Post by John on Mar 29, 2010 8:59:45 GMT -5
Local Group Lends Hand in Haiti
LaSalle Silhouette, Thursday, March 11, 2010
By Karen Mauro
There was the smell and sight of garbage everywhere. There was the oppressive heat and humidity. There was the rubble, the after-shocks, the primitive conditions. And there were the people in desperate need. But of all she experienced, the one visual that struck Kellie Drouillard the hardest was the sight of a naked woman bathing in a stream of water in the middle of the street.
Kellie recently returned from a ten day trip to Haiti with 13 others from Windsor and LaSalle. Their trip was sponsored by Hearts Together For Haiti, a Canadian charity whose mandate is “meeting fundamental needs in small villages, such as water, nutrition, health and education, along with the empowerment of women.”
Among the group of fourteen volunteers were both medical and non-medical personnel. The non-medical personnel learned very quickly how to change dressings and perform other duties. Kellie is a Pharmacy Technician.
They flew into the Dominican Republic, then drove along mountain roads, littered with fallen boulders, to Jacmal- a town about 40 Kilometres south of Port au Prince. The group was tented in a compound that housed a school run by nuns. Every morning they were driven to a private clinic where medical assistance was offered free of charge to the earthquake victims.
She saw conditions and injuries there she couldn’t ever have imagined. “The patients waited 2-3 hours to see a doctor, then 2-3 hours to have prescriptions filled”. recalls Kellie. “No one ever complained.”
Kellie handed out prescriptions through a barred window. Occasionally she would slip outside her pharmacy to obtain and fill a prescription for a woman with children so they didn’t have to wait in the hot sun so long.
“It was so hot and so dusty,” Kellie says. “A few minutes after a shower {from a pipe} you would be filthy. I remember drinking 3 litres of water a day and not needing to go to the bathroom.”
But the countryside, she recalls, was beautiful. Kellie would like to return to Haiti on another humanitarian mission. The group is awaiting sponsorships to make that possible. Kellie’s trip left her with an appreciation for all that she and her family have- an appreciation for their health care. “If I hear anyone here complain about health care, I’ll lose it.”
LaSalle Silhouette, Thursday, March 11, 2010
By Karen Mauro
There was the smell and sight of garbage everywhere. There was the oppressive heat and humidity. There was the rubble, the after-shocks, the primitive conditions. And there were the people in desperate need. But of all she experienced, the one visual that struck Kellie Drouillard the hardest was the sight of a naked woman bathing in a stream of water in the middle of the street.
Kellie recently returned from a ten day trip to Haiti with 13 others from Windsor and LaSalle. Their trip was sponsored by Hearts Together For Haiti, a Canadian charity whose mandate is “meeting fundamental needs in small villages, such as water, nutrition, health and education, along with the empowerment of women.”
Among the group of fourteen volunteers were both medical and non-medical personnel. The non-medical personnel learned very quickly how to change dressings and perform other duties. Kellie is a Pharmacy Technician.
They flew into the Dominican Republic, then drove along mountain roads, littered with fallen boulders, to Jacmal- a town about 40 Kilometres south of Port au Prince. The group was tented in a compound that housed a school run by nuns. Every morning they were driven to a private clinic where medical assistance was offered free of charge to the earthquake victims.
She saw conditions and injuries there she couldn’t ever have imagined. “The patients waited 2-3 hours to see a doctor, then 2-3 hours to have prescriptions filled”. recalls Kellie. “No one ever complained.”
Kellie handed out prescriptions through a barred window. Occasionally she would slip outside her pharmacy to obtain and fill a prescription for a woman with children so they didn’t have to wait in the hot sun so long.
“It was so hot and so dusty,” Kellie says. “A few minutes after a shower {from a pipe} you would be filthy. I remember drinking 3 litres of water a day and not needing to go to the bathroom.”
But the countryside, she recalls, was beautiful. Kellie would like to return to Haiti on another humanitarian mission. The group is awaiting sponsorships to make that possible. Kellie’s trip left her with an appreciation for all that she and her family have- an appreciation for their health care. “If I hear anyone here complain about health care, I’ll lose it.”
