AFH & Jeriah Mast

It is with great sadness that we have recently learned of the accusations brought against Jeriah Mast. Aid For Haiti has not worked with him since 2015. Until this week when the news broke, we were unaware of any of the alleged crimes of which he is accused. We support an appropriate and thorough investigation by the authorities in Haiti and the United States. We stand with scripture in the condemnation of all unrighteous sexual behavior. We pray for the healing and restoration of all individuals involved.

The AFH Board

The Tin Project

Hello from the Rudolph Family!

We hope this finds each one of you and your family doing well.

We are here at home in Grand Fond after several very full weeks. The arrival and aftermath of Hurricane Matthew has brought everyone a lot of extra work as well as great opportunities.

As mentioned in our previous email, many families in our community lost either part or all of their roofs (or their entire home) during the hurricane. It also destroyed their cash crops, most fruits, vegetables, and some livestock thus leaving them with little available resources for house repair and food for the Winter.

We have received several generous donations directed to helping with hurricane relief. We, along with Nathan and Virginia at first felt a little overwhelmed as to how to apply these funds in a way that does not contribute to the dependency mentality that many Haitians possess. After talking and praying about this, and reaching out to others for counsel, we believe the Lord provided us with the answers we needed.

The “Tin Program” is put together in a way to help the affected families get their homes repaired without encouraging the dependency disposition. We began with the damaged houses nearest our home base and are moving out farther as more funds become available. We are giving people two pieces of tin, nails, and a Haitian roofer to oversee putting it on (a total value of about three days wages) in exchange for a day of community service. The average home uses approximately forty pieces of tin, so if the roof was completely lost, the head of the home will be giving twenty days of community service. Each person receiving the tin signs a contract that states they will do this work in exchange for what they are receiving. The community service project they are working on right now is centered around repairing the roads. The hurricane created many washouts, landslides, and ruts making it more difficult for everyone to come and go. There are very few jobs available right now, so they all seem extremely grateful for this arrangement and every day about ten more people come asking to participate in the program. Michael tells them to pray to God as the supplier of their needs and that we will expand our program as we receive funds to do so.

We have been repairing eight to ten homes a week with our current crew at an average cost of $160.00 USD per house.

torn-roof
One of the Wind Torn Roofs

Michael explaining contract details.
Michael explaining contract details.

Nathan and Michael distributing tin.
Nathan and Michael distributing tin.

Happily carrying away her new roof :)
Happily carrying away her new roof 🙂

This home will soon be dry and secure!
This home will soon be dry and secure!

Making a house inspections after the new tin is on.
Making a house inspections after the new tin is on.

A thankful couple.
A thankful couple.

Thursday afternoon, an older, crippled man that we have known for years came to our gate and asked Michael to please come look at his home. Michael told him that the tin program was out of money currently, but agreed to go visit him and see his house anyway. They walked the footpath to his home, and upon arriving, Michael found a third of his roof missing and the rest that remained was full of holes. Michael told the old man and his wife to pray that God would provide money to help them fix their roof. Michael stayed and visited awhile, and as he turned to leave he received a text from Breanna informing him that we just got our statement from CMML (Christian Missions in Many Lands) saying that we received $2000 for “Haiti relief”. Michael told the old man and his wife that God just provided for them and their roof could be fixed soon. If they weren’t so old they would have danced a jig! Instead, they erupted with, “Beni swa l’eternel!” (praise the Lord!) multiple times. They were so happy…Michael was showered with hugs and kisses (maybe not the best part of the job:), but their joy was in God who had seen and cared for their need.

Since arriving back in Haiti, we have had to spend a lot of time on paperwork. We had to file for an extension on our USA 2015 taxes due to waiting on the slow Haitian government and accountant to get out Haiti taxes figured out. After pressuring the accountant to get them done by the quickly approaching October deadline, he unexpectedly told us one afternoon that we had to be Port au Prince the next morning to spend what turned out to be three days of running from office to office signing papers and paying money before we could finally figure out what we could count toward our American taxes. Also, October is the beginning of the fiscal year in Haiti so all our legal papers had to be renewed. We started the paperwork to renew our Haitian residency, Aid For Haiti annual taxes had to be paid, and all our licenses and permits have to be reacquired. Meanwhile we are still working on finishing the title transfer for our new truck, and renewing a permit to have it’s windows tinted. Paper work of any kind in Haiti is a huge headache to say the least!! Catching up on three months of LIFE Literature office work from while we were in the States took another week’s worth of time in Port au Prince but thankfully that is almost done now.

