AS a nurse working in accident and emergency, Debbie Lau was used to dealing with injuries.
But even she was shocked after swapping Huddersfield Royal Infirmary’s A&E department for a Haitian field hospital to help victims of the devastating earthquake.
She said: “Working in emergency care obviously gives me an insight into this kind of response, but the scale of the injuries in Haiti was just enormous.”
Debbie has just returned from Haiti, where she worked with teams of international doctors and nurses at a field hospital set up on a tennis court.
She and colleague A&E consultant Dr Amjed Mohammed, based at Calderdale Royal Hospital, travelled to Haiti as part of UK-based relief charity Merlin’s emergency response work.
“It was dark when I arrived, so we couldn’t see the devastation that had been caused.
“The next morning we saw it for the first time – the buildings were just rubble.
“It was a shock – people were still searching for family, but some were just going about their normal lives as best they could.’’
Debbie, 34, of Bradford, worked as part of a reconstructive surgical team at a field hospital on a disused tennis court in the Delmas 33 area of Port au Prince, which they dubbed Wimbledon.
There were two fully-equipped operating theatres and four ward tents that could accommodate 40 in-patients at a time, treat up to 100 patients and carry out 10 operations every day.
“We had people coming in with vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration, but we were trying to save people’s limbs too,” added Debbie, who is now back at work in Huddersfield.
“Because of my A&E background I was used to it, but it’s much harder with limited resources.”
She said there were three people who had the biggest impact on her.
“There was a little girl called Diana, aged eight. She had been trapped, her hand was crushed by a rock and needed part of her hand amputating.
“But despite everything she had been through and was still going through, she was the life and soul of the place.
“She was a real live wire, always singing, she made us all smile – she was fantastic and had a real impact on me.”
Merlin say that Diana was orphaned before the earthquake. She remains in the charity’s care and is being closely monitored.
“Another was a young man called Emmanuel who had a severe leg injury.
“We managed to save his leg, which meant a lot to him and was a great achievement for all the team.”
But it was her meeting with a man, who had lost all his family except his young son, which had a profound impact on her.
“This man came to us saying he’d lost all his family in the earthquake and he wanted to give away his child until he could get back on his feet.
“We were working with UNICEF and they got the child a place in an orphanage, I think for about three months.
“I don’t know if he’ll go back and pick him up again, but I do wonder about it.
“The country has been devastated, so I hope he does get back on his feet again and goes to collect his son.”
As Debbie and her team left they handed over to another team of international doctors and nurses.
“I’ll never know what happened to some patients, but I will wonder about them,” she added.
“It feels so surreal now.
“It took a bit of time to adjust to being back, but I definitely appreciate the resources we’ve got.
“If someone is ill you can call 999 and an ambulance fully kitted-out will bring you to an A&E department which has the facilities we need.’’
“They don’t have that out there, we were working in a tent on a tennis court. It’s made me realise how lucky we are.”
Debbie said she’d return to help people in need in the future.
The latest death toll in Haiti is estimated at around 230,000.
Visit www.merlin.org.uk for more information about the charity and to support their work.
