Beth's update from Nick

Nick called me this afternoon about 4:35pm. He sounded great! He said the group is staying in a 60 x 100 tent that was just put up a day or 2 before they arrived. They have NO phone service in their group...but some nice lady let them borrow a phone with free minutes until tomorrow with a special phone that she had. They heard that there is a phone that you can purchase somewhere that only costs $20 with minutes for the company that works in Haiti...so they are going to attempt that! Maybe tomorrow! They do not have computer/internet because it is all password locked and nobody can get through....so the girls have managed to find some U.S. Military computer that allowed them some access!! (at least that is where Nick thought they were able to connect from) Leave it to the girls!

I will start with the ride from the airport. They had so much stuff and people to try and stuff in ONE Land Rover that Nick and Bruce (Surgeon from Auburn, WA) rode on the roof of the truck. He then commented that there are no laws in Haiti and so you can drive any way, direction, and speed you want. If someone comes your direction then you stop and honk at them! So, you can imagine their ride from the airport!

Nick said that as soon as he arrived into camp he helped Bruce with a surgery on the back of someone's neck...he was really excited about it. Then he got to treat a little boy that had something in his eye: he washed it, put some antibiotic lotion in it and put a patch over it. Those were the only two people he told about.

He was very excited about going to a church meeting this morning. They were picked up by Dan Henry, a minister in the area, and again he rode clear in the back on flip down seats with Howard L. He said it was a really neat drive, through alleys and trees. There were a total of about 20 people in an 8x8 room...the largest of the 3 rooms in the home.

They were told that Haitians don't do much on Sundays. So, it was a slower paced day today. They were told that Mondays are swamped. I think that Nick was looking forward to that! He thought that he was going to be possibly working in the University of Miami tent hospital tomorrow. He was told that the x-ray people had left there and they were in need for someone to be there. But, he says they will have a meeting either tonight or in the morning telling them where they will go for the day on Monday.

He said that they have plenty to eat. They had brought all their own meals, but there has been oatmeal for morning that someone gets up and makes. So far he hasn't needed to eat his freeze dried chicken teriyaki and rice! He said that the rice and beans with creole sauce that they serve at night was amazing!

They are possibly going back out to the church convention grounds on Thursday or on Saturday, he didn't know which, to set up a little clinic there for those local people.

He can't wait to bring home the pictures!

Beth Ross

A call from Howard & Tammie

I just got a call from Howard & Tammie. They are all fine. They were using someone's AT&T phone in the group (Vickie's) and said that today is the last day it will be free. They're going to try to figure something else out phone-wise. Tammie & Sarah have borrowed someone's computer and that's working. Howard hasn't been able to get his laptop online, but he thinks he will be able to now that he has some time to work on it.

Tammie wanted to hang up to call Blake, but we figured out that he'd probably be in gospel meeting. Hopefully she can later!

Howard has written a post for his blog and has taken lots of pictures, so Scott or I will get those on his blog and emailed out, as soon as he sends them to us.

Dan Henry (one of our missionaries who has been in Haiti for a number of years) took Howard, Tammie, Sarah, Nick, Bruce, and Vickie to Sunday morning fellowship meeting with our Haitian friends this morning. After that he took them to the home where some other Haitian friends had also gathered for their morning meeting. There they met Dan's nephews and lots of others.

Tammie said she got cold last night and got up and put more clothes on. But during the day it's hot, and in meeting this morning it was REALLY hot!

It sounds like they have their own little sleeping tents inside of a big huge tent. It was very noisy on the phone because of the background noise there, and I had trouble hearing them and they me.

They're all tired. Maybe they can get caught up on some sleep tonight!

None of this is earth-shattering news (there's been enough of that, lately!), but it's just good to hear SOMETHING! Beth also heard from Nick, so we'll post that shortly as well.

Marilyn

Update from Sarah last night

"Just wanted to let you know that I made it here safely. It's been a VERY long day & I'm ready to go to bed. We met Sean Penn today & talked to him. We are with the organization that he's set up. So that was kinda cool! I helped treat a couple people today but we spent a lot of time organizing the 'pharmacy' that they have."

More Departure Pics

Nick Ross with all his belongings for 10 days:

Wade Bessett & Debora Chavarria (both from Skagit County Health Dept) leaving for the airport to take a later flight tonight:

Departure pics

 

Howard & Nick, Haiti-bound:

 

Update 5:10pm PST: They're on the plane in Seattle! They travel all night via LA, Miami and arrive in Haiti at 8:35 AM tomorrow.

Almost Ready

Thanks for all of your support. Just a few more days. Here is the group:

Nick Ross: Imaging Technician, Mount Vernon
Scott Jackson: ER Technician, Oak Harbor
Debora Chavaria: Public Health Nurse, Anacortes
Vickie Newell: ER Technician, Sedro-Woolley
Howard Leibrand: ER Doctor, Mount Vernon
Deb Vestey: ER Nurse, Mount Vernon
Kimberly Webster: ER Nurse, Mount Vernon
Wade Bessett: Environmental Health, Anacortes
Alex Bennett: L & D Nurse, Shoreline
Rick Smith: ER PA, Bellingham
Sarah MacDougall: NICU Nurse, Bellevue
Bruce Wandler: Surgeon, Auburn
Tamara Leibrand Schluter: Nursing Student, Spokane
Arne Hedlin: ER Tech, Nursing Student, LaConner

We will be traveling into Port-au-Prince (PaP) via several commercial flights on Saturday 2/27 and Sunday 2/28. IMAT has been a great help in getting this all together. The majority of us will be at J/P HRO compound in Pap. Some alternate sites include the University of Miami tent hospital at the PaP Airport and and a Canadian site in Leoganes, west of PaP. I hope to have at least one clinic in the town of Cabaret where our annual church convention in Haiti is located. Bruce, Nick, Tammie, Sarah and I hope to meet with our church friends for Sunday morning fellowship meeting in PaP.