Often we wonder why it feels like it takes forever to accomplish normal tasks here. There are times we find it discouraging how much time it takes to get from start to finish on a project. We have been trying for the past two weeks to get this update written and sent but everything else is more demanding and every daytime moment is needed for the tasks at hand. Sometimes we have to just stop and figure it up to reassure ourselves that we are not stuck in some kind of world with shorter days. We have to realize that the little things we were used to in the States that would save a few minutes, or an hour here and there, add up daily. For instance, hot water has to be heated on the stove; you have to wait for tasks like laundry or vacuuming until when the generator is running on these cloudy days; hanging up and taking down all of the laundry on the clothesline, right now multiple times a day due to sporadic rain; keeping mold and the hundreds of tiny of bugs that get into our apartment cleaned up; walking everywhere due to lack of roads; and the list could go on. Also when we have a crazy day and the baby is cranky, we can’t just go out for supper. If we have a breakdown or run out of supplies everything is five hours away and there’s no Walmart or Lowe’s once you get there. We are slowly learning how to adjust and compensate, we pray for patience and and try not to schedule our time based on how long we are used to something taking, but to learn the new normals.

Please continue to pray for us that we would have energy and wisdom. We are daily making decisions that effect many people and we need God’s direction on how to best use our time and the resources He is making available to us.

May the Lord bless you all! Thank you so much for your continued support. Please know that we are so very thankful for all of your prayers and care for us.

In His Service,
Michael, Breanna and Junior Rudolph

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Update on the apartment…

September 29 – October 7th

Timothy Rudolph, Christen Beiler and Lowell Miller went down to Grand Fond, Haiti to help Michael put up the second story apartment! They were able to get a lot done!  We praise the Lord for their safety as they worked on the upper story framing, roofing, mounting solar panels, etc.  God blessed their time in so many ways. Before they left the US for Haiti, it had been pouring rain in Grand Fond every day; which, if that continued,  it would have made it very difficult to get done what they needed to get done. The whole time they were down there it did not rain, and we believe this was a direct answer to prayer.  They were able to accomplish all this team went to do.

Pictures below!

The first wall up!
The first wall is up!

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More walls up!
More walls are up!

Framing the walls inside.
Framing the walls inside. A bathroom is on the left, and a bedroom on the right.

Building the rafters for the roof.
Working on the roof.

A picture from the far corner of the property.  It's looking more like a house :)
A picture from the far corner of the property. It’s looking more like a house 🙂

This was Christen Beiler's third trip down to help with the house.
This was Christen Beiler’s third trip down to help with the house.

Michael and Timothy after a long and hard but successful week.
Michael and Timothy after a long and hard but successful week.

Thank you so much to the guys who gave so much of their time and energy to help with this project!

Open House Fundraiser

(By Rebekah Rudolph)

This last Saturday, September 27, was the annual Open House Day hosted by the Swiss Pantry in Belvidere, TN. We once again used it as an opportunity to do some fund-raising for Haiti.

First, of course, there was the yard sale, with items donated primarily from Watson’s Rental.  It was a large set-up again this year with a wide variety of stuff.  Miriam Rudolph and Sara Kelly took care of seeing to it all day from 7:00am to 3:00pm.

The yard sale
The yard sale

Miriam Rudolph and Sara Kelly
Miriam Rudolph and Sara Kelly

Right next to the yard sale was the apple butter cook-off. For several years now we have cooked apple butter over a fire in a large copper kettle that has been in the Rudolph family for generations.  It is about an eight hour process just to cook it down, with constant stirring, but the finished product is so worth it! Next to the kettle is our stand where we sell previously cooked and jarred apple butter and also pure honey from Michael’s bee hives that are here at home.

Making apple butter
Making apple butter

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Apple butter!

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The apple butter and honey stand.

This year, also, the Chris Beiler family, from the Believer’s Chapel in Tullahoma, did the annual BBQ stand, the entire proceeds of which went into completing the second story of the house in Haiti, so Michael and Breanna will have a place to live when they are married.  At the BBQ stand you can get an excellent lunch of either chicken or BBQ’D pulled pork and baked beans, cole slaw, dinner rolls, and your choice of soft drink, water, or sweet tea, or you can buy chicken and pork by the pound and take it home and share it (if it lasts that long).  The stand was serving from 10:00am to 3:00pm and was donations-only for the food, which was a step of faith, but the Lord blessed it and enough money was raised to complete the house to livability!

