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Email from Tiffany Kuehner received Saturday (1-23-10)

Dear Friends,

I want to thank you all again for everything you all have done over the past 11 days to outreach and support on behalf of the men, women, and children of Haiti. The aftershocks this week caused a lot of fear, but thankfully all of our team members are okay. According to the United Nations, research and rescue operations are still ongoing, however, no live rescues have been reported in the past 24 hours. The total number of live rescues is 121 people, so far.

Hope for Haiti has been working hard to distribute immediate medical supplies, in addition to food and water to the General Hospital and Pediatric Hospital St. Damien in Port-au-Prince, to mobile medical sites in Carrefour and to multiple healthcare facilities in the South, including the General Hospital of Les Cayes.

Mikey Stewart, Country Director, is leading all logistics and medical teams at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince and our Program Director, Patrick Eucalitto has mobilized a new medical team that just arrived in Les Cayes a few days ago. Hope for Haiti has sent orthopedic surgeons, trauma specialist, anesthesiologist, infectious disease physicians, and nurses to both Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes to provide immediate support to both General Hospitals.

This past Thursday, at 5:00 AM, Hope for Haiti put it's second mission team on a plane out of Naples airport heading to Haiti. Pilot Bill Earls made his second flight with doctors and nurses. One of the doctors, Naples own David Perlmutter, sent the following message to his wife when he arrived in Haiti. I've received permission to share his words.

"Have arrived in Les Cayes. Refugees arriving in truckloads but seems very orderly. UN has troops here. 200 patients in the hospital needing care so that will be first priority. The housing facility for h4h is wonderful. An amazing refuge. Even though January - incredibly hot. I brought so much stuff that is desperately needed. Answer back on the mac address. I love you, your husband"

Mikey explained his enormous relief as black hawk helicopters transferred over 100 critical patients out of the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince to the US Comfort Ship yesterday Ð opening up another 100 beds in the surgery ward. One close colleague, Skyler Badenoch, who works with buildOn and is in Carrefour right now, wrote,

"Medical assistance, water, and food are already scarce, and we are trying to convince people to think ahead of what can be done to mitigate the second wave of problems: dehydration, diarrhea, infections [Tetanus], [typhoid], malnutrition, and sanitation issues that are prevalent at refugee camps. They will soon need help with latrines and water systems. The General Hospital is past capacity, and everyone is working around the clock. Mikey was key to getting that hospital back and running after the quake damaged the facilities and hurt many vital staff. I've met a couple of the doctors there who are working 18-hour days--simply heroic. There are so many amputees and people still coming in with life threatening wounds that have yet to be treated.

Hope for Haiti is working on a partner organization strategy to begin working on sanitation, latrines, and water purification/supply as quickly as possible.

Skyler also shared a few things that he believes are critical to making a difference in Haiti at this time:

United Nations

Thanks to all of you, we will be loading a DC10 full of medical supplies to arrive in Port-au-Prince this week. The Arrow Cargo plane can hold 130,000 - 159,000lbs depending on fuel. Over 50 volunteers at the Naples, FL Hope for Haiti office have been packing and sorting all the supplies for the flight.

Blessing to you and your families this weekend. I'd like to end today's update with an e-mail that was just sent to my grandmother this morning from a young lady who I would love to have opportunity to meet and hug myself.

"Dear JoAnne,
I am 12yrs old and I'm want to send my unwanted toy plush animals to Haiti orphans. I know they need medicine, and food and water, And that's why I'm going to organize a bake sale too. But, I believe it would just be nice that they have something to cuddle, and smile at.

Please answer my email, From, Ariana"

I am so touched by the outpouring of prayers and support from everyone.
Bon Kouraj! -- Have Courage!
Tiffany

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I just found this article that includes photos and video of our medical teams on the ground and illustrates the coordination between Hope for Haiti, International Medical Corps and buildOn. This footage is very difficult to see, but does provide some insight to what these heroic survivors and volunteers are going through. It also proves the need for more supplies and medical personnel to touch the ground as soon as possible. Please click on the link below: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/jan/22/ive-never-felt-so-helpless-says-nurse-haiti/

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Photos:

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From: Tiffany Kuehner
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 2:09 AM
Subject: Hope for Haiti Update - 1-17-10

Dear Friends,

Hope for Haiti Mission #1 Completed Thanks to All of Your Support - 75,000 lbs of medical supplies, food, water, and construction materials distributed to two Hospital sites in Port-au-Prince (PAP). On Saturday, January 16th we flew on an Arrow Air 757 Cargo aircraft loaded with supplies for distribution in Haiti Ð generously donated by GE. Although our Hope for Haiti 8-person medical team did make it to PAP earlier that day, we were unfortunately diverted to land in Santo Domingo after Secretary Clinton's arrival in Port-au-Prince caused the airport to close down while she was on the ground. Turning quickly to plan B, Arrow Air organized two 18 wheelers to meet us at the airport to unload the plane and we reached out to our friends at the Clinton Initiative to help us with in-country logistics to cross the border into Haiti.

