Catch up

Sipping some yummy hot chocolate at breakfast!

This is Garrett's great shot of Maria Sharapova...nice.

Exhibition match with Sampras/Federer vs. Agassi/Nadal

Brian and Garrett enjoying the courtside view.

Well, I am already behind on my goal of posting at least once a month! So, this week is "catch up" week.

Back in March, our dear friends Brian and Aimee Deaver came down to our neck of the woods for a little weekend get-a-way in Palm Springs. We hung out, ate some good food, enjoyed some gorgeous weather,and watched some great tennis at the Indian Wells BNP tournament. We got a few close-ups of Maria Sharapova and my favorite, Rafael Nadal. Our favorite though, was the exhibition match to raise money for earthquake victims in Haiti on Friday night with all-time greats Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Stefi Graf, Lindsey Davenport, and others.

We enjoyed getting a way for a bit and loved "catching up" with Brian and Aimee!

The Cube of Rubik

In recent weeks, Braden has become very interested in the infamous Rubiks Cube. After researching, learning, and countless online video viewing, he has figured out how to solve it. He is now practicing speed cubing and can time himself at cubetimer.com. His fastest time to date is 1 minute, 37 seconds. Here is a fun video showing his quick skills...

Surprise

Bedroom before...

...bedroom after!

Bathroom before...

...bathroom after!

I had a bit of fun while Garrett was gone! Thanks to my wonderful and amazing friend Bobette (and a bit of Kristi and Rachel too), I was able to surprise Garrett with a new bedroom and bathroom! We worked extra hard, shopping, stenciling, more shopping, and even staying up the whole night before to finish the big reveal! Thanks to practically the entire Carpenter family...Scott and his Dad hung curtains and mirrors, and the Carpenter kids were practically without a mom for the week! It was so much fun and I absolutely love how it turned out! Garrett loves it, too! Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Homecoming

He is finally home! Garrett arrived in San Diego on Friday. We were all waiting anxiously and holding our breath because, as of a few hours before he left Haiti, the travel logistics were up in the air and changing rapidly. But, he made it and we are so happy to have him home!

We have been busy catching up and trying hard not to overwhelm him...he is a bit exhausted! He lost about 10 pounds and has had a little difficulty eating normal food again. But, he especially enjoyed sleeping in a soft comfortable bed!

We are forever grateful for this once in a lifetime and life-changing opportunity. Haiti will forever be a part of our family and our hearts!

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.

Good News

Working in the OR...interpreting for surgeons

 Brave 16-year old named Jerry

His foot had to be partially amputated

This tent serves as the hospital's ICU

Adorable little girl waving to her fan club

Traveling home on Blvd Jean-Jaques Dessalines

one of the hardest hit routes...looks like a war zone

The past few days Garrett has been translating for the surgeons and doctors and assisting with patient instructions for medications and wound care. I was nervous about him doing this because he has been known to pass out in previous medical situations (seeing an x-ray of his broken hand and when I was getting my epidural). However, he has been able to stay strong and it has not bothered him in the least. He was quite amazed himself. He has witnessed heartbreaking injuries and even watched a woman pass away today from malaria with her sister sobbing at her side.

He is only eating a protein bar for breakfast and then usually an MRE for dinner. Although, he does say he is drinking lots of water. I am thinking he may come back a few pounds lighter. And speaking of coming back, they just received word that they are actually going to be coming home a week sooner! The Utah Hospital Task Force has received enough money to fund a second plane and will be sending them sometime next week, if all goes as planned. Originally they were hoping to overlap the teams, however their camp does not have enough infrastructure and supplies to support 2 teams of 125 each. They also feel that the risk of health issues greatly increases the longer they are there, so by sending another fresh team sooner, they hope to accomplish more.

Of course we are excited to have him home sooner because he is greatly missed! We are so grateful for this opportunity he has had and are truly amazed at the impact it has had on our entire family. I am so proud of Garrett for sharing his compassion and heart with those people that need so much right now.

No More Phone Calls

Wild pigs roam free

Old man sitting on rock in the middle of Port-au-Prince

They were able to pay some locals to do their laundry

Translating at the Helping Hands Clinic

A damaged apartment building still being inhabited

Verizon Wireless had supplied Garrett with a temporary phone that he could use in Haiti because he was going as part of a relief effort. Up until January 31, to assist humanitarian efforts, calls were free or charged at a "normal" rate, however, now after February 1, calls are $3 per minute! Ouch! Therefore, Garrett will only be able to communicate through IM and email (his blackberry data plan is still the normal rate) and so my posts may not be as detailed as before. He is going to try and send as many pictures as he can that will hopefully keep us updated on how things are going.

