Ramona VNA & Hospice - Changing Lives, One Patient at a Time

Dr. Cochrane- Medical Director for Ramona VNA & Hospice treats Haitian Child

On Tuesday January 12th, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti near the capital city of Port au Prince. To date 212,000 people are estimated dead, with another 300,000 injured and over 1.2 million living in temporary shelters. On January 23rd I had the privilege of joining a medical team from my church and the Haiti Endowment Fund (www.haitiendowmentfund.org ); a Temecula based missions organization which has been ministering to the people of Haiti for over 25 years. Our team consisted of surgeons, an anesthesiologist, physicians, nurses, and a variety of construction and other support personnel. One of our biggest challenges was getting our team and over 40 cases of relief supplies from the States to the town of Hinche which is located about 40 miles north of Port au Prince.

Because the Port au Prince airport was only allowing military aircraft to land, we boarded a small charter plane from Ft. Lauderdale Florida and flew to Cap Haitien, a city on the North Coast of Haiti. From there we received a UN security escort and took a 4 hour trip over a rugged dirt road to reach the town of Hinche. Because many of the hospitals in Port au Prince were destroyed, thousands of patients evacuated to Hinche where the hospital was still standing. Once there we worked quickly to help as many people as possible. Some of our team provided much needed surgical care at the local hospital along with physical therapy and post operative wound care. I was able to help by seeing patients in various clinics set up at the mission compound as well as some of the outlying villages. Our team treated an estimated 2,000 patients while we were there in addition to securing 20,000 pounds of rice and beans for emergency food relief. When it was time to leave we were spared the bumpy dirt road thanks to an organization called Mission Aviation Fellowship ( www.maf.org ), who made several trips in a small plane which landed on the dirt runway in Hinche (after we chased the goats off the runway). I was sad to say goodbye to my new Haitian friends; but sense that I will be back again.

I would like to thank all the folks at Ramona VNA & Hospice and Hemet Hospice Volunteers for their whole hearted support. I would also encourage anyone interested in helping the earthquake victims in Haiti to consider supporting the above listed organizations, there is still much work to be done.

If you would like to submit a question please contact Jennifer Trebler at jtrebler@ramonavna.org.