A NURSE'S DIARY: ALAMEDA NURSE REPORTS ON EARTHQUAKE'S AFTERMATH

"I will enjoy my last hot shower/decent meal/good night's rest for many days to come, I'm sure. Not sure whether I'll have Internet connectivity after this but will keep in touch when it's possible."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff |
Source & Credit: Mercury News | BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
By Editor | January 21, 2010
Previously reported Mat O'Brian, Contra Costa Times | JAN 19 2010

Editor's note: Retired Alameda nurse Mai Alyschild is en route to Haiti to help with relief efforts there following Jan. 12's devastating earthquake. She is sharing her experiences through e-mails to the Bay Area News Group. She is joining a team from Humanity First USA, a Maryland-based humanitarian group founded by physicians belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.

7 p.m. Jan. 20, Hotel Duc de Wellington, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic:

I haven't even made it to Haiti yet but already I have seen a patient, Peter, a young Haitian man who was working with a nongovernmental organization in Port-au-Prince when the Earth shook.

He was rescued after three days in the rubble ... Managed to get a fractured left ankle set and they sent him to Santo Domingo where he has family.

They gave him a prescription for antibiotics for a crush wound on his hip, but he could not afford to get it filled ($12 U.S. in a pharmacy here). Word spread that there was an American nurse at the hotel and he came to talk to me. I could only give him some of the extra strength Motrin I had brought a large supply of and wish him well.

There will be a thousand stories like this in the days to come.

Despite all, he is smiling and glad to be alive.

Afternoon, Jan. 20, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

I met up with Humanity First's volunteer coordinator, Zafar Saleigh, at the Jet Blue gate in Fort Lauderdale. We have arrived in Santo Domingo. He informs me that a team of Canadian doctors and registered nurses are arriving later tonight and we will rent a van in the a.m. to drive to the border (Jimani) and on into Port-au-Prince. (yay — no hideous bus ride — tho' the gas here is $6/a gal!).

I will enjoy my last hot shower/decent meal/good night's rest for many days to come, I'm sure. Not sure whether I'll have Internet connectivity after this but will keep in touch when it's possible.

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Reported January 19, 2010
Mercury News | Mat O'Brien, Contra Costa Times

"I couldn't just sit by and twiddle my thumbs while they get back to me," said retired Alameda nurse Mai Alyschild, who stuffed survival items into her carry-on bag Tuesday as she prepared for a commercial flight today to the Dominican Republic.

She plans to take a bus Friday from Santo Domingo across the border into Haiti, where she will work on behalf of Humanity First, a Maryland-based humanitarian organization. Alyschild, a former psychiatric nurse at San Francisco General, has done emergency relief work before in places such as Afghanistan and Kenya.

"I think this is going to make the other work I've done look like a walk in the park," she said. "It's just chaos. I'm not sure what to expect. But I can deal with it."


Read here - 12/19/10: Bay Area medical personnel treating patients in Haiti
Read here - 12/21/10: Alameda nurse reports on earthquake's aftermath