Drs. Ness - Roca Blanca

 

Our Internet connection has been very spotty this year, and as we speak I am sitting in an Internet cafe in a nearby  town. By preparing everything ahead of time, I was able to be fairly efficient in posting our latest blog. The site again is www.nessblog.com/roca. We hope you enjoy it and invite your comments and questions, either on the blog site, or to our e-mail address.

As mentioned the next week will be dental teaching for the students, while we will be doing clinic and trying to take in the classes when we can.  We think of all of you often, and thank you for your prayers and support.

Que Dios te Bendiga!  Mary Kay and Dave Ness

Dr. Paul Cross - Haiti

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be traveling to Haiti tomorrow morning with a medical team (3 surgeons, 2 anesthesiologists, and 1 nurse). This was pretty last minute, and the details are still coming in. We will be flying into the Dominican Republic and then to Leogane (epicenter of the quake) by prop plane. There are very few medical supplies and fewer anesthesia supplies. This is not a Christian  
mission team, so please pray that God's love would apparent in me, and my team will see that. Other prayer requests:

1. Salvation for the team/others I'm working with, the Haitian people I treat
2. Safe travel and return flight (no return plans have been set, tenative for Saturday the 6th)
3. Health (lots of disease, mosquitos, HIV/AIDS)
4. Medical wisdom and safe anesthetics
5. Jayana and the kids
6. Anything else you're led to pray for!

Jeff Leathersich - Update

Tuesday evening after returning form the IDP camp, I heard from our hospital/clinic team that they had seen a baby that was profoundly dehydrated and malnourished to the point that his skin was sloughing off. They had spent hours resuscitating him and when our team had to leave they hoped he would survive the night, that evening we attempted to make contact with a pediatric hospital or the USS Comfort but all of our efforts failed as we could not get through to anybody. It had occurred to me that a dear friend of mine had just arrived in the country with Helimission, an international organization that flies helicopters to rescue people; they fly in food and do med-a-vacs in developing countries. I sent him an e-mail, and within a few hours we heard back that they would fly out first thing in the morning to pick up our baby. The team arrived shortly before the helicopter only to discover that the baby had died during the night. The helicopter had flown in for no reason… so they thought. You see every day when the staff (our team) arrives there are about 50 people there in the waiting room. As the staff walked through the waiting area they quickly identified a very ill 2-month old baby girl. The baby was taken in immediately and it was determined that she was so dehydrated that she was on the verge of death and you know where this is going… there was a helicopter waiting for her. Our base leader here accompanied the baby on the helicopter to the University Of Miami Mobile Hospital at the Port-Au-Prince airport where a trauma team converged on her and stabilized her. He said that there where 20 photographers and news agencies there filming the whole thing. So if you were watching the world news on Wednesday evening and saw a baby being rushed into the UM mobile emergency room from Haiti is was probably our little girl.

I was at an IDP camp today with my friend Nate who is also a PA at Unity Hospital when the word arrived that the baby had died… it was like a knife going through my heart when I heard it… I never even saw the baby, I just spent a few hours searching the web and trying to make phone calls on his behalf. But I think it was just the weight of one more thing, surrounded by thousands of hurting people with needs too great to meet.

Thursday, Helimisson will do two more med-a-vacs for us, the first is a lady I saw yesterday who arm was completely broken above and below the elbow. When I first saw her she walked into our bus carrying her baby in the other arm with other flopping in two places. The second is a one year old boy who has a very loud hear murmur and is in heart failure who is decompensating. He has never been seen by a doctor.   Thanks to Ben and the Helimission crew whose US administrative office is located in Lima NY.

Today, I feel like we were better prepared emotionally for what we saw at the IDP camp. I think knowing what to expect helped… don’t get me wrong I was fighting back the tears about 4 times watching children, adults and elders limp into our bus… wondering if anything was really making a difference as you were sending them back out into the fabricated houses with little or no food and were the filth is just beginning as there are no latrines. We saw a lot of sick kids with pneumonia and today that makes me feel better when you know you are making a difference in their lives with a shot of antibiotics and some to go… at least this time.

The tears for me is not from seeing them in physical pain, it is not from the gapping wounds crawling with flies, or one more kid with diarrhea and we only can give each one 2 days worth of oral dehydration because it is all we have. It is about the profound emotional trauma that these people have experienced, as I said in a prior e-mail it is watching them scream and break down sobbing when we do something that should only hurt a little, knowing they are really screaming because of the trauma of the past two weeks. It is about meeting the parents who loss 5 kids, the wives who have not seen their husbands since the quake and kids who show up at the mobile clinic alone… because they are.

