Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010

Note from Ruth Harrison

Good morning! In case you didn’t hear, the team arrived safely back in Quito last night from Haiti. Everyone was well. We will have a time together this morning starting at 8 a.m. Once again, thanks for your prayers and support. And thanks to those who have kept in touch with us via e-mail during this time. It was a great support to hear from you!

Monday, Jan. 25, 2010

Note from Ruth Harrison

Just to say that the team just called and they have arrived safe and sound in Florida. They re-entered the U.S. without any problems. They are heading off with their hosts for tonight and will leave for the airport in Miami at 9.30 a.m. Tuesday. Martin does not expect to have e-mail access.

Report from Dr. Steve Nelson

We have been listening to generators for the whole time we have been in Haiti—at least during the hours that we were working. I don’t know when the lights will get turned on in Haiti again, but they aren’t yet. The Haiti International Airport is no exception. We got the disappointing news yesterday that the only time we could get out of Haiti would be today (Monday) or Saturday. Our flight to Ecuador was scheduled for Friday, and we all have a full week planned next week in Ecuador, so after a little bit of whining and scrambling around to see if we could get another flight, we decided to come out today. We are back in the airport—full of generators—waiting for the flight back to Florida.

We are back to a place where perhaps the news about Haiti isn’t getting old yet, but even this small step towards normalcy seems strange today. We are going to miss our Haitian friends—the patients in the hospital as well as the ones who worked alongside us the last 10 days. With many of these fellow workers we didn’t even manage to exchange much in the way of words—just gestures and smiles and I was a lot closer to teaching them to say “good morning” then they were in the effort to get me to say “bonjour” correctly.

You were praying for a new way to get patients up to the hospital last time, and while we were hoping for something slightly more comfortable than a truck, it was indeed a truck we settled for. They came four at a time—most of them closed femur fractures—receiving 11 new patients for surgery that next day. Five came the following day as we finished up some of the cases that had been here since the beginning but that we had put on hold until we had the hardware to do things right.

We did rounds this morning and then headed to the airport. Word was four more closed femurs were on their way to the hospital. This pace could go on for weeks as hospitals unload the cases they can’t handle in house. Samaritan’s Purse is committed to the long haul here, and four more new medical people are on their way in to arrive this afternoon. They will replace our orthopedic surgeon and anesthesiologist who are moving out with us. Pray for more family practice docs and nurses as we spread our patients out onto the lists and “plates” of those general medical folks who stayed behind.

I went through the wards and said goodbye to my patients last night—brave little kids with amputations and fractured limbs and pelvis. Even the most hurting ones squeezed out a smile while the ones who were feeling better had a glowing smile fixed on their beautiful faces already. Not-so-brave Phoebe with her fractured (but now repaired femur) didn’t want to give up her bed last night, pleading that she still “didn’t feel well.” We explained that there were some people who felt worse and wedged her out. She was happily camped on the floor a half hour later and wobbled off on crutches this morning. She always wanted to be pray before dressings changes, “Our pleasure ma’am.”

We didn’t get the stories of these folks, except here and there. There just wasn’t time (or translators). Still, stories we read later will fit correctly/sadly with the faces and folks we remember. One amazing thing about being here is we haven’t seen the news about what is going on here—the big picture, that is.

The people from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association told us this morning that amid all this pain and chaos, amid all this suffering and loss, about 70 people got a good look at the loving, compelling face and person of Jesus and decided to follow him. Some of those 70 might get to see Him face to face in heaven soon. There are lots of complications to come. We lost two young men this week to pulmonary emboli after successfully treating their injuries. More will follow so it’s a joy to add these 70 to the equation regarding why this is so worth it!

We are now in an airplane headed to Fort Lauderdale. It will probably be this evening before I get this out. People will be talking basketball and Super Bowl ... or is that over already? My oh my, what a change this will be.

Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010

Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison)

The group has received lots of new supplies, including the plates and pins they have been praying about. So some patients who had been waiting eight days for an operation were finally been able to receive the treatment they need.

The water situation for the hospital is now very stable. But they need a long-term solution for improving it, so I’m sure Martin will have some thoughts on this!