Poster board and information stand.
Poster board and information stand.

The food line
The food line

Food line
Food line

The wonderful volunteers!
The wonderful volunteers!

A huge thank-you to the Beilers and all the other volunteers who worked so hard to bring it all together! We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but it was good.  So come and join us next year!

-Rebekah Rudolph

Lawrence health care workers aid remote village in Haiti

Lawrence health care workers aid remote village in Haiti

From left, Cindy Mast, a Lawrence physician assistant, Sarah Bradshaw, a Lawrence nursing student, and Shannon Harvey, a former Lawrence resident and nurse, pose for a picture with kids from the Haitian village they provided medical care for last month.

The patients started lining up at the crack of dawn. They had come from hours away, up the mountain, from areas so remote they made this dot on the map seem like a big city in comparison.

They presented a wide range of ailments: a large facial tumor, a broken arm, cancer. Some would likely not survive — not because their illnesses were too acute, but because they were too far from an adequate medical facility and too poor even if they were closer.

Villagers started waiting early in the morning to see the doctors and nurses from Lawrence who ran a mobile medical clinic in Haiti last month.

They made the treacherous, exhausting trek to Haiti’s Dos Bois Rouge region to see people we often take for granted: doctors and nurses from Lawrence. In the jungles of Haiti, though, they were like visitors from another planet, aliens there solely to help.

Caleb Trent, an emergency room doctor at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, first went to Haiti in the mid-2000s with medical school classmates to investigate a rash of neck tumors, discovering that it was being caused by an iodine deficiency. They saw numerous nongovernmental organizations doing mission work in Haiti’s population centers but seemingly none in the more remote parts of the country.

“We were impressed with the medical need and the lack of resources these people had compared to what was available in the city,” Trent said. So in 2008, they started Aid for Haiti, a Christian charity that provides health care and spiritual training to Haitians.

Trent, 34, moved to Lawrence, his wife’s hometown, last year, starting his job at the hospital in July. At his church, Lawrence Bible Chapel, he noticed that the pews were filled with people working in or studying health care. So he pitched the idea for a church-sponsored trip to Haiti. Five current or former Lawrence residents signed up, and last month the group traveled to Dos Bois Rouge, near the border with the Dominican Republic.From left, Cindy Mast, a Lawrence physician assistant, Sarah Bradshaw, a Lawrence nursing student, and Shannon Harvey, a former Lawrence resident and nurse, pose for a picture with kids from the Haitian village they provided medical care for last month.

In Haiti, it was hard to ignore the trash everywhere. It was also hot — very hot. Fresh mangoes and bananas were sold at roadside stands. People wore hand-me-down clothes from the U.S.; Trent said he once saw a guy sporting a John McCain “Road to Victory” shirt from 2008. The locals, while poor, dressed and cleaned up well. Clothes, vehicles and homes were splashed with bright colors, perhaps as a way to lift the spirits but also be representative of the Caribbean culture.

The drive to the village was an adventure in itself: The gang packed in a Bobcat utility vehicle filled with medical supplies, including several 5-gallon drums of medications, driving up rocky, steep mountains.

Lawrence nursing students Sarah Bradshaw and Elijah Penny do intake at a makeshift medical clinic in Haiti last month.

They finally arrived at the village, a grouping of shacks alongside dirt roads, kids standing around chewing on sugarcane. The locals were happy to see the contingent from Lawrence, writing a greeting on a chalkboard to welcome them.

The health care workers set up a clinic, using tarps as a roof to keep the rain out. Patients would check in, with Lawrence nursing students Sarah Bradshaw and Elijah Penny taking their vitals. Cindy Mast, a pediatric physician’s assistant in Lawrence, would see the kids, while Trent would treat the adults. Sonja Everhart, a surgical nurse at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, and Shannon Harvey, a Lawrence native and nurse from Colorado, helped out along the way. Ailments included hypertension — “It wasn’t uncommon to see a blood pressure of 180 over 90,” Trent recalled — and acid reflux — not surprising when many of the kids’ breakfasts consisted of bread and coffee.

