CANADA | Humanity First: Doctor wowed from spending week in Haiti

Unfamiliar with Humanity First until last month, Dr. Michael Simms followed his heart when nurse Janine Rossman called him about being part of the volunteer team. But as his week in Port-au-Prince went by, he said he was so impressed with the organization’s relief efforts that he planned to donate his airfare back to the group.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff |
Source & Credit: The News-Herald
By Sheila R. McAfee | February 9, 2010


ALLEN PARK: Doctor wowed from spending week in Haiti

Gaping, gangrenous wounds, crumpled buildings, lifeless bodies, cries for help, songs of hope — taking part in the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti is an overload for the senses.

“It was unbelievable what we saw,” said Dr. Michael Simms, a physician who recently spent a week in the Caribbean island nation caring for the residents of Port-au-Prince injured in last month’s earthquake.

The Allen Park resident offered his help through Humanity First CA, an international nonprofit humanitarian organization based in Canada. Its medical director, Dr. Aleem Khan, is director of Family First Home Health Care in Southgate.

Khan, with the help of nurse Janine Rossman, administrator at Family First, has been assembling volunteer teams for medical and social rehabilitation efforts in Haiti.

As he recalled his weeklong trip, Simms just shook his head at the devastation he witnessed.

“After I was there a couple of days, I decided to take a walk,” he said. “Cars were smashed. Bloated bodies were scattered in the street. There was no electricity or plumbing. And the smell of all that — wow.”

Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Simms and a team of 11 flew into Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and then drove seven hours to the Haitian border, which was closed. They had to wait until the next morning to complete the final two hours of their nine-hour journey.

Their work began as soon as they arrived. The first item of business was to clean out the building that would serve as their clinic. The team cared for the injured on the first floor and lived on the second floor.

“What was so strange is that while our building was intact, the building right next door was demolished,” Simms said. “This is what you saw all over the city.”

An intact building was about the extent of any luxuries. Water had to be retrieved by sending a bucket down into a well. That meant there were no shower or toilet facilities in working order. There was no electricity, either.

The physician was getting dressed when a 5.0 aftershock occurred, sending him running out into the street with a shoe in his hands.

“That was a weird feeling,” Simms said. “There was another aftershock, but I could tell it wasn’t as bad so I didn’t panic and stayed where I was.”

Simms said he treated all kinds of wounds, and they were sizable.

“These were large cuts — 2 inches wide and the length of the person’s calf - and they were infected because they had been exposed for several days,” he said.

“At that point, all we could do was treat the wound and give them antibiotics. After a wound is open 24 hours, you can’t close it.”

He estimates that they saw 120 patients each day, but those numbers climbed once word spread about the clinic, according to Khan. Humanity First records show that its teams have seen as many as 900 Haitians daily.

Many severely broken limbs were treated, too, and Simms particularly remembers a 5-year-old girl brought to the clinic by her father.

“It was a total fracture of the humerus bone, broke clear through, and even though she must have been in so much pain, she didn’t say a word when I took her arm in my hand to treat it,” Simms said. “There were a lot of twisted ankles and broken legs, but we didn’t want to give them full casts because we didn’t know what kind of follow-up care would be available.”

Because of the extent of injuries and lack of care available, Simms believes the grim reality for many of the injured will be the loss of limbs.

Unfamiliar with Humanity First until last month, Simms followed his heart when Rossman called him about being part of the team. But as his week in Port-au-Prince went by, he said he was so impressed with the organization’s relief efforts that he planned to donate his airfare back to the group.

The team leaders met daily with United Nations’ representatives, and everyone worked so well together, he said, noting that his team represented people from many different places and interpreters were needed to communicate with patients.

“When we asked if there was any way to get a generator, one of the guys in the group who had a home in Haiti said he could get one,” Simms said.

“He left us late in the day and said he wouldn’t be back until the next day because if he drove back in the dark he risked running over bodies in the streets because there was no light.”

Simms did witness the looting of abandoned buildings, and team members took turns sleeping in their van to protect supplies. Simms watched as an earthquake victim lost control of his emotions.

“His whole world was gone,” he said.

Simms is no stranger to Haiti. For the past 22 years he has volunteered at the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission in St. Louis d’nord, 150 miles north of Port-au-Prince. On many occasions, he has been joined by Dr. Charles Zammit, a Southgate dentist, and Dr. John Bodell, a Trenton physician, in caring for the residents of the mission; a complex that has grown to include a surgery center, an orphanage and a home for the aging.

He said he already had made arrangements for a mission trip in March when Rossman called. The work at hand in Port-au-Prince did not allow Simms to check on the mission, but he learned upon his return that it was OK after the earthquake.

“They wrote that people leaving Port-au-Prince are moving near the mission,” Simms said.

Asked how it affected him being so close to a catastrophe that so many around the world can only watch on a screen, he said the work was so constant that there wasn’t time to dwell on the situation.

“I was there to help,” he said. “I had a job to do.”

Like Simms, Downriver residents of all ages have felt compelled to help, in conventional and creative ways.

Churches throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit held a special collection at weekend liturgies last month. According to Michael Harning, Allen Park resident and director of Catholic Charities for the diocese, more than $250,000 has been collected.

“In one congregation, the collection for Haiti was more than the parish collected for its weekly stewardship,” said Harning, noting that the money will be distributed through Catholic Relief Services.

Likewise, people of all faiths across the region have been donating to relief services specific to their religious denominations.

Another example of local ecumenical action is the CROPWalk, an annual benefit to raise awareness of the people who must walk great distances for clean water. Under the global umbrella of Church World Services, CROPWalk monies also are used for relief and rehabilitation efforts in disaster situations. The Downriver CROPWalk is scheduled for late April.

Students at many schools also have taken up collections for the cause.

In Trenton, students texted donations. At Gabriel Richard High School in Riverview, a Chinese auction raised money, and at St. Frances Cabrini’s high school and elementary school in Allen Park, a collection held during Catholic Schools Week will be sent to the Holy Child Fund of the Propagation of the Faith.

Also, Allen Park Presbyterian Church members have collected hygiene and baby kits, and the youth of the congregation are selling handmade hearts to raise money for the cause.

Rossman said dozens of Downriver residents have expressed interest in joining a Humanity First CA team as it continues to provide care and support in Haiti. Necessary travel documents are needed to take part. Rossman can provide more details on what is needed at 1-313-922-8885, or visit www.humanityfirst.ca for information.

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