surgeries on people in need throughout the community. Today surgeons evaluated people who were in need of surgery. "The surgeons have gone out and told the Dominicans with COTN head nurse Yaneth today [about this opportunity] and identified some surgeries that need to be done in the community, so we’re kind of setting that up on one half of the clinic and then preparing to do skin grafts for three of the kids here on the other side," Dr. Mary said.
In the meantime—as the minor surgeries begin tomorrow—COTN–DR staff and the medical team will wait to see if more children who need care will arrive at COTN's clinic in the near future. Dr. Wierusz says that the need will soon be rehabilitation. "A lot of them need revisions on their amputations, but a lot of them have rehab needs," she said. "So, the team that's coming next are wound care specialists and physical therapists." If the COTN clinic can be used as a rehabilitation place for other children, that could be a possibility as well.
Although Dr. Mary said that today was a hopeful day with all the children outside and playing with one another, the reality of the horror that these children—and parents—have been through is still very recent and fresh in their minds. "Some of the kids, they're still crying out through the night ... I think we’re seeing a lot of the pain that they must have gone through, so that’s still a big issue," she said. "The pain and the sort of emotional and mental healing is a focus."
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 (2/1/10 and earlier).