By the time the group woke up every morning at 6 or 7 a.m., there were already dozens of people waiting to be seen. The missionaries would work straight through until 8 or 9 p.m., treating respiratory illnesses, fungal infections, elephantiasis, and children so malnourished they looked much younger than they were.

At one point, a woman came in, lethargic, complaining of fatigue. She could hardly walk, needing help to even get into the clinic. It turned out she was pregnant and would have been fine had she been in a developed country with access to nausea medicine and prenatal vitamins.

Another patient, a man in his early 40s, was gaunt and emaciated, with several masses in his abdomen. He had cancer that was metastasizing, the doctors believed. But because the area they were in was so remote and the man was so poor, his chances for survival were slim. The group couldn’t treat him, save for giving him some medication to keep his stool regular, so it prayed for him.

“If you make a difference in his life, you make a difference in his eternity,” Trent said. It also helps that Haitians are generally more accepting of death than their American counterparts, he added, having to deal with it at seemingly every turn. Their life expectancy, 57, is roughly two decades shorter than it is in the United States.

A medical mission trip to Haiti last month included current and former Lawrence residents, from left, Sonja Everhart, Sarah Bradshaw, Shannon Harvey, Elijah Penny, Cindy Mast and Caleb Trent.

Trent also said that as hard as it is, you have to realize that you can’t help everybody, that the need is so immense that any assistance makes a difference.

“You look at what you can do, and you’re thankful for the people who you can help,” he said. “You realize that the people you did help are better because we are there, so you focus on the positive.”

On the last day, the team worked for 15 hours, trying to treat as many people as they could before they had to go home, bringing the total to 400 over three and a half days. The Haitians returned the favor, giving them gifts like fruit and blankets and singing hymns with them.

Trent, the board chairman for Aid for Haiti, plans to return for another medical mission in September or October and, prior to that, pastor-teaching training in August. Part of the mission of Aid for Haiti is to educate, showing Haitians not only how to care for their ailments and prevent further disease but also be their best spiritual selves.

“I think there will always be a need there,” he said, “but as people become more educated and dependent on themselves, hopefully that will change.”

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/jun/11/lawrence-health-care-workers-aid-remote-village-ha/

Show Me Where To Put the Sugar

CMDA

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The Haitian nurse in the wound clinic said to me, “Show me where to put the sugar”.

I was helping provide emergency medical care in a coastal town 42 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince. The temporary emergency “hospital” was located on the Wesleyan Church Compound in Petit Goave. Since the earthquake, the town’s population had swelled to over 100,000 from its usual 15,000. The town’s small hospital had not been functioning since the earthquake in January and this temporary “emergency facility”, a conglomeration of tarps and tents, was serving hundreds every day.

The wound clinic was under a white tarp large enough to shade several benches where people waited. Three sheets of plywood on crude legs became the treatment areas. The word seemed to spread quickly that wound care was available and people just kept coming. It had been more than a month since the earthquake, but many wounds had had little to no proper attention.

Each wound represented someone who was wounded much deeper that the wound itself and I was impressed as I watched the Haitian nurses lovingly care for each one. Bacteria were having their way in many of the wounds which caused infection and destruction of tissues. Betadine was the most used agent to clean and dress wounds – some improving while many were not. My mind went to Kenya when in the late 90’s we began revisiting the use of sugar and honey for deeply infected wounds. We found it to be very effective in stimulating healing in chronic septic wounds. Several articles were appearing in medical journals around the time, including journals of wound care, encouraging the use of honey or sugar if honey was not available. This was not new; it had been used for over 4000 years – with great success. But, in favor of more expensive and “up-to-date” methods, its use had greatly diminished.

Now, here I was in Haiti; a land where sugar production and growing of sugar care by peasant farmers has been part of a troubled nation. In my hand was a cup of strong Haitian coffee to which I had added 2 tablespoons of sugar. But, I did not see any sugar on the wound dressing table. There was only betadine and that was not in great supply. One of the problems with betadine is that it causes necrosis of good tissue as well as infected tissues. The necrosis of good tissue promotes ongoing infection and poor or delayed wound healing along with increased pain in comparison to honey or sugar. I asked one of the nurses if they ever used honey or sugar in the wounds. The incredulous stares answered my question. In fact they seemed to say, “You must be crazy. Don’t try to make us use something that you would not use yourself. We may be a poor country but we deserve to have care like you expect. We do not appreciate you trying to do this to us!”

