They are on a plane to Atlanta

I did not get much in the way of details, they were running to get on the plane as we spoke.  I believe it may be a commercial Delta flight, but I don't know for sure and I don't know when it will be arriving.  They will call me when they get there and we'll figure out if we can get them home from Atlanta today or tomorrow.

Apparently they were just sitting on the tarmac, waiting for flight options, there is no terminal, everything is outdoors. 

Video from Alden Ho at one of the clinics being run today

Here's a video that Alden Ho posted on Facebook showing one of the clinics in operation today.

Chris at Port au Prince Airport

Chris called this morning around 6 AM PST to let me know they made it to the airport and are now trying to figure out how to get out.  They are waiting for military transports that have seats available (if you carry a US Passport you can get on one of these).  There are some commercial flights going out but they come at a cost of $600 p/seat.  So they will wait and she will call once she hears more information.

Part of the team coming home Tuesday!

I spoke with Chris this evening.  As time goes on over there it sounds like things are becoming more and more political unfortunately.  Getting supplies out is becoming a real challenge, the reports are that there are a lot of supplies at the airport but getting them out is becoming political and problematic.

The other challenge as well is getting out of there.  To leave, they will need to go to the airport and wait for a transport flight they can get on, so total standby.  ChrisP, Chris and Victoria are going to the airport on Tuesday morning with about 9 other folks from another team to see if they can get out of Haiti to Miami.  We'll know more tomorrow, she said she would call when she makes it to the airport and learns more.

I was asked in the comments if any of them over there have seen Mateo, the answer is no.  He came over earlier and was not with this organization, so they don't believe he was ever at that camp where they are at.  Hopefully he has been heard from since the comment was posted.  Was he due back into work and did not show up?

Chris, Tricia and Michelle on Monday

Waiting for their assignments this morning....

Sunday call from Chris, frustration is setting in....

Sunday call with Chris, looks like Wednesday is the target day for coming back still, so three more days.  Frustration is setting in I can tell, they have no supplies and it feels to her like they are not doing anything, almost lieing to the patients. 

They have drugs like Tums, Ibuprofen, Aspirin, some ointments, but not a lot of what they really need.  They are being told to treat the well because the sick will likely not survive.  Everyone seems to have lice, scabies, intestinal worms, or a combination of the three, all are very sick.  The next waves of disaster will include thousands dieing from disease, malnutrition, dehydration, etc.  Then after that, hurricane season, this will not be pretty.

She says the streets are full of makeshift tents (bed sheets) because all the buildings are collapsed, the street is the only place to set things up.  They are doing what they can to stay positive and do everything they can to make people well, but they have little they can do.  Hopefully this improves with future teams (more teams and hopefully supplies coming in this next week).

And during all of this, there are births occurring.  I saw pictures from Alden of a baby being delivered just the other day, what a world to be born into.

There was an earthquake yesterday that they all felt, at this point though most everyone is outside and most buildings are already collapsed.

Chris is trying to get on a surgical team, she has been talking with an orthopedic surgeon and may be going to help them.  She is hoping that she can get somewhere where she can actually provide some meaningful care as right now she is not feeling that way.

Apparently the French Military & Fire Personnel arrived as well, and it's a welcome site to many of the women over there!  They are all fresh and still clean I guess, but apparently very handsome too!
 

Alden Ho Photos

I've included some Alden Ho photos in the Flickr photo slide show I posted yesterday.  There are some new ones today, I will add them to the slide show but I thought I would include some here as well so you can see them directly.  All photos © Alden J. Ho Photography, aldenho.com and used with permission. You can find Alden on Facebook too and see all of his pictures, warning though, there are some graphic pictures of amputations there as well.

This is Michelle and Chris Gonzales getting prepped to head out for the day

Here are two of the three clinic teams in the back of a panel van getting ready to head out for the day

Clinics setup seeing patients, this is Tricia and a translator working with a patient.  They saw over 300 patients per team in about 5 hours time.

Clinic setup, lines of people waiting to be seen

I think this is Nitti working with a boy.  Lots of scabies and lice.

Here's my Chris with a patient

Jan 31 photos from Michelle Cabasaan

I've added these photos to the Flickr slide show.  Michelle posted these on Facebook this morning, showing them heading out to the clinic and some shots of the clinic itself.

BBC Map of Earthquake

On the BBC website (click here to see the page) they had a pretty good map of the earthquake and the damage to a few of the towns based on percentage of destruction, seemed worthy of including.  Chris and the team are near Carrefour. 