Pastor Baker, one of the missionaries normally based at the hospital, is keen to receive work teams as they help people rebuild their lives.

The team’s thoughts are now turning to coming back to Ecuador and resuming their ministries there. They know that whenever they leave, and it seems it will be tomorrow (Monday), they know it will be hard and they will have the feeling that they could do more. But they know too well how much awaits then back in Ecuador, so they have a peace about leaving.

Report from Martin Harrison

I was able to go to a Haitian church today with some of the missionaries from the Baptist Haiti Mission. It was wonderful to see the church so full and to hear that there were at least eight new people there who had decided to come in the light of the disaster.

I was truly struck by the strength which God has given this congregation to carry on despite loss of family and property. One of the pastors had lost four of his children and another his eldest son, yet they stood up to lead the service and to preach the Word of God.

The sermon was on the theme of suffering and how we should respond to it, based on passages from the book of Job. The pastor brought up several interesting points.

• Suffering is part of the Christian life. Those that say Christians don't or shouldn't suffer have a poor theology.
• Don't be accused of being lacking in faith or of having offended God, that this disaster has come upon us.
• God is bigger than us and do not have to ask the questions of why. It is part of his grand plan even if we in our human capacity cannot fathom it.
• God can and is bringing good out of this.
• That a pastor can stand up and preach this after losing some of his children is faith put into practice indeed.

Saturday, Jan.23, 2010

Report from Martin Harrison

I personally went on a truck yesterday to unload a Samaritan’s Purse DC-6 plane and get the supplies up to the hospital. During the day we did some distributions of blankets, hygiene kits and did training on how to use water purification sachets with folding water containers. I took many photos as we traveled into some of the worst-affected areas of the city.

Chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association say, as of today, more than 70 people have come to Christ for the first time in the hospital.

We received 13 patients from other hospitals today. The mission hospital is getting known for handling the most complex cases that other places don't have the expertise or facilities to handle right now. The HCJB Global team is obviously playing a big part in this. Some patients were brought up by missionaries and staff from Samaritan’s Purse. Others arrived unplanned on the bus with open “tib frib” fractures. Dr Wolff is quoted as saying, "Ouuuch!”

Two more trucks of medical supplies arrived, including, finally, some plates and pins. Amazingly, whilst the trucks were being unloaded the tire exploded on one of them. It is amazing because that truck has been up and down the mountain loaded up so many times these past 10 days.

Now that we have all the supplies we need for the immediate future the trucks won't be quite so critical for a few days—long enough to get them fixed! God has been good in protecting those vehicles all this time and allowing the tire to explode in a safe place while stationary and next to the mechanics workshop!

Martin Harrison’s diary for the BBC

It is now nine days since I arrived at the Baptist Haiti Mission Hospital on the edge of Port-au-Prince as a member of the HCJB Global emergency response team. As I have interacted with the Haitian people, whether victims of the earthquake or medical and technical professionals, I can only marvel at their remarkable resilience in the face of such devastation and human tragedy. I work alongside people who have lost homes, family members and close friends, yet they continue to push on relentlessly to save as many lives as possible.

I have been equally impressed by the incredible stamina and ingenuity demonstrated by many of those involved in the relief effort. The HCJB Global surgeons who have given their own blood in the middle of life saving operations—nurses who improvise by cutting casting pins in half to make dwindling supplies go further; water engineers who have used fish ponds and emergency water filtration units to produce life-saving drinking water and keep a hospital functioning.

Whilst impressed with the speed at which aid workers were able to get into Haiti, it has been frustrating to work with such limited supplies, knowing that many of those essential life-saving items are at the airport.

I truly hope there will be a post-disaster investigation into the bottlenecks and confusion surrounding the logistics of delivering supplies to where they are most needed. At the same time, I realize that the scale of this disaster is almost unprecedented and that Haiti already suffered from very poor infrastructure.

The situation at the mission hospital is much more stable now although the frequent, strong aftershocks send cries of panic around the wards periodically. Samaritan’s Purse has sent a team of doctors and surgeons to supplement the efforts of HCJB Global.

