The earthquake in Haiti affected millions of people, not only the native Haitians, but their families worldwide and the medical practitioners that were rushed in to aid and support them in their time of crisis. Noelle Gonzalez, a junior allied health major from Texas A&M was in Haiti at the time of the earthquake and she shares her story and what she hopes to see for Haiti’s future.
After meeting Pastor Valcin at Frontier Camp, Noelle became involved in missions and medical assistance to Haiti with her first trip in the winter of 2007 during the break from school. Actively involved in Haiti since, she returned December 28, 2009, a few weeks before the earthquake. It was her third week in Haiti that she was at the Port au Prince clinic and the earthquake struck. This is her story.
I was taking a nap. I felt like I hadn’t done much and I hadn’t been as successful as I had hoped. I was feeling really down and knew that my time was coming to a close in Haiti. I was just going to lie down and rest a bit and hopefully wake up a little more rejuvenated and hopeful. About an hour into my nap I woke up to the earthquake. It was really confusing. I didn’t know what was happening, I’d never been through and earthquake before and knew almost nothing about them. Everyone in the room got down on the floor and we were all praying. As soon as everything finished moving we ran outside and did a headcount, making sure that everyone was safe and well. All 150 people on the compound were safe. It was all American built buildings that were reinforced; the buildings were so much safer than the locally built ones [made with cinder blocks]. After about ten minutes I went to the clinic to see where I could help and what I could do. It’s only a burn clinic but the locals new it was there and within moments we were flooded with people. In the earthquake a flour mill exploded so there were people coming in with burns all over their bodies. Third degree burns on 80-90% of their bodies, 10-15% is critical, so you can only imagine how serious this was. Soon after, people arrived with broken bones from the cinder blocks falling on them. There were people that had brain matter showing from where a cinder block hit their heads and broken arms and legs. For the next couple of days I spent my time assisting on surgeries, we tried to do everything we could, but we didn’t have the equipment to do x-rays and fully work on the broken bones, so we splinted what we could and gave them Tylenol, saying that was the best that we could do. Over the next few days it became more under control and we were able to focus on the critical patients, making sure they had enough fluids and were stable.
The earthquake happened on a Tuesday, and we were scheduled to leave on Saturday. I didn’t know when I would be able to leave, if I would be here for months or weeks. Part of me hoped that I would be forced to stay because of how much I wanted to help and be of assistance to the Haitian people in their time of need, but I knew that I needed to return to school and finish my degree so that I would be able to return and help. Thursday I was able to call my parents and reassure them that I was safe, and then I emailed my advisor and told her that if she didn’t hear from me by the end of add drop week to drop all my classes because I didn’t know when I would be back for classes. Friday morning we were woken up and told to pack everything because we had 15 minutes till we were leaving. We still didn’t know if we were going to be able to get through the town and to the airport, but assuming we could, we were leaving immediately.
Noelle has safely returned to College Station, is enrolled in her classes and actively finishing her degree. She hopes to go to nurse practitioners school and one day open a clinic in Haiti. She is currently planning on returning to Haiti over the summer for ten weeks, but does not want to hinder the local food and water supplies if she will not be helpful and of maximum assistance. “It really depends on the infrastructure” she said. Noelle said that she “is so blessed to have this opportunity. My hearth will always be in Haiti and I am glad that I was there and am always willing and able to help. I am blessed that God gave me the opportunity to share my faith, hope and love, because that is what the Haitian people need now.”
In addition to the traditional ways of helping, there has been a charity set up because of Noelle and her experience. Biblical Perspectives has set up the “Noelle Gonzalez Disaster Fund” in order to aid the Global Outreach Clinics and the Evangelical Community Church were Pastor Valcin works. To support, send checks to Biblical Perspectives, Inc., P.O. Box 860, Tomball, TX 77377 with Noelle Gonzalez Disaster Fund in the memo line.