A Red Deer fire-medic says in his estimation, the worst is just beginning for Haiti.
Steve Barahona, 27, saw first-hand the devastating nexus of injuries, infection, disease and malnutrition as he worked first aid in the makeshift camps set up after the earthquake to house earthquake survivors made homeless by the disaster.
“It’s not just one area, it’s the entire country. The devastation and the starvation, it’s just chaos,” Barahona, with the Red Deer Fire Department, said Tuesday.
He spent nine days in Port-au-Prince and Léogâne at the turn of the month with two search-and-rescue personnel from Montreal, on a two-pronged mission.
The trio were hired privately by some Montreal families who wanted to know the fate of five relatives living and working in Haiti before the quake.
None were found alive. But there was a silver lining shining through the clouds when the team found the Haitian family of one of their targets. They provided them with food and water, helped build them a better shelter and hooked them up for a conversation with relatives in Montreal.
The second side to their mission involved some work for the Canadian Red Cross, delivering supplies and doing first aid.
They set up a makeshift clinic in one of the tent cities one day and treated all manner of injuries.
“If you have the skills and knowledge, you should definitely be able to use them,” Barahona said. “I feel like I used a lot more of my skills down there than I tend to use here.”
Barahona says the overall experience was great and he’d love to go back to Haiti, if given the chance.
mgauk@www.reddeeradvocate.com