This will enable much of the backlog of patients lining the corridors and filling store cupboards to be cleared by the end of the month. I have achieved the goal of securing and stabilizing a safe water supply for the hospital, clinic and surrounding houses.

Friday, Jan. 22, 2010

Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison)

The main thing is that more supplies have arrived today and the tetanus vaccines we mentioned before have arrived at the hospital which is an answer to prayer. But pray for the arrival of the plates and pins. Hopefully they will arrive on the plane tonight.

“The doctors are all doing really well,” Martin said tonight.

There are many prayer requests once again on the Bakers Blog so do keep checking that.

Martin didn't do any interviews today as he went with some of the Samaritan’s Purse team to the ministry’s other base near the airport to collect supplies and then made some deliveries to drop off points arranged with local pastors.

From these points the supplies were further distributed. They also did some training on how to use water purification chemicals as I mentioned in this afternoon's update. They then went to the airport to help unload a plane with more supplies for the hospital.

The airport continues to be very busy. Martin took 700 photos many from the roof of the truck they were in. He got a true feel for the scale of the devastation.

There should be internet once again tomorrow for those of you who are waiting for a reply from Martin.

What a week! Thanks for all your hard work everyone! Hope you can have restful weekend!

Report written by Dr. Steve Nelson

I’m listening to beautiful Haitian music roll up from the hills below us. Amazing—the people in Indonesia were singing the night after the earthquake too. It both soothes and brings tears through the day in the hospital too as we move from ward to ward. Seems everybody in Haiti knows how to sing ... ahhhh … Africa, right?

A certain semblance of order has begun to show itself at the Baptist Haiti Mission Hospital—long days, welcome reinforcements and an increasingly steady supply of materials have allowed us to get through nearly 100 surgery cases. Most of the patients who crowded the floors and hallways of the hospital when we arrived.

The last surgery for today will probably be done by 8 p.m.—a  welcome change from the midnight schedules we kept the first few days, especially for our anesthesiologists who are obligatorily invited to all surgeries.

Still, it’s an eerie and surreal sort of calm because we know the town that borders the bay of Port-au-Prince that we can see from our compound still teems with untreated and in some cases unfound victims of this incredible tragedy.

We are trying to open lines of transport from those areas of the city and from those hospitals where their surgeries have been limited to amputations, limited by the sheer numbers of patients and by the absence of electricity, equipment and sterilization. Meanwhile, those who need surgical interventions other than amputations lay outside unattended, many dying of infections before they are ever seen.

Samaritan’s Purse will try to continue to equip and man this hospital and figure out ways to get patients here. In some ways—and of course relatively speaking—it is paradise here. Cool in the evenings, high enough to be above the malaria zone, and safe from the increasing unrest in the center.

We could probably handle 20 or more new cases a day, figuring that 90 percent of them would have to go to surgery. We just need to figure out how to get them here. Ten trucks over a road that rocks and rolls for an hour an a half when things are open ... six if not. Or two helicopters and 10 minutes. Come on military!

Many of those patients after surgery and a few days of observation could go home and come back later for follow up procedures which would open beds (or floors) for more transfers. This pattern could go on for a long time. It appears Samaritan’s Purse is committed for the long haul.

Pray that we would make the right decisions for the most people. Pray for the Billy Graham Evangelism Association team that is here trying to make sure each person has a chance to hear eternal life-providing good news before and during our attempts to restore life and health in this realm.

We are averaging about one death a day (two today),so there is lots of sorrow and tears to deal with too.

Thanks for holding us all up so strong and tender with your prayers.

Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010

Report from Martin Harrison

All is well here. I won’t phone tonight as there are no major developments. We had another big aftershock [around noon] today. Some buildings came down in the town of Jacmel.

I investigated a crack that has formed in the hospital, but it doesn’t look major. I worked with an old guy called Lenny today, and we got the second autoclave working so that surgical instruments can be sterilized much faster. The docs are very happy!

Dr. Eckehart Wolff and Dr. Marcos Nelson interviewed with Edwin on HCJB Quito just after 1 p.m.

I didn’t phone Radio York as the aftershock was right then, and things got a bit crazy. Also, I was fixing a water filter on a missionary house. Perhaps I will call tomorrow.

