Merlin's Alex Cottin writes about an extraordinary day in Haiti.
“Qu’est-ce qui vous etes arrivé?”
If you ever need to learn French as part of a medical emergency relief effort after a natural disaster, this is precisely the phrase that you must learn.
“What exactly happened to you?”
What initially started out as a rather slow day turned out to be one of the most eventful and adrenaline-filled experiences of my life. Oh, and I witnessed a few lives being saved too.
Bouncing from patient to patient in our newly established field hospital, I found myself translating this very query in order to assist Merlin’s medical staff and to help make light of the origins of many complex fractures and various trauma injuries. And though I must confess that my initial tolerance for trauma, blood and severe injuries rivalled my medical knowledge, I’ve surprised myself lately with my increasing threshold for such things.
I wish I could recite the names and stories of each patient I met today. What I will never forget however is the opportunity I had to be able to assist Merlin’s medical staff this afternoon. I don’t profess to know a single bit of medical expertise, but I’ve realised lately that there is so much more to medicine than pure science. The human condition, connecting with each patient on as much of a personal level as possible I feel is truly paramount to making one feel better. Perhaps it’s just my way of justifying my medical ineptitude, but I know that in the end, we all did our part today. We all helped as many people as possible, in whatever way we could. And that satisfaction was only heightened by the fact that we managed to get five tonnes of medical supplies through safely.
Aid is getting in – make no mistake! And Merlin is doing all it can to expedite the process.
Looking back over the past few days and realising just how much we’ve been able to do – from partnering up with local organisations to finding a suitable, secured area to operate in the midst of one of the worst hit areas, to actually saving life after life, I am truly amazed by how much we’ve accomplished.
With every success story however, it seems that there are so many glimpses of reality that remind us of the gravity of the situation.
I met a wonderful little girl, Makenle, who’s turning two tomorrow. Her mother had been crushed and died during the earthquake. She had fallen on top of her mother and broken her arm. Just sit back and think about this for a minute. Seeing your own mother dying is one thing, but imagine witnessing such an atrocity in these circumstances, just a week shy of your second birthday.
Makenle also had a pretty bad gash on her head, but we assured her father that in the end, she would be okay. I fought hard to hold back the tears to translate to her brave dad that for now, all she needed was to get her cut disinfected and that we would put her arm in a cast. At this point, he uneasily mentioned to me that he didn’t have any money to pay for the cast. I assured him that Merlin would take care of her, free of charge.
I was taken aback by the dignity of her father who, despite having lost his wife and being left alone to take care of his two year old daughter, had waited in the blistering sun for hours to explore every option to get Makenle better. And Merlin helped them. I couldn’t be prouder.
I’ll never forget Makenle. I hope to come back to Haiti one day and visit her and her father. Maybe I’ll also mention how much they’ve affected me.
Help us save lives in Haiti: Donate now