Hello, this is Noel Lloyd from the D.R….
We received our first patient from Port-au-Prince. Her name is Bernadine, and she’s 22 years old. She is suffering from a fractured pelvis and fingers. Other family is here with her at the hospital. She’ll be going into surgery tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted.
Bernadine and a family member
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Join CUREkidsWe received notes and pictures this AM that the team from Dallas, Texas has landed in Port-au-Prince. Our communications colleague is already on the ground and shooting video and photography, as the entire team unloads the supplies brought from the U.S.
You can follow the CURE photos being uploaded to Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helpcurenow/sets/72157623130550035/
Or follow CURE’s Flickr photostream at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helpcurenow/
Look for more updates throughout the day from CURE HQ as well as CURE Haiti and CURE Dominican Republic.
Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti 
or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone
And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://uk.cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://uk.cure.org/blog
Hey, this is Noel Lloyd, one of CURE’s communications people from Pa.
I just arrived today in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to get caught up on what’s going on the east side of Hispaniola. I’ll be working with the team at the CURE DR hospital, doing interviews, taking photos and sending you as much information as I can. Although the situation in the city here is much different from Port-au-Prince, the DR hospital team is in full-fledged frenzy mode providing support while also operating an orthopedic pediatric hospital.
My colleague Bryce Flurie is also on the move. He will be flying in tomorrow into PAP with a relief team from Dallas. Once there, he’ll connect with those working at Haitian Community to get stories, photos and video that we will share with you as soon as possible.
The flight of which I speak is a 737 aircraft bringing 24 more personnel and supplies to support the medical effort.
A word on the CURE Haiti Relief Team. After spending just 15 minutes at the DR hospital, I got a full picture of the challenges the team is facing. They’ve been working nonstop on little sleep and low supplies for more a week now. The foul aroma of gangrene has been, until only the last day or so, a constant companion. The unrelenting stress has also been emotionally draining. After hearing some of the things they are going through today, it only reinforces just how heroic every member of this team is.
But even in the midst of the suffering, the team continues to save lives, bolstered by an ever-increasing number of volunteers being added to their ranks.
Continue to pray for the CURE Haiti Relief Team, for the safety of the flight from Dallas and most importantly for the people of Haiti themselves.
I’ll post as often as I’m able. Keep reading and praying!
Remember, you can support the CURE relief efforts here
Because pictures are helpful to bring facts to life, here’s a Google Map of the location of the Community Hospital in Port-au-Prince, where one of our surgical teams is operating.
Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti
or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone
And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://uk.cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://uk.cure.org/blog
CURE’s Executive Director in the Dominican Republic, Steve Bostian, is part of the first team from CURE to arrive in Port-au-Prince. Yesterday afternoon, Dennis Prager had the opportunity to interview Steve over the phone, live from Port-au-Prince. Here’s the excerpt from The Dennis Prager Show of that interview.
Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti
or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone
And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://uk.cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://uk.cure.org/blog
This morning, we received word from CURE staff in Haiti and the Dominican Republic regarding the team and its progress.
From all accounts on the ground, CURE appears to be operating the best organized, functioning medical facility in Port-au-Prince at Community Hospital
When the CURE team first arrived to Community Hospital, there found 2 OR’s that weren’t operating, no significant medical care was occurring, and they were completely dependent on Haitian supplies – which were scarce.
Within 48 hours, the team had created 5 OR’s. By the end 3rd day, the initial team managed to perform 75 surgeries, brought over 100 foreign medical personnel to the hospital, established 6 functioning OR’s, an ICU, and a supply depot. The most frequent surgery was amputation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012000391.html
This morning’s aftershock in Port-au-Prince generated panic with patients and residents of the city, but we’ve received no reports of significant injuries at the hospital as a result of the aftershock. At the time of this communication (9:30AM EST), everyone was just getting resettled in the hospital.
The team’s attention is now turning to more complex surgeries to save limbs, deal with compound fractures, and address many open wounds that are in danger of going septic. Time is of the essence because of infection. Add to this that the team is somewhat hampered by equipment issues, which we hope to have resolved in the coming 48 hours.
With the threat of additional aftershocks and the reports of looting, the security of the team is a concern. Thankfully, the team has been blessed with both safety and security thus far. Please continue to pray for peace and safety of the CURE team and the city in general.
Today, a welcome gift should make its way to the team: air mattresses. The team has been sleeping on cardboard since their arrival, and the bedding – along with the incoming medical teams over the next 48 hours – will hopefully provide a welcome relief for the doctors and nurses on the ground.
Look for more stories and pictures over the coming days as we work to get more information from the field.