I am setting up something with a radio station in Indiana radio tomorrow. I have written my summing up BBC blog entry and will send this in the morning.

Report from Martin Harrison with information from the Baptist Haiti Mission blog (extra details in parentheses)

As a young boy (Marcelus Roberson) was being prepped for surgery (admitted with severe case of typhoid), a chaplain (two actually—Cesaire Elusmond, a Haitian chaplain, and Jack Dowling of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) stood alongside him and shared the story of Jesus, telling of His great love. Then and there, just minutes before going to surgery (with HCJB Global surgeons), the 14-year-old boy prayed and gave his life to the Lord. As (HCJB Global’s) doctors were saving his life, Jesus was changing his heart.

Chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Haitian translators and our hospital chaplain have been working tirelessly alongside the doctors. Their mission is to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

More than 30 (more than 40 as of Jan. 21) people in our hospital have made a new (first-time) commitment to follow Christ as their Lord and Savior! Each day brings new people to Christ.

Right now, in the middle of such terrible loss, people are desperate for hope. They hunger and thirst for the promises of the gospel, for the love of a Savior. We give thanks for the miracles God is working each and every day, not only saving lives, but changing hearts.


Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010

Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison)

As I mentioned in the e-mail this morning, all was well after the 6 a.m. aftershock, and the satellite phone is working. Martin has called twice today.

Sheila Leech and Dr. Leonardo Febres are in Miami and will arrive back in Quito at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Martin has filled Sheila’s camera with video footage. Thanks to whoever will work at downloading that!

Things are slowing down a little in terms of the numbers of new patients, although the U.S. Army is still bringing injured folk in to them. And they had two military surgeons working in the operating room for a while today. More doctors arrived today with Samaritan’s Purse. Does anyone have any doctors’ stories to share?

Just to clarify the note about there only being 5 operating rooms in Port-au-Prince. That is only five of those which were there before the quake that are still operating. There are others, but they are all field hospitals in tents and such. So let’s be careful with using this information.

Martin gave another BBC interview and has one lined up for tomorrow as well. The BBC posted two diary entries on the website today, and Martin’s photos are being used as the lead photo on this page every day. Here is the latest link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8471212.stm.

Martin is helping with hospital maintenance for example fixing an autoclave to sterilize tools for the operating room. And tomorrow Mark will teach him to fix up traction for patients! There is still the possibility that he will go off for a few days with the water team from Samaritan’s Purse. They are still waiting for equipment, however. The water supply at the hospital is doing really well, and their main tank is now nearly full again. Pray for rain as that is what they normally use, but it has been really dry lately.

One of HCJB Global Hands' surgeons [Dr. Eckehart Wolff] gave his own blood in the middle of an operation to save the patient. [This extended her the patient's life, but she was so severely injured that she later died.]

The U.S. military is bringing urgent cases to us from refugee camps they have set up.

Only five hospital operating rooms are functioning in Port-au-Prince, and two are at the Baptist Haiti Mission Hospital where we are stationed.

There is a shortage of supplies. Doctors are improvising. Some operations are being delayed until we get materials.

One moment we are putting bodies in a mass grave, the next babies are being delivered.

The tetanus risk is growing. Very few people have been vaccinated.


Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison)

Martin just called at 10.50 a.m. His first comments were, "Well, the doctors just keep operating and treating patients." He said the hospital's water supply keeps breaking, so he keeps fixing it. They are running out of some supplies but Samaritan's Purse is onto that. The surgeons may be using ordinary nails for fractures, however!

Dr. Eckehart Wolff gave blood to one patient as mentioned earlier. He also shared that very few people in Haiti have had tetanus injections, so the next very real risk with all these injuries is of infectious diseases such as tetanus.

The team heard that the city center is still very needy, but they know they have to just focus on where they are now.

On the communications front, Martin continues to work hard to get news out. However, slow Internet connections make it difficult to upload videos. He's able to make comments on Twitter.

Another successful interview was completed with Ecuadorian surgeon Leonardo Febres, conducted by HCJB-2 in Guayaquil.

Martin has another live interview with BBC Radio York at 1130 a.m. (EST) which will air during the city's peak drive-time programming (4:30 p.m. local time), then on BBC Radio Leeds.

