GOSHEN, Ind — Fourteen doctors and nurses from South Bend and Mishawaka hospitals departed for Haiti on Tuesday afternoon from Goshen and South Bend airports to help the victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Friendship Flights Foundation Inc., based at the Goshen Airport, helped organize the two flights of seven medical staff each. Biomet of Warsaw earlier donated equipment that was shipped to Haiti and Tuesday donated the company’s Citation Excel jet to fly the medical volunteers to Haiti. The group includes orthopedic doctors, infectious disease specialists, three anesthesiologists and emergency room nursing staff. The other group’s flight was sponsored by a South Bend businessman.
Rick Skupski, an anesthesiologist with Memorial Hospital, said this is his first such mission trip.
“I’ve been bucking to get on one. This worked out (schedule-wise),” Skupski said before jumping on the Biomet jet. “We’ve been planning this for two weeks, but it just came together Monday.”
Skupski has been a doctor for 18 years.
“A lot of us will be doing whatever needs to be done,” he said. “We’ll be busy, completing 25 to 30 surgeries a day.”
The group is expected to work 16 to 20 hours a day before returning next Wednesday about 8:30 p.m., said Donna Dickens, a nurse from Memorial. She said she has been on a similar mission for two weeks in Ecuador.
“I think we’ll work very long days at the regional hospital,” she said.
The group represents St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, South Bend Orthopedics and General Vascular Surgeons, explained Sister Laureen Painter, vice president at St. Joseph Hospital Foundation.
“This started when I asked two doctors to go,” Painter explained Tuesday.
The doctors then recruited more help. Painter said while this team is going to Haiti to serve, it has a backup team that will care for its local patients.
“It is the beginning of something from this community,” she said, predicting more such aid projects to follow.
Painter said doctors have donated $30,000 toward the project and St. Joseph Hospital has shipped new equipment and medicine ahead of this group. The flight would have cost $8,000 one way, Painter said..
Dr. Meredith Wierman, who specializes in infectious disease, said she has been going to Haiti since she was in the fourth grade. She explained her parents served as missionaries there for a time, but she has volunteered recently as a doctor.
Wierman had been planning a mission trip in early March, but has cancelled that trip. She said the Port-au-Prince that she knew is gone.
“I’ll help with infections, open wounds and fractures,” Dr. Wierman said.
She has been told they also will treat tetanus and dengue fever.
The group will fly into Cap Haitian at the northern part of the island and serve at a Milot hospital. It had been a 70-bed hospital but has swelled to more than 300 beds.
“They have been flying in 10 to 12 helicopters a day with patients,” Painter said.
The volunteers were told their accommodations may range from dorm-type rooms to tents.
The Biomet crew is expected to bring the volunteers back to Goshen next Wednesday night.
A second flight also left Goshen airport Tuesday afternoon with medical supplies intended for Haitian hospitals and clinics.
A jet owner allowed Friendship Flights to use the plane to carry 1,500 pounds of medical supplies First Church of God in Columbia City collected for relief in Haiti. This is the second time the church has sent medical supplies through Friendship Flights. The last flight with 1,200 pounds of medical supplies took place Jan. 24.
Local News
Goshen-based company flies doctors to Haiti
- Local News
-
-
Boys & Girls Club of Goshen says goodbye to longtime director Andy Purviance
It’s the end of an era at the Boys & Girls Club of Goshen. Andy Purviance, the long-time Director of the Club, will be saying good bye to the club and Goshen this fall as he and his wife Donna relocate to San Diego where Purviance will continue his career in Boys & Girls Clubs.
-
Goshen VFW Honor Guard helps send their fellow veterans to final rest
The heat of the stuffy May day is starting to gather outside of Rieth-Rohrer Funeral Home in downtown Goshen recently as members of the VFW Post 985 Honor Guard begin to shuffle inside.
-
Duty changes with birth of LaGrange soldier's son
Usually when people think of American veterans they think of men in uniform. More often today, than in yesteryear, the veteran is a woman. In tune with the times, the military has made accommodations for this increase in female recruits.
-
Fairfield graduates ready for the next step
Fairfield High School held its 44th commencement Friday night in its school gymnasium, handing out 145 diplomas.
-
Westview seniors graduate Friday night
Westview High School held its 46th commencement Friday night in its school gymnasium, handing out 97 diplomas.
-
RV shipments up in April
Wholesale shipments of recreational vehicles rose 9.8 percent in April compared to the same month in 2011.
-
UPDATE: Police release names of two killed in Bristol motorcycle crash
Two Elkhart residents were killed Friday night when the motorcycle they were riding crashed along Ind. 15 as they fled police.
-
Police probe possible fatal crash near Bristol
Elkhart County rescue crews responded to a possible double fatal traffic crash on Ind. 15 just south of C.R. 112 at 9:13 p.m. Friday night. Ind. 15 was closed to non-emergency traffic and a Samaritan medical helicopter landed at the scene to assist with rescue efforts.
-
Goshen teen who shot himself Tuesday arrested for using sawed-off gun in robbery
A 17-year-old male recently admitted to IU Health Goshen Hospital for a self-inflicted gunshot wound has been arrested in connection with the robbery of a BP gas station in Goshen this past Sunday.
-
Wild phlox can be found this time of year
Nature’s bounty can sometimes produce unexpected beauty in the form of wildflowers that can pop up anywhere and everywhere. They can be some of the most exhilarating because of the unusual colors, the delicacy of the blossoms, or simply their choice of location to grow.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