Yesterday he assisted at the medical clinic on the Helping Hands for Haiti campus. They constructed a tent and were able to see close to 200 patients. He mostly assisted in translating prescriptions and instructing patients how to take their medicine.

My brother-in-law sent me this link to an article written about the story of the 125 orphans who returned on the plane. It is an amazing story!

Meridian Magazine article

Avery's Card

Avery wanted to send her Daddy a card and tell him how much she misses him. I told her we wouldn't be able to send it to him because he didn't have an address where he was, but we could post it on the blog so that he could see it. I love technology!

Helping at Home

On Saturday, we collected shoes to send to Haiti. A few wonderful friends of mine organized a neighborhood shoe drive in conjunction with the Sole 4 Souls Project HAITI organization. Earlier in the week we had passed out flyers telling people to leave shoes they wished to donate on their porch and then we would come around and pick them up and take them to the drop-off location. It was a great way to get our children involved and to help them feel they were doing a little to help the people of Haiti. Of course, there was plenty of complaining and whining to go along with the collection, but we were able to collect a whole car full!

Forever Changed

A building next to the LDS Church

Helping put up a shelter tent

Tent city

Hair salon

82nd Airborne dancing at concert

82nd Airborne straight from Fort Bragg, NC

The past 2 days Garrett mostly assisted with translating for medical professionals. The teams were divided and went to different area make-shift clinics. They treated mostly minor injuries or follow-ups from previous treatments. His creole is coming along and he has been blessed to remember all of his medical terminology that he "crammed" for before he left.

They traveled through the city today in the back of a open bed truck, 9 of them standing. In Garrett's words, I (Brigette) would have "pooped my pants" if I saw how he was riding in the truck. I guess it wasn't the safest way of travel by my standards! They stopped a few times to treat minor injuries. When they would stop, they would immediately be surrounded by people. The small children would come and want to feel their hair or skin, especially the women with long hair in the group. Some of the very young children have probably never seen a Caucasian person before.

Garrett says that he can understand why there is a distribution problem. It is very hard to maintain control and eliminate chaos when you pass anything out. They were given strict instructions that they were not able to give any thing to anyone in a group setting. While walking through the city they came across a small merchant selling sodas. They purchased some and one of the guys on his team gave it to a boy alone. The walked ahead and turned back and within seconds the small boy was surrounded by others trying to take his soda. Later, Garrett saw a UN food truck and there must have been at least 1000 people waiting for food.

They are sharing their camp with the 82nd Airborne. They have been wonderful to take care of them, assist them, and get them to where they need to be. Garrett was able to ride around in their Humvee's today, too. He also was able to take a small shower, which he wasn't expecting the entire time. I sent 2 packages of baby wipes with him and that was going to be his shower for 3 weeks. Last night a Haitian band came and played for them. Everyone pitched in money for them after it was over. Garrett loved the music and it was good to feel a bit of "joy."

Devastation is still every where. It is heartbreaking for Garrett to see. Garrett said they stopped and found a little boy that had a severe head injury from the quake. His family said he drooled and peed at random, obviously because he had brain damage. The only treatment he had received was a bandage around the wound on his head. Their team was not sure how to handle the boy because they were not in medical facility. He obviously needed advanced medical attention. They were going to inquire about it back at camp and see if there was anything more they could do for him.

The living conditions mostly consist of make-shift shelters or "Tent" cities as we have heard on the news. Garrett saw one family that had draped a small blanket over 2 bushes and dug a hole for shelter. Trash and waste disposal is a serious problem, too.

One of the Bishops has been helping them, as well. Bishop Mardy is a remarkable man and has been through more than anyone should ever have endure. Weeks before the quake his young son (not more than 2 years old) was kidnapped and held for ransom. They believe his kidnappers were aware of the Bishop's association with the LDS church, therefore, assumed he had access to money. The earthquake happened while his son was still missing. For all he knows, his son and kidnappers were buried in the rubble during the quake. He has no way of knowing. His mother, brother-in-law, and dear friend were all killed in the quake. He personally pulled his wife out of the rubble. She suffered 2 broken legs. He owns 2 orphanages, 1 of which was completely damaged in the quake. His focus is finding shelter for all of the children that were in orphanages.

Garrett was able to travel to one of the LDS church buildings, which remarkably was not heavily damaged during the quake. Many of the ward members are staying on the property in tents and using the facility. They have had to have 24/7 security.

I am forever changed by this experience Garrett is having. It will be life changing for both of us.

Correction: Garrett did say that the roads were actually not as badly damaged as I reported below. They are just filled with people which can sometimes create "bottle-necks."