Sunday

Sunday was another busy day. Today we had a number of departures from the Healing Hands grounds. Jill and Barb have set off to work in a clinic Jacmel until Friday. They will be seeing outpatients this week. They arrived safely and were able to hit the beach for a while this afternoon. Sue, Terry, Bob, and Kevin spent the day painting and then set off around 3PM to Les Cayes to work in a orthotic/prosthetic lab until Friday. Rick also left us today to go do some work in Puerto Rico. Rick will return on Tuesday. Jamie, Leah, and Wendy headed down to the Medishare tent again today to assist with therapy. Lorne and Bjorn continued to paint and are making excellent progress. Steve and Jim headed out with Dr. Nau this afternoon and toured around town. Keith spent the first part of his day painting and then headed down to the Medishare tents to assist where he was needed. Gail was the busiest of all trying to navigate drivers to and from their respective places of work all day. We are definitely keeping busy. The pictures that are posted tonight are from the Medishare tents where three of our therapists were today. Bon nuit!

Weekend work

And we're back! Sorry about the lack of blogging yesterday, we could not establish an internet signal - however, we are now back online and faster than ever thanks to our handymen Lorne and Bjorn. A new router was purchased and installed and we are now indebt to the pair for our connection to everyone back home! The last couple of days have been very busy. Let's start with yesterday. We had two groups of therapists head to two different orphanages to educate and provide therapy. They came back with a positive report. As a side note there was one child (16 year old) with cerebral palsy in need of ankle foot orthoses to increase his mobility and Sue and Kevin were able to return to the orphanage today to cast him and will provide him with bilateral AFOs by the end of the week (this is extemely fast even by US standards)! Jamie went to the Medishare (University of Miami) tent to assist in providing therapy to the individuals who are inpatient there - more on Medishare in a bit - and the orthotists/prosthetists went to Handicap International, the airport, Tour Haiti, and yes, the beer shop to get some errands done. That brings us to today - we had 7 Healing Hands members arrive this evening - they include Jim Rhode, John Earl, Bob Tilges, Terry Kufner, Keith Hoench, Steve Fischer, and Wendy Moore. In addition to having new arrivals, we worked today. Bjorn, Lorne (member of the legislative assembly in Canada turned handyman in Haiti), Kevin, Sue, and Rick painted the back patio of the guesthouse to allow for a makeshift kitchen as our staff is currently cooking outside where there is earthquake damage (many Haitians are still a bit leery about being indoors) as well as established a superb internet connection. Sue and Kevin went to cast the fellow at the orphanage. Jamie, Jill, Leah, and Barb went to the Medishare tent - allow me to elaborate. The Medishare tent is a tent that includes an inpatient pediatric tent, inpatient adult tent, an ER, an outpatient clinic, a surgery unit, solitary rooms, and a Costco full of supplies - as the name implies, all of this is positioned rather well in tents. We spent the day treating kids and adults of varying disabilities (many postearthquake victims) with both OT and PT. I would elaborate on the rest of the week, but it seems as though this is getting rather long! So, stay tuned the rest of the week for further developments on our work - we will be busy! Until tomorrow night - bon nuit!

We made it :)

Yes, it's true, we made it safe and sound to Haiti this afternoon around 3:30PM. Due to airport damages we got to ride the airport shuttle bus to a larger warehouse type building where we went through customs and gathered our bags/bins/boxes. The entire process actually went quite smoothly. The ride to the guesthouse was quite amazing. We saw many of the tent cities that they speak of on the news in addition to many buildings in rubble; however, the Haitians are pulling together and starting to remove rubble and rebuild as space allows. The grounds of the guesthouse are a bit different looking due to damage to a couple of the buildings on the grounds, but the guesthouse is intact and we are staying indoors. Tomorrow we will begin to unpack our bins and delegate equipment to various sites/clinics. We will have two teams of people going to two different orphanages tomorrow as well as on team of people heading down to Handicap International to assess orthotic/prosthetic needs. We are not sure what our weekend will look like right now, but we hope to have some details for the weekend sometime tomorrow. All questions/comments are more than welcome! We look forward to hearing from everyone! Until tomorrow night, bonsoir!

And we're off!

Tomorrow morning at 6:25AM the Minnesota team will embark upon their next mission to Haiti! We are packed and ready to go. Once we arrive in Haiti we will gain a better understanding of what needs to be done and who will be needed where. We hope to update the blog daily, but depending on the strength of the Internet signal we may only be able to update occasionally. So, check back often for updates!

The mission returns!

Hello friends, family, and visitors! As you all know the Minnesota team's Healing Hands for Haiti trip set for January 16th was canceled due to the tragic earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. At the time of the earthquake the need for medical and emergency personnel was urgent, which led our team to postpone and wait for the next opportunity to aid this country. With three months having past since the earthquake the country is now in need of support to help rehabilitate their citizens, and provide orthotics, prosthetics, and support to the country where it is needed. We have rescheduled our trip for April 15th-April 26th. We have a variety of professionals going along on this trip including medical doctors, orthotists, prosthetists, OTs, PTs, and support staff. We are currently awaiting our assignments while we are down there so stay tuned for updates on what we will be doing while we are there. Thank you all for your continuing support!

More pictures from Rick

Excuse the layout, the formatting is a work in progress :)

The packing is complete!

Greetings friends and family! This post is coming to you following our packing party on Saturday morning where the Healing Hands crew managed to pack 1,350 pounds of gear into 27 bins/bags that we will tote to Haiti. Each bin/bag now includes some of the following: orthotics and prosthetics supplies, 600 stump socks, shoes, wheelchair cushions and parts, wheel chair, formula, toys, medications, pediatric crutches, walkers, and canes. With our packing done, we are set to depart next Saturday at 4 AM. We will arrive in Haiti on Saturday and spend the rest of the weekend unpacking our bins/bags and preparing for our week. We will be attending 5 orphanages this year, providing supplies and equipment to them as needed. In addition, we will be providing at least four lectures to the Healing Hands for Haiti staff and seeing orthotics/prosthetics clients in the clinic. This, along with organizing, cleaning, and a variety of miscellaneous tasks that may be awaiting us, should keep us busy while we are there.
We appreciate all the support everyone has provided to make this trip possible. You can continue to follow our trip through our blog as daily updates will be provided while we are there. Comments and questions are welcome!
Haiti, here we come!!