Prosthetics for Haiti

I know that the immediate need in Haiti for the past week has been just food and water. The medical need was urgent, but you had to keep the injured alive long enough for medical treatment to arrive.

But there is a long term need that will need to be addressed as a result of the past week.

Injuries that could have been treated rapidly and successfully with an intact, medical infrastructure have gone days without treatment. The injuries became infected. By the time medical help arrived, the only way to control the infection was by amputation.

According to a news story I saw tonight, doctors have been performing an average of about 70 amputations a day.

I have no idea how the numbers play out, but I can easily imagine that in addition to being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti could also wind up with the highest number of amputees per capita in the world.

Prosthetics are expensive. Each one is custom made to fit the patient. The patients need to be trained to use the prosthetics.

There will need to be a huge humanitarian effort to provide prosthetics and physical therapy to the quake victims.

I don't know how to set up a fundraising effort like that and I'm not responsible enough to lead it even if I did.

But if any of you can suggest the best venue for channeling funds to this very specific cause, I would support it and promote it in every way possible.

Haiti

As we all know by now, a powerful earthquake struck Haiti yesterday completely destroying the capitol city of Port-au-Prince.

Already the poorest nation on the planet with virtually no government, building codes or infrastructure, it is now a pile of rubble and casualty estimates range from 50,000 dead to 500,000 dead. In truth, we will probably never know how many died.

Assistance from the United States started pouring in immediately!

The Coast Guard, Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force all have units on the way. There are aircraft carriers, amphibious units, C-130 cargo planes, hospital ships all headed for Haiti as quickly as they can get there.

A local group of physicians, Heart to Heart have people on the way with medical supplies.

The University of Miami sent a chartered plane full of students to perform triage and evacuate as many critical patients as they could.

The American Red Cross is already in place and providing aid.

Bill Clinton, who was appointed the U.N. Ambassador to Haiti has been very active coordinating the response.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates canceled trips to Australia for annual security talks so they can continue overseeing relief efforts following the earthquake in Haiti.

The World Bank and Ted Turner's United Nations Foundation have both pledged millions of dollars in grants to Haiti to help with the rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts.

Social Media nerds like me, donating just $10.00 by sending a text message donated hundreds of thousands of dollars within hours.

Oh, and then there were these responses.







This is why the Conservatives aren't in charge any more and never will be again.

Because they are simple-minded idiots.

They believe in supernatural forces and ridiculous Communist conspiracies.

They are totally detached from rationality and reality.

In some clinical arenas, that would be defined as insanity requiring hospitalization.

But here, we just laugh it off as crazy politics and Opinion Journalism.

They are doing NOTHING to help.