It's impossible to describe just how hard the last two weeks have been for the millions of Haitians both in Haiti and in the US. As the hours and days ticked by, the hope of rescuing people has dwindled. The country is faced with the grim reality of the magnitude of their loss while the immense task of recovery and rebuilding looms before them.

Thousands of Haitian nurses, nursing home workers and home care attendants are members of SEIU, and as a union, we have been working to support them and their families in this difficult time. As Haiti continues picking up the pieces in Port au Prince and the surrounding areas, our continued support will be critical. Just ask Roberson Louis Jeune, one of our members from near Pittsburgh:

Please donate to Partners in Health today and help the Haitian people rebuild their country and their health care system.

Edited and reprinted from http://ceceinhaiti.blogspot.com

Did I mention that I'll never do anything like this again unless I have a Blackberry or laptop? Sorry it's so long between posts but things are very busy and every night, everyone is trying to contact family. I've traded some favor to be named later with Doc Colleen for the use of your laptop. You may have seen her on CNN last week; she and a nurse named Gabrielle took care of a 5-year-old boy pulled from the rubble last Tues or Wed. I watched her story on TV at O'Hare airport waiting for my plane, then a few hours later I met both of them at IMC headquarters. By the way, the little boy is doing well; he came to have dinner tonight with Colleen and Gabrielle. What a cutie.

As for me, the clinic in Bolosse is going very well. We usually open around 10 and run till 3:30, but we closed early today so that we could scout for other sites for mobile clinics. We visited the lower portion of Bolosse for the first time; it's close to the shore, but a pitiful site. Metal sheds; many collapsed buildings; unspeakable latrines. In the midst of this, laughing children want to hold my hand and touch my fair skin; a group of men plays cards; and across the street is a collapsed home where several family members died.

From there we traveled to an area called Grand Ravine which made lower Bolosse look like a picnic grove. We had to walk in because the road just narrows, then ends. The houses are perched on the steep hillsides and we had to climb to get anywhere. A local leader told us that the people of Grand Ravine have NEVER had medical care, even before the earthquake. We couldn't find a secure, undamaged structure to hold our clinic (although, frankly, we couldn't explore the entire area, it's too large). Dr. Brian and I will set up our clinic on a ledge... literally a ledge, outside of someone's home. We hope to find a tarp big enough to hang and provide shade, and any medical supplies we need, we'll have to backpack in and out every day. Hard work, but I'm ready to start. First back to Bolosse for one more clinic day there, and we will tell them that for a few days we'll be working in Grand Ravine, eventually I think to work every other day at each site.

On the way back from Grand Ravine, we stopped one last time in Bolosse to visit the wife of Samuel, one of the translators who has been helping in the clinic. She was injured in the initial earthquake and has been living on a mat on their porch since then... 2 weeks! She most likely has a pelvic fracture, but here there is not much to do about that. We took her some crutches, and with a little encouragement I had her crutch walking across the porch, non-weight bearing. I've done patient teaching in pretty strange places, but this takes the cake. I want her to try to walk twice a day... "Un matins, et soir." I'm picking up just a little Creole. I tried to teach them some Polish, but they just laughed.

Enough for now. We are safe, and happy to be doing this work.

Reprinted from http://ceceinhaiti.blogspot.com

Hello all, and greetings from the Hotel Plaza in Port au Prince. John and I have been busy, but at the end of every day we are exhilarated and glad to be here, of some use.

I have traded an unspecified amount of almonds to Dr. Jeff for a few minutes' use of his laptop; a good trade! It feels great to be able to communicate sort of directly with you.

With our work with the International Medical Corps, we have been based at the University Hospital. Every morning we take a 7AM shuttle to the office, have a debriefing, then go to our assignments. Generally we are on the bus back to the hotel by 5 or 5:30 PM; they prefer that we be safely en route by the time darkness falls. There are some generators at the hospital but those are for night-time surgery; the streets of the hospital compound are pitch black until dawn.

For the past few days John has been working in the Medical Unit at the hospital. Their patient type varies from chronic medical problems to acute problems such as severe dehydration, a gunshot wound to the head, and everything in between. One of the problems with this inpatient unit is that the Haitians have become terrified to stay in-doors, due to the initial earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. So many patients discharge themselves at night; sometimes they can be found in a wooded area across the street, sometimes they never return.

One word about aftershocks: the worst, a 6.0, occurred the day before we got here. All medical buildings were evacuated into the hot sun for most of the day. There have been 3 or 4 minor tremors since we've been here; two were very brief but one was enough to have people running for the doors. But by the time we got to the door, it was all over.

