Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Haiti.  
After the massive January 12 earthquake that crushed the nation’s capital, at least 150,000 are known to have perished. Among the some 3 million survivors, many suffered wounds and are still in need of basic medical and humanitarian aid.

With her heartfelt sorrow for the affected Haitian people, Supreme Master Ching Hai quickly offered US$40,000 in immediate relief assistance, requesting that our Association’s relief teams go help in whichever ways are most needed.

She also asked for urgent medical and surgical care to be provided. When combined with contributions that have also been steadily increasing from our Association members, a collective US$190,000 donation is being used to obtain US$6.9 million in needed materials, if bought in the United States, based on Haiti’s cost of living.

Following initial work in both Haiti and Dominican Republic, our Association’s relief team went to the Diquini Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Carrefour, where hundreds of severely wounded, their family members, and even volunteer staff members had been in need of medical treatment, food supplies and cooked meals.
One of our Association’s physicians, a wound care specialist, shares a first-hand report.

Wound care medical doctor, our Association’s relief team member (F): We work together with other teams of doctors to facilitate the care. They don’t have specialists in wound care, which is a major need here. Because after amputations, or after any type of surgery, without post-operative wound care check,
patients can get infections and can become septic. And if you have septic shock, you can die from it. They have all kinds of physicians, but they just happen not to have the wound care specialty. And it happened that I’m a wound specialist. So they’re very happy that they have such a specialist who can help to take care of the
patients after surgery to prevent further infection.

VOICE: With the injuries of countless quake survivors going untreated for days, amputations were needed as lifesaving procedures in some cases, followed by wound management to avoid potentially lethal infection. The doctors of our Association’s relief team helped to treat such patients, all too many of whom had lost family
members to the disaster.

Relief team member (F): It was this morning that we treated a Haitian woman with multiple injuries of her limbs, especially both of her hands, and her head. She was having a fever, and excruciating pain. Her medical condition was not stabilized. She was at the border of getting septic shock. We discovered that in her head, she has an injury that was infected. After we drained it, she was singing Jesus songs, thanking us, because she feels much better now.

VOICE: In addition to offering vital medical support, a special team of our Association members arrived to provide safely prepared, nutritious vegan meals for both staff and patients at the Carrefour facility.

Relief team member (F): Vegan foods are easier, it’s more efficient. Especially, right now, with this type of contaminated environment, meat itself is not safe already. With the earthquake victims, their immune system is already weakened by the fact that they themselves are sick from their own injuries. So having vegan food
helps to enhance their immune system, and at the same time, help them with the healing process.

VOICE: Through our Association’s relief work, Supreme Master Ching Hai’s concern and love reached, and touched, the Haitian people.

Relief team member (F):They’re very brave, regardless to how much they suffer. They didn’t have good pain medication. I wish I can do more to make them feel better. But at the same time, they always tell us that they’re very thankful that we’re there.  They know that all the care that we provide are being sent from Master,
and they said, “Thank you, the Supreme Master Ching Hai.” They start smiling, and they start singing, and they just keep saying, “Master Ching Hai.”

I’m very thankful that Master has sent us here to be part of the relief team, to be able to share the love that Master has for everyone, especially for the Haitian people at this time.

VOICE: We thank the Haitian and international governments and humanitarian workers from all corners of the globe who are there serving the quake-afflicted. We are also grateful for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s loving aid and for our Association’s relief team’s dedicated response. Our prayers for the stability and recovery
of the good-hearted Haitian people, as we look forward to the day when such turbulent events are no more through the growing compassion we extend to all lives and our planet.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/25/nation/20100125100219&sec=nation
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24157475.htm