Surgeon, nurses from Yakima will join relief effort

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Dr. Jason Cundiff, a general surgeon in Yakima, knows firsthand how a medical crisis can grip a city and its people after a natural disaster.

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans while he was in surgical training there, and he spent several weeks treating the wounded. Cundiff also had some experience under his belt from a medical mission to Nicaragua.

So when the devastating pictures began arriving from the earthquake in Haiti, Cundiff submitted his name to some of the larger aid organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health.

But those groups have data banks of doctors on hand, and Cundiff wasn't hearing back. After reading about a church group from Gleed planning to detour its annual trip to the Dominican Republic to Haiti in order to help, Cundiff gave the pastor a call.

One thing led to another and now Cundiff, 41, two experienced nurses and a shipment of surgical supplies are headed this weekend for the Dominican Republic border town of Jimani, about 35 miles east of Port-au-Prince.

They'll form a relatively self-contained surgical team to treat the wounded arriving in tent cities that are springing up in areas like Jimani because the Haitian capital is overwhelmed with destruction.

"I feel there's a real obligation to be there and I function well under those circumstances," Cundiff said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Lillian Ahrendt is prepared for the long days and crude accommodations ahead.

"How can you notice when you are surrounded by so much devastation and people dying left and right?" Ahrendt, 56, said in an interview Thursday, a day before her departure.

A registered nurse at Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center, Ahrendt, nurse practitioner Linda Damaskos and Cundiff will get their assignments from an international faith-based organization called Score International.

Awaiting them are scores of patients with crushed limbs and other trauma wounds crowding hospitals and makeshift surgical
centers. An estimated 30,000 patients a day need surgery of some sort.

Cundiff expects to be performing a lot of amputations because gangrene has become common among those with crushed limbs.

"Surgeons can really make a difference," he said.

The Yakima volunteers will be joining 19 volunteer doctors and nurses from around the Pacific Northwest already in Haiti, performing surgeries and treating hundreds of people each day at the 350-bed Kings Hospital outside Port-au-Prince.

According to news services quoting health workers, infectious diseases, untreated injuries and inadequate sanitation have created a major medical crisis that shows no signs of abating.

Partners in Health, a medical organization that began working in Haiti 20 years ago, has estimated that 20,000 people are dying daily because they can't get lifesaving surgery.

Regional is sending a shipment of medical supplies, including clamps, retractors, IV starts, suture ties, sponges, gauze, iodine, gloves, gowns and drapes.

Ahrendt's decision to help in Haiti -- which she said resulted from "a major sign from God" -- wouldn't have been possible without the generosity of her co-workers, who volunteered to cover her shifts.

As soon as others heard she was headed out, they started giving her donations.

"People are just giving left and right. I didn't ask at all," she said.

As a "circulator" nurse, she will start IVs and otherwise prep patients for surgery.

Volunteers from Memorial Bible Church in Gleed left for the Dominican Republic last week and planned to make a trip into Haiti to help with the relief effort.

Cundiff said the experience will be double-edged.

"It will be saddening but also rewarding," he said.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.

How to donate

Here are several ways to donate to Haitian relief funds:

* To donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, go to the fund's Web site at www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.

* You can contribute to the American Red Cross' Haiti efforts in three ways:

(1) Bring a check to the Yakima Valley chapter, 302 S. Second St., in Yakima.

(2) Contribute through the chapter's Web site at www.yakimaredcross.org or the national headquarters' Web site at www.redcross.org.

(3) Text the word "HAITI" to 90999. A $10 donation will be made to the Red Cross' Haiti effort automatically and will show up on your next month's cell phone bill.

* To donate to Catholic Relief Services, visit the Web site at www.crs.org or call 800-736-3467.

* Prosser Community Church supports a mission organization, Haiti Arise Ministries, and is accepting donations for earthquake relief. Send donations to Prosser Community Church, P.O. Box 57, Prosser, WA 99350, with "Haiti Emergency Relief Fund" in the memo line on the check. For more information, call the church at 509-788-1150 or 509-786-7746.