I was going to go all philosophical and write about justice. Instead, I find myself tired and needing to get up early for work (here in Maryland – hooray for business trips). So instead I will share some facts about Haiti. I know, I know – it’s been a whole week. Forgive me, I care.
The quick and dirty summary is that every building in which I ever slept on my three trips to Haiti is now rubble – but the people I met seem to have survived. St. Joseph’s hospice in Port Au Prince fell down entirely. In Fondwa, both the guest house and the school are “a loss.” Fortunately, the orphanage sustained “minor damage,” and only one child was killed.
It’s becoming clear that while Port au Prince is in really rough shape – the rest of the country is going to quietly get the worse of it. The World Health Organization has designated Partners in Health to lead major portions of the medical response (hey, you’ve been here 25 years, you wanna drive?). The CDC is stepping in to provide some level of advice and support for the public health nightmare that is about to happen.
I’m still looking into whether it makes any sense at all to go down there. We’ve got a few contacts, and the consensus appears to be that unless you’re a trained emergency responder, a trauma surgeon, or someone with major construction skills – you might want to hold off for a few weeks.
