UNITED AID FOUNDATION

RESPONDS TO THE DISASTER

IN HAITI

When a devastating earthquake hit the country of Haiti on January 12, 2010, the senior leadership of United Aid Foundation (UAF) immediately sent John and Mary Jane Alex on a mission to assess the situation and assist in relief efforts.

With direction from UAF medical director Dr. Domingo Nunez and his colleague Dr. Juan Tapia, the team set out for Jimani, the tiny town is on the border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Our team arrived to find both hospitals in Jimani full of earthquake victims, arriving by helicopter, ambulance, pick up trucks, and even by wheelbarrow. Upon stepping into the hallway our team watched as babies were rushed inside just after being pulled from the rubble, as children with horrific bone breaks were carried in on makeshift stretchers, women is distressed labor, and adults in desperate need of surgery lining the hallways on the floor awaiting their turn. Tragically, many of the patients with orthopedic injuries would be forced to have limbs amputated because there were not enough specialists or supplies on hand.

John and Mary Jane delivered the medical supplies they had carried with them, met with the Dominican Republic Health Minister, plus the doctors and nurses from both small hospitals to gather information on further needs that included everything from the most basic supplies to anesthesia doctors and nurses.

Within days UAF volunteers in New York and Kansas City, Missouri had several pallets of life saving medicines and supplies donated from Lee's Summit Hospital in Missouri, and Kaiser Permanete in Virginia shipped directly to Jimani, and a team of anesthesia and orthopedic doctors organized to make the trip immediately with a goal of saving as many lives and limbs as humanely possible.