Friday, January 15, 2010

Addressing Medical Needs-Haiti

Charles,

Many thanks for the follow-up. We just posted it on http://www.therotarianworld.blogspot.com/ and will post this afternoon on http://www.helphaitirecover.org/ and
http://www.helphaitirecover.org/HOWTOHELPFUNDING.htm.

We have several state disaster agenties who have been in contact with us regarding goods they want to send in. Good to know you can handle it. We also have a major Humanitarian Network Partner who is putting together a Transitional Building (see: http://www.worldshelters.com/) so Project Hope International, another of our startegic partners will have a clean facility to perform major sujeries. Project Hope has several medical teams in country now, with much needed medical supplies and medicine.

We have several medical warehouses which can send medical supplies as a back-up to replace the local doctors who have run out, and replenish Project Hope. We've asked those at MSNI to tell us how much they have in stock, and how much we need to raise to cover their costs so we can create a "project" out of their efforts which clubs can support. This and another load of Waterboxes will be a high priority on Air Haiti. We will have cost figures for the Hospital Trauma Building shortly and hope Rotarians will step up and help fund it. We could have it there in a day or so, but need Rotarians to erect it over in Port au Prince.

Monetary Donations to Dominican Republic Banks

















From: Charles F. Adams Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 5:17 PMTo: John Eberhard (eberhard@uwo.ca)Cc: Barry Rassin (barry@rassin.org); Dick McCombe (rmccombe@gussiemae.org); 'Ramiro Melo'; 'claude surena'; Alexandra Martinez Adams (doctoralexandra@gmail.com)Subject: DR Haiti Disaster Relief CommitteeImportance: High

To: Mr. John Eberhard
Executive Director, CRCID, and Chair,
Disaster Relief – Rotarian Action Group
Phone: 519-473-2100
Fax: 519-471-8982
Web: http://www.drrag.org/

From: Charles F. Adams
International Coordinator
Haiti Disaster Relief Committee
District 4060, Dominican Republic
U.S. phone to the DR: 518-685-4285
DR cell phone: 829-509-5505 or 809-753-5505
Electronic Fax (U.S.): 518-338-0124

Re: Credentials of the DR Haiti Disaster Relief Committee

Dear John:
On behalf of 4060 DG Ramiro Sanchez and all the members of our Haiti Disaster Relief Committee, I am pleased to convey the background information and documentation about our committee that you requested in our phone conversation, this morning.

District 4060 is not just motivated by its commitment to “Service Above Self” with respect to the tragedy of Haiti, its island neighbor. After all, we know all too well what tragedy is after the devastating hurricanes we experience, ourselves. But the Dominican Republic, by accident of geography, is also uniquely situated to be an effective route for delivering emergency goods and services to Haiti. In fact, for many things, the DR may be the least expensive and fastest way to acquire and ship materials and supplies into Haiti.

What Haiti needs the most is not available in Haiti – at any price. One cannot buy food when there is no food, nor medicines when there are none. But most of what is needed is available in the Dominican Republic, and the Dominican government is firmly committed to facilitating aid initiatives to Haiti. Accordingly, the DR’s 64 Rotary Clubs believe that we can play a useful role by creating an effective supply chain of emergency goods from the DR to Haiti.

Our Haiti Disaster Relief Committee, therefore, has two initiatives. One is to marshal the contributions of goods from our own 64 Rotary Clubs for delivery to Haiti. DG Ramiro has already published that request, and individual clubs have already begun collecting needed supplies. The second is to solicit the support of the international Rotary community.

Many foreign Rotary clubs and districts do not know how to work directly with the Rotary clubs in Haiti – and it is not always easy to do so, even under the best of circumstances. However, we know the Haitian Rotarians well. For the past three years while managing the national campaign “Pure Water for Haiti,” for example, the Petion-Ville club was my “home” club. Dr. Claude Surena, a dear friend of mine and with whom you’ve spoken by phone, is an eminent member of that club as well as being the president of the Haitian Medical Association. Dr. Surena has agreed to manage the storage and distribution of supplies sent from the DR to Haiti by our committee.
DG Ramiro has named the following Rotarians to the Haiti Disaster Relief Committee;
Ramiro Sanchez, DG 09-10. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ferreteriamelo1@gmail.com Phone: 809-399-0978 (in Spanish)
Aura Baslis, DG 10-11. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=auribasilis@yahoo.com
Jacqueline Medina, DG 11-12. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=emilce@codetel.net.do
Alexandra Martinez de Adams, DG 12-13. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=doctoralexandra@gmail.com
Jose Augusto Mella, PDG 06-07 and District Secretary 09-10. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=jmella@codetel.net.do
Jose Ma [Zhema] Fernandez, AG 09-10, Webmaster and PR. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=zhema.jmfm@gmail.com
Ambiorix de la Cruz, P 09-010, Santo Domingo Naco. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ambiorix.delacruz@francoacra.com
Marilis Perez, PP, Santo Domingo Colonial. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=marilisp@hotmail.com
Ruben Goico Rodriguez, National Coordinator of the Committee. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rubengoico@yahoo.com
Charles F. Adams, International Coordinator of the Committee. Email: http://us.mc507.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=charles@taeria.com

