HEALTH MATTERS 73 Haiti
As the week progressed, I was humbled by what I witnessed. We treated adults, and even children, who had amputations as a result of injuries suffered in the earthquake. The extremity of one particular man’s experience is to the forefront of my mind – he spent three months getting to
the hospital by walking on a fractured hip, across mountainous terrain, using a tree trunk as his walking aid. This man lost all his family and possessions in the earthquake. He was left with nothing. Once in the hospital, he had surgery, received adequate pain relief and his rehabilitation began.
We treated a little boy who had cerebral palsy. No one knew his exact age as he had been abandoned by his parents due to his condition. He was left in a cot for most of the day. His only two possessions were a special chair that had been made for him to assist with his posture and a little toy duck with a rattle on it. He loved interaction and constantly smiled the whole time we were there.
“the extremity of one particular man’s experience is to the forefront of my mind – he spent three months getting to the hospital by walking on a fractured hip, across mountainous terrain, using a tree trunk as his walking aid. this man lost all his family and possessions in the earthquake.”
One of the main problems the team encountered while there was infection. Sanitation was very poor; I didn’t see any hand washing facilities at all on the wards. As far as I could tell, there was only one toilet in the whole hospital which was located upstairs on the first floor and that made it extremely difficult for any patients with mobilisation difficulties to get there. Overall the week went very well for us.
+ Previous page: Haitian Red Cross first-aid post, Port-au-Prince. Steve, six, who lost his parents during the earthquake is now in his grandmother’s care. This page, top: A patient receives treatment at the Norwegian Rapid Deployment Field Hospital in the grounds of Port-au-Prince University Hospital. Most patients have suffered crush wounds. This page, bottom: The ICRC has set up two first-aid posts in Belaire, one of Haiti's most violent slums. The post is run by Haitian Red Cross volunteers. All images © ICRC / M. Kokic
We managed to achieve all the goals we set out at the start of the week. The Haitian people are some of the nicest and friendliest I’ve ever met and considering all that has happened there, they are remarkably happy, resilient and upbeat. The country, however, remains very, very poor. Ongoing aid, volunteers, and re-building will be needed for many years to come.
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