I thought of all the ways the Haitian people have been taken advantage of over the last centuries. Foreign countries have plundered the once rich forests of hardwoods leaving eroded, rocky, unproductive fields and mountains. Multinational companies have paid pathetic wages to produce toys and souvenirs that bring a premium in the western world. Leadership has been unjust and has pocketed millions meant to aid those in need.

“Now, here was another rich American standing on Haitian soil for only a few days. And, he is asking if “we ever put sugar on our wounds!”?”

There were still over 200 patients waiting in line so I did not want to take extra time to extol the virtues of sugar and that it would be better. Though the nurses didn’t actually question me, I knew if they used sugar only because I wanted them to while I was watching, they were not going to do it later when I was out of the picture.

So, I knew I had to take the time to teach, to explain about the osmotic forces that keep cells from exploding or shrinking. This is the presumed mechanism of honey/sugar. It kills bacteria by osmotic forces, speeding wound healing, decreases the amount of dead tissue needing debridement, decreases pain at the time of dressing changes, and results in fewer resistant infections.

But, I sensed something more as well. Much too often in missions we from North America just want to take charge. We want to make the decisions, we want to dictate what should and will happen. Is there any wonder why the world often sees us as arrogant and conceited, even in missions? Couldn’t I just say to use sugar on these wounds? It would save a lot of time. And, after all, this is a country used to slavery and dictatorships! In my heart though I knew I could not just dictate or give a command. For far too long, decisions have been wrenched from the people. In fact, they have been told over and over again, to the point they now believe, that they are incapable of making these decisions. Yes, I could dictate this wound needed sugar and someone would apply it. But, would anyone really put their heart into it? Would sugar be used on the next patient or ever again? Would anything really change?

I had to give up the idea that I was in charge or that the decision was mine. I could only coach. I went ahead and took a few minutes to teach and to explain. I shared examples of how honey or sugar had helped in Kenya. And, I stressed how its use was on the increase in the USA and other countries. Then I encouraged the nurse to chose a few patients with dirty wounds and try the sugar.

On the table was a young boy with an infected foot – and I wanted so badly to put sugar on his wound. But, I knew it would do no good if I was the one who did. The nurses live in Haiti while I do not. They would be the ones caring for all the wounds while I would leave in a few days. It is their country, their responsibility, and their decision. I wanted to apply the sugar, but knew I should not. When I suggested, “…use it if you want and see what happens. If you are happy after several days you can decide for yourself if you want to continue. But, I will be gone and it is up to you.”, there was animated discussion that followed.

Soon someone appeared with a coffee-cup like the one in my hand. It held Haitian sugar. One of the nurses said, “Show me where to put the sugar.”!

Over the next few days, as we developed a trusting relationship, an increased number of questions came from the wound clinic. “Would you look at this wound? Could you prescribe some antibiotic and some pain medicine for this patient? Would you please drain this abscess?”

I kept looking for the sugar. Would it appear? Would it be used? I wish I could report to you that I saw hundreds of wounds now being treated with sugar. I wish I could say … No, I cannot.

But, there is sugar in Haiti. I know…I drank of it in my morning coffee. I watched as it was applied to one wound. My impatience told me to apply sugar myself everywhere, anywhere it was needed. I waited…

The Good News must be like this. Missions must be like this. What we want to give, and even impose on others, will do no good unless the heart makes the decision as one’s own. It has taken me 53 years to learn something about this and yet I still want to just have people do it my way or believe as I do.

Great good can come out of Haiti. The people are beautiful. They are fully capable of managing their lives, making decisions, bringing about change that can lead to restored relationships, productive land and a brighter future. Will we give them permission to do so? Will we communicate that we believe in them and support their decisions? Will we allow them to discover the joy of the Kingdom of God that He wants for the Haitian people?

Change takes patience over time.

I left Petit Goave last week. The last evening, as I was helping clean up from the day’s work, I noticed something. Sitting on a table – a table under the white tarp in the wound clinic, a clinic under a large mango tree – was a small coffee cup. It was not mine. The spoon in it was not mine. The sugar inside the cup was not mine. But, there it was.

There is sugar in Haiti.

“Show me where to put the sugar!”

Delivering babies in Devastated Haiti

BY KIRSTIN RIGGS – GUEST OPINION | MARCH 09, 2010

The woman on the table is screaming.