There is in Haiti what I call a “Great Disconnect”, it is the gap between the hundred of millions of dollars of aid that has been brought to Haiti that I hear is sitting at the airport and big distribution center and the people who need it. We have gone to two IDP camps this week and we were the first to show up with any aid or support at either one. From both of these camps you can see the US Embassy so it is hard to imagine what is happening at camps that are further out. I say further out as have left the center of the city which was the epicenter of the quake, it is in ruins and will take years to rebuild it.

It is also the disconnect between large aid agencies and the front line worker like us who are doing a good portion of the work, we don’t even have a way to contact them….

It still amazes me that two PAs (myself and Nate) from Rochester NY, a family med doc from Warsaw (Dan Zerbee) , a former missionary nurse from Brazil (Ken, who starts work next week at my hospital) and my 17 year old son (Tim)  were able to connect with a team of 7 nurses from Indiana and make a difference, albeit a drop in the bucket in people's lives. With our best efforts some have and will continue to die but many will live. So even though it is painful in so many ways, we are all glad we are here and all hope to return in the months to come.

Jeff Leathersich - Update

Days before we departed to Haiti I saw a national news report of a medical team that flew down just after the earthquake, while they originally intended to stay longer they were melting down emotionally after 5 days. One of them was sobbing while being interviewed she said they could not take it anymore, the need was too great, the devastation was too widespread and the supplies were too few. I did not judge them for leaving but said to myself that they must not have been prepared physically or emotionally. Having traveled to Africa, Indian, Brazil, Fiji, Mexico and Belize on medical and other forms of humanitarian missionary efforts... having designed and directed a International Community Health Program for five years training people to do health care in developing nations, I was certain that I would be prepared... I was wrong.

Today I spent the day at a camp for IDPs or Internally Displaced People. It was without a doubt the most challenging and difficult day of my professional life. One of our team members said it was like a war zone and I have to agree, we had hundreds of people run to the our bus as it pulled into the camp. We were the first medical team to show up to this community of 700. We saw so many gapping wounds that have not been treated and broken bones and other injuries that I loss count. Some flesh wounds infected... some just rotting away. My first patient was a lady who had literally been scalped in the collapse of a building and her right arm she had fractured all the bones in her arm so her upper and lower arm were both flopping. It had a make-shift splint on it. Her scalp wound was healing so I left it alone and splinted her arm. Fortunately we have an orthopedic surgeon coming next week.

The next patient of note was a 3 month old baby that was minimally responsive to painful stimuli, we tried to convince the family that she needed to go to a hospital but they did not want to take her, we offered to find one and take her but they still refused… don’t ask me to explain it they just would not do it after long conversations and I don’t understand it. We knew what the consequence of their decision was but I don’t know if they did even though we tried to explain it or maybe they did… but their decision reflected the degree of hopelessness these people have.

The last patient I will tell you about today was a 9 year old boy who came to our bus without a parent, his mother died in the quake and while his father was found at my request and came, he did not want to stay with his son. The boy was burning up with fever; he was severely dehydrated and vomiting. I tried to orally re-hydrate him but he just could not keep liquids down and they ended up mostly on me very early in the day. He collapsed sobbing when he threw up, it was not hard to tell that he was not just crying about being sick... this sobbing was more than that... it was about the fresh and unprocessed death of his loved ones, the trauma of all he had seen and the hopelessness. While these survivors are alive, it seems like they are crying as they know their life as they knew it just died a terrible death. We gave him 3 liters of IV fluids, antibiotics and Tylenol and benadryl which is all we had to calm his stomach, he looked better when he left, I hope it was turning point for him. Without his mother and having met his father I doubt anyone would have been by his side forcing him to drink.

So what made this day so difficult? The numbers of sick people is overwhelming, you just can’t get ahead, when the people from the next town or camp you are at hear we are there and they walk 10-20 miles to find us. Our supplies while well stocked for adults we are short on medicines for kids as the is the country and the apparently the relief effort suppliers we are working with, by noon we had to apologize and say that we just don’t have pediatric pain medicine. Caring for people who are ALL in such emotional pain is draining. They are hopeless and it is an understandable hopelessness they have and you look around and say, yes, this is a hopeless situation, it is overwhelming. At the end of our day, we have to leave to home by dark, the crowd that is still waiting erupts some in anger others in anguish. I don’t know if I have been able to put it into words for you, this is just the worse thing I have ever experienced in my life, and tomorrow is another day.

