By Lloyd Mackey

NOT LONG after news of the Haiti earthquake swept across North America, two Vancouver Island doctors – and three nurses, also from B.C. – were on site with a mobile medical clinic.

Their two weeks of work was coordinated through Abbotsford-based FH Canada (previously known as Canadian Food for the Hungry).

The doctors on the team were Patrick Stel, whose regular medical work is at the Streetlink Clinic in downtown Victoria; and Chris Muller, a ‘semi-retired’ physician who has practiced most of the last three decades in Port Alberni, Victoria and Duncan.

Working with them were Phyllis Randle, a retired public health nurse from Hope; Michelle Regehr, a nurse at Trinity Western University; and Norm Greenway, a nursing coordinator at Delta Hospital.

Working in communication with many other aid agencies throughout North America, FH Canada determines how it can best fit in. Then, it draws from a pool of health care professionals who have at least three characteristics: emergency work experience, immediate availability and a sense of Christian compassion.

BCCN caught up with Muller after his return to Canada. He was in Dease Lake, filling in at an emergency clinic, under the province’s rural program utilizing retired doctors. He is used to finding himself in pressure situations in many places. Zambia, Belize and post-tsunami Indonesia have been among the places where he has served in the past.

Soon after the January 12 quake hit, Muller said, the team of five flew to the Dominican Republic, along with a stockpile of medical supplies from Canada.

They entered Haiti by road, and picked up a second-hand FH Canada van – quickly transformed into a medical clinic.

Muller said the team’s work then began on the slopes of Petionville, 200 metres above sea level. They treated people outside a disabled hospital, where the patients had walked from surrounding areas – often with grievous quake-induced wounds.

“We found a great need among internal displaced camps of people, living makeshift in tents built of four sticks with blankets across the top. One place had 75,000 people in makeshift shelters, spread out on a golf course. In addition to the injuries, there was a high rate of pneumonia and pre-existing malnutrition.”

Muller recalled one place “where we set up under a thatched roof canopy. A little old lady, carried by her grandsons, was badly dehydrated and desperately ill.

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“We gave her a spectrum of antibiotics. At 9 that night, we visited her with the family and were impressed with how they cared for her. By that time, she was eating and able to talk. One of the grandsons told us that she was 110 years old.”

In many cases, said Muller, there were so many patients that one could do little for individuals – except reassure them that they would get well, and offer a blessing.

“And we, in turn, were blessed, through our incredible interpreter, Julien.” The interpreters, he noted, “were paid $10 per day and fed peanut-butter-and-jam sandwiches – for which they were grateful.”

Another service opportunity came as the result of the quake breaking down a wall around a tennis court belonging to a well-off – and kindly – retired diplomat couple.

People began setting up tents on one small corner of the courts. The couple welcomed an ongoing stream of ‘guests,’ until the court was full of people.

The clinic’s last stop was in a slum area of Port au Prince, called Martissant. While the area was not so damaged by the quake, it was in great need because of other ongoing problems.

“We had yet to see poverty in this degree. These were the poorest of the poor, living with pigs. There was widespread carbohydrate malnourishment. We were deworming, but there was no feeding program.”

Typically, no matter their location, the team’s days were preoccupied with triages – emergency treatment of long lineups of people.

“In the evenings, after a meal with other aid workers at the FH Canada compound, we worked for hours assembling pre-packaged medications.”

And the evenings were the times, as well, when the group sustained themselves by praying and singing together.

Muller noted that there was “enormous apprehension for the Haitian people, knowing that malaria was on its way.”

He emphasized that this would be coming at the worst possible time, when people are “dealing with the chronic illness – day-by-day water and feeding, dealing with dysentery, malaria and [other] diseases.”

Those issues are part of the ongoing concerns for agencies like FH Canada, as they assemble more short term medical teams. It is all part of what will be required to rebuild Haiti over the next few years.

March 2010