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I share this message from my friend Norrie Oelkers. While I am now home, she is still in Hinche, Haiti volunteering with Operation Smile:

Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010

It is difficult to write tonight but I feel that if I don't you will not know the true devastation in this country and people need to know some of the stories that continue. We are operating everyday but conditions are very difficult. Our main word in the Operation Smile vocabulary is "Flexibility" and this team of 17 doctors and nurses exemplify this word.

To begin with, it is hard to describe how poor this town of Hinche is and how these people are surviving. There are dirt roads with rocks that make even walking to the hospital difficult. Once we lose daylight we can barely see the hallways of the hospital which are all outdoors.

The patients have no sheets on the beds or pillows unless they bring them from home. Their families bring them food. Partners in Health, the phenomenal group that we we're partnered with, are now supplying food for the patients, since their recovery is hindered by their malnutrition. We are giving them all of our power bars, especially to the children.

It is very hot here and there are 30 people in each ward with no privacy, no running water, not even a cup of water for them to drink. They don't have much, yet they never beg or ask us for help. They speak French Creole, which is not a written language, so it not easy to translate. We have wonderful translators--young students from Port-au-Prince who can't attend school since their University is destroyed. We are paying them $4.00 per day to help us and we are giving them food.

We have some sad stories that are tearing our hearts out. A little 4-year-old was brought in last night who was burned over 85% of his body from a petrol fire in his shack, I have never seen such severe third degree burns (the worst level) and it happened 3 days ago. He has had no pain meds and nothing to eat or drink. The only area that was not burned was where his underpants were worn. We brought him to the OR , gave him morphine and removed his dressings stuck to his body. The surgeon and I and anesthesiologist and nurse who cared for him soon realized that there was no chance of survival and we needed to help this little boy have the least amount of pain possible.

He is in a ward tonight and our nurses are giving palliative care and hospice. Telling the mom was extremely difficult but as we we all cried and prayed in the OR, we want him to be in a better place. I will always remember the loving care that our surgeon and team gave to this little boy, coating his body with silvadine to ease his pain and wrapping him in soft gauze.

In the U.S., he would be in the best burn care facility ever. Operation Smile did call the USNS Comfort but they do not care for burns on the ship and there is no other hospital that can care for him. It is hard not to find solutions for their suffering, since that is what we are trained to do.

The local people had a memorial today for all of the patients who have died here since the earthquake. Last night we heard crying and chanting at 3:30 a.m. because someone died.

We are becoming very attached to some of our young patients and it is heart wrenching to watch them sitting in bed for a month now. Our favorite little boy Jonel left with his grandmother today with his fractured femur. He lost his mom and dad in the earthquake and we don't know how she will be able to raise him.

He laughed heartily when I showed him to Harrison Ford and Harrison just tickled him and showed such compassion to all of the patients. Harrison Ford is a true hero for helping Operation Smile and did not want any press whatsoever.

On the other hand, we have NO crutches or walkers for the children and adults who have fractures and amputations, so they lay in bed every day. We sit every night after we finish in the OR and just talk about what we need and how we can improvise.

We have bonded beyond belief and we will stay friends for life because of what we have seen. These people need long term relief such as the help of one of our teammates who is a physical therapist who is helping get them out of bed to walk again. She is having some men make crutches out of old junk, broken chairs and anything else she can get her hands on.

No one has gotten sick because we are not really eating very much. We have a small breakfast in the morning made by a local woman. Yesterday we had spaghetti with a strange sauce. Then we get our main meal at 2:30 p.m. which is very different every day. Yesterday we had rice, beets and potatoes and goat. Today we had sandwiches for breakfast with cheese, ham and a pink mayonnaise mixture.

We get a thick soupy pot of something at 8 p.m.--but we sneak it over to our little patients. Now that we know that we only get one meal a day, we make sure we eat everything at 3 p.m. I bought 4 large jars of peanut butter and 4 boxes of Ritz crackers and that is our evening meal.

I just pray every day that we can continue to help these people and make a difference. I feel honored to be a part of this relief effort and I thank Operation Smile for allowing being here. After 32 missions, this is the one that will stay with me and remind me of how much I have to be thankful for every day in my life!

- Norrie Oelkers, Clinical Coordinator in Hinche

Harrison Ford flys help to Haiti

Operation Smile supporter, legendary actor and humanitarian Harrison Ford piloted his Cessna 208 Caravan to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Saturday, February 6 to command a remarkable airlift of Operation Smile medical volunteers and supplies into Hinche, Haiti to provide much needed treatment for earthquake victims.

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Actor and Humanitarian Harrison Ford Assists Operation Smile’s Relief Efforts in Haiti

February 2010

Operation Smile supporter, legendary actor and humanitarian Harrison Ford piloted his Cessna 208 Caravan to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Saturday, February 6 to command a remarkable airlift of Operation Smile medical volunteers and supplies into Hinche, Haiti to provide much needed treatment for earthquake victims. Mr. Ford decided to volunteer his time, piloting skills and aircraft in response to an urgent request from Operation Smile, Inc. for logistical support after the organization announced that it was sending three additional medical teams and over 2 ½ tons of medical supplies across three locations in Haiti.