Jeff Leathersich - Update

It is 4:30 in the morning here in Haiti and we leave soon for our days work. Our team of 12, 5 from Rochester and 7 from Indiana are splitting up today. I will take 4 of us to a refugee camp that has been set up but yet has medical care. The others will go to our clinic/hospital were we saw between 250-300 patients yesterday.

Antibiotics and wound care are most of what will do at the refugee camp. If we find people too sick for the camp, like they need IV fluids or IV antibiotics for a while, we will take them back to our hospital unless they need surgery well will take them to a surgical hospital. We have 2 surgeons arriving at our hospital next week. When we start doing overnight care we will need to leave a nurse and a provider there.

At one point yesterday I said to myself most of these people have stomach ulcers and they have developed their symptoms in the last 7-10 days I wondered why, then it clicked that it was a stress response. Another very common secondary complaint was “I can’t catch my breath at times”. Yet they had no wheezing on exam… again it took about 20 of them saying that before I realized it was anxiety. There is no one here who has not been affected by this disaster, everyone lost family and friends. Sadly, because the numbers are so profound and bodies crushed many beyond recognition many will have closure.

The most impacting thing when seeing the patients who were trapped and saw others die is that they are like walking zombies, the trauma is so profound they are emotionless at this point and when you do something that is painful, like clean a wound or something, it should hurt but not as much as it does. There pain response is exponentially magnified, also from the extreme trauma state they are living in.

We are headed out the door soon. Thanks to all of those who have expressed that they are praying for us and the people of Haiti, we all need it.

I have taken Tim my 17 year old son on this trip, he is working hard with the rest of us and not complaining a bit. I am very proud of him and I know this trip will change his world view, his appreciation of what he has… and his very life.

I will try to send more but technology is very unreliable here.

Dr. Mark Brown - Haiti

Local doctor talks about time spent in Haiti after earthquake

WHEC-TV – A local doctor told News 10 how he was able to help the relief effort in Haiti. Doctor Mark Brown spent several days treating patients in Port-au-Prince, and he says Haiti now looks like a war zone.
Doctor Brown went to the Dominican Republic, for a ceremony at a health clinic that he opened years ago. But when he saw how great the need was in Haiti, he and several other doctors knew they had to help. So they hopped in a small pick up truck and drove five hours to Port au Prince, bringing medical supplies with them.

Doctor Brown says he couldn't believe, the closer he got the number of buildings that were just flattened. People are still sleeping on the streets. And although the bodies had been removed, he said knew where people died because of the smell. He said it was awful.

He described the entire city as looking "occupied." There was a UN worker, U.S. troops or Haitian Police on every block. He went treated 60 to 70 people on the first day. It was a lot for infections, and smaller wounds. He says it was emotionally draining.

"It was very devastating to see people who already have lost so much and are so greatly in need to lose even more to have their lives devastated."

Doctor Brown said, during the day, if it weren’t for the damage, you wouldn't know anything happened. People are going about their business the best they can. He said even after all they've been through, the Haitian people refuse to give up.

Jeff Leathersich - Update

We arrived in Port-au-Prince at the US Embassy at 9:00 AM Saturday after a 10-hour bus ride from Santo Domingo. We went right to work setting up a field hospital at a school, I say hospital because we are prepared run 24/7 with inpatient beds. We have 8 emergency beds, can do about 10 inpatient, and there are two surgeons coming next week.

The house we are staying at experienced minor damage, you can see cracks in the walls; other houses around us were destroyed. The house we are staying at and the ministry we are working with is called Nehemiah's Vision an arm of Campus Crusade for Chris. Traveling through the city today was long, hot and dry with many soldiers from the UN and US everywhere. We have more work to do on set up tomorrow, and Monday we will open the hospital. We will also be splitting up and rotating though 4 refugee camps in our area.

I will keep you apprised as time and technology allow. We are only getting rare cell phone reception and Internet access. Please keep us all in prayer.

Breakfast Energizes Members

Dr. Jeff Harp has been traveling with with an international medical team to Haiti every 18 months for the past 2 decades, doing community building through a church and orphanage in Port-au-Prince. After speaking to the 45 MCCF members who attended this morning's annual Missions Breakfast about their experiences, the current crisis in Haiti, and relief efforts underway, several of our members are becoming energized to become personally involved.

Dr. Harp and his wife Ellen will be flying with Lynx Air into Cape Haitian on the north coast later this week (1/29 or 30) and then traveling overland 3-4 hours with at team of 12 on a special mission of relief where they will be serving victims who have taken refuge on the church/orphanage grounds. Please pray for supplies, wisdom, flexibility, and discernment about details.