I’m gripping her hand with two fingers — I’ve heard that a woman in labor can break your fingers if you give her your whole hand — and holding her knee up with the other.

I yell, “Puse! Puse!” — one of the few Creole words I’d learned since arriving at a medical clinic in Haiti. I can see the black curls of the baby’s hair.

A week before, I was sitting in my journalism class at the University of Iowa. That’s my major; it’s where I belong. I know nothing medical. Still, earlier this month I found myself as part of a medical team living in army-issued tents in Petit Goâve, Haiti, 20 miles from the epicenter of the Jan. 12 earthquake.

When I wasn’t working in the pharmacy, I was helping women give birth.

We were averaging four to six births a day. Each one was born natural — with no pain medications — and the women usually walked home minutes after giving birth. One brand-new mother rode home on a motorcycle. Twins were born in the back of a rust pickup truck when the doctors didn’t have enough time to move inside.

But back to the birth. The birthing room is very different from the New York hospital where I was born. The walls are made of yellow cement bricks, and a folding table is the bed. Skimpy sheets cover the windows for privacy, but there’s usually a small crowd watching. Chairs and tables line the walls, covered with medical equipment — forceps and clamps, scissors and gauze, a precious bottle of cleansing alcohol.

Another contraction.

“Puse! Puse!”

The baby slides out onto the table. My heart leaps seeing this miraculous new life, but I remember to glance at my watch. The doctor is suctioning the baby’s nose and throat and mopping up blood. It’s another boy.

The minute is up, and the doctor is placing clamps on the umbilical cord. He hands me the scissors and shows me where to cut. The cord is slippery and more difficult to cut than I expected. Brenda, a nurse on our team, beams as she picks up the crying boy with a towel and carries him over to the baby station — the top of a sturdy container flipped upside down.

The tears started falling as I watched the beautiful boy be cleaned off and clothed in a yellow outfit his parents had brought. I haven’t made it through a birth without crying yet. I’m surprised; I had expected to be disgusted or faint. I’ve always found pregnancy beautiful, but watching a birth — its utterly miraculous.

The new mother’s work isn’t done yet. No medical training makes me the honored placenta-bearer. I grab a small blue bucket from the corner and place it under the doctor’s arms. A few moments later, the tub has caught its belongings, and I’m off to take the delivery to the outhouse.

I’m still crying as I return to the delivery room. The boy is wrapped in a warm blanket despite the humid 90 degrees and resting in his father’s arms, who is smiling proudly.

“Merci,” he says, thanking everyone in the room. Most of us are bleary-eyed, including him. His wife will come back in a couple hours to kiss us all on the cheek.

Kirstin Riggs is a UI journalism student. This is the second of three guest opinions on Haiti from Riggs, who is now back in Iowa.

Kirkwood’s Dr. Caleb Trent Is No Stranger To Haitians


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Dr. Caleb Trent, along with other physicians & missionaries, formed Aid To Haiti a year prior to the earthquake. (click for larger version)

March 05, 2010
Talking over coffee back in St. Louis, Dr. Caleb Trent of Kirkwood smiles with a kid’s air of optimism. Full of energy, he hardly seems haggard after returning from a medical mission to Haiti, where he oversaw treatment of some 300 patients daily at a makeshift comprehensive care clinic.

“It was daunting to see that many waiting for us to open. I remember wishing the Lord could be there to touch those in the crowds, as in the Bible,” Trent said.

Trent, an emergency room resident physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, aided medical response efforts after the earthquake – first in Carrefour, near Port-au-Prince, and then in Petit-Goave, 42 miles southwest of the devastated Haitian capital.

He and wife Anna live in downtown Kirkwood with their two young sons. Trent has two more years to go at Barnes-Jewish but hopes to stay in the area after completing his residency requirements, he said.

Right after the earthquake, he and a team of medical professionals/missionaries that had co-founded the relief agency Aid for Haiti a year before raised funds to buy supplies to outfit a makeshift clinic.

Trent, fellow Barnes-Jewish resident physician Chett Schrader, his wife Ashley, businessman/missionary/Aid for Haiti board member Philip Rudolph and his son Michael jumped to action on behalf of the Haitians they had grown to love since founding Aid for Haiti.

Helping underserved Haitians in mountain regions between Port-au-Prince and Jacmel before the earthquake, Trent and fellow University of Tennessee medical students Elliott Tenpenny (now an e.r. physician at the Mayo Clinic) and Philip Sutherland learned to rough it as needed when visiting the island on medical missions.

