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Donated medical supplies reach Haiti

by Michael Ettner
| August 11, 2010 9:00 PM

After sitting in a warehouse in Ocala, Fla., for the past two months, a shipment of medical supplies donated by folks from around our region was loaded onboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima aircraft carrier in late July.

The U.S. Marine Corps is transporting it at no cost to Port de Paix, Haiti. There to meet it was Dr. Michael Ettner, an emergency room physician at Kootenai Medical Center, his wife, Jill Ettner, a respiratory therapist at the North Idaho Advanced Care Hospital, and Rachel Wickham, an emergency room nurse at Kootenai. Here's Dr. Ettner's account of the delivery.

Jill Ettner, Rachel Wickham, R.N., Kerold Delacruz (our Haitian driver) and I arrived in Port de Paix Saturday, July 24, after touring the destruction in Port au Prince and driving nine hours north along barely passable roads. We just missed Tropical Storm Bonnie but she left high-flowing rivers and thigh-deep mud on precarious, cliff-perched roads. We drove nine hours but only used a quarter tank of petrol!

There was no hotel room to be found in the only acceptable lodging in this impoverished and neglected northern city. We were allowed to sleep on the floor in the bar and battled heat, humidity, a hard floor and mosquitoes through a long night.

Sunday morning we met the ground force of the U.S.S. Iwo Jima aircraft carrier. They had attempted landing by boat but the beaches provided inhospitable with quicksand-like mud. Amphibious vehicles, forklifts and trucks struggled ashore over several hours.

Operations were significantly delayed and plans were changed to offloading 250 pallets by helicopter sling-load. Our pallets were successfully offloaded on the afternoon of July 28, four days after our arrival.

We loaded our truck with the goods: crutches, canes, walkers, agriculture equipment, operating table, dental chairs, halogen lights, hospital sheets & blankets, medicines, laparotomy packs, etc. We even stowed 500 teddy bears donated by the U.S. Navy.

We then commenced on a nine-hour arduous drive to central Haiti arriving at 2:30 a.m. We encountered a Haitian National Police roadblock where our truck driver was taken into custody. We were able to calm the situation down and free our driver. A bribe was demanded but we refused and went on our way.

At 4:30 a.m., two hours later, we drove three and a half hours to Port au Prince and flew off to Miami, beyond exhaustion. A medical team from California arrived in Hinche an hour after we departed and offloaded the truck. The next day, I was informed that nearly a dozen patients with amputations had already received badly needed mobility devices.

As we recover from the trip, we have reflected on all those that made this project possible. We must first thank God, our creator, who orchestrated every stage of this process and opened all the necessary doors, while closing all the others.

Thank you to Paula Davenport with Kootenai Health's Community Relations department, the Coeur d'Alene Press, the Spokesman Review and KXLY-TV and KVNI-AM radio for invaluable media coverage leading to massive community donations of crutches, canes and walkers.

Thanks to Mr. Ron McIntire and employees at Super One Foods, the Kroc Center and North Idaho Advanced Care Hospital for providing for donation sites. Kootenai Medical Center and North Idaho Advanced Care Hospital for significant equipment and supply donations. Kidcare International, Compassion Alliance, the US Navy, the US Marine Corps (Project Handclasp) without whom this could not have happened. And certainly, the exceedingly generous people of North Idaho and Spokane for their incredible donations of equipment and money!

As a community of the Inland Northwest, we have all made a significant difference in the lives of Haitians and, Lord-willing, we will continue to do so over the years ahead. I wish you all could experience the smiles and hear the heart-felt thanks of the beleaguered yet persevering people of Haiti. THEY TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR GIFTS OF LOVE !!