The team's photos are available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8466989.stm.



Report from Martin Harrison

I installed the Water Missions International (WMI) system at the hospital, and I am currently operating and maintaining it to keep a supply of water running to the hospital, clinic, outpatients and missionary housing on this compound. It is the dry season here in Haiti, so the hospital is largely dependent on reserves of rainwater captured during the previous rainy season.

The hospital does have a well with a pump but this is damaged and there is no prospect in the immediate future of getting a drilling rig to pull out the 360 feet of metal pipe work so that a new pump can be fitted down the well. Who knows if the drilling rig on the island even still exists.

The huge demand on the hospital as a result of extra patients has depleted supplies drastically. Up until yesterday, the hospital was in danger of running out of water. In fact, for an hour or so it did. Supplies are now improving as the WMI unit produces 10,000 gallons per day of drinking water at full output. We are taking water from a fishpond of all places, passing this through the WMI water filter and filling a cistern beneath the hospital.

One of the Baptist missionary wives came to us this morning and broke down as she tried to thank us for the help that is being provided with medical care and water supply. The hospital would have ceased to function by now if HCJB Global and Samaritan's Purse had not sent people in. The missionary staff here were completely overwhelmed and are near to breaking point as we approach the one week point after the earthquake.

Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010

Report written by Martin Harrison for BBC blog  (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8458915.stm)

It has been a frantic day at the Baptist Haiti Mission Hospital where I am part of a multi skilled team who arrived last Friday. The hospital is one of the few which survived the earthquake. News continues to spread that the hospital is open and that foreign doctors and surgeons are attending to patients. The hospital remains extremely stretched and is having to make difficult decisions about both the living and the dead in terms of priorities.

We have had to dig a mass grave for patients who died and who have no family to collect the body - presumably the rest of the family perished in the earthquake. The smell of death is in the air, something I have not ever really had to deal with before.

In terms of the living we are having to make patients wait with what would normally be high priority injuries because there are others who arrive without warning in a critical condition. People say they are still pulling bodies out of the rubble, even after six days.

The hospital is under extreme pressure and came close to running out of medical supplies, diesel for the generator and water. However it can only be described as miraculous how these needs are met at the last moment. A lorry arrived laden with fresh medical supplies just as the final cast on a broken leg was being completed. Somebody sourced some diesel as we ran the generator to keep the hospital functioning on its last gallons. As the hospital was reporting that it was out of water, we got the emergency filtration unit running!

Despite all of this there are smiles of hope. A man grabbed me as I walked through the ward with my camera and insisted that I took a photo of his son who, after being operated on by the HCJB Global medical team, is going to live. Whilst still in the same ward a Haitian hospital chaplain led the patients in prayers and singing of hymns. It was quite overwhelming to experience the sense of peace that descended on this ward in the midst of such tremendous suffering.

Estima Yonel is another person with a big smile on his face. A 12 year old shepherd boy, Estima was walking back down the mountain with his herd of goats when the earthquake struck. Boulders tumbled down the mountainside and his leg and arm were crushed. The surgeons worked late into the night to save him. His brother and sister sit by his bedside with equally big white grins on their faces.

Monday, Jan. 18, 2010

Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison):

Everyone is well and continuing to work hard. The Internet was down for a while but is back up again now. An additional team of 18 medical doctors has arrived from Samaritan's Purse, and they hope to open up another operating room. Pray that the two teams would work well together.

The video Martin sent should be on YouTube soon. Sheila Leech looks exhausted on it.

Media interest continues from the U.S. the U.K. and from here in Ecuador. Pray that Martin would have wisdom in how much to do.

They were pleased to hear that Alan Good [from the HCJB Global Technology Center] has arrived back in the U.S.

They suggest another team, but for another six weeks or so, to help rebuild and to do follow-up. Sheila Leech says please don't collect medicines from Ecuador since that is not what is needed. Please ask for financial help as that can be converted into the materials others have taken to Haiti. Samaritan's Purse has the infrastructure to get huge quantities of materials there and do it well.

Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010

Report from Dr. Steve Nelson, HCJB Global

We are running out of diesel and instruments and clean sheets, so I’ll take advantage of at least a partial slowdown to fill you in. We arrived at the Haiti airport at about 3 p.m. Friday aboard a luxurious Leer jet—a flight flight donated by a foundation that asked to remain anonymous.

After a brief greeting and prayer from the exhausted folks who were manning the guns until we arrived and then waded into the foray ... with hundreds of people in the corridors since the beds were long ago full and most of whom needed urgent surgery. In spite of a two orthopedic guys and an anesthesiologist, there are so many other limiting factors for how much surgery you can do ... but we managed to get about ten cases in before quitting at midnight. Unfortunately, the fastest ones are often the most urgent ... amputations.

After six hours sleep yesterday, we had a full day and did about 15 surgeries. We non-surgical types were out on the floors trying to triage which cases were most likely to get complicated if left longer—sepsis, infected compound fractures and little kids made up our priority list. We did 15 cases on Saturday ... still finishing after midnight … more complicated cases that second day.

Now ... everything is running short ... diesel for the electric plant to keep the operating room going, cast material, surgical supplies for “fixing” fractures, food, water—everything except patients who continue to come in—changing the surgery list for the day as more advanced cases come in.

But, praise the Lord, people are trickling out too which is sort of a miracle in itself. I have asked almost all my patients that look like they could go home soon, “Do you have a home to return to?” All have responded “no” so far. Some have relatives who lived higher up in the hills, but many of the ones who could go home would eventually need surgery and getting back and forth would be so hard.

Yesterday’s hardest moment was being called to take a picture of a little girl who looked to be 10 years old. She had just died. We didn’t even know she was in the hospital. I suppose the docs who were here before us knew she wouldn’t make it, so they put us to work on the ones who could.

The lady who translated for me whispered into my ear, “This is the sixth of their nine children who has died from this earthquake. They just want a picture.” (Well, figure out how to get it to them). Heartache and tragedy are so relative.

Last night’s last patient was seen by Dr. Mark Nelson. The patient was a 2-year-old with a large wound to her left leg and complete fragmented bones (tibia and fibula) and lots of infection in the wound. Mark wasn’t sure what he would find so decided to clean the wound under an anesthesia called Ketalar which leaves kids looking like they are sort of awake but not feeling anything.

Cleaning the wound and finding such an important injury put her first on the schedule today. She will be next in when the “lights go on.” Then we all heard her start singing ... first in sort of a low voice and later stronger ... and she seemed happier! It was in Creole, so of course none of Spanish and English speakers could know what she was saying ... but a translator brightened up nearby and said she is singing, “I am saved, I am saved, I am saved….”

Please pray…. Everybody loves to be prayed for, and that’s sure true of the Haitians. I just now heard the power plant go on. Back to work!


Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison):

Top three prayer requests:

• Pray as we're running low on diesel fuel for generating power-two days left, so we are starting to ration electricity. This reduces flexibility for communications as well as time for the doctors to do their precious ministry. Please pray for diesel to start flowing!
  
• Pray also as we're very low on certain essential medical supplies for repairing broken bones. Pray that other organizations would free up some of their supplies and that new ones would arrive soon!
  
• Pray for stamina. We are working extreme hours in difficult conditions. The doctors and surgeons are amazing!

Martin has now been on National Radio in the U.K. He has a diary spot for the team on the BBC website link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8458915.stm.

Engineer Alan Good from the HCJB Global Technology Center is flying back to Fort Pierce with Mission Flights International today. Samaritan's Purse has been good at helping with this as it could have become complicated trying to handle this and our the team's core tasks too.

Evening report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison):

Martin said, "Thanks for being there for the team and thanks for your e-mails to me and the other wives. It means a lot to know folk are thinking and praying for all of us! Keep them coming! It is a hard time for everyone. I am really tired so it will be even more short and to the point tonight."

Doctors continue to do an incredible job. Martin is so amazed by their stamina. They start at 8 a.m. and work until 11 p.m. or midnight. But they are exhausted. So it is good that 18 more doctors arrive tomorrow (Monday, Jan. 18). They will open the other operating room and work shifts.

