Friday, January 22, 2010

Haiti Update

Today has been another busy day as we have fielded calls from many different corners of the US. Here are some things that we are working on:

* A Orthopedic and Trauma team from a Ft. Myers hospital is ready to leave for Cayes on Monday. We are joining our efforts with a local church, the local hospital and a couple of other ministries to make this happen. They sent a plane and Doctor team to Port last week and another one left today. This is yet another one, but it will be going to Cayes.

* US Sister Church, CrossRoads United Methodist of Jacksonville, FL is putting a team of doctors together as well as gathering medical supplies to send in.

* A longtime friend of RMI and her father drove a huge U-Haul truck to Ft. Lauderdale packed with medical supplies. Herb and Shirley Shoemaker met them there where they had to unload it, weigh everything, repack it onto pallets and prepare it for shipping to Cayes. 9,000 lbs. of supplies will be flown in via Methodist Habitat of Bahamas, the same planes that Dan went into Cayes with on Wednesday.

* A company in Pennsylvania who manufactures trauma equipment has already flown into Port with doctors and supplies and is now working on putting together supplies for Cayes.

* A number of churches have taken up special offerings for Haiti relief and those monies are starting to come in.

Wow! The list could go on and on. We are excited to see God supplying Haiti’s needs through so many different avenues.

Dan has been busy in Haiti as well. Through the relief funds, RMI has :

* given food to a AIDS patient feeding program

* sent food to the MEBSH churches in Port-au-Prince

* given food to local Cayes MEBSH churches who are feeding refugees who are now living in their buildings.

* given food to the local Rotary Club who are feeding patients at the local government hospital (2 meals a day!)

* given food to 30 local families who have taken in extended family & friends who are refugees.

Here are some pictures from this morning:

Dan with the hospital director and some of the hospital staff at the government hospital in Cayes.

At the general hospital. The lady in the foreground grimaces as her incision is cleaned. She lost a leg as a result of the earthquake.

Gary McLaughlin takes time to comfort another lady who lost a leg in the earthquake.

A makeshift stretcher – talk about uncomfortable!!

Dan helps a Rotarian unload a bag of rice. Beans and oil were also a part of the food aid.

Oil, rice, beans and sugar was also delivered to an MEBSH old folks home.

Keep praying – the need has only begun. We appreciate all of you!