Upon arrival in Santo Domingo, we learned that we were the first Cargo aircraft to land with supplies for Haiti. Another aircraft was already on the tarmac with a South African search and rescue 40-crew member team with dogs and equipment Ð all of which had been re-routed to Santo-Domingo as well and had been waiting for over 24 hours to get into Haiti. While our trucks were being loaded, we immediately worked with the Clinton Initiative team to get the S.A. team a UN call sign to land in Port-au-Prince that evening.

By 10pm that night, our trucks had been loaded, paper work signed, and the S.A. team had received confirmation to land in Port-au-Prince. We then began our journey through the night to the Southern border entrance to Haiti in Jimani, DR. The drive to the border took approx. 6 hours. The border opened at 6am and we wanted to be first in line to make it across at the beginning of daylight. Another search and rescue team from Poland was waiting at the border as well to cross over. They had been re-routed through to the DR as well and thus had been delayed over 48hrs in getting to Haiti. By 6am sharp, both 18-wheeler trucks crossed over the border with no problems. We headed directly to the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince where Hope for Haiti's team had assembled with other medical teams as well, all of whom were in desperate need of supplies.

It is approx. a 2-hour drive from the border to Port-au-Prince and as we got closer to the city center, the effects of the earthquake were more and more pronounced. Multiple trucks passed full of dead bodies and as we approached Airport Road near the old Government Palace, the smell of death became sickening. We arrived at the General Hospital by 8am and began to assemble a team to unload the trucks by hand. There were hundreds of people in need of immediate medical care just lying exposed outside on the pavement, on the grass, anywhere there was space. Doctors and nurses were literally opening the boxes off of the truck and using the supplies on patients immediately.

We escorted our second truck to the pediatric hospital in Tabarre where a secure depot could store some of the most important medications to provide greater security and easier access for the medical teams. By 10:30am - all supplies from both trucks were unloaded and distributed.

Arriving at Port-au-Prince airport by 11am, we were surprised to run into the Diageo Foundation Team that had brought in some medications and supplies and were actually giving them to Hope for Haiti's medical centers on the ground. In addition, we were thankful to see our S.A. search and rescue team friends. They told us the exciting news that they had found someone this morning! What a wonderful story of hope to keep in our hearts as we headed back to the States today.

Information Gathered:
Over 140 Search and Rescue teams from all over the world have been called into action on an emergency basis and will be working until Thursday or Friday when the window to find people who may still be alive is still open. Security is a real concern at this time Ð need for greater military presence and action to provide safety for all.

American Citizens are lining up to come home, but flights are incredibly limited.

Priority needs to be focusing on removal of the deceased as quickly as possible from Port-au-Prince.

Lack of coordination and leadership on the ground. One organization/military sector/UN needs to take the lead.

Next steps:
Another 757 Arrow Cargo plane will depart tomorrow morning with another 75,000 lbs of supplies - plan to arrive in PAP, if not re-routed to Santo Domingo.

Hope for Haiti is assembling another flight of supplies to arrive in Les Cayes where the General Hospital in South is treating patients who are coming down from Port-au-Prince.

We are mobilizing a construction crew to arrive in PAP this week. For more information you can visit Hope for Haiti's website www.hopeforhaiti.com

We cannot even begin to express our gratitude to you for your support and immediate response that made this airlift possible. All of the supplies were delivered within 12 hours coming at a critical time of need. Everyone from the team who escorted these cargo supplies across the boarder; Carl Kuehner, Tiffany Kuehner, and Chris Negele, are safe and back in the States as of late Sunday night. Now they are working on preparations and logistics for the next 757 Cargo Plane arriving mid morning today, Monday the 18th.

Mesi Anpil -- Thank you so much!

With the greatest appreciation and gratitude,
Carl & Tiffany Kuehner

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