To facilitate the receipt and disbursements of funds by bank wire, DG Ramiro has set up the dedicated bank accounts at Banco BHD. (For security reasons please contact DG Ramiro directly for instructions)

We know that individuals and small clubs or organizations are often not acquainted with using bank wires -- or it is just not economic for them to do so. Therefore, to facilitate the handling of smaller contributions by check or money order in the U.S. and Canada, Safe Water Institute, Inc., a 509(c)(3) in Grand Rapids, MI (which is also officially registered to do business in the DR) has agreed to serve as the agent for the Haiti Disaster Relief Committee. Safe Water Institute will accept checks, money orders, or cash on behalf of the Haiti Disaster Relief Committee and convey those funds immediately to our committee in the DR.

Checks or money orders should be made out to Safe Water Institute, Inc. and sent to:

Safe Water Institute, Inc.
Attn: Harry J. Knopke, CEO
P.O. Box 68007Grand Rapids, MI 49516
Phone: 616-774-8017
Cell: 616-540-4094

I will also attach a letter ( as you requested) from DG Ramiro which authorizes me to solicit funds for our committee.
Finally, I know you by reputation, of course; however, we have never met. Accordingly, I will attach some background information for your “due diligence” file.
It would be an honor if District 4060 Rotarians could make it possible for other clubs, districts, foundations, and aid agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere to come to the rescue of people in Haiti who are suffering and dying. And time is of the essence. If you feel that this would be a productive way for other Rotarians to help, kindly feel free to tell other districts and clubs about our committee and our willingness to be of service.
The Future of Haiti Is In Our Hands.
Charles


Charles F. Adams
Dom.Rep. Home: 809-226-8565
Dom.Rep. Cell: 829-509-5505 or 809-753-5505
U.S. Line to Dom.Rep.: 518-685-4285
Electronic Fax: 518-338-0124

Thursday, January 14, 2010
















From: ed mattson
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:00:59 -0800 (PST)
To: john eberhard; Barry Rassin; Dennis Chong; Pyramid Consultin; Doug Vincent; Larry Biron; JB Roberts; Bruce LeBel; Lee Malany; Leigh Readdy; rob ketron; 'Guy Theodore'; 'Roger White'; Gen Ron Sconyers; jack maxwell
Cc: Frank Devlyn
Subject: Fw: Re: QUAKE IN HAITI
For the last 4hours we have been on conference calls with Network partners who have people on the ground in Haiti feeding them information. Lee Malany is familiar with many of those to whom we are talking, which includes our transitional building partner, Project Hope (medical personnel), Hunger Plus regarding food, and MSNI regarding medical resources, supplies, and equipment.

We need to "hold-the-phone" and make every dollar count. Let's look at the data we are accumulating through more that 20 e-mails per hour from various sources with people on the ground. Identifying the objectives is critical, not just sending a bunch of "stuff" to Haiti. Yes, we are all concerned, but we cannot afford to just waste our efforts and money.

The first thought for all of us should be "save as many lives as possible". The fact is, that nobody will die from exposure in Haiti. Today it is 81 degrees in Port Au Prince! So I believe, as do the people who are feeding us information, the ShelterBox is an un-necessary expenditure of dollars at this time. We do not need to entice Rotarians to spend money to purchase 500 boxes, the cost would be $750,000. In 80 degree weather, that cannot be justified. There are far more important issues to address at this stage.

News bulletin just received from US State Department ...COCOM's (SOUTHCOM-Gen. Doug Frasier) assessment is that there is approximately 72 hours left to save lives by uncovering rumble to find those still alive. We have been invited to a USAID teleconference late this afternoon, for an up-to-the-minute report. This will help us in planning tonight, I am sure.

