Group leaving for Haiti (Dr. David Morris far right)

Day 1 – January 24, 2010

What an extraordinary day! The flight out from Toronto was wonderful, emotions heaped on emotions. The people who were travelling to pick up the orphans were crying, the crew were crying and we were crying. The team from the JGH is very well trained and totally involved and professional. There was a wonderful woman, very traditionally built, who was returning to Haiti as a social worker, who had also written extraordinary poetry about her feelings. As we came to land in Port-au Prince she started singing Haiti Mon Amour and all the tears welled up again.

Then the fun started. The journalist from the Globe and the journalist from the National Post started arguing. We then transferred into the care of 2 groups of amazingly marginal competence. The US Air Force managed to lose all our equipment. The Captain was in bed and his enlisted men shook when we suggested waking him up. Even Frank McKenna could not change things. So I then played the English Colonial pig and the stuff turned up. We loaded the trucks - by then exhausted because it was 2 am -- and repacked a lot of medication and material.

A wonderful repainted school bus called Love, covered in pictures of Che Guevera and Eagles then attempted to transport us with police aid to the Israeli site. The only problem was that no one except me knew where it was and the Montreal police did not believe me! The bus then broke down! It was the 3am.· Finally we found mobility and the camp. Only no one in the Israeli base seemed to know about us.

The whole experience has been more like a cross between Scoop and the Plague than just the Plague. We moved our tents around the base for another hour before trying to sleep. We woke for sure when the helicopters started chattering overhead, and have been working gently ever since.· My only real value has been that I speak French! There are 43 physicians on the site which is better organized than the Royal Victoria Hospital. We have an electronic note system connected by WiFi, generators, radio groups, equipment piled to the ceiling and rows of perfectly erected tents for the Israeli nurses. We feel like disorganized children. I have decided to become a pediatrician - so that has been my job. They are doing surgery, with fully staffed wards and ward rounds.

I am so proud to have been connected to this. The colonel is a cartoon Sabra with enough authority to make the sea freeze on his orders. The weather is hot, with a soft breeze. The trees are gentle and the island is beautiful. The people are living in the open on the streets and the smell is awful. We have a makeshift morgue at the back of the hospital and have already added two people to it today. Just to emphasize the amazing technology, the Officers in charge are currently talking by video conference with Jerusalem!

I was so tired last night I lost my passport (found again!), my Fido phone - not found - and my Skype earphones - also not found. Please do not waste time trying to activate Fido - I have no phone.

These people are wonderful and make me more than proud to be even distantly related to them. They are here with a genuine love. Give a big hug to the boys and tell them how much I miss them.

David

Day 2 – January 25, 2010

I could not send anything last night because our electronics failed. Overall the experience has been one to make me permanently proud to be Jewish. The wall of kindness, intelligence and skill which has been directed here is of a kind that I have never seen before. I am borrowing a functional computer so cannot write much at present.

The IDF is leaving Haiti on Wednesday. We are currently on a site with an Irish aid group and the Columbian Navy - who are also superb and who have all become convinced Zionists. This action has been so important for Israel - it is genuinely from the heart and GOOD.

I have arranged for us to transfer to the Miami University Hospital Complex which is situated on the airfield and totally secure - several thousand Action figures will surround us. The organization is nothing like that from Israel but they are doing an amazing job and are planning to be here for the long-term. I have also become a nutritional advisor on malnutrition in children! Our nurses have been extraordinary and all deserve medals. After our night without sleep they did night shifts because they felt sorry for the Israeli nurses.

I miss you all so much and would love to share all of this with you, but know that it is very hard to see without feeling a depth of pity and anger which is hard to take. There is however an unreal sense of communal love. Despite all the devastation and sorrow, the presence of sharing here is unbelievable. Brazilians, Chinese, Indians all proudly making military service seem almost rational. It is human brotherhood working at its best.

David

Day 3 – January 26, 2010

This morning we transferred to the Miami Children’s Hospital at the airport - accompanied by a platoon of 12 year old US Artillery soldiers. It was another in the pile of experiences which is accumulating at such a rate, the last few days feel like several years.

This morning we had an emotional ceremony when the Columbian and Israeli flags were lowered and speeches made in Spanish and Ivrit (Hebrew). The colonel forgot to mention us - I think the politics may be getting complex somewhere. A general then appeared and apologized for their omission - it was the nurses who have been contributing beyond all reason who really needed thanking. They are all here on holiday time - it is a completely remarkable contribution. The camp disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Boxes were created with great precision. Elderly Israeli technicians moving and crating - obviously lists were everywhere.

The hospital here is something else. I had to wait for my medical license to be accredited - and so did the nurses. Chaos was produced by the married name - non-married name confusion - the lady with the pointed specs who appears closely related to Dame Edna just could not understand it.

Everyone here is an Orthopedic surgeon - there was only one Internal Medicine physician until now. She is exhausted and is probably an R2.

I do have Internet which works here. There is also a phone number - it is in Miami - and I cannot phone Canada on it!· They may have to find me if you call, but I am currently opposite it. I will try and activate Skype as well.

The wards here are complete chaos compared to the Israeli precision. The Israeli hospital was a full functioning tertiary care unit. This is not. We need to improve every level of care. I must go now. I have been called to the ward. We are also organizing an information system which allows for proper patient supervision. According to the Yanks it is the best thing since sliced bread. I love you and miss you. Tell the boys how much I love them.

David

Day 4 – Wednesday, January 27

This is just one other extension of the almost piquante insanity around the world. I am still facing a wave of Catch-22 insanities which you would find it hard to imagine. The entire nursing team wants to become Zionists - we have time-wasting on scale which is monumental.

I have been working very hard. We have introduced a new sense of order here which is highly effective and much safer for the patients. We are looking after 165 patients - but most of the physicians are surgeons - and most of the problems we face are infective and recuperative. Most of the solutions are nursing or physical care - dressings, plasters and kindness. The level of the catastrophe is unimaginable, so the sort of response which will be needed is community care, barefoot doctors and resources. Unless the country develops some semblance of credibility in government there really is so little hope. Last night at around ten o'clock the ward started singing and dancing, hands raised in the air, all the tears stopped, all the space of sorrow suddenly lit up in a cascade of joy, of hope. I just went out and cried.

Physically I am fine - but I am very tired. Too much time has been wasted dealing with American bureaucracy and difficulties. They have put together an extremely complex programme from nothing, but it could have been even slicker and kinder. For instance today a 'private security' firm was hired from some local big-wig. I had to go and speak to my friend Major Coote and suddenly large numbers of young Americans appeared to protect us from the local security! If I could just do medicine, things would be much better. Just to get my patient charts printed requires the signatures of three generals (I kid you not).

David