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Dr. Caleb Trent recently spent two weeks in Haiti, one week of that as the acting medical director in Petit Goave. He traveled to Haiti with the organization, Aid For Haiti, which he cofounded in 2008 as a medical student. photos courtesy of Dr. Caleb Trent (click for larger version)

“We’d carry medicine and supplies in five-gallon buckets for hours up the mountainside to reach the villagers,” Trent said.

Aid for Haiti then zeroed in on those hard-to-reach areas without medical clinics.

After the earthquake, Trent and team finally settled in where the need seemed greatest — a former Wesleyan compound near the damaged Notre Dame hospital in Petit Goave.

Usually, the clinic serves 150,000 patients from around the general area, Trent said. The earthquake upped the numbers served daily by hundreds.

Various medical professionals from different U.S. locales and from around Haiti staffed the Wesleyan clinic, though not with regularity, he said.

He ended up running the open-air clinic while there with a semi-retired ob-gyn doctor from Florida.

All sorts of cases needed attention: Trent remembers being moved by one, in particular — a man with a skull fracture from a traffic accident. He had an exposed brain, and Trent flew with him to the makeshift University of Miami clinic on the Port-au-Prince airport runway for emergency treatment.

“Thankfully, the man responded to treatment, so the medical staff at the U. of Miami clinic sent him to Miami for further care,” Trent said.

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After the earthquake, Trent and team settled in a former Wesleyan compound near the damaged Notre Dame hospital in Petit Goave. (click for larger version)

Another man in respiratory distress after a water jug fell on his chest responded to makeshift methods to give him air.

“I found myself opening his chest up on a stretcher under coconut trees,” said Trent.

The tents blocking mangos and coconuts from hitting people proved as necessary to health as many other measures, said Trent.

After the Petit-Goave mayor demanded some clinic tents for civil affairs, the U.S. Marines built a wood structure the Wesleyan medical staff used for added privacy.

Aid for Haiti staff planned to build another wood clinic in the weeks after Trent staffed the unit, he said.

More medical staff from Barnes-Jewish traveled to the Petit-Goave clinic after receiving an e-mail from Trent asking for help if possible: physician residents Jonathan Heidt (and wife Elizabeth), Amanda Cannarozzi, Joy English, Jacob Keeperman, Amy Kroeger and attending physician Lisa Halcomb (and father).

Barnes-Jewish resident Cannarozzi said she was extremely scared to serve in Haiti, given the safety concerns she’d heard about in the news.

“The scene in Haiti was indescribable,” she said. Cannarozzi lives with husband Dante in University City. “I’d spent time in underdeveloped countries before, but I’ve never seen such poverty as down there. Trash was everywhere. “

The Haitian people, however, showed beautiful spirit, she said.

She said she was moved when a woman who’d lost a baby in childbirth thanked Cannarozzi for all she did in doctoring her.

“I felt horrible that I couldn’t save her baby, yet she thanked me and said I did a great job,” Cannarozzi said.

Working 20 to 22-hour days, Cannarozzi said the situation sometimes verged on the surreal.

One night a local pastor helped Cannarozzi and other medical workers break into the Notre Dame Hospital for an urgent c-section, she said. The Spanish Armada helped resuscitate the baby after the birth.

It took Cannarozzi days to catch up on sleep after returning to St. Louis.

“The mission workers gave everything they had. I saw overwhelming acts of kindness. It restored my faith in humanity,” she said.

Trent said Aid for Haiti, the non-profit he helped found, will phase out service at the Wesleyan Camp on March 15. The group will base Haitian operations after that at a compound seven kilometers away, built some time ago by an Assembly of God church but never much used, he said.

A husband-wife team from the Dominican Republic will staff the new base for the next couple of months, Trent said. He and other doctors will work there when possible as well.

The last delivery Trent handled at the Wesleyan compound convinced him of the Haitian people’s resiliency, he said.

“A woman sang throughout her labor then rode off with her baby on a motorcycle a half hour later,” he said. “That’s tough.”

Read more: http://new.websterkirkwoodtimes.com/Articles-i-2010-03-05-168926.113118_Kirkwoods_Dr_Caleb_Trent_Is_No_Stranger_To_Haitians.html#123#ixzz13IdYtQEq