The injuries they are seeing are getting worse due to infection/gangerine, etc., so they are having to perform amputations. Team members are working with two Haitian doctors as well Dr. Claude and Dr. Bernard who are great examples of working nonstop since it all started despite having lost staff members and family members. Please pray for them as well.

Martin describes a smell of death in the air at the hospital. And the morgue is full to overflowing. They are having to consider a mass grave as no one is claiming the bodies. Perhaps their families have all died. The normal channels for contacting relatives have broken down as well, so that may be the only option.

Not many positive stories today, mostly because the doctors haven't had time to stop and talk. Also, Martin was working on the water supply for the hospital which he now has working thanks to a water filter and water from a fish pond! They were just about to run out of water, so it was good timing!

Diesel was down to one-day supply, but two tankers delivered more fuel, so now they have about a week's supply Praise God!

Are you following the Blog of the Baker family at the hospital? It is very good. Visit http://www.bhm.org/bhm/lang-en/news-and-resources/our-life-in-haiti-blog.html.

Pray for Martin to know what to do this week. Samaritan's Purse is relocating its non-medical staff tomorrow to be at a compound closer to the airport. Martin is wondering if he should join them to do more emergency water stuff or stay with the medical team. With more doctors arriving, he may have less to do.

The team receives one meal a day from the missionary families on the compound ... well, actually from the kids of the families! The older kids seem to have taken over the running of the homes as their parents work. Most of the moms are nurses, so they're working flat out. The kids cooked everyone pizza tonight! They are baking bread and soup. Isn't that a wonderful testimony! The other two meals are snacks bought in Florida.

The BBC continues to follow Martin and the team every step. This is hard to believe, but give thanks to God for it. He was on National Radio today several times and will do an interview at 11.30 p.m. for one of the most popular breakfast shows in the morning.

You can listen to tonight's interview tonight online. This is one of the main news bulletins for the country! Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00psrcs/Six_OClock_News_17_01_2010/

Martin now has a space for a daily diary entry on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8458915.stm.

To view photos, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/hcjbglobal/sets/72157623085046733/with/4280954404/.

Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010

Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison)

The team were able to fly from Miami on Friday and was able to land in Haiti. We knew they were in the air this morning and so were praying that they would be able to get permission to land!

The staff from the hospital located the team on the ground straightaway and located a vehicle. At this point, Martin called me to say all was well and they would make the 90-minute journey to the hospital. He asked us to pray for their security on the trip.

The team arrived safely at the hospital outside of the capital and began to assess the situation. It is a 100-bed hospital with 300 patients. So they began by getting some order to this situation. The doctors have started to treat patients mostly with fractures, spinal injuries and infected wounds. Pray for them by name Leonardo, Mark, Paul, Steve, Eckehart. Pray too for Sheila Leech, also from the U.K. She is a nurse and the team leader.

The water filters Martin is going to work with have arrived but at a different airfield so they need to be located. But he has plenty to do helping the doctors do their job and with communication. They have a satellite phone and we have set times when they will call one of us in Quito, and  we have a system in place if we don't hear from them.

The HCJB Global’s offices in Bradford and in the U.S. are doing a great job with communication to prayer supporters. Martin’s interview with BBC Radio York was the top story this morning, and other news sites have used the press release from Bradford, including the Nidderdale Herald site. Our prayer again is that the publicity will bring more help to the nation of Haiti and testify to God working through his people. You can follow more on Twitter if you like. Visit http://twitter.com/hcjbglobal.

Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison):

All is well just getting on with the job. Everyone is very focused. Doctors are working hard. Martin will be working today on the hospital water supply and distribution to surrounding houses. Twenty more water units are expected soon. Then he will be out and about with others from Samaritan's Purse, setting them up. Samaritan's Purse will have 18 more doctors arriving on Monday. The team may start medical trips out of hospital, but not sure at this stage. Security would be the big concern here. There is some internet availability, but it is very slow.

