UPDATE: Volunteers needed! Want to be a part of future volunteer efforts with MMDR? Click here to register. 

I arrived in Port-Au-Prince 2 days after the earthquake and found massive devastation.  There were panicked people running from the  frequent aftershocks, injured Haitians lying on the streets in agony and there were many, many dead.  Mobile Medical Disaster Relief quickly set up a field hospital and began working to alleviate the suffering.  We had three functional operating rooms and room for 150 patients operational before nightfall.  Because there were few other aid agencies working, we were completely overrun.

The first night we saw 250 people with horribly shattered limbs and were forced to begin amputating to save their lives.  Because of the oppressive heat, humidity and crushing nature of the injuries, gangrene quickly set in.  As the city was rocked with more and more aftershocks, the fragile concrete houses and buildings continued to fall down on their occupants and more and more patients poured into our facility.  Several times we ran out of antibiotics, morphine and anesthesia but had to continue the lifesaving amputations in spite of the screams of pain.  At one point, I had 125 patients who needed antibiotics and only one dose left; deciding who got the lifesaving antibiotic was wrenching.

During the day, members of our team would drive through the city looking for the injured and pull them from the rubble.  It was terribly disconcerting to see the lack of presence of the large international aid organizations in the streets.  It appeared that they were concentrated at the Port-au-Prince airport behind high concrete walls and U.N. armored personnel carriers.  There were vast supplies of food,  medicines and equipment on the airport but little of it was getting to the people because of the logistical nightmare that was Haiti.  As the days wore on, the cries from the rubble became more and more faint and lessand less frequent, by Monday they ceased altogether; not because the people were rescued.

On my twelfth day in Haiti, I realized that the 22-hour days had taken a toll on my body and my morale and I knew that I needed to leave.  I left a capable team in place and came home to raise awareness,money and equipment to facilitate my return.  The Haitians will continue to suffer for decades as the inevitable cholera and tetanus outbreaks occur and their houses remain destroyed.

I pray that the world will not soon forget Haiti.  Help us help  them.  Please donate to our efforts. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.