As usual, click on the picture to see it larger, or you can use the web link above to see the article on the BBC website.

Nightly call from Chris

Another day of working with patients, it is good to hear that they have a little bit of levity amongst the team going on (I heard rumblings of a messy, near food fight, spaghetti dinner) to help them get through all of this.  Chris did say things are a little frustrating because there is not a lot they can do, they are really short on supplies and/or do not have the right supplies to treat what is going on.  Lots of infections, scabies, rashes and things like that and all they can really do is hand out vitamins.

It sounds like they may be coming home on Wednesday instead of Thursday, just because of availability of trips out of there.  She'll know more as they get closer.

I asked her about the reports I have seen where people can hear the Haitians singing at night, she said it's every night, all night long.  There is pretty much no power anywhere, so the singing is probably what keeps them going and busy all night. 

She also mentioned that she was impressed by the translators that are assigned to them.  The one she had today was a lawyer, well educated, spoke four languages.  They are in high demand so they get good treatment.

Chris felt this was the tip of the iceberg too, as far as the disaster is concerned.  With the amount of disease going on, more will die.  And they have good weather now, but she hears in 3-4 months it will be heavy rains, hurricane season, and nobody has any place to live.  This story is far from over.

A couple of reference web sites

Here are a couple of websites my brother Bill found that show information about the Adventist Hospital (pre-quake) and other facilities the organization runs.

This site (click here) is not in English, so the link will take you through the Yahoo Translation service.  It is for the Adventist University which the hospital is part of.

This site (click here) is a blog, it only has pictures though.  You will see the UNAH (Universite Adventist de'Haiti) on the lawn that is in one of the Google Satellite images I posted the other day.

Photos from Michelle Cabasaan

Michelle posted more photos on Facebook today, I'm re-posting them here for everyone else to see.  She mentioned that she is trying to minimize Internet usage from her phone because she learned how expensive it is, but she will post more.  She volunteered for the Search and Recovery mission today with Union College.  They have located 3 victims so far just by moving a little rubble.

You can click on the photos for a larger version.

Looks like they're getting ready to head out for the day.  Chris on the left, with ChrisP next to him.  Tricia is in the front and I apologize I forgot the name of the others.  If someone can post in the comments their names I won't forget in the other photos, I met them quickly!
 

 

This is Michelle with Polly.  They are trying to recover her family members.  Michelle says that Polly will probably be on HBO and / or Oprah.

This was a six story apartment building

Apparently they have a computer with some Internet access at base camp

Chris made a posting on Facebook a little while ago, apparently she can't sleep as it is late.  She called again earlier tonight, she mentioned it was really muggy.  She was actually able to take two "showers" today as they got running water and it helps with the muggy-ness.  She mentioned they had a computer setup but there was a really long line and she didn't think she'd be getting on it, but apparently that was not the case.  I asked her to post on here if she gets a chance again to say hello to everyone. 

This is what she wrote on her Facebook page;

Hey all, snuck on computer at basecamp. AMAZING experience, found my calling! Words cannot describe the devastation we are seeing. We are practically treated like celebrities! I hope we are making at a small dent in helping these folks. Lots to share. Thank you Honey Bunny for your encouragement and love! Will give updates when I can!

Today's call from Chris, some questions answered....

I just got off the phone with Chris, she sounded very excited and had a lot to say in a short period of time. In a Blog post last night I asked people to post comments if they have any questions and I received some from Caroline and have some answers to those plus more.

Today was their first day of seeing patients.  The hospital they are at (Adventist) is known as Base Camp and that is where they head out from each day to treat patients.  There are several teams of medical personnel working out of there and they organize in the morning into teams, get supplies and then head out to treat patients.  Base Camp received power and running water today, so that is good news.

The headed out around 11:15 and came back after 4 PM.  They want them all back by 5 PM, it is not safe for them all to be out after that time. 

Chris said that everyone there is basically homeless at this point, everything is destroyed.  It is as if she was dropped into the middle of a bombed out war zone.  Yet she said everyone is very nice and friendly.  She said she was walking with supplies and a little boy just came up and held her hand, smiled at her and walked with her to where she was going.  She was very touched by that.

She said the team she was on today treated about 300 people.  Infections, cuts, amputations, whatever comes they deal with it.  Everyone is working like they are doctors, we didn't talk for a long time but it sounds like whatever someone is comfortable doing they just do.  She seemed terrifically happy to be able to do what she did today, she said it felt like a calling.

