Day 2....

Stopped raining and the sun is out! Its drying up and thats a huge answer to prayer, thanks to all of you that asked for that one! And thanks God for granting that! Antother tuff day with hard stories and lots of opportunities to care for people but Dr. Nielsen just told us about his little one year old patient that is doing really well after fluid had to be drained from around the lung, he had been here for a couple of days with a fever and shortness of breath. Dr. Cababa and Diane helped on a surgery where a 8 year old girl had a kitchen accident. She was seriously cut in the hand and the surgical team was able to insure all nerves and ligaments will be fully functional and the wound was cleaned well from the inside to stop the infection that had already set in. Diane has finished organizing all of the sutures in the OR and the 3rd anesthesia machine is now running (after Ernie fixed it) so 3 ORs are now up and running!!!

Day 1... photos soon!

It hot here! The people and the country are beautiful, but the city is a mess. The staff here is amaizing. Its amaizing how much they are getting done with how little they have. There are local Hatians working with foreign doctors, working with people from who knows where speaking who know what language. These patients are so calm and so gratefull for the medical assistance and food. Seeing the city in the dark last night after the melee at the airport was a little overwhelming and everyone was very quiet when we arrived. The excitement of finally getting here and the emotional release of just getting on the ground was instantly overcome by an incredible sence of awe at the conditions these people are living in. Then we met the patients at the hospital and they are instantly smileing and gratious... its amaizing. Only God can provivde for these people, working alone we are so small and insignifcant.

ReCellular Comes Through!!!

This very cool company has dontated two unlocked phones, chargers, and spare batteries to the team!!! Thanks so much! I did promise to hold a phone collection for them when we get back, but I don't think anyone will mind doing a little phone recycling for the cause. Follow the link to read more about their phones for Haiti project and their support of the Red Cross... and now the Cure/Elmbrook/Team lacrosse medical mission!!!

http://recellular.com/about/pr-01142010.asp

Prayer Requests

There is a tab on top of the main page that lists different pages, please make sure you read the team covenant and check the prayer request page often... post as much as you want!!! Lets also start a page for people to thank. I know we won't catch them all, but there are so many people helping behind the scenes, donating items, packing things, lets at least try to give them some credit.

Packing Lists - 1 Week to go!!!

Okay Team, time to get your packing lists up! Lets put our heads together and make sure we have everything covered. Please comment or call me with ideas and send me your lists and I'll assign a bag number. Label your bag with the number and the luggage tags coming you to in the mail this week from Cure. We are going lighten the food lists which gives us more room for medical supplies. Even if we don't use them at HAH hospital we'll get them where they can be used. I'm going to call everyone this weekend and we can go over each persons needs and hopes for the team. Thanks for all the prayers, keep it up!!!

Team Meeting This Sunday!!! (last Sunday)

TEAM 1 has a meeting this Sunday... 1p-2:30p room d270. Some of the La Crosse folks will be dialing in for phone conference, but everyone else should be there for... prayer, getting to know ya', time of prayer, packing plans, prayer, supplies lists, prayer, other items, prayer, and we'll probably close with some prayer.

Please bring copies of your tickets, cure apps (if you haven't already sent copies) copies of medical licenses, etc etc etc. And some prayer requests, (we'll make time)

Best intentions can lead to hours and hours of sorting wasted clothing!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34958965/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/from/ET

Although this story is a little mean spirited... anyone that spent time sorting wet clothing donated after Katrina knows what the author meant to say!

This is a photo of 2005 TEAM 1 from Pine Miss. trying to save some of the mountains of clothing donated then largely wasted; because there was no way to distribute it effeciently.

All Questions are Open for Comments

Please click on the comments link to read or add your thoughts to any question. You may add a profile as "anaymous" but please add your name in your post somewhere.
Thanks,
Marc

Questions for those returning from Haiti

Hi, Tim Neeck here, I'll be Marc's technical person for this Mission.

Several questions came in the form of an email that need answering by those who've just returned from Haiti. The following posts are those questions, one by one. There are questions on the next page, so please hit Older Posts when you get to the bottom of page one to see the remaining questions and answers.

Please help the team by answering these question.

Tim

Question - cellular coverage

Is there cell phone service?

Question - electrical outlet type

Are there outlets to recharge a camera battery or cell phone? If so, is an adapter needed?

Question - international teams

What will be our ability to communicate with teams from other countries? (You mentioned Korea and Sweden.) Do we assume they speak English?

Question - mosqito netting

When we go, will we need to bring mosquito netting?

Question - surgical supplies

Do they have hats, masks, and sterile gloves?

Question - Instrument availability and sterilization

Are there sterilization capabilities for the instruments? Do they even have instruments?

Question - nursing assignments

Being an O.R. nurse, do I assume I will be in the O.R., or is that assigned after we get there and assess the situation?

Question - What are the bathroom facilities?

What are the bathroom facilities; are they at the hospital or close to it?

Medical Supply Lists

I've had a bunch of people ask me what they can send with us. I promise to post a list of needed items asap. I've forwarded the request to some of the medical team and asked for a very specific list of medical equipement and supplies. If you check out the hospital blogsite it sure looks like the needs are great. Our next meeting on Feb 14th will include very specific packing instructions and food lists but we are all going to have to share the duty of carrying supplies because each of us has 140 lbs avaible and the medical gear has to be the priority. More to follow!!! Please keep in prayer!

Tickets in Hand

Okay all, tickets are purchased and mine are non-refundable so this thing is locked in (God Willing)! I've actually given this blog address out so I need to put some info out here. I'm going to try to get a hold of the entire team and get their bios up here for all to see. I'd like to get photos up too so I can start trying to learn team member names before we leave. I'm also going to put up a listing of my expenses and the donations that I've received just for some transparency. Yesterday a woman who I've never met gave Janet $20.

We need to get the medical team members list of their supply needs and we really need to start planning some food ideas. My family is going to start eating some simple rice and bean dishes next week so I can see what we can do to make them more interesting. I'll let you know how that goes.

I'm working with a phone company to try to get some europen phones donated but we will still need to purchase sim cards with air time in Haiti. That sounds weird and I'm going to keep trying to figure it out.

Some of the details are coming together

It looks like the dates are set... February 26th through March 5th. I know Joline and Mary Ann are hard at work getting all of the details nailed down with the good folks at Cure International. We should be getting the airline reservations done in the next couple of days. I'm going to try to get this blog going and make up a mission statement; some stated purpose for the team and I to focus on... maybe a bible verse?