The relief effort in Haiti continues.  Another team of volunteers (including some from as far away as the United Arab Emirates) arrived in the country this week and are now hard at work giving medical care.  The CURE hospital in the D.R. continues to care for Haitian patients as needed.  We once again want to extend a heartfelt thanks to all of the volunteers who have contributed so much to the relief efforts.

We also received an update from Rob Werner. Rob is one of the volunteers on the ground at the Haitian Community Hospital.  In a nutshell, he’s the “go to guy” for many things at the hospital.  Even in the midst of his busy days, he took the time to send us an update.  In it, he talks about some of the people he’s encountered at the hospital, the heroes of the Haiti relief effort.  Here is some of what he shared:

I want to share with you some of the interesting people I have encountered:

The “teams” – One fun thing about this work has been all the groups that came together in response to the earthquake. There’s “Rescue 24,” the University of Nebraska, the Detroit Medical Center and all the national teams like the Swedes, the Koreans and the Jamaicans.

There were two doctors who spent a day unpacking boxes – I don’t even know their names or specialties, but a few days ago, I was told that these docs were the ones that spent all day unpacking boxes of clinical supplies earlier in the week. Sometimes the most pressing job is a pretty simple one, and it is inspiring to see people who always stand ready to do the jobs most needing to be done.

Amy – She is a nurse who just seemed to constantly be getting things done while I constantly seemed to be spending lots of time on things that I didn’t quite pull off.

Johnny – Johnny is my host here in Port-au-Prince. His family stepped in to help this hospital, and subsequently helped some of the first foreigners arriving in every way imaginable, arranging transportation, sourcing materials and, in my case, even providing a nice meal many evenings and a bed to sleep in.

Renan – She was one of many patients who lost a limb to amputation. I have no idea what happened to her. What I can tell you is that for many volunteers, when they were tired or despairing, there was nothing like Renan’s smile or wave as you passed by. Her sweet smile makes her one of the greatest heroes in this place, because it’s something in shorter supply than anything we have needed.

Renan and her brother

Remember, you can donate to the CURE Haiti Relief Team by going here.