After battling three days of adverse weather conditions between Los Angeles and Miami during last week’s winter storm, Mr. Ford made several trips over a two-day period to a remote dirt landing strip in Haiti and delivered a team of 20 volunteers that included plastic surgeons, an orthopedic surgeon, anesthesiologists, and eight nurses along with critical medical supplies. Given the logistical challenges and difficult travel routes from the Dominican Republic to Haiti, Mr. Ford’s efforts significantly sped the process of getting the medical team and supplies to Hinche so care could be given most expeditiously to children and adults who have been waiting for weeks to receive treatment.

Mr. Ford wanted to provide support after seeing the devastating impact of the earthquake, and noted, “This is not about me, it is just about doing what I can to help Operation Smile and the people of Haiti.”

After he safely delivered the balance of volunteers and supplies, Mr. Ford was able to visit with both pediatric and adult victims of the earthquake at the hospital in Hinche, all with devastating injuries requiring urgent surgical treatment. Most had been buried in the rubble of collapsed buildings, subsequently rescued and brought by family members to this remote area because of no alternative locations for care. Upon arrival, the Operation Smile medical team rapidly triaged patients according to the severity of their injuries and additional patients were directed to physical therapy volunteers to begin the process of rehabilitation.

Operation Smile team leader and plastic surgeon, Dr. Craig Merrell, noted, "We are truly thankful that we were able to get here as expeditiously as possible, in order to begin treatment of patients who are suffering from infections, open wounds, and untreated fractures from the recent earthquake.”

Operation Smile is working directly with Partners In Health in Hinche to provide critical surgical care for the overwhelming number of patients. A second team was sent to Fond Parisien to relieve an initial group of Operation Smile volunteers who arrived on January 22, and helped establish a comprehensive medical and surgical compound that expanded the capacity and level of care for hundreds of patients. A third team is currently working with the United States military aboard the USNS Comfort. Since Operation Smile has been in Haiti, its medical volunteer teams have conducted hundreds of medical and surgical procedures.

Operation Smile is known for its 28-year history of providing cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries in developing countries and is not traditionally a disaster relief organization. However, the organization made a commitment to utilize its unique resources and quickly mobilize medical volunteers from around the world to provide assistance in Haiti. With over 4,000 Operation Smile credentialed medical volunteers and a presence in over 50 countries, the organization has immediate access to trained surgical and medical professionals who have experience working in difficult environments. In addition, the Operation Smile logistics team is skilled in deploying and organizing highly functional field hospitals in developing countries across the globe.


For updates on Operation Smile’s efforts in Haiti, visit the daily blog on www.operationsmile.org/haiti

Great News. Our story on Harrison Ford will be on E! News tonight.

Our team in Hinche was just joined by Dr. Marie May Louis Fils, our Operation Smile Program coordinator, who also works with Zanmi Lasante (Partners In Health). She has been helping out with coordination in Hinche and also in the ORs as a general surgeon. So happy to have her on the team and to work with such compassionate people.

Also, a patient showed up yesterday 80% covered in 3rd degree burns.

Harrison Ford arrives

Harrison Ford arrived today with his plane. He flew from California with forced weather stops. He and his co-pilot Terry were exhausted. He will be spending the next few days shuttling Operation Smile medical team members and medical supplies in to Hinche, Haiti. This just shows what a generous human being he is. He wants to help and is able to make a significant difference in the lives of people here. The first surgeries should take place tomorrow afternoon.

What we have heard is that there are 30 surgical cases waiting for our team already. One small boy has severe burns over 30% of his body and will need skin grafts. Many people have lost limbs and will need a lot of physical therapy even after their wounds have healed. This is a different kind of mission for Operation Smile. They have come to Haiti to provide relief and medical assistance in a land where there is nothing. And they are training local doctors and nurses to do surgeries and provide care once they have gone.













Operation Smile has one team at a tent city of Fond Parisien. Another will be at Hinche where we are going in a few minutes. And a third team is on the USS Comfort, a medical ship anchored off shore in Port Au Prince.

I am not sure if I will be able to access the internet until later this week. Without a BlackBerry communication is difficult in this country at best.

Our team is terrific. We have one member from Denmark, 4 from Canada and the rest from the US, one is a Haitian-American. All hearty souls and dedicated to serving others. Well, we are about to fly out.

Haiti Bound

Along with Lois Ephraim of the Russ Reid Company I'm off to Haiti today. We'll be spending the next few days documenting the tremendous work of Operation Smile with the desperate families left helpless and hurting from the recent earthquake.



We arrived late last night in Miami (on Super Bowl weekend) and made our way to the Courtyard by Marriot. A few hours of sleep and now it's time to head back to the airport for the next leg of our journey...Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. It is there that we will meet up with the Operation Smile team that will be going in to Hinche, Haiti to set up a complete operating theater with all medical supplies and medical staff.

More to come.