April 22, 2010: Haiti’s earthquake destroyed more than 50 hospitals and clinics in a nation already plagued by persistent poverty.The University of Miami now operates a world-class facility 200 feet from the Port-au-Prince airport, delivering life-saving care and medical treatment for Haiti’s suffering people. The “tent city” has air-conditioned wards and O.R.s, wooden sidewalks to keep the inhabitants out of the mud, and medical staff from all over the world.
 

More than 150 doctors, nurses, administrators and logistics staff keep the hospital in operation 24 hours a day. With the only neonatal and pediatric ICU in the country, Haiti’s people come from far and near seeking treatment. Recognizing that physical loss and suffering involve more than just sutures and scalpels, aid officials requested that Hope Force provide chaplains to help serve the needs of the hospital’s patients. A group of three Hope Force veterans spent ten days on location and found that the challenges of sleeping under mosquito nets, dealing with the heat and the long hours paled in comparison to the suffering so many had experienced following January’s disaster.
 

“We were literally right at the airport with helicopters and planes coming and going constantly,” recalls Glenda Alexander, a Hope Force Reservist from Atlanta, Georgia. “Even though the disaster relief phase of the earthquake response is over, the activity amongst government agencies and aid organizations is still very high.” Upon arrival, she immediately found herself camped out in the pediatric ward tending to the needs of the children, with a particular focus on orphans.  
 

“The Israelis had brought in a fully functional neonatal unit,” Glenda explains. “When their mission was over, they just left all of the equipment for ongoing treatment of mothers and babies at the hospital. As a result, when we had “preemies” on our hands, we were able to sustain them. Some of them were only three or four pounds at birth.
 

“We went into the experience expecting to work with patients that had orthopaedic needs but we soon found that internal injuries were just as prevalent. I worked with two eleven-year old boys whose bladders had been crushed in the rubble. It was very sad – for the rest of their lives they will be wearing urine bags.”
 

The pediatric ward had an average of 60 children at a time, many of whom were orphans. “One little girl had a shocking story leading up to her time with us. She had lost both parents in the earthquake and was trapped in the rubble for two days. To make matters worse, it rained frequently so she was cold and wet until she was rescued. She was so cute. As a result of a broken femur and tibia, she spent a full month in a hospital before she was placed in an orphanage. Sadly, she re-broke her leg, which necessitated further surgery – this time in our hospital.
 

“The night of her surgery as she was in post-op coming out of her anesthesia, a violent tropical storm came through. It rained buckets. Well, she became completely hysterical as a result of the overwhelming noise of the rain coming down – it was eerily similar to the experience of being trapped after the earthquake. I’ve never in my life seen such a display of post-traumatic stress, in fact the medical staff had no way to keep her under control, she was so distraught. I felt God lead me to hold her and sing in her ear, as I had done with my own children. It was hours later when she finally calmed down. It must have been 1:30 in the morning. For me, that was why I had come – to offer the ministry of presence. Sometimes it’s the one person you sit with that matters. Just that one.”
 

Glenda found the Haitian families to be very relational. Nearly every patient would have family members join them in the hospital. “One father slept on a piece of cardboard next to his daughter’s cot every night,” she recalls. “He never left her side. This girl was like a little doll – and he did her hair for her every single day. I gave him my pillow on the way out so he could perhaps sleep better next to his little princess.”
 

The Hope Force chaplains knew they were there to serve where most needed and show the heart of Christ in the process. The ministry did not stop when they left Haiti. “I frequently have calls from young nurses who are back in the States,” she says. “They have no idea whatsoever how to deal with what they experienced in Haiti. Some admitted their attitude growing up was ‘it’s all about me’ but that changed very quickly in the O.R. or in the ward. Some of them are completely shell-shocked when they come home and need someone who has been there to talk to and process their experiences.”
 

It was not all work and no play for Glenda during her time in Haiti. She recalls one time a group of Air Force doctors arrived unannounced and offered their services. “You guys can feed the preemies,” she told them. So off they went to the pediatric ward to feed the little ones!
 

“We lost four children during the ten days I was there,” she remembers. “It was so hard. One mother was completely distraught after her daughter, who had malaria, was lost despite the medical staff’s efforts to revive her. She told me she had lost her husband and still had children at home. Except home was now a tent. She had no idea how she was going to keep going. I held her as long as I could.”
 

Glenda talks about pursuing her EMT certification as a result of her experience in Haiti. Sitting through an amputation? “No problem.” Glenda personifies the grit, determination and heart that represent the Hope Force Reservist. We are very proud of her work in Haiti and look forward to the next opportunity for her deployment.

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