Wrapping Up

Helping Eric with rehab

After a couple of days in the "sick bay", Garrett is back to work. A few nights ago some local members of the LDS church in Haiti brought in some "home-cooked" meals. The next day about 25 members of the UHTF found themselves suddenly ill. After countless trips to the luxurious bathroom (aka the port-a-potty), Garrett found himself laying on the hard ground hooked up to an IV because of dehydration. Of course, he was surrounded by numerous doctors and nurses who were taking extra good care of him. By the way, Garrett said that the food that made him so sick was awesome! But, after eating nothing but protein bars and MRE's, anything might taste good!


Saturday he and a number of other interpreters along medical professionals visited a refugee camp or "tent city" as they are calling it on the news. Garrett enjoyed speaking to the Haitian people and they enjoyed speaking to him. Their personal and heartbreaking stories were profound. They were calm and fatigued, and obviously suffering. He also got the opportunity to meet actor Sean Penn who was there with his foundation assisting in relief efforts.


Today, Garrett returned with his team of doctors to University Hospital in Port-au-Prince. He assisted patients with rehabilitation efforts. He really enjoyed working closely with patients and personally connecting with them. One 15-year old boy he was able to assist had lost his entire family in the earthquake. His parents and siblings, he was now an orphan, all by himself. He had a broken leg and his jaw was wired shut. Garrett was able to take him on a walk and talk to him about his experience. This remarkable boy is Eric (see photo above). 


When he returned to camp, they learned that the 82nd Airborne had a projector set up with the Superbowl projecting on a big white sheet. The UHTF, 82nd Airborne, and another 125 firefighters all were able to watch the game. They are required to be back at camp in a secure location by dark anyway, so watching the game was a great morale booster for many.


Garrett's time in Haiti is wrapping up. He is scheduled to return on Wednesday, and of course we are very excited! The Utah Hospital Task Force just unfortunately announced that they will not be sending a second team to Haiti. The reasons being many but mostly come down to the rapidly changing conditions in Haiti. This experience has been unique and extraordinary on so many levels. We are so grateful for the amazing impact it has had on our entire family. I am excited for him to come home and share more of his experiences with us!


Here are a few excerpts from Steve Studdert and other leaders of the UHTF team. This post is found on the Utah Hospital Task Force blog ...

Our medical professionals, each linked with invaluable returned missionary interpreters, are performing extraordinary medical services in an exceptionally harsh environment. They have treated hundreds of severely wounded Haitians. Our field teams are providing wound care, infection prevention, appendage amputations, and primary care to infants and children along the side of the road and in refugee camps.

Doctors are treating acute wounds, broken bones, serious illness, infection, and horrendous numbers of amputations. They have also performed dozens of critical surgeries.

Each day over 50 UHTF medical professionals provide the core of treatment services at three Port-au-Prince hospitals. They are joined by these invaluable return missionary interpreters – who themselves have been performing medical functions beyond any reasonable expectation. At the overwhelmed hospitals, best described as somewhat-organized chaos, our doctors are now in charge of two main departments, one nurse is now director of nursing for a several-hundred bed hospital, and one physician is medical director for that hospital. Return missionary interpreters are enlisted in critical patient care and surgery. It is miraculous to behold.

Returned missionary interpreters are seeing wounds so severe some of these doctors have not seen such before, and they are so totally invaluable in translating for doctors and nurses and in giving comfort to frightened patients. The senior physician of a large hospital told me these interpreters are unique in that their language skills are superior to any other interpreters they have, and their love of the people is felt by everyone involved, especially the patients.

Numerous doctors from the U.S. and other countries are broadly applauding these American medical professionals and the return missionary interpreters of the UHTF. A group of Austrian physicians told us tonight this is by far the hardest disaster they ever done; the Army guys tell us this is far more brutal than Afghanistan.

Neither space nor time will allow us to enumerate the truly unbelievable healing care these Utah Hospital Task Force team members have provided.