 "Photo: Courtesy of Michael Kartchner")
With only basic skills of CPR and first aid training, SUU staff member
Michael Kartchner worked as a scrub nurse in make-shift tent hospitals, helping the sick and wounded in the dire post-earthquake conditions of Haiti.
Kartchner, SUU information technology administrator, traveled to Haiti with 128 volunteers from the Utah Hospital Task Force for two weeks, to help those who were affected by the massive earthquake in Haiti.
Kartchner said UHTF is a non-profit organization which was founded by a man named Steven Studdert, a past U.S. presidential adviser who had previously served as a LDS mission president in that area and wanted to help the Haitian people.
Studdert gathered people who were trained medically, had construction skills, or were familiar with the language and the natives, many of whom were returned LDS missionaries, Kartchner said.
Kartchner, who was selected out of 1,000 applicants, said he was surprised to be chosen because he didn’t serve a mission in Haiti and isn’t familiar with the language. However, he said he has had Certified Emergency Response Training and completed the Disaster Training for the Red Cross.
Kartchner said he thought he would be helping primarily with construction while in Haiti and was amazed when he found himself working in makeshift hospitals, assisting doctors and bandaging deep and serious wounds.
“It is one of the hardest things I have ever done,” he said.
Kartchner said working with the people left an impression on him, one such man named Reggie, had many sores on his body and a hand that was “severely mangled.”
Kartchner said the man constantly needed bandages changed and he could tell the man was in a lot pain.
“Not once did he utter a single complaint,” Kartchner said. “He would just point to the spots on his skin that needed attention and I would bandage them.”
Kartchner said he was amazed at the resiliency of the Haitian people and referred to those who would volunteer at the hospital as “angels.”
He told of how the people would say, “it is what it is,” and, although the earthquake affected their lives in a big way, they had the attitude that this was an event they must live with and move on from.
“They were just glad to be alive,” Kartchner said. “They were all very willing to help others in need.”
Kartchner talked about a man named Amazon, who had lost his home and was sleeping on the street. He said although Amazon had lost everything, he would still help feed the injured people.
Kartchner also mentioned young mothers who had been severly injured in the quake, some resulting in amputation of limbs.
“The mothers would just hold their children, and it was evident they were just happy to be alive and with their children,” he said.
SUU Provost Brad Cook supported Karchner and expressed his gratitude for Kartchner’s work in Haiti in an e-mail interview.
“Kartchner was willing to use some of his personal annual leave with no pay to subsidize his effort,” Cook said.
After seeing first hand the severe poverty and destruction the Haitian people are now facing, Kartchner said he thinks he’s fortunate to live in America.
“I feel very blessed for the opportunity I had to go over and help the people in Haiti,” and “it makes me very grateful for what I have,” Kartchner said.
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