Report written by Ruth Harrison (based on telephone calls with Martin Harrison):

The team has been incredibly busy. The situation is very serious. They tried to make a list for surgery, but more urgent cases arrived during the day. People are still being pulled out of the rubble with dreadful injuries. They have saved lives, but there have been deaths as well. They worked until midnight last night to save a baby and the mother. The mother survived, but sadly the baby didn't. And today they were treating a 15-year-old, but she died. She was her mother's last child. All her other children had died. They had to carry her body out of the hospital on a door (as no stretcher was available) and carry her for a mile to be buried.

It seems that word is getting out that the hospital is functioning and has foreign doctors, so people are traveling there for help. One problem that may be developing is that once people have been treated they don't want to leave as they have nowhere to go and the hospital is safe and has some water! But this could overload the hospital, so pray for wisdom for the hospital staff.

An exciting development however is the fact that there is a team of Billy Graham chaplains at the hospital, working with translators. They are sharing Christ with the patients, and 20 people have given their lives to Christ today. Amen! The chaplains have been helping our team as well.

The doctors are working long hours. They started at 8 a.m. and were still going when Martin called at 7:20 p.m., but they are well. They felt another aftershock when they were in surgery this morning, but overall that side of things has eased now. They need more materials but Samaritan's Purse has two planes arriving tonight with hospital supplies, vehicles, water filters and much more. So pray it will arrive and be distributed without delay.

Martin completed a survey of the water supply for the whole hospital compound today and will fit the filter system tomorrow. Samaritan's Purse is trying to come up with a strategy for water distribution in the city. They have heard that there are water tankers out and about with short lines, but other reports talk of fights for water. It will be hard to find a water source amongst the rubble. Hopefully water can be pumped into tankers for safe distribution. Samaritan's Purse is spending a lot of time contacting the media, but Martin said, "I guess funds need to be raised."

I was called this afternoon by the BBC in London and was interviewed about the team! Martin hoped to call them tonight. They want to interview Ecuadorian surgeon Leonardo Febres for their Spanish news program. We are thrilled that there may be a Christian witness on the BBC! Martin gave two interviews for local BBC stations when they were in Miami which have been aired.

Friday, Jan. 15, 2010

Report from Martin Harrison, water engineer, HCJB Global; written by Martin's wife, Ruth:

I asked Martin when they would be able to suggest follow up plans but he said it would take a day or two to do this but he would pass this onto Sheila  Leech so she could begin to consider this. I told him that Brad has had many offers of help and people who want to go. Martin was pleased to hear this but said it needs to be done carefully and through the right channels as they may not be allowed in, as we heard it was hard for them to arrive. He asked, "Will this be an HCJB Global team or wider or wider under the umbrella of HCJB Global?"

The first task is to help establish some order in the hospital. It is a 100-bed hospital with 300 patients! The team is in the hospital compound and feels relatively safe. They are staying in a guest house part of the hospital. They are at 4,000 feet up, so it is a little cooler. People are coming to the hospital with injured people. Mostly fractures, spinal problems and infected wounds. The water filters Martin was hoping to work with have arrived but at a different airfield? So not sure when they will be located.

I am trying to stay in contact with the other wives and pass on everyone's thanks for your prayers and support of us at this difficult time.

Report from Martin Harrison:

We are all well. Now in sit at a Baptist Mission Hospital on edge of Port-au-Prince up on a mountain. Many hundreds of patients flooding this small hospital with limited facilities. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I am mucking in with whatever. I helped fix up a broken leg and generally running around to make sure all the medical team have what they need to do their job.

Tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 16), I will be installing a water filtration unit at the hospital. They are running out of water. We will also plan to distribute water to others in the area. Also tomorrow we have two planes coming, a DC-6 and a C130 Hercules. These are bringing many supplies-medical, blankets, hygiene packs, pure packs (basic water filters) and 20 large water filtration units. Perhaps some vehicles too. I may be getting busy now! Please pray about security as we figure out how to distribute supplies and water in an increasingly desperate environment.

All six medical team members are working their socks off in the hospital, especially in the operating room. They're seeing many fractured limbs, infected wounds, etc. They're also delivering babies with complications which the hospital is not set up to do. One has died, sadly, but the mother was saved.

Bear in mind that I am in here in a multipurpose role in this order: water filtration, logistics and team member care, communication, news. I will do my best to do all this!