From Deseret News archives:
Mending bodies, building a legacy
Utahns leave their hearts and a new clinic in Haiti
Preparing for each trip to Haiti is a logistical nightmare, and this one is the worst yet, because of the clinic construction. Supplies have to be found and coordinated, travel plans made, volunteers lined up and trained. They have to have shots, provided by LDS Hospital, to cover everything from hepatitis A and B to typhoid and tetanus. Diseases you don't see in Utah are rampant in Haiti. Most will take malaria medicine, too.
Interpreters teach medical staffers basics like how to say water, "dlo." Lists are made, each person assigned to beg or borrow certain items. Jan Groves, Susan Gleason and Kurumada take care of the details. They are, Randle notes, the people who "grew the dream."
Each volunteer has one moment that burns in memory.
Some people, perhaps even most, couldn't be helped. But there were others. And they can name them.
Randle lists the people with infections who received antibiotics that will heal them. He talks about a 19-month-old who, with exercises and a brace, will one day walk. Or the man Matthew Bracken fitted with an artificial leg. He'll be able to work, to provide for his family.
Victoria Klein, Chad Lowe and Heather Read will remember the same woman. About 70, she had suffered a stroke and arrived at the clinic in a wheelchair, her left side flaccid. When she found she could use a walker, she was so excited she kissed everyone nearby. They gave her the walker.
It is a nice memory for Lowe, a counter to the girl who brought in her sister, 13, who had Down syndrome. "There was so much hope we could say, 'Here's a magic pill.' She asked if we could do something to make her learn, to make her normal. I wanted to say, 'You have a beautiful sister and this is how God sent her. Take her home and love her and do the best you can.' "
Evelyn Frederick, a physical therapist in the Granite School District, finds something almost biblical about how often she and Read reached into the supply closet and pulled out the right shoes, the right brace. They didn't have many with them, but somehow it was always a perfect fit.
"Somebody is watching over us," she says.
The Utahns express the sense of being part of something important. To a one they say they'd like to come back. They've fallen in love with the people.
Comments
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime 1:11 a.m.
- UVU beats SUU; USU wins big 12:57 a.m.
- BYU spikers end season with a loss 12:55 a.m.
- Iverson may be headed to 76ers 12:34 a.m.
- Credit Coug defense for win 12:33 a.m.
- Aggies blow away T-birds 12:32 a.m.
- Mo steals show in Cavaliers' victory 12:31 a.m.
- Editorial: Facilitate Big Brother? 12:22 a.m.
- Mom befriends wife of PTSD vet 12:21 a.m.
- Political clash over U.S. debt 12:21 a.m.
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Predicting the unpredictable: BYU wins
- Vegas, Poinsettia bowls or bust
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
- BYU football: 5 keys to victory
- Glover gives Utes last-second upset
- Cougars turn back Wildcats'
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- Running game key to BYU offense
- Woods, wife unavailable for interview
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime
396 - Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
150 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
115 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
115 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
88 - Hall's legacy measured today
75 - Y. focused on 10-win season
73 - Letters: C02 causes warming
70
I wanted to tell them not to go. I dropped subtle hints. "My money is on...
When I was a kid, I worshipped my grandpa. He was undoubtedly my hero....
watch out for next year for sure, the negatives are just closet (and...
And something else, I generally follow players from the state schools when...
I could care less that Max Hall said what he did. The feeling is mutual BYU...
Dear Max, probably could have done without that comment. Probably would've...
As a Utah fan, let me first say congratulations to Max Hall, the Cougars, and...
Geno's and Pat's are good.. but, they are mostly for tourists, the real...
(You even got a middle initial... how's that for 'ya Max) It's nice to see...
Even today, I still cannot get enough of this movie or Charles Gitonga Maina....
...disappointed with Max Hall's comments that he hates everything about UofU....
Over the last few days I read comments of people complaining about tasteless...




You can be the first to comment on this story.