Message from Jennifer Bruny, MD

"We are safely on the ground in Florida. We should be back to Denver soon.

We have a huge list of people and organizations to thank for making this trip possible. We hope we don’t forget anyone. The outpouring of generosity has been such a touching show of human spirit. A heartfelt thank you. Words cannot say enough. We are privileged to have been able to serve. Please know that your contribution helped us make a real difference.

• Linda and staff – from Rocky Mountain Osteopathic Medicine for spending hours on the phone and internet making our transportation plans.

• Matthew 25 house – (Sister Mary, Viv, Patrick, Amber, and all the staff, interpreters, cooks, Theil and crew) for your grand hospitality and rising way above the call. John McGreevy (latrine and tent maker and organizer extraordinaire), John Baeza – retired NYPD detective – for making us and our families all sleep better.

• Dr. Jim Toth and Barb Burk, RN our fearless Matthew 25 field hospital leaders

• Mark Coughlin for great friendship, support, and entertainment

• Peter Anderson, Dr. Michael, Dr. Flavia (Atlanta), Dr. Lynn and Dr. Don (Tennessee), Dr. Leo, and Dr. Ike for being our relief team. We know our patients are in good hands.

Travel donated and provided by:

• Angel Wings (Alaska , American, and Delta Airlines)
• Missionary Flight International (a tremendously organized operation who flew us immediately and told us to pay when you can)
• Hendrick Motorsports – donated planes and crew to MFI for disaster relief. Fuel paid for by individual drivers (homebound flight fuel paid for by Mark Martin)

Supplies, medications, and support from:

• The Children’s Hospital
• Porter Hospital
• Swedish Hospital
• Orthoglass – John Ruston
• Ethicon – Rosie Wirth
• Denver Divers

Discounts and gift cards given by:

• Bass Pro Shop
• Target
• Walmart
• Sportsman’s Warehouse
• Army Surplus Store in Englewood

Also, to:

• David – for allowing us to take over your house and backyard as command central.
• Petra – organizing supplies, before and after our departure.
• Our family and friends for your support and prayers.
• Fellow staff members for picking up shifts and responsibilities
• To countless strangers who helped in any way they could along the way
  

Thank you from the Denver Matthew 25 team."

More photos from Haiti Mission

Haiti wreckage



Haiti mobile mission team

Message from Jennifer Bruny, MD

"Due to our internet here, we cannot download pictures or videos (too much bandwidth), but tonight would have been the night for such things. We are staying at a mission house. The backyard/soccer field is both a camp of tents and tarps for the displaced, and our "hospital" and treatment area (also under tarps and tents).

There is a man here named Mark who does a lot of work in Haiti and likes to sing with them and educate through song. After dinner he led all the children staying here around the camp singing songs and dancing. Pretty soon we all either voluntarily joined in or where coaxed in by the crew. They love to sing and jump and dance. They love to interact with us, play, have their pictures taken. It was almost a blessing it was dark because we couldn't take pictures or video much. Instead we simply had to join in.

This is the hope of Haiti. You will hear different reports everywhere about how efforts are going down here. We are here for the heart of these people. For the kids who love to dance and sing and continue to do so despite the tragedy around them."

Message from Eric Tham and Jennifer Bruny

"The group from The Children’s Hospital was fortunate to join a group led by Dr. Mark Winslow, a family practitioner who has made more than a dozen trips to Haiti with his family. He is also joined by his wife Katherine, a teacher. Also joining him are his brother, Greg Winslow, an EMT, and Betsy Folker, a PT, both from Gunnison. While not with us physically, Dr. Winslow's office manager Linda has been working tirelessly back in Colorado to arrange all the logistics of getting us here and getting us out. It is the experience of Dr. Winslow's family coming to Haiti for years and Linda that have made our trip down here safe and smooth. Our group is rounded out by Boyd "Awesome" who is part of the adult Flight Life Colorado team. We had decided to name ourselves Team Denver."

Photos from the Team in Haiti

Children's mission team sleeping area

Matthew 25 field hospital

Displaced persons’ camp

Message from Jennifer Bruny, MD - 1/20/2010

"6am tremor this morning. Haitian alarm clock. We are all fine."

