Local nurses recall service in quake-ravaged Haiti one year later

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By Roni Gehlke
Correspondent

As first responders with the San Francisco Bay Area Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Aileen Hayes and Lynn Fox were part of the first wave of nurses that was on site at the earthquake in Haiti a year ago.

The earthquake took the lives of 230,000 people and left more than 300,000 people injured. The two Sutter-Delta Medical Center nurses stayed to help as many as they could for two weeks.

The local nurses’ team was on call during January when the disaster hit, said Hayes, an emergency room nurse. "When the call came in about the earthquake, we were on a plane the next day to Haiti."

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit just 16 miles from Haiti’s capital on Jan. 12, 2010, leaving over 1,000,000 homeless. Along with the first earthquake there were a reported 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater, causing more injuries for several weeks after the first earthquake.

The registered nurses slept outside on the American Embassy grounds. Hayes said it was pretty rustic. Even so, this was nothing new to either Hayes or Fox as they both have been with the team during several relief missions.

"I have also been deployed to New York in September 2001 for the 911 Twin Towers attack, as well as Hurricane Katrina," Fox said. "Several other hurricanes, and the Democratic National Convention in 2008."

Fox said Haiti was the team’s first international deployment.

Once the team was able to get started much of the work was assessing the patients’ needs, treating sprained and broken limbs and ribs, stitching and bandaging cuts, and keeping the patients as comfortable as possible.

"We began providing care from two tents set up as urgent care and emergent care for those in the camp surrounding us," Fox said. "We worked 12-hour shifts and treated various types of injuries and medical problems. We even delivered a baby."

"We didn’t have any surgery capabilities," Hayes said. "We had to wait until the USS Hope arrived."

Hayes said that she became involved with the San Francisco Bay Area Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) CA6 team through Fox. Inspired by her Holy Rosary Church group vacation Bible school, Hayes was looking for another similar organization to work with and found that this team was just what she was hoping for.

For Fox working with this team has been a fulfilling experience.

"Through our training, teamwork and professionalism we have done the very best we could under the conditions we have experienced on every past deployment, including Haiti, and any future ones," he said. "In disasters of this kind you have to take the small victories. Many times you cannot do much but things like delivering the baby. Treating a sick child makes a huge difference for those individuals."

Both Fox and Hayes found the Haitian people were very gracious, friendly and nonviolent. The people in Haiti aren’t used to health care and many times the nurses needed to convince them that they were there to help and accepting care was a good thing.

"There are two things that stick with me, and I will remember forever. One was walking throughout the tent city of tens of thousands providing care surrounded by curious onlookers and those needing care. It was eerie but exhilarating at the same time. I’ll never forget that," Fox said.

"The second was providing care from the back of a military truck in the middle of a dirt road debriding burns on the legs of a young girl miles from nowhere."

After five deployments with the team, Hayes said that she wished she could work doing these services full time.

"I love working with the people and being able to use my skill set as an emergency nurse in places where they need it the most," she said. "Doing this has given me a whole different outlook on life."