Prestidigitation for Haitian Salvation

Thanks to Moshe Frier and his family for a great night of Prestidigitation. Only 12 years old, Moshe raised over $4,000 for the Holy Cross Haiti fund. Read the Miami Sun-Sentinel article about the show.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-jjbs-magician-0218-20100216,0,5063289.story

Cleveland Clinic Florida at Off the Hookah

Off The Hookah was awesome? People stayed out and danced all night and we raised close to $400 for the Haiti fund. Thanks to EZ and her crew at OTH for helping us out. They went out of their way to maximize our event.

A relief reunion: former dorm mates, now surgeons, reconnect in Haiti | BrandeisNOW

Check out the article from my undergrad
A relief reunion: former dorm mates, now surgeons, reconnect in Haiti BrandeisNOW

And one from my med school
http://www.chm.msu.edu/news/documents/HAITI.php

Things I've learned

Things I've learned since I got back about the situation

1. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is providing P-3 aircraft to support response efforts. The aircraft are providing airtraffic control -So that's why the control towers were empty in the photo, I thought it was strange

2. By the numbers (My thoughts)

(Provided by ADRA.org)
200,000: Number of Haitians benefiting from ADRA’s largest water purification system, which was installed on January 28. The new system can provide approximately 17 gallons (or 64 liters) of water per minute, and is currently being managed by a team of ADRA volunteers and local leaders. -(We saw the structure built over 3 days. It was incredibly well done and efficient. I believe in part to scientists from Loma Linda University.)

100,000: Number of pounds (45 tons) of rice, beans, oil and salt that were distributed on January 25 to thousands of displaced survivors currently living on the campus of the Haitian Adventist University in southwest Port-au-Prince. (That's why they never asked us for food. We got there PM on the 25th and spent the 26th in the tents. Would also explain why so many kids had abdominal cramping. A fact that would have been useful to know)

71,000: Value in U.S. dollars of a shipment of medical supplies sent by Orlando-based Florida Hospital on January 21. The donation included 23 palettes of IV solution, IV lines, antibiotics, analgesics, masks, and other emergency supplies, which were given to the Adventist Hospital of Haiti. (Hard to know which boxes belonged to whom but there was plenty to go around and the staff from Fl Hosp were incredibly compassionate, immediately helpful when they hit the ground, and attentive to the patients, aided because so many from Orlando were native Haitian, Creole, or French)

55,000: Number of people who have gained access to clean water through 12 additional water points installed by ADRA and partner GlobalMedic across the Carrefour region. (Carrefour had a population of about 340,000, 1.5 kmfrom the epicenter with an estimated 45-60% heavily damaged or destroyed structures, and likely

(Provided by United Nations)
Some 1 million people have been reached since the onset of the emergency; 338,000 people have received two-week rations of rice over the past 3 days.

With 1 in 44 women dying in pregnancy or childbirth, it is the most dangerous country to give birth in the Western Hemisphere...BEFORE the earthquake.

Prestidigitation for Haitian Salvation

I am happy to announce that my hospital, Holy Cross is now co-sponsoring a magic and comedy benefit with most of the proceeds going towards sponsoring another, "mission of mercy" where the money will be ALL directly used toward medicines and supplies.
The benefit was the brainstorm of a young 12 year old boy in as a community service project in honor of his upcoming Bar Mitzvah.

It will be held Sunday, February 14, 2010, 6:00 PM
at the Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center

For more info, see http://avimagic.com/haiti

Angela's Journal

One of my new friends from Haiti, Angela is a nurse in San Diego. Her team worked miracles before we got there and we were honored to overlap and work with them for a few days. She has placed her journal and photos on her blog and it provides another interesting look at our experiences.

angelaklinkhamer.wordpress.com

Haitimedrelief Introduction

Dear Friends and Family,

If you hadn't received the emails during my trip, I recommend you read them sequentially beginning with the "pre-departure" letter. If you want to see the over 200 pictures I took, then the shutterfly link below will take you to the larger album. Be warned that there are graphic surgical pictures on the larger album.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZsXDNwzZtGpl

I met with hospital administrators yesterday and we are already planning the when and where of our next trip. There is a long list of volunteers at Holy Cross ready to go.

Our trip taught us that to plan a successful trip, one needs to figure out the manpower going, find an international agency to come under with specific needs you can fill, then find out what kind of supplies they are lacking and purchase and bring them. Today's shortage is tomorrow's surplus as more and more military and UN supply trucks are continuously restocking the numerous aid agencies in Port-au-Prince.

Thank you all for your support. Please send the blog address to any friends or colleagues you think may find it interesting.

Take care,
Elie Schochet