In the wake of the earthquake that devastated Haiti and wreaked havoc on travel into the country, American Airlines cancelled all flights, including the February 9th flight that was to carry Jacksonville's surgical team to Fond des Blancs. E-mails from Conor Shapiro, Medical Director at St. Boniface Hospital, expressed the need for assistance to help deal with the impact of the influx of patients being transferred from USNS Comfort. Drs. Ron Carzoli and Ken Hagan were ready and willing, so the search for transportation began.
Dr. Hagan's wife, Cathy, contacted one of her fellow Rotarians, Don Dymer, to see if he could help. He immediately responded with an enthusiastic "yes". As owner and flight instructor of North Florida Flight Training, Mr. Dymer offered to fly the two doctors to Haiti. To avoid the chaos in Port au Prince, they flew into Les Cayes in a four-seater Cessna where the St. Boniface ambulance was waiting to carry Drs. Carzoli and Hagan to Fond des Blancs. Mr. Dymer flew to a nearby island to wait for four days before flying back to Les Cayes to pick up his passengers and return them safely to Jacksonville.
During the trip, Dr. Carzoli and Mr. Shapiro traveled to Port au Prince and returned with a dump truck full of medical supplies. In the meantime, Dr. Hagan operated on several patients, helped educate hospital staff on how to care for wound infections, and assisted in unloading supplies delivered by helicopter by relief teams..
Mr. Dymer is a member and former president of Oceanside Rotary and is no stranger to community service. After retiring as an investigator with Scotland Yard in London, Don and his family moved to Jacksonville. He is a successful entrepreneur, owning a full service human resource business along with the flight school. As a Rotarian, he spearheaded the collection of a container-load of children's shoes that were delivered to Honduras and he has traveled to Guatemala to help install cisterns to provide clean water for a village.
Fellow Rotarians supported Mr. Dymer's volunteer efforts to help St. Boniface by contributing more than $500 to offset costs of the flight. This is not the first time Oceanside Rotary has provided help for the hospital. The club contributed funds to build the first pediatric wing, purchased two infusion pumps now used to feed infants in the neonatal unit, and have just recently purchased two more of these pumps for the hospital.
The trip provided much needed relief and support for the hospital staff at St. Boniface. A simple request for assistance, and Mr. Dymer's willingness to help, made it all possible.
By Cathryn Hagan
Trio non their return from Haiti.
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