Haiti: Time Running Out for Earthquake Survivors

Keziah Furth is a 24-year old American nurse who works with kids in Haiti.  She was able to call home today, and her parents posted this account of her experiences since the earthquake on her blog, Mwen renmen ti moun Ayiti yo!:

She immediately packed up some medical supplies and began to tend to the wounded in her immediate neighborhood. For the first two days people who had been hurt came in a steady stream. Eventually she had 300 people camped out in a nearby empty lot where she was able to go amongst them giving pain meds, bandaging, stitching up wounds without surgical tools or sterile equipment, distributing antibiotics, and giving food and water…

..She says there are less and less wounded to tend to and now the stench of the dead is overwhelming as you walk the streets. Every collapsed house exudes the smell. While many of her “patients” are stabilized and will live, several have died.

Keziah warns that unless food, water, and medical supplies come quickly, many will die needlessly.  She has so far not seen any foreign aid or rescue teams in the part of the city where she has been treating the injured:

Keziah is receiving food and clean water from the St. Joe's Home. Most of the people are not so fortunate; food and water are becoming increasingly scarce. Kez believes that unless help comes soon, dogs will begin to be killed for food. No aid has reached this part of the city. They have seen no aid workers, no water trucks, no rescue teams. Helicopters have been seen overhead, but no contact has been made; there is no evidence that help has arrived. When I told Kez that the US Armed Forces were in P.auP. and that the Red Cross and rescue and medical teams from many countries were on the ground, she cried.

Kez's supplies are running low; she predicts that by Saturday she will have no bandages, no meds, and no water to give.
She has done all that she is capable of doing for her wounded. If help does not arrive soon, some will die needlessly.

4 comments

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.