City of Cottonwood
Fire Department
July
22, 2013 (Cottonwood AZ) The City of
Cottonwood Fire Department recently had two
personnel travel to Haiti where they provided medical assistance.
Firefighter Patrick McInnis spent the second week of July in Haiti and
Lieutenant Brady Casson spent the third week in July. Both men made this trip on their personal
time and at their personal expense with the desire to utilize their medical
skills to assist the people of Haiti. Cottonwood Fire Department and the City
of Cottonwood are fortunate to have personnel willing to give of themselves and
their resources to help those in need whether in our community or around the
world.
Here
is a report of his activities in Haiti submitted by Firefighter Patrick
McInnis:
Cottonwood
Fire Department Firefighter Patrick McInnis in back of truck
used to transport
patients in Haiti
Haiti
- Life and Death in Port au Prince
A
few years ago I spoke to some friends who had volunteered their medical skills
in Haiti. For years I have been interested in volunteering internationally for
disaster response although I found it difficult to find a way to help. I was
recently able to make my goal a reality by volunteering for a week at Hospital
Bernard Mevs in Port au Prince, Haiti. This opportunity was accomplished through
“Project Medishare.” This nonprofit organization coordinates sending medical
professionals from the United States and Canada to volunteer alongside local
hospital staff. This hospital relies heavily on medical volunteers from North
America to assist in keeping the hospital up and running.
Haiti
has a long and varied past with a violent and crippling birth. In 1492
Christopher Columbus landed in the area and claimed the island for Spain. The
Spanish later built the New Worlds first settlement on Haiti’s north coast. In
the late 1600s Haiti became French controlled and supplied large amounts of
sugar, rum, coffee and cotton with slave labor. A bloody slave rebellion
lasting many years finally led to Haiti’s independence and eventual
international recognition as an independent country. Haiti has endured civil
war and great social and political unrest over the years to bring it to where
it is today. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere still
struggling to recover from the January 12, 2010 earthquake. According to some
official estimates, 316,000 people were killed, 300,000 injured and 1.3 million
displaced.
My
trip took me from Phoenix to Miami and then to Port au Prince, Haiti. Port au Prince
is Haiti’s capital and is a crowded, busy and humid city. After landing in Port
au Prince we were picked up by hospital staff and driven to the hospital. We
were given a tour of the hospital and had a little time to relax. During the tour, a
pickup truck brought in a woman with a deep laceration to her neck from a fight
involving a bottle. My first shift started that evening, with me working the
night shift from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. By the end of my shift, I had been awake for
roughly 28 hours due to the long hours traveling to Haiti.
The
hospital is located in a rough part of a rough city. The United Nations (UN)
has a large armed security presence throughout the city, which they call a
“stabilization mission.” There is a large UN base close by and UN helicopters
and planes would fly overhead. One day a heavily armed Haitian SWAT team
carried out an operation just outside the hospital gates. Primarily I worked in
triage, which is where most patients come for assessment to determine if they need to be admitted
to the hospital. A large gate and guards with shotguns secured the front of the
hospital. A patient would come to the front gate and be admitted only after a
conversation with a triage EMT. If there was no space available or if their
illness or injury was not deemed serious enough they are turned away. The triage
area is a small room with three walls, a bed and medical supplies. I worked a
variety of shifts during my week there, with shifts ranging from eight to 15
hours at a time, depending on how much help was needed. The weather was hot and
humid and I would sweat most of the time with little relief. Often there were
not enough of certain supplies or they would just completely run out. Other
times equipment would not work so other equipment would have to be hunted down
from other parts of the hospital. Every afternoon, the city power would be shut
off and the hospital had to rely completely on generators and newly installed
solar panels.
I
had the opportunity to assist in the care of a great number of patients. Some
of the injuries I dealt with were large lacerations from being slashed with
knives. One young man was attacked with a machete and robbed. I assisted as his
wounds were cleaned and sutured. A young woman came in with deep lacerations
across her forehead and down her face from a large knife. There were countless
lacerations from people being hit in the head with rocks or bottles. One man
came in with a gunshot wound to his leg. One young boy fell off the second
story of his house. Some patients came in barely breathing after suffering a large
stroke or various illnesses. One man came in who had accidentally drank battery
acid, another man had accidentally drank paint thinner and there was a woman
who intentionally overdosed on pills. Once I had the opportunity to hold and
feed a tiny premature baby weighing barely three pounds who was going home with
her family the next day, only to have another tiny premature little girl lose
her fight for life in front of me. There was nothing more that could be done
for her.
One
afternoon some American patients arrived at the hospital as the result of a
vehicle accident. An injured man and his wife had lost their daughter and their
injured friend had lost his daughter and sister in the accident. The Haitian
driver had also perished. Our hearts went out to them, and all of us working at
the hospital felt their tragedy very deeply. We assisted with their care and
medical evacuation back to the US the next day.
The
last patient of my last shift, a young man was brought in the back of a pickup
truck. He had been in a motorcycle accident and lost his fight for life while
traveling to the hospital. Though my stay I observed many patients coming in on
foot, in the back of pickup trucks or on the back of motorcycles. Occasionally
they arrived in ambulances of various types.
On
numerous occasions I left the hospital to transport patients to other hospitals
around the city. Usually this involved a pickup truck and extremely minimal
supplies. One day we took one young boy suspected of having cholera to two
different facilities but they both turned him away. In Haiti there is not
always space available so people sometime go without care. At some facilities
they are also denied care if they are unable to pay. The hectic “race car pace”
through crowded busy streets with little or no traffic laws while riding in the
back of a pickup truck with a sick child is something I will never forget.
Later that day during a separate trip to the general hospital the young boy was
finally admitted. This child lived on the streets and had no parents. Our
hospital did not have the ability to care for cholera patients so he had to be
transferred. I left him in a crowded and dark pediatric ward after getting him
registered. As I walked away I left a piece of my heart behind with him.
These
are just a few of the countless situations and patients I encountered during my
time in Haiti. I left the country with my head spinning, wondering what I had
just been through over the past week. I gained a great appreciation for the
healthcare we have here in the United States. I was also thankful for the
quality of our medical equipment and supplies we have at the Cottonwood Fire
Department. On my first shift back to work on my fire engine, it was a relief
to know I had enough of whatever equipment I needed to deal with any emergency.
I have been asked numerous times since I returned if I would ever go back to
Haiti. As difficult and downright traumatic as the experience was, I feel an
inner calling to help. I have no question that I will return one day soon.
Patrick McInnis, Cottonwood Fire Department
Date: July 16, 2013
Contacts: Mike Kuykendall, Fire Chief 928-634-2741
Cottonwood Fire Department mkuykendall @ cottonwoodaz.gov
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