A Much Calmer Day

Message from Jennifer Bruny, MD - 1/19/2010

"Organization is just barely starting to set in. There is both a level of official organization and unofficial networking between 'medical centers' to try to coordinate efforts. There are still many challenges. We are over-reaching our capabilities in a soccer field and on the dining room table. There are crippling injuries everywhere. Open fractures, horrible wounds. There are arrangements for a follow-up team for us. My hope is all these wounds can get follow-up care.

We received a baby who likely has meningitis tonight. He is having seizures that we have not been able to stop even with Ativan. Eric is leading the team in working to get him to another facility with the capability to intubate him.

We have narrowed down the patients at our facility quite a bit. We may branch out tomorrow to reach out to our community."

Day One in Haiti

Message from Jennifer Bruny, MD

"How do you explain a day like today?

Our travel was actually flawless. Missionary Flights International brought us in. Hendricks motorsports has donated 2 of their planes with full crews to MFI. Everyone along the way has been phenomenal. We happened upon a retired cop from New York who came by himself just looking for how he could help. He has now become our security. Everyone involved in this effort has been amazing and has an incredible story of how they got here.

We hit the ground running. We tried to have some of our crew unpack, but pretty soon we were all working. Patrick started right away on triage, and pretty quickly found several patients in trouble. We have several patients with bad infections. One 12 year old girl was buried for quite some time and is now septic. We are doing everything we can for her right now. Thank goodness for the antibiotics.

Patrick also quickly found 2 patients who needed surgery. One 26 year old man had a very deep stab wound in his shoulder due to fighting over food. By surgery, we mean what we can do on the dining room table. The innovation of the day would be figuring out how to have suction. Take the hand pump mechanism out of a Purell bottle, stick the bottom in the wound and pump like mad.

Thank you to whoever was the connection for the ketamine. We have heard many reports of doing procedures with no lidocaine and no sedation. We are proud to be more humane with our care.

The toughest thing to hear today was news from the epicenter of the quake. We met a news crew from Democracy Now tonight who just returned from there. I believe it is about 15 miles from here, but took more than an hour of travel. NO ONE is there! There are absolutely no rescue teams. The UN says they are waiting for security before going. People are digging through the rubble (which is mostly concrete) with their bare hands. The stench is horrendous.

Grassroots efforts are the most organized thing right now. There absolutely needs to be more organization and a response on a massive scale.

We all must get to sleep. We already have a line-up of fractures to cast and wounds to clean in the morning.

Thank you to everyone who helped us get here. We may be small, but add together all the groups like us and the difference will be huge."

Message from Jennifer Bruny, MD

"We have landed in Port au Prince."

Message from Jennifer Bruny, MD

"We are just about to take off for Port au Prince. We feel very confident about our flight. Our ground transportation will be our next challenge. The group is a mix of excitement and fear. Everywhere we go, we have had great acts of kindness, and our encouraged by the true nature of people. Pray for our safety and success. Will update when we can."

View videos from Jennifer Bruny and team as they journey to Haiti.

Packing it Up

The following photos were taken as Children's team members organized and packed medical supplies to take to Haiti, all donated by The Children's Hospital. Other supplies being taken include food, safety gear and sleeping supplies.

The team of doctors and nurses was anxious and excited as they discussed what to bring, how to pack it and what to expect when they land. This is the first medical relief trip of this
magnitude for many of them.

Children's Hospital Team Members Prepare for Medical Relief Trip to Haiti

Jennifer Bruny, MD and Emily Muggli, RN, two medical providers from The Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado, are on their way to Haiti to help with relief efforts. Hear more about why they are going.

Journey to Haiti Begins

Four Children’s Hospital physicians and two emergency medicine nurses left Denver early Sunday morning to fly to Haiti. The team will join other medical relief workers at “Visitation House” in Port Au Prince.

They’re carrying medical supplies donated by The Children’s Hospital, safety gear, food, and sleep & shelter supplies. They anticipate staying for 7-10 days.
Pictured below: Jen Bruny, MD, Misty Vivian, RN, Emily Muggli, RN, Sam Wang, MD, Eric Tham, MD and Pat Mahar, MD.