'Destruction is indescribable': Utah volunteers join Haiti relief effort
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 01/29/2010 09:01:01 PM MST
A Utah volunteer team has wasted no time getting to work in Haiti.
One group has already made its way to the Healing Hands For Haiti medical clinic. They have set up a tent as a makeshift clinic and are beginning to spread word to those who need care that doctors are standing by, said Kirk Bertelsen, an Orem City police officer providing security for the team.
"We are at the clinic now trying to clean up some debris," said Bertelsen, who spoke to The Salt Lake Tribune by cell phone Friday morning. "I'm just roaming around the place and trying to make sure everybody stays safe."
Other members of the Utah Hospital Task Force pulled strings to evacuate 66 Haitian orphans. The children were flown to Miami, cleared through customs and taken to an area foster shelter to be united with their adoptive parents.
Damage in and around Port-au-Prince shocked Bertelsen.
"Honestly, the destruction is indescribable and unbelievable," Bertelsen said. "There is rubble everywhere."
Despite that, he said, Haitians seem to be getting by.
"People seem to be working through it and trying to figure out what to do," he said.
Bertelsen said some shops in the city have electricity, but there is none at the clinic. He said a lot of vending is taking place on the streets, with sellers offering fruit, sugar cane and cooked items.
Tom Christensen, a contractor with Double P Construction in Kamas, also spoke Friday
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to The Tribune .
His group was transported to a field being used by aid groups Thursday night by the 82nd Airborne Division. An Ohio team has a tent set up and is offering medical care.
Christensen said that in addition to the team sent to the medical clinic, other groups have already gone out to assess condition of a local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel and the Foyer de Sion orphanage, operated by Guesno and Marjorie Mardy.
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 01/29/2010 09:01:01 PM MST
A Utah volunteer team has wasted no time getting to work in Haiti.
One group has already made its way to the Healing Hands For Haiti medical clinic. They have set up a tent as a makeshift clinic and are beginning to spread word to those who need care that doctors are standing by, said Kirk Bertelsen, an Orem City police officer providing security for the team.
"We are at the clinic now trying to clean up some debris," said Bertelsen, who spoke to The Salt Lake Tribune by cell phone Friday morning. "I'm just roaming around the place and trying to make sure everybody stays safe."
Other members of the Utah Hospital Task Force pulled strings to evacuate 66 Haitian orphans. The children were flown to Miami, cleared through customs and taken to an area foster shelter to be united with their adoptive parents.
Damage in and around Port-au-Prince shocked Bertelsen.
"Honestly, the destruction is indescribable and unbelievable," Bertelsen said. "There is rubble everywhere."
Despite that, he said, Haitians seem to be getting by.
"People seem to be working through it and trying to figure out what to do," he said.
Bertelsen said some shops in the city have electricity, but there is none at the clinic. He said a lot of vending is taking place on the streets, with sellers offering fruit, sugar cane and cooked items.
Tom Christensen, a contractor with Double P Construction in Kamas, also spoke Friday
Advertisement
to The Tribune .
His group was transported to a field being used by aid groups Thursday night by the 82nd Airborne Division. An Ohio team has a tent set up and is offering medical care.
Christensen said that in addition to the team sent to the medical clinic, other groups have already gone out to assess condition of a local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel and the Foyer de Sion orphanage, operated by Guesno and Marjorie Mardy.
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Ralph says he plans to collect on this!
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