She did mention that when they were organizing this morning they were looking for a nurse volunteer to go out with a search and rescue team because the other day someone was still pulled out alive.  Victoria volunteered to do that and apparently it was grueling and sad.  They were digging through rubble and all they recovered were 3 victims and it was hard to deal with.

They are providing them with one meal in the evening, she said she was very hungry after a long day of constant patient traffic.  The rest of the day they are on their own for food, and of course she has 200 bars so she should be fine!  I also sent her with a water chlorination and filtration kit so if they are not providing bottled water for them during the day she can make her own and keep it in a bottle for herself.

She did sleep very well last night after the long journey so she was well rested for the day.  The base camp is secure and she feels relatively safe in the environment where they are.  I reminded her to be vigilant on the mosquito protection, even though she is in a tent, hopefully she is.

Sounds like around 3:30 - 4:00 PM PST is when I'll hear from her through out the duration of her working in the clinics.  If she's able to charge more frequently now that the base camp has power, we may talk more. 

She said people are taking lots of pictures, so upon their return we'll try to get them up here or send links to them to share.  As I come across them (like Michelle's from her cell phone) I will post them.

I'm going to try to give Michelle direct access to post photos to the blog as Chris from her phone, we'll see if that works.

And if there are more questions, please leave them in the comments and I'll do what I can to get answers.

Epicenter location

I thought it was a little interesting to see where the epicenter of the big quake was as it relates to Port Au Prince and the hospital location where the team is at.  The first picture from Google Earth below shows that distance for each location.  The second picture is zoomed out a little more and shows the relative intensity of the shaking across the area. 

You can click on each picture for a larger view.

Photos from Michelle Cabasaan

Apparently Michelle's cell phone is working from over there and she has been posting pictures from today on Facebook, so I lifted some of those photos and am putting them up here.  All photos were taken by Michelle with a cell phone camera, these are from today, the first day the team is actually working with patients. 

I have not talked with Chris yet today, I think I probably won't hear from her until tonight.

You can click on these pictures individually to see slightly larger versions.

What do you want to know?

I've been learning a lot and posting up information that I can find that is helpful for me.  Over the next few days I'll be speaking with Chris, short phone calls, but I should be able to ask some questions about what is going on, what she and the team are experiencing, etc.  What types of things would you like to know?  Please post your comments with questions and I'll do my best to get them answered for you.

Hospital Adventist on Google Satellite

In these three images (click on them to see larger versions) you can see how things have changed around the hospital since the earthquake struck. The first image is from August, well before the disaster, then you have two images post disaster. The second image is from January 13th (the day after) and the final image is from January 21st.

2009 Tax Year Deduction for Contributions to Haiti Relief Efforts

Remember, on January 22nd a new law was put into place to allow write-offs on this years 2009 tax returns for contributions made to qualified charities after January 11th and before March 1st 2010.

This disaster is huge. Please help the cause, there are many legitimate organizations that can help, for some ideas, click here.

Another call from Chris - Where they are

I received another call from Chris at about 4:45 PM PST, she was in her tent at this point, pretty exhausted, much clearer phone call this time.

With her help I think I located where they are at, I have some pictures below that I will describe shortly.  I am trying to confirm that this is correct with the base camp and will advise when that is the case.

She reiterated the mass devastation, it is like a war zone, bodies everywhere, people everywhere, chaos.  Things are very disorganized, which is not surprising at this point.  She felt tomorrow, her first real day with patients, will be very eye opening.

I found on Google Earth the Hospital Adventist and described the shape, driveway and surrounding areas to Chris.  The name is right and the description sounded right to her, so I believe this is where the team is located right now and will be based out of.  The Google Earth pictures are post earthquake, taken just 7 days ago on January 21st (if you click on the pictures you can see them larger).  You can see all of the tarp tents surrounding the hospital.  Chris said she is across the street in a tent city, I marked this on the map (first picture) with an A.

The other map shows a wider view of Port au Prince as well as the airport that they came into, the straight line distance between the airport and the hospital is just under 7 miles.  She said on the way there they drove by the capital buildings which were destroyed.  This short drive I guess took most of the afternoon.

Below the two pictures I have a link to the hospital with the web based Google Maps, so if you click on that you will be able to browse around the map to get a better idea as to where things are.

View Haiti - Hospital Adventist in a larger map