Dr. Mike McMullen will be leaving with Medical Missions International for Haiti by way of the Dominican Republic on February 13 and working with a team at a hospital on the border that is offering earthquake refugee relief.

And, in response to a flyer circulated at the breakfast, Dr. Bruce Thompson is applying to become part of a Global Health Outreach team to Haiti, sponsored by the Christian Medical and Dental Association, that will be leaving in mid-March.

If you know of other members who have become involved in Haiti relief, please let us know so that we can be communicating about their needs and activities.

Haiti contributions deductible

Haiti contributions deductible for 2009 taxes

NEW YORK (CNN) – The Senate unanimously passed legislation Thursday that will allow taxpayers to deduct cash donations to Haiti earthquake relief on their 2009 tax returns instead of having to wait to file the claims next year.

Leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee from both parties introduced a bill Tuesday that makes contributions made between Jan. 12 and Feb. 28 count toward an individual's or family's 2009 taxes. The House unanimously approved the measure Wednesday. The legislation also allows contributions made through text messages to be deducted if cell phone bills are provided as proof of donation.

Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel, D-NY, said in a statement that the committee “developed this legislation to make it easier, and encourage people, to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti.”
Leaders from the Senate Finance Committee introduced an identical version of the bill Wednesday afternoon. The Senate passed the bill late Thursday.

“Last week, Haiti and the world was reminded Mother Nature knows no deadlines,” said Finance Committee Max Baucus, D-Mont., in a prepared statement.

Similar legislation was passed in 2005 to boost contributions in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami that occurred in late 2004.

Jeff Leathersich - Elim Fellowship

Tomorrow I will be leaving on a medical team to Haiti organized by Dr. John Seaman and others. We have $5,000 in medical supplies that we are taking down with us so I am asking you to stand with me and Elim Fellowship in this work. We will be working at a clinic as there are still thousands without access to medical care and disease is setting in now. The Lord has also spoken to me this last Sunday that he wants me to go to Haiti so I can prophesy to the nation. I am asking you my friends to stand with me and please be prepared to bring a special offering to church this Sunday marked for Elim Fellowship Medical Supplies for Haiti. I am also asking that you ask your friends to come prepared for the special offering. Our team oversight has also asked that each team member would have 20 people interceding for them everyday for the week we are there as we all know that Haiti is a spiritually dark nation. They also ask that the families of the team members be held up in prayer.

We are moving forward in faith that our expenses will be covered for this trip which will be about $2,000- $2,500 and want you to know that Pastor Josh has told me that if people want to contribute to Tim and my expenses they can a donation to Elim Gospel Church and indicate that you want it help cover our expenses. Contributions for medical supplies should still be to Elim Fellowship as indicated. Thank you for your financial and prayerful support!

Dr. Seaman - Hope Extended

We have our first team of four – 1 MD, 2 PA’s and 1 RN – leaving for Haiti this Friday, first going to Santo Domingo where they will join another group and share a van to Haiti.

We appreciate the tremendous outpouring of encouragement, prayer and gifts. You are such a blessing to us and will help us bring some hope to one of the darkest places on earth.

Our second team will leave sometime next week. I expect to go on this team. One of my goals is to try and discover a reliable route in and out of Haiti that subsequent teams can take. Please continue to pray for:

1. No missed connections for our first team.
2. No luggage or supplies lost.
3. Safety and security!!
4. Divine opportunities.
5. Strength and clear thinking in chaos.

Dr. John Seaman

Winter Missions Breakfast

Please set aside the date and sign up now for our Winter Missions Breakfast coming up on Saturday, January 23rd, from 9-11 am at the Rochester Academy of Medicine, 1441 East Avenue. We're going to have a smorgasbord of local speakers, including Drs. Christine Birnie, Norm Wetterau, and Larry Gage who will be talking about their missions experiences and associated opportunities in India, Africa, and Nicaragua, so don't miss this one!

Please mark your calendars and RSVP using our Response page. Be sure to note location (click here for Directions to the Academy of Medicine).

Happy New Year!

“Like other observers,” noted the prominent health care economist Henry Aaron, of the Brookings Institution, “I look at the U.S. health care program and see an administrative monstrosity, a truly bizarre mélange of thousands of payers with payments systems that differ for no socially beneficial reason, as well as staggeringly complex public systems with mind-boggling administered prices and other rules expressing distinctions that can only be regarded as weird.” The administrative monstrosity we have built costs us a lot of money – by far the highest administrative costs of any health care system on earth. The U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that if the country could get the administrative costs of its medical system down to the Canadian level, the money saved would be enough to pay for health care for all the Americans who are uninsured.

T. R. Reid: The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care (2009, Penguin)