A Nation of Amputees

It's a sad statement I read in a news article recently. That the earthquake in Haiti has created a nation of amputees. For a people that had a difficult life before, what are their lives going to be like now? For a population living in a rocky, mountainous terrain, dirt roads, paved roads that can be worse than the dirt roads. What is it going to be like for these people? Crutches and wheelchairs are not easy to come by and will be expensive I'm sure. There are no such things as electric scooters or prosthetic limbs here. I just can't imagine what it will be like. One thing I have learned is that the Haitian people are resiliant and they are tough and they work hard to do the best they can for their families. They will survive this and they will come out stronger. We have had a new experience here at Mission of Hope the last 2 days. A military helicopter has been dropping off patients to our clinic. Overcrowded hospitals and the vast number of people requiring surgery have forced medical personnel to send patients anywhere there is room to take them. We had an amazing team of surgeons here last week that set up an operating room in our clinic. They left yesterday but are being replaced by another team from their hospital in Texas. (we have had so many Texans here recently Grant is starting to pick up the accent.) We have set up the pre-op and post-op wards in our school building (most schools are still closed in the area including ours). We have nurses and ER doctors doing rotating shifts there.

We also have an amazing paramedic (OK, I'm biased) who is coordinating the movement of these patients to and from our clinic as well as doing patient care like starting IVs when the patients arrive. Grant is also going into nearby villages and picking up patients too ill or injured to travel into our clinic. Yesterday some much needed help arrived in the form of another colleague from Halton EMS, Joel Smith. Grant's face lit up when he saw him, it is such a comfort and relief for Grant to have "his guys" come and work with him. He knows what they are giving up to come and he realizes they are doing it for him just as much as they are doing it for the people of Haiti.

Of the 6 people that arrived yesterday, 2 had badly broken legs and the other 4 had leg amputations. One was a 19 year old girl. Another young woman was crying while Grant was putting in her IV. When asked if she was in pain she replied "not really, I'm just sad". We found out later (from a visiting reporter from the London Times) that she was a well-known ballerina.

We had a chance to talk with a great Christian Psychologist from Louisiana the other night. He was here with a team and specializes in Trauma and Disaster Relief. He has worked most of his 30 year career with police, fire and EMS workers. We sat down as a family and shared our experiences over the last couple of weeks as well as our fears. He assured us what we were feeling and experiencing was completely normal and we were not crazy. (Michelle pointed out at this point that Dad was always crazy anyways!). It was good to hear the kids talk about how they were feeling, they had only shared a bit with me over the weeks and not at all with Grant. We now know what to look for in ourselves and each other as warning signs and he gave us some practical things to do that I'm sure will help. God continues to provide for us in amazing and wonderful ways, much more than we could ever imagine to ask him for. We truly believe we are here "for such a time as this" and continue to ask God to equip us with what we need to serve Him by serving the people of Haiti. Thank you for your prayers. The Rumfords