Nightingale for Haiti: Seeking the Salve of a Shared Song

I recently spent two weeks with the Vermont Haiti Relief Team in Jimani, in the Dominican Republic, providing nursing care for victims of the recent earthquake. Our team consisted of individuals mostly unknown to one another, all healthcare workers at Fletcher Allen in Burlington, Vermont. We arrived in the Dominican Republic one week after the earthquake, and quickly located a medical clinic approximately 30 odd miles from Port au Prince. The clinic was originally built in late 2008 to serve Haitian migrant workers living on the border, and was not in use yet prior to the disaster. However, as Haitian patients quickly flooded across the border for emergency medical treatment, the facility was opened and transformed into a field hospital for victims and their families. The day we arrived, the facility housed approximately 450 patients, mostly suffering from crush and puncture injuries, with many requiring amputations and external fixation. Our services as nurses were prized, as many surgical teams were arriving and swiftly departing, leaving behind post operative patients with few staff members to attend to their immediate needs.