Update from CURE International

Where to begin? So many moving parts are finally starting to move together thanks to each of you, a ton of prayer and a very big, mighty God! Even as I type emails are pouring in with exciting updates… here are just a few stories from past 2 days.

- Many of you were aware of the large “aftershock” on Tuesday night. The movement was significant for all at HCH… the few patients and staff inside fled outdoors (where the majority of patients are anyway) and some semblance of chaos ensued. After a few hours, ORs and bandage stations and patients were re-positioned. Imagine constantly resetting up wards and ORs…

- Yesterday also marked the first land route supply truck CURE managed to send in from CURE DR. The arrival of another anesthesia machine, drinking water, sleeping bags and more surgical supplies was just in the nick of time… big thanks to all the CURE DR Hospital employees who pulled that off all while running a hospital with major staff shortages.

- Samuel Reyes, Spiritual Director with CURE DR, has been working hard to develop a team who will meet the pastoral needs of the Haitian people CURE is assisting at HCH (Hospital Comuntae). Samuel connected with a Haitian pastor/chaplain/Christian radio host, Seguerre Velleuve, in Santo Domingo earlier this week. They are arranging for a trip to PaP where they will convene a meeting of pastors, plan for immediate and long term spiritual and emotional needs, and assess what is the there to plan for this critical part of CURE’s ministry to the Haitian people.

- After much packing, unpacking, sorting, repacking, a large 737 full of urgently needed supplies, food and volunteers touched down at 7:30am in Port au Prince today (Thursday)AM.

Over a dozen volunteers flew in from around the US to prep the plane. Faithful members of

Village Church in Dallas area organized transport, meals, and much more to make sure these brave souls were prepared to go into Haiti. After seeing what Village Church and the volunteer doc/nurses did… I understand at least 1 TX restaurant comped the whole meal.

On the receiving end in Haiti, our amazing ground logistics guys Johnny, Jeff, Andrew, spent most of last night wheeling, dealing and renting vehicles. Resulted in a combination of buses and cargo trucks arriving. Pictures of the offload don’t do it justice and I have a feeling some of the volunteers road on top of boxes.

This team arrival, along with an earlier team this week, brings a HUGE boost in morale and needed supplies. We were literally out of food/water for our patients, staff and volunteers… not to mention the ongoing challenge to keep specific items.

HCH and HAH now have supplies, minus a few critical items which are in various staging areas in the US awaiting shipment, and can continue to operate, change bandages and heal suffering patients.

- some of the initial stories out of Haiti from our docs are tragic. Last night a man with spinal cord injury was refused admittance to military/med evac hospital. Reason: they are overwhelmed with gun shot wounds, therefore he’s not critical. Sent him back to HCH. He is dying as I write.

- some of our patients are not familiar with gangrene and are afraid of life saving amputations. One woman showed up with a black arm and small baby (baby seemingly okay). After seeing the doctor and hearing that she needed an urgent amputation of her arm to save her life she refused. Staff begged her but she refused, stating that her husband would surely divorce her if she had no arm. She walked out and left.

- Our first patient, Bernandine, from Haiti ended up in our facility in DR today. She will be operated on tomorrow. See our blog (http://blog.helpcurenow.org) for more info… what that story doesn’t capture is that our team in DR is also 1) running its normal pediatric orthopedic services; 2) the hospital is having problems with electricity itself; and 3) we are short staffed with doctors still away/along the border.

But as with the theme here, a couple CURE friends “showed up” in the DR at the right time. Dr Shawn Standard and an American Nurse are joining Dr Ted Beemer, Medical Director, and together they are strategizing how to deal with running a hospital with a dual focus.