Thank you for the prayers and support. The response has been tremendous, but we still need help.
Click here to give a gift to CURE Haiti
or text CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift through your cell phone
And to help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter/email signature:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://uk.cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://uk.cure.org/blog
The CURE team on the ground in Port au Prince is not only bringing life-saving care to hundreds of injured Haitians, but they are also helping to organize and facilitate the work of other medical groups and volunteers. With no centralized coordination in place, the team has been key to getting OR’s up and running.
We were able to get the 18-person team from Dallas, Texas, mobilized to a different hospital. They immediately got to work and divided an open room into three OR’s, created an OR in an open hallway and turned a radiology room in an OR. In just 48 hours, this team performed over 300 operations, including 40 amputations and applied more than 100 casts.
People continue to step up to respond to the crisis. In the next few days, CURE will be sending more than 25 medical professionals and a substantial amount of donated orthopedic equipment and supplies. These teams will relieve our very weary team members who have been on the ground since last Thursday.
While CURE was one of the first to arrive in Haiti, we will not be the first to leave. The medical needs are staggering – hundreds of thousands are injured and are in need of care. Throughout the upcoming weeks and months, CURE will provide care from a local community hospital in Haiti and hopefully, will also be able to care for patients at our hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The effects of the earthquake on Haiti are massive and our response must be equally substantial. We estimate that our relief efforts in Haiti will cost $500,000. Please consider joining us to reach this goal and bring healing and restoration to the Haitian people.
In the days to come, we will be bringing you stories and first impressions from our team and the patients they are treating. Check this blog for updates. Please consider forwarding this link on to your friends and encouraging them to support the work of CURE International in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
To help support CURE’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, add the following message to your Facebook/Twitter account:
Help CURE in Haiti: http://uk.cure.org/haitirelief or txt CURE to 85944 to give a $10 gift. Follow: http://uk.cure.org/blog
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/a-little-too-close-to-the-battle-in-kabul/
Yesterday, reports of a terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan surfaced. With so much attention and focus on Haiti and CURE’s work in that country after the earthquake, we wanted to reassure everyone regarding the impact of the recent news on CURE Kabul. So we talked to Jacki Lammert, the Executive Director of CURE Kabul to determine what – if any – impact the terrorist attack had on the hospital. Here’s what Jacki had to say:
Praise God – CURE Kabul was not physically impacted by the latest
havoc within the city. We have staff who are regularly on that side
of town; however, everyone was at the hospital at the time of the
event.The city of Kabul is divided north and south by a mountain. The
hospital and our foreign staff are located on the south side of this
mountain. Typically the violent news we hear from Kabul, comes from
the north side of the mountain where most of the embassies,
ministries, Camp Eggers, UN, and other highly visible entities are
located.Thanks for asking and letting everyone know that this latest incident
did not have any physical impact on our hospital. We appreciate the
on-going prayers for the facility, our patients and staff.
Trust me, they are felt!
Thanks for the prayers and concerns for CURE Kabul, and please continue to pray for safety and peace for Afghanistan.
The CURE Haiti Relief effort continues to grow…
Steve Bostian reports, “Praise God…In the last 48 hours, we were able to take the Haitian Community Hospital from almost no doctors, nurses or supplies to more 100 docs and nurses, seven operating rooms, an ICU, a stocked supply room and life-saving surgery 24 hours around the clock!”
One other item to update:
This week, starting tomorrow, two more medical teams will fly in:
Team #1 flies out of Ft. Lauderdale Tuesday with four medical personnel and 300 pounds of medical supplies.
Team #2 flies out of Dallas with close to 20 personnel on Thursday.
We’ve been overwhelmed with the generosity of people and organizations who have called and emailed asking what they can do to help. We are truly grateful.
Remember, YOU can help right now by donating to the CURE Haiti Relief Fund here or by texting CURE to 85944 on your cell phone to give $10.
Keep the faith for the people of Haiti, and keep checking back for more updates.
Soccer is 8-year-old Henry’s life. He is a huge fan of the Honduran national team and plays every chance he can get.
But just a short while ago, he had trouble even kicking a ball because of his severely bowed legs. Henry’s father recalled the struggles his son went through, “It was very complicated for him. I told him, ‘I don’t care how you look, honey, I love you.’ But I was hurting because I could see how the other children made fun of him.”
At CURE’s hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Henry had surgery that gave him a second chance to have a normal childhood. Now this once shy boy can run, ride a bicycle and, of course, play soccer like a star. “My child now has a better future,” said Henry’s father. “I know that he is going to be okay.”
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