Edward pediatric ER docs put skills, compassion to work in Haiti

From Naperville Sun:

A 10-person tent, six old hospital beds and 200 feet of tarp to protect them from the sun.

That was the extent of the makeshift clinic where two doctors from Edward Hospital's pediatric emergency department in Naperville volunteered to help fill the gap relief workers had found following the Haiti earthquake: pediatric care.

Stocked with donated supplies and equipment, Dr. Lina AbuJamra and Dr. Jennifer McNulty spent 10 days in Haiti, treating families from that tarp-covered clinic inside a soccer stadium. They also tended to the health care needs of children at an orphanage and related community centers served by the Heartland Alliance relief agency.

The Heartland Alliance aims to protect child safety by stopping child trafficking. So their first assignment was to test the strength of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic -- and tension was high.

"There were lots of people carrying guns around," McNulty said. "I didn't like sitting at the border for even 15 minutes. They wanted to see if they could lure a child across the border with candy, and you can. They filmed it and will show it to UNICEF."

Driving into Haiti, the American doctors thought the landscape didn't look so bad. Maybe the media had overhyped the earthquake, AbuJamra said.

Then they approached Port-au-Prince. House after house had been leveled.

"We all got into doctor mode then," she said.

"I was able to process everything in a very emergency doctor fashion. I personally don't think any of the stories hit me to the core until I started driving away from Haiti -- that was the first time I cried."