written by: H. Stephen Fletcher, M.D., K.M.
This is the chronology of our medical mission to Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake.
For the past ten years under the auspices of the American Association of the Knights of Malta and the New Jersey Knights of Malta I have been travelling to Milot, Haiti with a surgical team from St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey where I am an attending surgeon on staff. We actually send two teams, soon to be three, for a week each.
The teams alternate between a General Surgery team led by me and a GYN team led by Dr. Ladocsi.
My team was regularly scheduled to be in Haiti the week of January 15-23. On Tuesday, January 12th at 4:53 in the afternoon an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale struck Haiti. The epicenter was situated 15 miles west south west of the capitol, Port-au-Prince. Virtually the entire city and much of the surrounding area were destroyed. This included all of the medical facilities some eight hospitals and most of the government buildings. Some 70,000 or more people died in the quake and later of injuries suffered. Most of the medical personnel in the hospitals and clinics were also killed. The port was also destroyed as well as the airport terminal and the control tower. The earthquake lasted slightly less than one minute. It would be eight days before any meaningful medical help would arrive in Port au Prince. Ironically the first effective team on the ground in Port au Prince would be the Israelis who brought an entire “mash” portable hospital ready to go.
Read more about Dr. Fletcher’s mission.