Critical and most urgent needs are, ACCORDING to sources and State Department:
1. Safe water for rescue workers and citizens
2. Caterpillars, backhoes, lifting equipment to clear rubble
2. Trauma medical capabilities to treat those recovered from the rubble
3. Food for all.

We just received an e-mail from Project Hope International - they will have units in Haiti today, and combined with military medical teams will start the emergency treatment procedures to save lives. We just received a call from Gen Ron Sconyers (Physicians for Peace, another medical ally of the Network). He reports only having plans to send in a single medical team now because they will be in-country a month from now providing amputee procedures and as supportive mopping up operation.

THERE IS NO STANDING HOSPITAL CAPABILITIES, so a lot of lives will be lost due to inadequate medical capabilities... They anticipate there's maybe 100,000-150,000 buried in the debris.Military is considering air evacuation of most critical to Gitmo and Florida or surrounding islands so great is the need. It is estimated there will thousands, maybe tens of thousand to treat once they dig through the ruins.

This Hospital issue can be addressed, as Lee Malany is aware, by quickly erecting transitional buildings (Bruce LeBel-World Shelter). Following our telecons today we will have cost figures hopefully late this afternoon to mount the "HOSPITAL"response. We have several medical supply warehouses with the neccesary equipment and supplies to outfit surgical suites (we will need generators to provide electricity). The Network has arranged for immediate air lift out of Miami to Port Au Prince or Dom Rep, which ever is open for air traffic AND we can provide transportation to Maimi for goods needed using other Network Partners. In most cases transportation will be provided at no charge. Just found out Port Au Price is currently closed to commerical air traffice...we need to check on Dom Rep as alternative.

The next issue is to address emergency safe water. Clean Water International's warehouse in Minnesota has about 100 waterboxes in stock and rapidily building more. We told Clean Water International we will need at least 500 more as a starter. Cleanwater can arrange to send additional purification packages with the shipment but will need 24 hours to assess how many can be shipped and the delivery time for more. This inventory is close by and we can ship it to Haiti in a few hours time, so any thought of transporting Aqua Box or other items from elsewhere in the world doesn't make sense to me. We have several districts standing by and are willing to start the process of waterbox-sponsoring in their districts. Since these districts and the military are already familiar with the product, this makes sense. Cost per day per person is around 15 cents for water.

We have asked CWI to check the availability of portable toilets. Counting the inventory on hand in Canada, they are confident they can have as many as 9000 toilets WITH BIODEGRADEABLE WASTE BAGS ready to go in as little as 24 hours. This will solve a major foreseeable problem with feces-borne illness over the next few months. This should be another high-priority item on the check list.

Hopefully the military engineers will have heavy equipment in Haiti today so we really need to address the hospital trauma situation. MSNI (Tulsa, OK) and PDG Jack Maxwell as well as three other medical warehouse can put the right gear together by tomorrow and we can arrange shipping.... so this is also an urgent funding requirement.

Food suppliers have inventory but again funding in required. We spoke with JB Roberts and he has enough for 2 container shipments. All thats need is a little funding and we can ship most of it by air for free; Or we back haul to Florida and have inventory in Haiti by tomorrow or the next day, or air freight straight from the warehouse straight to Haiti, but the warehouse needs to cover their costs. With everyone's OK I will pin down prices and quantities and get shipping/delivery details.

We just spoke to Dennis Chong and I relayed the info from Gen, Sconyers regarding the need for a TRAUMA CENTER. He concurs, but right now until they dig through and clear the debris, we don't know all that will be needed. We might need the capacity to treat 10, 20, or 30,000 people and some will have major surgical requirements. I'm sure by this evening we will hear back from Project Hope.

Question for all...Will we need Certified Letter of Acceptance through the Embassy. this added paperwor will delay things. Maybe Lee malany can clarify for us before we waste time figuring out how to comply with protocols.

Tonight we will teleconference Network participants and members and come up with a total program with estimated cost firgures, but right now we need to move in the right direction. By tomorrow we will send everyone in our group an assessment and look to all of you for input.

RTN. Ed Mattson PHF (Cell: 630.440.7912)

Member, Romanian Association of Preventive Oncology
Member, Rotary Club of Mishawaka, IN - District 6540
Co-Chair, International Project Symposium and Workshop
National Membership Chair, Disaster Relief Rotarian Action Group-DRRAG
Board Chair, Cancer Support Group