Wanting to lend a hand in Haiti
By Deb GauArticle Photos
MARSHALL - It's hard to live and work with the people of Haiti and not want to do more to help, Teri Hively said. The first time she visited as a volunteer, "Before I got back to the States, I knew I had to go back."
That connection made it even harder to hear news that a deadly earthquake had struck Jan.12.
"It was pretty much devastating," said Hively, a Balaton resident who works at Avera Home Medical Equipment in Marshall. "People are already so limited," she said, and now what little they have is gone.
Hively has been part of three volunteer missions to Haiti through Avera, most recently in 2008. She worked in and around the town of Jeremie, on the western edge of the country. It serves as the base of operations for the Haitian Health Foundation, which offers health care services for people in the region. Avera Health has an ongoing commitment to the HHF, and sends shifts of volunteers to Jeremie twice a year, said Avera Health director of public affairs Daryl Thuringer.
Hively said what she remembers most about Haiti from her time there was the people.
"They're already survivors. They make do with what they've got," she said, which was very little. Hively was struck by the sacrifices many people had to make for their families.
"Things like the way they make food stretch. Not many people would be able to survive on one meal a day. Sometimes parents would go without food so their kids could eat," she said, or even give their children up for adoption so they would be taken care of.
At the same time, she said, "People are so appreciative of whatever they receive."
Hively said she's been following along with updates that the HHF has been posting after the earthquake. Jeremie didn't suffer as much damage, she said, but now more and more displaced people are arriving from Port au Prince, the capital city.
"People are going back, to be by family," Hively said, but it means already scarce resources will be even more strained. "The biggest worry there is food, now."
Hively said she has been looking for opportunities to go back to Haiti. If possible, she said, she would like to help with recovery efforts in Port au Prince.
"I have EMT and firefighter skills. I could work with recovery," she said. "I would like to go, if I could."
Since the earthquake, Hively said, people have asked her if there were things she recognized in media coverage of the destruction in Port au Prince.
"There are some things I can recognize," she said. "There was a man at the airport who always took care of our bags and shuttled them to the smaller airport near Jeremie. I'll think of him and wonder, is he all right? Did he survive?"
Thuringer said Avera is collecting donations to help rescue efforts, with proceeds going to the HHF and organizations like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, at its Web site www.avera.org. The Haitian Health Foundation's Web site www.haitianhealthfoundation.org, also accepts donations.
