February 10, 2010: Officials in Haiti are now putting the death toll from January’s earthquake at 230,000. The rising casualties are due to secondary trauma, infection & complications from untreated injuries. Hope Force International is joining dozens of other aid agencies who continue to respond to the urgent needs in an effort to bring compassion, mercy and a healing touch to those who are suffering. The momentum continues to build as the world responds to this crisis. 

According to the World Health Organization, mobile health facilities are a priority in light of Haiti’s hurricane and rainy seasons, which are approaching. We continue to develop our strategy for equipping and staffing a workable Base Camp in Haiti. The project will provide durable tent facilities for patient treatment, recovery and essential team operations. 

One of our first medical teams to reach Haiti achieved amazing results through their mobile field clinic in Leogane – a region northwest of the capital which experienced an 80-90% destruction rate from the earthquake. We believe that this has given us a strong footing to continue this vital outreach in the months ahead, as we remain committed to Haiti. Although our team in Leogane set up their field hospital, literally “in a field” our intention is to create a more stable, long-term mobile Base Camp underneath the durable tent structure that is planned. Click here for the full details. 

The medical field team in Leogane treated more than 2,500 patients in our makeshift hospital during their ten days in the region. The compound consisted of a grouping of tents for housing and another for treating patients and recovery. Team co-leader, Christine Thompson (standing on left), reports, “Many of these patients would have died had we not treated them. The team performed surgery, wound care, orthopedic interventions and splinting. In addition to obstetrics, infant care and pediatrics, we also treated several emergencies that were brought in by stretcher. Thanks to the skillful hands of Dr. Garrett Sutter, who is an E.R. doc, we saved many. 

“Our field hospital began with just our team plus two German docs. By the time we left, it was the largest field hospital in the area and included medical teams from all over the world working together: Dominican Republic, Germany, Brazil and the United States. The day we left, a new American team from Oregon was coming in right behind us – we were able to leave everything set up with all of our supplies in place so that they could walk in and just start working.” Read the full story here. 

Kirk Dominic from California co-led the team with Christine. Kirk is a US military veteran and Deputy Fire Chief of Costa Mesa’s Fire Department and yet he felt that he had never been part of such an effective team as the Leogane field clinic project. “Although the team was formulated in only four days following the earthquake, most of us had never met before and we came from all parts of the country, we worked together as one body for His goal. It was truly a blessing. We went straight into a foreign land, nobody got sick, egos were left at home.” 

On the third day, a woman exhibiting a distressed condition came to the clinic. The team quickly discerned that the woman, who was eight months pregnant with twins, would need immediate advanced medical treatment otherwise they could lose both the mother and the two children. “With no functioning hospitals within reach, we knew that the only option was to have her flown to the US Navy Ship Comfort, stationed off the coast of Haiti,” explains Kirk. “It is an amazing miracle that she made it to the hospital ship. We recently received a report that she delivered a healthy boy and a girl. All three have recovered and are back in their village.” Read the full dramatic story here. 

The Leogane team exemplifies the caliber of people who are drawn to Hope Force as a pathway of service is opened for willing responders who desire to meet the monumental need in Haiti. Hope Force Executive Vice President, Cherie Minton reflects on our mobile medical team, “Your professionalism and passion have been present from the moment you began to prepare for departure, throughout the outreach...and finally, upon your arrival back home. Our prayer and desired end result is that we will see many more teams such as this going out in the months ahead.”