"I Remember..."
January 12, 2015
On January 12, 2010, Haiti was devasted by a 7.0 earthquake which killed 230,000...causing horrific pain and injury, and leaving behind massive numbers of homeless people. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Timothy Browne, who has served as a Hope Force International board member and currently as a medical Reservist, led a team of surgeons and medical professionals to minister to those who had been horribly maimed. Here are some succinct thoughts captured by Dr. Tim as he remembers that fateful time....
I remember:
- Driving into Haiti from the Dominican Republic in a jeep surrounded by gas cans, thinking that it?s going to be really bad if we get in an accident.
- Crossing into Haiti and into chaos.
- Arriving at King?s hospital and seeing the grounds covered with injured people.
- Feeling overwhelmed.
I remember:
- Seeing more open fractures at one time than I could ever imagine.
- Noticing the huge crack down the Operating Room?s supporting wall.
- Having no power or water in the hospital and with all the modern equipment and knowledge we had ? it was, for the most part, useless.
- The two teenage girls that sat together in the courtyard on the same mat, battered and bruised--strangers, united in tragedy as both had lost their entire families; haunting stares of emptiness.
I remember:
- Terrible, open, dirty wounds.
- Screams, as the hospital shook in an aftershock as patients frantically tried to flee the building.
- Amputating a young man?s crushed lower leg.
- A woman who laid on a mat outside for eight days with a femur fracture, who patiently waited until we got through all the open fractures.
I remember:
- Being rocked by a 5.7 aftershock from sleep.
- Seeing downtown where the buildings were turned to rubble for as far as the eye could see.
- Families picking through the rubble of the nursing school, where all were lost.
- The smell.
- Driving by the woman on the corner selling shoes and thinking of the people that her pile of shoes represented.
- Six story buildings turned into grapefruit sized piles of rubble.
I remember:
- Thousands of volunteers working shoulder to shoulder to help.
- The kindness and gentleness of the Haitian people.
- Getting power and water restored to the hospital.
- The generosity of people and companies who gave sacrificially.
- How hard the home Hope Force team worked back home to make things happen for us in Haiti.
- The helicopter delivering an anesthesia machine to the hospital.
- Our young translator, Darling.
- Other hospitals that survived, that worked tirelessly and past capacity.
- The USS Hospital Ship Comfort.
I remember:
- A pregnant woman brought in and bringing new life in the midst of chaos.
- Tent cities.
- Seeing the Haitian National Palace destroyed and thinking that no amount of power or money can protect you.
- A resilient people.
- Being caught in a crowd of thousands of people worshipping and praising God.
I remember:
After a long day in the operating room, going outside to catch my breath. As I sat on the steps of the hospital--a young orphaned boy came up behind me and draped his arms over my shoulders and laid his head on my back.
Written by HFI Reservist: Dr. Timothy D. Browne, MD