LDS relief: Efforts are fostering cooperation in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Earthquake relief efforts are crossing all boundaries and fostering all sorts of unique cooperation.

Such was the case Wednesday afternoon at the Petionville Ward LDS chapel, where hundreds of Haitians have taken up nearly every available square foot of space on the grounds.

Also, more than 25 tents were set up on the paved driveway and outside sports court, helping to shade a select few from the intense Caribbean sun. But most were out on the grounds.

Elder William "Ed" Kilgore, Caribbean Area medical services director for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Dr. Jeff Randle, a Salt Lake rehabilitation specialist, stopped by to assess needs and check on a local LDS doctor, Gislaine Saint Louis, who had been giving care to her fellow Haitians outside the church.

Following the two into the church's gated grounds was a half-dozen members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne in two Humvees and a supply truck. They asked to visit with the officials in charge — they ended up speaking with Elder Kilgore and the local bishop — to see if there were any needs or any violence to report, willing to help with the latter.

With violence not a problem, the 82nd Airborne pulled the Army supply truck to the front gate and lined up Haitian men to unload cases of bottled water and boxes of daily rations into the meetinghouse.

Soldiers also offered to load a half-dozen of the most seriously injured individuals into the church's SUV. The Army then provided an armed escort, complete with the two Humvees and supply trucks, through the neighborhood streets before pointing out a French clinic where the injured could be seen.

There, the French medical staff were not only seeing patients indoors but also trying to treat and care for others, many of them women and young children under a large tent in the middle of a blocked-off street.

e-mail: taylor@desnews.com