by  Nancy Seraphin

 Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

St. Boniface Haiti Foundation

After a week of listening for helicopter sounds, we were glad the noise we heard yesterday morning turned out to not be a motorcycle but a navy helicopter carrying a special envoy from the USNS Comfort. Captain Stockinger, our contact on the ship, accompanied by seven other people, including a navy pediatrician, three armed guards and a volunteer journalist toured our hospital and the town in search of a field large enough to accommodate a huge helicopter capable of carrying 25 patients.

St. Boniface Hospital offered to provide post-op care to an initial 25 patients some of which are paraplegics and quadriplegics. The hospital is the only institution working with the Comfort in Haiti willing to take these types of patients. We made this decision because of our confidence in our staff, the needs of the patients and because, for each patient discharged from the Comfort, it is an opportunity for another earthquake victim to be transported on board for much needed care.

Today we received two patients this morning and are expecting more tomorrow (Wednesday). We have the capacity to provide post-op care to 60 patients from the Comfort while keeping up our regular activities in the hospital. We are currently working on a system to take additional patients, but are fighting hard to find tents, beds, meds, supplies, and enough gas to keep our ambulances running. It is a daunting endeavor and we need as much help as possible to do it.