Summary to My Dad's Medical Partners

My mom wrote this for the staff at my dad's office, Corvallis Family Medicine. It pretty much sums up what I've been posting about (probably should have just used this...but I forgot it was in the email pile!):

Hi Corvallis Family Medicine Group,

I've been waiting to give you some news about Mark that was definite. He has been in quite a state of flux over the past four days trying to get to Haiti.

Here's a breakdown of the scenario:

Wednesday Night- After watching news of Haiti's earthquake, Mark sends an email to LDS Church Humanitarian Services and offers to go if they need him

Thursday Morning- Mark gets word from LDS Humanitarian Services that they are putting a team together and if he can get to Salt Lake, he could join the team. They are uncertain of the flight time, but suggest it could be on Friday morning. He sees patients while I try to locate his passport, book at ticket to SLC, etc.

Thursday afternoon- Mark flies to SLC

Friday- LDS Hum. Serv. is still processing the 20-member team and not quite ready to go. Mark spends the day with one of the church employees going to hospitals and clinics and gathering supplies to fill 20 duffel bags- one for each team member. LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City gives them $15,000 in supplies. He spends time also compiling protocol on how the team can best render medical services over there. Goes to LDS Humanitarian Center in SLC and gathers additional supplies.

Saturday- Looks like Mark might be able to fly to Ft. Lauderdale ahead of the team on Jon Huntsman's donated private jet (Huntsman is former governor of Utah and now ambassador in China.) Mark goes to the airport, ready to go, meets the pilot but at last minute they decide it's best if team goes together.

Sunday- Team meets at airport in Salt Lake City ready to fly Delta Airlines to Ft. Lauderdale. A chartered jet will meet them there and take them onto Haiti. They have a personal carry on, a duffel bag and 3 other boxes/bags of supplies per team member. Delta approves the extra luggage.

Sunday night- The team arrives in Ft. Lauderdale, but there are mechanical problems with the charter plane. They are unable to just hop on another charter because each plane has to be registered by the airports they are flying in and out of. Marriott Hotel puts the team up for the night.

Monday morning- Port au Prince airport is closed so unable to fly there from Ft. Lauderdale.

Monday afternoon- The team takes a bus to Miami after reservations are made for each of them to fly on American Airlines to Dominican Republic. A bus will meet them there and drive them to the Haiti (about a 5-6 hour rocky ride through the border and mountains).

Mark called about 30 minutes ago and he was boarding the plane. I haven't heard from him so I assume it has taken off. The team is also on the heels of 80,000 pounds of humanitarian aid that has already arrived through the Humanitarian Services. They will be setting up their clinic in a LDS church that was not damaged. 4000 displaced people are sleeping on the grounds of the church. There's no power but a truck with diesel fuel was scheduled to arrive today to get the generator up and running. Mark is really hoping that they can get there soon and start offering their services. Even though he would've liked to have left much earlier, he was able to use his skills learned from 15 trips to Ukraine and prepare the delegation with needed supplies. He also has no fear of knocking on the door of a hospital or clinic and asking/begging for free supplies.

In his last phone call, he asked me to thank all of you for seeing his patients and taking his call. He would like to especially thank Ed for taking his OB call. Things were rushed on Thursday and he wasn't able to sit down and discuss this need face to face with Ed so he appreciates Ed's flexibility and willingness to do this.

He also said that he'd be more than happy to cover all of Aaron's on-call when he gets back. He wants Aaron to know that there will be plenty of work to do in early February. He'll know more when he gets there but he gave the analogy of a city with 2 million people and all of a sudden all the hospitals, clinics, and emergency rooms are unavailable. Imagine what it would be like on a normal night at the ER for this city, let alone after one of the worst earthquakes in modern history.

At this time, he feels that he will be flying home around Thursday or Friday, January 28-29. LDS Humanitarian Services is providing the team with 2-3 global phones so they will be able to call home once in awhile.

They have a reporter from one of the Salt Lake City newspapers with the team and he is giving reports as they happen. You can check in by going to

http://www.deseretnews.com

Here's the latest which includes a photo of Mark: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705359350/LDS-relief-team-to-Haiti-delayed.html

Again, he thanks you and I thank you for being such a great group. I saw Tammy (CFM employee) on Friday and she said that she is so proud to work for an office where all the doctors want to help out in some way in a crisis like this. Thanks for making this possible for Mark. I know that he will do his best to be of service to the Haitian people.

Alice