LGH’s Team Haiti returns after successful journey

“We faced some challenges along the way but it was definitely worth it.” That’s how Lions Gate Hospital Registered Nurse Kristi Lange summed up a week spent in Port au Prince, Haiti by herself as part of the 25-member team of LGH staff and physicians who volunteered their time at Bernard Mevs Hospital.

Despite the foreign surroundings and some 12-hour days where they dealt with complex, unfamiliar patient needs, the team’s efforts made a difference in the lives of a number of Haitians, all of whom desperately needed good health care. Organized through a non-profit called Broken Earth, the dedicated professionals volunteered their time as well as a healthy load of supplies, to help improve health care in Haiti.

Some of their highlights included:

• Working with Haitian medical residents and nurses, teaching them a variety of procedures
• Dozens of thank you’s from local Haitians as well as those patients treated in the hospital
• Wonderful hospitality and a warmer-than-Vancouver climate

Some of the challenges the team faced included:

•  Attempting to provide quality care despite not having basic equipment in some cases (i.e. many blood pressure cuffs had holes in them, causing the air to leak out).
• Cramped quarters where team members slept 8-to-a-room, sharing one bathroom.
• A triaging process that made it difficult to determine who should be cared for next.
• Getting 50 large duffel bags of medical supplies from Vancouver to Port au Prince, Haiti.

Plans are already underway on a return trip to Bernard Mavs and fundraising and sponsors will again be needed. For more information, contact Kristi Lange, RN at langekc@gmail.com or to make a donation to the cause, go to the Broken Earth web site.