Carmen Partridge, founder of USVIHaitianRelief, said the volunteer mission’s operation is now entering phase two, after 18 round-trips delivering professional medical help and supplies to the earthquake stricken country.
"We had a mission to get into Haiti as quickly and directly as we could, to go where need was great, and to save lives," Partridge said. "Thanks to the support of Virgin Islanders, we have been remarkably successful."
Speaking this week after her own three-day tour of Port-au-Prince, Partridge said, "I can’t emphasize enough how incredibly grateful we are to the plane owners and pilots for the donated flights. They enabled the success of the mission, because we had wings."
"We are going to wind down the donated flights by the end of the month. We have flights scheduled Feb. 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27."
Having tended to thousands of the acutely ill and wounded Haitians at the Haitian Community Hospital in the first phase of the mission, Partridge said the hospital is now the "critically wounded patient."
Plans are in place to install a temporary metal roof over various unfinished rooms of the hospital to give volunteers a still rugged, but dry place to sleep during the rainy season.
"Our goal now is to support the hospital, itself,” she said. “The earthquake can be an inflection point for the hospital, for the level of service available in the future, if we contribute now. We have that opportunity before us."
“We have done our due diligence, and find this to be a hospital worth saving and supporting long into the future. It is a not-for-profit, run by doctors and business people, who have donated heavily of time and resources to the cause for the past 20 years. Nobody is lining their pockets." (See the link below for the hospital’s website.)
"We may not be able to save Haiti," Partridge said, "but we can improve lives for those we touch, one person at a time. And if we can save this hospital, we will effectively be saving the lives of thousands of Haitians to come."
The hospital welcomes the continued service of volunteers for the next 12 months, Partridge said, and steps are being taken to support that goal.
"With the donated flights coming to an end, the need for volunteers still remains great," Partridge said. While American Airlines announced Tuesday it will resume flights to Port-au-Prince on Friday, getting there from St. Thomas is time consuming. She said Michael Hancock, owner of St. Thomas Jet Center, which has served as the base for the mission’s operation, is looking into the alternative of an air-taxi operation direct from St. Thomas.
Partridge spoke of her own first-hand glimpse of the ravaged country she has been dispatching aid flights to for the past five weeks. She had listened to the stories of all the volunteers, she said, but they didn’t prepare her for the reality.
"Initially, it was breathtaking. The breadth, depth and severity of the need is just overwhelming. It makes one feel hopeless. But, you don’t have to be there very long to see someone from the hospital, or someone from the Virgin Islands team saving a life. As soon as you see that, hope and the sense of purpose are restored," she said.
Partridge spoke vividly of a visit to the Sacred Heart Orphanage, run almost singlehandedly by 84-year-old Sister Marie Veronique. An earlier group of volunteers had visited the orphanage, reporting back with tales of appalling need. Members of the USVI team and a Swedish doctor made a second visit.
"The main buildings of the orphanage have been so damaged by the earthquake that the children must sleep in dank outbuildings; dirty in the absence of running water, and dark in the absence of electricity," Partridge said. "Older children can move about outside during the day, but the babies and underdeveloped toddlers are stuck in the dark, damp environment without fresh air or stimulation, often covered in scores of flies."
She said the babies showed signs of respiratory illnesses, infectious disease, and attachment disorder.
"The St. Thomas team brought three babies back to the hospital, and in so doing, I believe they saved their lives," Partridge said.
It was an all-day effort to tend to and clean the children and their immediate quarters. Nurse Jill Anderson described the process.
"We took all the cribs out of the room and bleached them and the walls, cleaned the floor, scrubbed mattresses. Then we took a yoga mat and put it on a picnic table, lined the kids up," she said, "stripped them, bathed them and passed them on to someone for loving care and attention."
For an encore, they distributed art supplies donated by Amy Gurlea, team leader, assembled by her son Sean’s class at Antilles School.
The mission hired a Haitian early-childhood worker to interact with the children daily, Partridge said. Seven portable playpens have been sent from St. Thomas so the 14 babies can have some time outdoors in the light every day. Teams of VI volunteers from the hospital will continue visiting the orphanage.
Anderson said, "Carmen’s legacy won’t be forgotten. Her French was a huge help, but it was her love of the children that mattered."
Volunteers to help pack supplies are needed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Those willing to help can contact kdmrussell@gmail.com., or visit the group’s website.
Related links:
http://www.usvihaitianrelief.org/home
http://www.haitihosp.org/lHopital_de_la_Communaute_Haitienne/Home.html