As for me, I have been part of a mobile medical clinic visiting Bolosse, which is a neighborhood a few blocks from here. Yesterday, Dr. Brian and I scouted the area with our translator, Shiloh. We met with Lylie, who has become the de facto leader of about 5000 people. I think she may have been skeptical about us at first, but we were able to set up a small area and see many children and adults yesterday. Some were with injuries from the earthquake who had not received medical attention yet; one was a soccer goalie (!) who'd twisted his ankle. Many febrile children, many with diarrhea, and a few we sent to the hospital for more advanced care. I went back Bolosse today with Dr. Brian and Dr. Dan, who is a pediatrician (YAY!) and we saw about 120 pts all together. The Drs. did the care, and I dispensed medication with several Haitian nurses. One of them, Marthe, is especially wonderful; she is teaching the less experienced nurses. We've also had a Haitian medical student join us; eventually, the medical care in these communities will be turned over to the Haitians, as it should be, and part of our job is making sure that they are prepared to take care of their clients.

Once our day's work is done and we return to the hotel, it's time to line up for a shower. (Boy, am I glad I cut my hair before I came! Though I do miss my mascara.) There is a debriefing every night with administrative personnel from IMC, and they try to provide us with the essentials we ask for: medications, extra personnel, whatever. At 8PM, dinner is served,buffet style, in a Tiki-bar type of bar/restaurant. Strange, huh? My translator Shiloh is sleeping on the street, literally, right now; and I'm sitting on the floor in a ballroom, blogging, with a full belly. And I had a cold beer with dinner, too! $7 for an El Presidente, which they tell me is highway robbery )

Enough for tonight. I have used up my almonds' worth of laptop time. I will try to write more in a few days. Meanwhile, pray not only for me and John, but for the many people who are here trying to help in any way.

And most of all, pray for Haiti.
Love you all,
Cece

I have been asked by SEIU to update a blog when possible on to help keep in touch with friends and family while in Haiti. I am happy to do this.

I am in my final packing stages. I received a number of donations from my friends and family to help me purchase my vaccines yesterday along with my food, flashlights and first aid supplies. I also have received the support of 3 stores in the Greensburg and Monroeville area that have donated first aid items including gloves for the nurses, Tylenol for children and adults, gauze pads, ace bandages, etc. 

Not sure what to expect exactly while in Haiti- just got word from my coworker Danielle and the two other girls from AGH are working the night shift and are sleeping within the hospital. I hear they are having a hard time sleeping- not sure if its the adrenaline, noise, or chaos. I will try to remember to pack ear plugs for them tonight. Tawnya a nurse from 5A at AGH is joining me Monday. We just got off the phone to finalize packing arrangements. We're open to the ideas of working in the field with Cece, joining John in surgical and of course the night shift with Ashely, Danielle and Tiffany.

My adrenaline is starting to pump, I am ready to go and can't wait to join our nurses in Haiti to start making a difference.

Look forward to posting when I can during my week journey.

Thank you SEIU for your support in our mission.

Love to my family and friends.

Jessica Limpert

Jessica Limpert, a registered nurse in Allegheny General Hospital's NICU, is headed to Haiti on Monday and will be trying to occassionally blog about what her and the other nurses are doing there.

Meet Jessica:

Here are some text messages Cece Peterson sent to her family. We've reprinted them from Cece's Blog.

"Using borrowed phone to text. All is well, busy day."

"We started clinic in area with 5000 people and are only medical team there. Me and doc and translator. Wonderful people, many still with injuries, lots of sick kids. Tired but glad to be here. Missing some team members who were on another plane, is there any word?"

"Hotel even has pool, but not too clean. We live in luxury compared to others. Going to sleep now, love you all"

Editor's Note: The missing team members Cece is referring to are the 3 nurses working at St. Damien's Hospital mentioned in our first post. Not everyone is woring in the same location, so they haven't been able to stay in contact with each other the whole time.

Our first team of volunteers arrived safely in Haiti today. Five registered nurses from Allegheny General Hospital are part of the team. Some of them will be working in Port au Prince at St. Damien's Hospital, Haiti's only free pediatric hospital.

John Ziegler and Cece Peterson flew to Chicago last night and then on to Haiti this morning. Before they boarded their flight to Chicago yesterday, they gave a quick interview with WTAE Channel 4 Action News in Pittsburgh. Watch it here.

Shortly after John and Cece arrived at the airport, Ashley Scott, Danielle Thompson and Tiffany Hamilton got phone calls saying that they too needed to leave that evening and had to be at the airport in less than two hours. They threw the stuff they had packed in their cars and just made it to the airport on time.

We heard from all of them today and they are getting down to work. We hope that we'll get the occassional update from them over the next couple weeks and will post those here. Cece also started her own blog a couple days before she left, so we'll post some of her entries.