Greenwood resident Annika Hoogestraat is an ICU nurse at Seattle Children’s Hospital. But right now she’s packing her bags for a week in Haiti, to help with medical relief efforts that are ongoing after the January earthquake.
I’ll be joining a team of 15 Seattle Children’s critical care doctors, nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists traveling to Haiti to help in the relief work there. For seven days, we’ll be working with Project Medishare and the University of Miami Medical center in the field hospital they have established at the airport of Port-au-Prince. As well as paying our own way to Miami and providing our own provisions, we have been asked by the organization to bring along medications and supplies to help replenish the hospital’s stock. These medications are costly, though, so we are asking for the community’s help in raising money before we leave.
The rainy season has begun in Haiti, and many Haitians are still living in tent cities. As a result the rates of communicable diseases is on the rise, and their need for quality healthcare is still strong. Also, the surge of donations and media interest has decreased as compared to directly after the earthquake, but Haitians are still in need of aid.
Annika’s team leaves on Friday, and they’re still accepting PayPal donations to help pay for the cost of medications they’ll be bringing to Haiti.
