Again we were not able to get through by phone but Geri got through on Skype.

Since Max feels things are in good hands on the ground with the medical team there he is flying out tomorrow – basically if you have a us passport you just line up and the airport and they get you on a plane as an evacuee. He wants to attend the Board of Directors meeting on here in Connecticut on Sat. so he can give all of the members a detailed account of conditions in and around Hospice as well as Haiti. He says he will go back on Sunday through the Dominican Republic.

Erin has made a promising connection with CRS and Hospice may become a site for food distribution.

The medical team went out and saw 350 patients. About 250 had infected wounds. Word will spread tomorrow and they are somewhat concerned that people will start showing up in the yard in large numbers. They much prefer to go out and find people. Their supplies have not yet gotten to Haiti, but they have been able to go to some larger groups and get things to take back to Hospice.

STILL no large organizations have been in the neighborhood to help. It’s kind of mind boggling. A small organization like ours was able to get a team there, get them from the airport to Hospice and start working.

Since I can’t give you too much news of Hospice right now, I am including excerpts of an email someone sent out whose daughter is working with Save the Children. She is in an area called Leogane, not too far from Port-au-Prince, which is entirely flattened. It also speaks well of the efforts of other countries besides the US. It follows:

“I walked through town today and counted: Japanese crew; Swiss Doctors Without Borders (MSF); Swede MSF; Canadian MSF; our crew; another group from Massachusetts; HSC docs [local doctors from Leogane] and another mystery group on their way. The Japanese are incredible – they have their own operating room including an x-ray machine and brought their own ice cream makers. We’re all jealous.

Houses with the most severe stench of decaying bodies are starting to be bull-dozed. So hopefully the stench will subside within a week. It’s pretty overwhelming in some areas.

This morning Jean Marc and I played air traffic control when 2 helicopters and a plane all wanted to land at the same time. Shipments are flying in about every 30 minutes – unfortunately there’s not much coordination about where the stuff is supposed to go. It’s totally chaotic.

The UN is trying to distribute tents and tarps, but they haven’t quite mastered distribution yet. Within seconds they’re overpowered and chaos ensues. Jn. Marc and Nathan are off to rescue the latest UN distributors as I type.

Information from other sources: Doctors report that:
…..90% of the buildings have just been flattened. There are the “tent cities” of the refugees. He said some of them have sheets for shelter, and some have used metal to make shelters. He could hear the Haitians singing hymns as we spoke……”

Sue again – I will be at the Board meeting tomorrow to take notes so may not report anything until Sat night. Thanks to you all for keeping up with this.