February 22, 2010 – Benefit for Haiti at Englert Theatre, Iowa City

Chris Buresh presents information at Benefit for Haiti event at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City.

February 7, 2010 – Team 4 Leaves for Leogane

Team #4 (from IA, MO, MN, CA) leaves for Leogane with the help of a private plane donated by Crescent Electric in Dubuque, Iowa.

February 6, 2010 – Donated Medical Supplies Sorted and Packaged

Huge volunteer effort takes place in Iowa to inventory and load 20+ palettes of medical supplies / equipment that will be shipped by truck to Miami and barge to Port-au-Prince – thanks to U of Iowa EMS interest group, Governor of Iowa’s office, Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Bill Clinton Foundation, the Teamsters, Americorps, and Kirkwood Community College!

February 4, 2010 – Team 3 Returns Home

Team #2 arrives home safe.  Grading of the ground near the nursing school in Leogane is completed and the hospital begins to go up.

February 2, 2010 – Team 3 Arrives in Leogane

Team #3 (from IA, MN, MA) arrives in Leogane after traveling through Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

January 29, 2010 – Mobile Hospital Arrives

Mobile BlueMed hospital arrives in crates in Leogane with military escort.  Chris Buresh sleeps on crates to provide more personal security.

January 28, 2010 – Most of Team #1 returns safe and exhausted

January 26 – 27, 2010 - Team 2 Arrives in Leogane

Team #2 (from MA, PA, IA, and NC) arrives in Leogane with the help of a private plane donated by Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and traveling through Santiago, Dominican Republic.

January 23, 2010 – Mobile Hospital Delayed

Mobile hospital delayed due to difficulties in shipping large unit with ad hoc Leogane runway taking only small planes.

January 22, 2010 – Aftershocks Continue

Many NGOs on the ground and coordination is an issue. Aftershocks continue. The people of Leogane show remarkable spirit despite 90% destruction of their city.

January 21, 2010 – Aftershock

A large 6.0 aftershock is felt in the morning, but luckily everyone is too afraid to stay indoors and there are few new injuries. Orthopedic surgeons arrive in town to help deal with large number of limb injuries and amputations.

January 20, 2010 – 50-bed “Mobile Hospital” in Transit

Ginny Buresh said her husband’s team hopes to receive a 50-bed “mobile hospital” this week.  Such facilities include sturdy tents, an operating room and other medical necessities.  They also have been told to expect
large shipments of food and water.

January 19, 2010 – Team Flys back to Haiti

The WWV/CHI team managed to fly in a private plane from Florida to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Then they caught rides with workers from another agency heading to Leogane. The local hospital and the buildings where they used to sleep are too damaged to use.

Before boarding the plane an email from Haitians to Dr. Buresh read…

“Help, we’re out of Band-Aids, we’re out of gloves, we’re out of medicine,
we’re out of food, [we] just had to bury 90 people today.

January 12, 2010 – Earthquake in Haiti

The Haiti earthquake struck on Tuesday January 12, 2010, only days after the World Wide Village Community Health Initiative team returned from an 8 day medical mission trip in Leogane. Leogane was the closest city to the epicenter.

January 2 through 9, 2010 – Community Health Initiative Trip

8 day Community Health Initiative trip completed medical mission work within Leogane, Haiti.