Country still in need after earthquake
Nine months after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, support is still needed and a couple from Rotterdam recently spent a week giving medical assistance to Haitians.
Ashley Hart, a physician’s assistant at the office of Dr. Lev Barats, in Albany, left on Monday, Sept. 12, for a week long trip to Haiti with her husband, Andrew, a youth pastor at Sunrise Bible Church in Rotterdam. She joined the Nehemiah Network, a Christian organization, on its medical mission to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The mission was comprised of 15 medical and non-medical personnel working in a tent hospital with the remains of the Capitol building sitting across from them.
I’ve always wanted to do medical missions, said Ashley Hart. `Since I was little I wanted to do it, but with Haiti in particular, since I heard about the earthquake, I was trying to get down there.`
Andrew Hart said he watched Ashley work hard to get her degrees and it was nice to get to see her do what her passion towards medicine is all about.
`The highlight for me was just to be there to see her do that and her help people,` he said.
`I was so proud of her and I was thankful I got the experience to just watch her do that.`
Ashley Hart’s office is part of Community Care Physicians, PC and practices within the group came together to donate medical supplies for her trip. From within her office, money was donated from employees and patients. Also, pharmaceutical companies donated medicine and the airline waived any extra fees associated with the six large bins of medical supplies brought to Haiti.
Alexis Musto, spokeswoman for Community Care Physicians, said the couple takes pride in doing the charity work and it is important to take resources to underserved areas in need of assistance after natural disasters. Musto said there are many providers that take these sort of initiatives to heart and many employees have personal missions they pursue outside of work.
`I think it shows how physicians really live and breath what they’re taught and their oaths they take,` said Musto. `I think it takes a lot of dedication, it shows they really love what thy do and it really is a testament to the physicians we have at Community Care.`
Ashley Hart has been in the medical field for nearly two years and this was her first medical trip to Haiti. She previously went on two other mission trips with her husband to Tijuana, Mexico, before entering her profession.
`It was definitely eye-opening,` she said. `When we got there it looked like the earthquake had happened within the lastfew weeks.`
She said the group saw about 300 patients a day during the week and she treated a range of medical problem including infections, asthma, uncontrolled high blood pressure, muscular pain and the group even gave out eye glasses.
`The patients that we saw, there was nowhere for them to go to get the health care they needed,` she said. `The hospitals were mainly reserved for surgeries for people who were really bad.`
Ashley and Andrew Hart both said a 4-year-old boy they helped with club feet, which is a deformity of the feet where they are pointing inwards and down, was the most memorable experience from the trip.
The boy had casts on both legs that were put on four months ago, and they needed to be removed. The group made shoes to protect his feet from infection and helped his mother get set up with Doctors Without Borders, so he could get the needed surgery.
Andrew Hart fondly remembered searching for crutches small enough to fit the boy, but even the smallest crutches that were available didn’t work. He ended up sawing down a pair of the smallest crutches and prepared them to be useable after the adjustment.
`There was so many people involved in that moment and I got to be a small piece,` he said. `The mom was just thrilled because here were some people that didn’t know her and there was a group of people providing this care for the son.`
Ashley Hart said even through the natural disaster the children remained spirited and enjoyed the company of the mission workers.
`All the children just ran up to you and wanted to be close to you and wanted hugs,` she said. `Even with all the devastation it was incredible to see how happy they were. They still had big smiles on their face and they just wanted to feel that love from somebody.`
The biggest challenges for her were that medicine in Haiti is different from that in the states and there was also a language barrier. Only a certain amount of medicine was available, she said, so she had to make do with what she had. Interpreters were with the group to assist in communication.
`There was probably 50,000 people in the few blocks we were in,` she said. `There is just so many people in such a small area. Driving is tough because you are trying to drive around piles of rubble and people walking down the middle of the road.`
There were some patients that would come into the clinic and the group would advise them to go to the hospital, she said, but they would say they couldn’t go because if they left their tent where they sell goods or items because everything would get stolen. She said the people lined up their stands along the side of the road.
`Our problems we have [in the United States] seem extremely small to what other people are dealing with,` said Andrew Hart. `There is definitely a need for more people to step up and help out.`
Ashley Hart said she saw other groups in Haiti, but the necessary help might not be currently provided. She also noted only 2 percent of the cleanup has been done so far.
`I don’t know if the destruction will ever be gone completely,` she said.
She said the volunteering might actually have had a greater impact on their lives than those of the people they were helping.
`You go there and you expect to be this huge blessing to people down there and expect to help other people,` she said. `The people there have such an impact on your life and impact you more than you actually impact them. I feel like I came back changed from this trip. We take so much for granted here.`
Ashley Hart hopes to at least be able to do one medical mission trip a year and she is already in talks with the Nehemiah Network to go in a trip in March.“
