Global Humanity does exist.
You've all seen what's on the news. What you don't see is the 360 degree view of devastation. It looks like an atomic bomb went off in Port-au-Prince. High-rises collapsed to the ground - no possibility of survivors. The stench of people who died in these buildings doesn't wash out of your nostrils. Whole hillsides of buildings and homes are gone - leaving just the back walls that were built into the mountains and part of the what used to be floors. Too many electric lines are down to restore electricity to Port-au-Prince for a very long time. There was another aftershock Sunday night while we were there.
I spent most of my time in makeshift tent hospitals. The University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Project Medishare, which had the largest tent hospital, followed by the Israeli Military tent hospital - IsraAID. Both are doing remarkable work and saving hundreds of lives a day. They each are doing a plethora of amputations of septic crushed limbs.
Both groups need ICU Units, CT cameras, X-ray, dialysis machines, Doppler(sonogram machines) and containerized Operating Rooms desperately.
Project Medishare is accepting patients as fast as they come, patching up the non-critical and sending them home - more accurately back to the street. IsraAid has a mob scene on the road, which they were handling well. They are able to triage critical versus non-critical, which they have to turn away. It wasn't hard for me to get in. One "Shalom," they shook my hand, hugged me and brought me to Dr. Iky Ginsberg from the University of Miami, who was there coordinating with them. Unlike the UM Docs, the Israeli Docs have guns. My son-in-law Turbo (Wally Yoost) and I did too. Boca Raton seems dangerous compared to the Israeli compound in Haiti.
Project Medishare is almost ready to move into four enormous air-conditioned new tents that they just constructed. Hopefully IMSuRT (International Medical Surgical Response Team) will join forces with Project Medishare and locate on Medishare's massive property a new facility on Port-au-Prince Airport grounds.
I met the President and First Lady of Haiti at the current Medishare tent hospital and at the new Medishare massive site. They are both so grateful. The patients were so touched that their President and First Lady were visiting them in the UM-Medishare hospital.
There were so many massive cargo planes and soldiers flown in yesterday the airport looked like a war zone. Mostly US Military, but many from Canada and planes from Czechoslovakia, Finland, Ecuador, Brazil, Russia and so many other countries. This massive air operation was run flawlessly by TYNDALL AFB. The humanity of so many countries coming to the aid of Haiti is such a beautiful message compared to the psychotic wars and unrest in the other parts of the world.
Coordination is what is lacking now. People are dying like flies for no reason. Children.
Water and food is arriving, but it's not being distributed. There truly is no water or food for Haitian people right now. There's not enough water and food for the doctors and patients in the tent hospitals. The Haitian people are sleeping outside because they are scared of going back into their homes or buildings. At night, there were thousands of people sleeping in public parks (nothing like US parks), on the side of and in the streets. They would barricade areas off with rocks on highways and are sleeping on the rubble filled highways and streets.
Hopefully our Military, IMSuRT, Medishare, IsraAid and others can coordinate efforts and build a real hospital on the new Medishare site that the University of Miami built faster than the militaries of the various countries could build theirs. It would save tens of thousands of lives.
Our plane has flown over a hundred surgeons down and dozens of patients back. We need a large airplane that can hold more than 11 surgeons doing two daily flights to Port-au-Prince for surgeons and medical support. The doctors, rescuers, and medical support personnel are ready to go. We just can't get them there 11 at a time.
I didn't see the Red Cross anywhere. The United Nations has no food or water for the patients or doctors. The hundreds of millions raised by the Big Boys like the American Red Cross sickens me. If you want your money to go whose on the ground working, send it to www.ProjectMedishare.org or www.IsraAID.org.il - they are there working 24/7.
On the ground, University of Miami has Retired Colonel Ron Bogue. He was one of Schwarzkopf's right hand men in Desert Storm and is the best facilitator and "make it happen" man I've ever met. Dr. Barth Green, the head of neurosurgery at the University of Miami and Pascal Goldschmidt, Dean of University of Miami Medical School, were on the ground making this all happen. What a team! And the Israelis rock...
I'm sorry but I don't know the Florida/US Rescue teams/Ambulances Teams/EMTs that are there, but they are digging people out and delivering to tent hospitals 24/7 - amazing people!
We, with doctors and four critically injured children on board, were greeted late last night by BSO in force - deputies/fire rescue/ambulances - BSO is a great Sheriff's Office! The Rock Stars from TYNDALL AFB that are handling Haitian Airspace with military precision and three ambulances from Jackson Memorial Hospital. BSO Launched one of their ambulances as well to Jackson Memorial. Heartwarming humanity.