Hi, from Haiti

Well, they called and sent me in the middle of the night. It's been an interesting week, to say the least. No time now, will post more when I get home in about another week.

Jeff M

Stay safe, by being careful of people and your surroundings, my friend !!!!

Thanks for stepping up, Jeff. Be safe. Fight the good fight; and when you get back, please share what you've learned.

Doug

Good luck!

Looking forward to hearing how it was!

-Blast, almost jealous

Stay safe, Jeff!

Godspeed.

Stay safe!

Check your "6"

Funny how everyone seems to be concerned for his physical safety. As if he is going off to war and needs to fear the people around him. Statistically rescuers, even in the worse third world conditions, are far safer from physical violence than many in urban areas within the US.

The major short term risks are exhaustion, psychological trauma, back strain, temporary digestive issues. Depression, nervousness, PTSD, and long term-respiratory issues associated with concrete dust and undifferentiated contaminates are common long term issues.

I wish him well but my advice would be to make sure you sleep any time you get half a chance, eat and drink regularly. Even if you don't feel like it. Haiti is tropical so wear a long-sleeve shirt, hat and lay on the sunscreen heavily. Stay hydrated. Pace yourself. Rest any chance you get.

Good grief Art, maybe they don't want him to get crushed under debris, step on a nail, throw his back out lifting a heavy box of supplies, each some bad food, let himself get dehydrated due to not being accustomed to the weather, have some idiot smash his hand with a badly moved crate, pick up some sort of disease, or any number of other accidents that can happen in a disaster zone.

-Blast, unsurprised

You have serious health issues to contend with. Open sewage, dead bodies, rampant disease....that, and criminals. Haiti isnt really a nice place. It hasnt been for a long time. Thats just the way it is. Being concerned for ones safety, in a hostile area, is kind of what we preach here....it may not be a war zone, but you still need to watch out for the criminal element. Which, in Haiti, is a large chunk of the populace.
My heart goes out to the children there though. They had nothing to begin with; now, with a large part of them orphaned, they dont even have parents to watch over them. It breaks my heart to see adults taking the food from kids from a couple of the food drops. That is, unfortunately, the lifestyle of the poor in that country though.

Have fun Jeff. From everything I hear it is a real big one, a once in a lifetime event.

Having fun in Haiti is dangerous to one's health,,,,in the best of times!!!!!

Digging through the debris of collapsing buildings, potential health hazards from many different sources, a 6 point aftershock earlier this week. I meant what I said, and it's stay safe.

I will not wish you well, because I know you will do well. Eventhough I have never met you, I know you will do your best, because I know who you are as a person.


Fight the good fight-
Pete

I was recently talking to one of my crew passengers and he said he spent a year in Haiti with the military. He said he's never seen so many people so poor, so desperate, or with such big smiles.

Sue

Seems like socializing makes them happy... hmm. I remember hearing good stories of people having a great time in their neighborhoods after Hurricane Andrew. Then the electricity came back on.

Thanks, everyone. The good wishes are sincerely appreciated. I'm home now, safe and sound, assuming my malaria prophylaxis worked!

Most of my time was spent between helping care for the huge, desperate crowds gathered for days in horrid conditions at the Embassy, working at the airport screening, caring for and loading evacuees into aircraft, and working at the Casualty Collection Point for the USNS Comfort hospital ship.

From a survivalist POV, the outstanding lessons are:

Have your passport on you at all times, if possible, with extra photocopies in your baggage, with all your traveling companions, and with a readily accessible and motivated friend back home. Those with it could go directly to the airport and get on a C-17 back home with minimal hassle. Those without faced days of waiting in the mob of thousands outside the Embassy, in the sun without (initially) food, water, toilets, etc., as the overwhelmed staff tried to confirm their citizenship.

Cash is king. Have some on you. US currency was more than good enough in Haiti.

Water was problematic. Have some means to make it safe.

Your travel FAK needs to include antibiotics and a backup supply of any meds you depend on.

Reliable info was scarce, and dangerously misleading rumors abounded. Somewhat surprisingly, cellphones and even WiFi worked in several places, allowing access to help and reliable information from home.

Respect for the locals and local officials, great patience, tolerance for ambiguity, and the ability to not act like a rude, arrogant, demanding American is very helpful.

Welcome back, Jeff. We were all hoping you avoided any illness or injury.

Thanks for the after-action report. There's some good nuggets in there, especially for anyone who travels outside their home country. Three days in the sun with no food, water, or toilets sounds like hell. How big was this crowd? Any idea if similar crowds were gathered around other embassies?

Has this experience made you rethink any of your own/family's preps?

-Blast, glad you are back and ready to learn what you learned (but in the comfort of my own home!)

Thanks Jeff. Words to live by.

I heard there were about 50,000 US citizens in Haiti, mostly of Haitian origin, plus dependents, relatives, resident aliens and untold others seeking a visa or other assistance. The crowd was huge and the wait was sometimes several days. When we arrived we found many crowded into waiting rooms, with feces and vomit on the floor, many more crowded into outdoor courtyards within the embassy, and lines outside stretching into the distance. There were injured people, elderly people, pregnant women, and very many children and infants. Some had not eaten in days, many were ill, and all were dehydrated. It was a humanitarian and public health crisis in the making, but we were able to get things sorted out and radically improve conditions there.

The Haitians I met were unfailingly polite, friendly, patient, kind and extremely appreciative of anything we did. The foreign nationals involved in the rescue effort were a little less so. One graffiti: "We trust USA, not France." They had little good to say about the UN, either, who had a large footprint there, but seemed to be doing little or nothing to help.

Disease was also a major issue, especially Malaria and Dengue Fever. But your advice is sound. Thanks. As for physical security, that was well covered at a nearly paranoid level for us. Shooters often outnumbered rescuers.

Welcome back! Lots of good info.

With regard to antibiotics, I'm not a medical professional. Where do you get them? And how do you know which ones to take?

Ask your doctor for a prescription, explain it is for wilderness/foreign travel/emergency use only when there is no access to medical care, and not for routine "emergencies" at home.

Cipro may be an appropriate choice for your physician to prescribe. It has broad coverage over wounds, lower respiratory and urinary tract infections, infectious diarrhea, typhoid, etc.

Please get proper and thorough medical instruction on this, to make sure you know exactly when (and when not) and how to use whatever medicine is prescribed.

(Since I'm a paramedic, I tend to get some trust and leeway with this sort of thing. YMMV.)

I was asked privately what group I went to Haiti with. I thought it might be of more general interest:

Federal Dep't of Health and Human Services, National Disaster Medical System, Disaster Medical Assistance Team Florida 1.

http://www.hhs.gov/aspr/opeo/ndms/index.html

http://www.floridaonedmat.com/

Basically, a system of disaster medical teams throughout the US, capable of rapid deployment and equipped to set up and operate austere field hospitals, perform casualty collection and evacuation, and augment damaged or overwhelmed local medical infrastructure.

We are classified as a unformed, non-military service, and have the same legal job status as guardsmen and reservists when deployed.

THANKS for your service Jeff and the reports on the Forum, we all learned from your experience.

Mike