An appeal to help Haiti

I received an email this evening from a friend, David Puder, about Haiti, the overwhelming need of that country after the devastating earthquake of January 13, and medical aid work going on there presently; and his email contained a message of hope offered in the midst of the despair of so many Haitians. I have copied David’s email below for your encouragement. Note the ways to help which appear at the end of this note. David writes:

Dear loved ones,

As you know, for the last three years, our class has felt called by God to adopt a hospital in Haiti.  I have felt very passionate about this mission of our class and have played a role in organizing and inspiring my class through the films I have made.  We feel that our through our relationship with our hospital God has put us in a unique position to reach out to meet the needs in Haiti. The needs present before have been exacerbated by the earthquake. For example, the earthquake has destroyed the main port, and the airport is overwhelmed and unable to handle the large volume of traffic creating a bottleneck for supply delivery. One of our main contacts is Dr. Scott Nelson, an orthopedic surgeon based in the Dominican Republic.  He wrote the following the day after the earthquake:

“We were fortunately able to make a landing after circling PAP airport for one hour.  They gave our pilot 3 minutes of time to stay on the ground. Most of our equipment was placed on another plane which did not make it today.  We found parking lots full of fractures, open wounds, traumatic amputations.  Dead bodies are lying on the sidewalks in many places, some have been collected by trucks…One 3 year old child was about to get his arm amputated by an ophthalmologist and she was relieved to turn the case over to me.  The family was even more relieved to know that we could save the arm.  We will try to team up with some of the rescue teams and stay in touch with the media.”

On Friday Dr. Nelson arrived at L’Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti in Port-au-Prince and was warmly greeted by the hospital director Dr. Archer, a public health grad of Loma Linda. Upon arrival Dr. Nelson performed a life saving amputation in an operating room set up under a tarp, as people are afraid to enter the buildings.  Through God’s provisions our hospital is still standing, and structurally sound.  Dr. Nelson indicates that there are months worth of orthopedic cases and a great need for supplies.  As a class we met in prayer asked God for the following and ask for you to also pray for these things:

1.    Food, water, and medical supplies for the people in Haiti

2.    Ways of transporting supplies to the areas in need. Specifically regarding the possibility of helicopter air drops.

3.    Continued prayer for Dr. Nelson’s team currently in Haiti, and other Loma Linda medical teams on the way.

4.    Continued prayer for God to give us wisdom and open doors for future trips for my class members and myself.

5.    For money to be raised for the hospital’s relief efforts.

Please join us with your prayers!