Inger’s Blog

From Acupuncturists Without Borders newsletter:

HAITI PROJECT UPDATE 1/26/2010

We have just gotten news that our first exploratory team to Haiti will be leaving on Wednesday, February 3 for the Dominican Republic. Diana Fried, AWB Executive Director, and Julia Raneri, AWB Haiti Operations Manager and NADA registered trainer, will be going on a private plane with a group of doctors to the DR and going by truck from the DR to Haiti.

The doctors are very much wanting to have us with them, to help them with pain treatments, trauma, acupuncture anesthesia and to help the exhausted responders. They are doing many amputations in the field, and have warned us that it going to be extremely challenging both physically and emotionally. We will be going to rural areas that have not received many, and in some cases any, services and that were destroyed by the earthquake.

This group is generously offering us 2 seats on this flight. They have asked for us to help with gas for the plane. We would like to raise $1,000 immediately that we can give to them to support the flight to Haiti. If you would like to contribute to this important first flight, please click on to this link: http://acuwithoutborders.org/donate_haiti.php

We do not yet know if this where is our ground operations will be based. We have been working hard and around the clock and have been in contact with many organizations and individuals on the ground in Haiti, to find a secure and reliable way that we can set up and send teams. This is a HUGE job, and will take some time for us to get all the pieces we need in place to start sending teams. We hope to have things in place in the coming weeks, and our upcoming trip will be a large step in this direction.

      We are working closely with contacts at orphanages, street clinics,
     Port-au-Prince General Hospital, Dominican Republic Red Cross, and many
     other grass roots organizations and international medical teams.

To those who have written asking about the status, please have patience as we continue to work out details. It is a complex and difficult situation, to say the least. We will be in touch with you as soon as possible once we have details worked out.

We have received close to 200 applications from acupuncturists who want to volunteer in Haiti. Thank you to all who have sent information. We will be getting back to people on an individual basis, via email and in some cases phone, to move our volunteer plans along. As mentioned earlier, our priority will go to those who have been to an AWB training and/or have been in the field volunteering with AWB, and are AWB members.

 CLICK HERE TO DONATE FOR HAITI EMERGENCY RELIEF EFFORT: http://acuwithoutborders.org/donate_haiti.php
(100% of your donation will go to the Haiti program)

—Inger