On December 27, 2007, a group of MCC-Penn Valley students set out on a mission of hope, and when they returned it was clear that they were no longer who they had once been.

Ann Bingham, Shannon Downing, Netanya Bond, and Mike Asher are second year nursing students in the evening and weekend nursing program. These four students embarked on a nine day trip to Haiti with a team of ophthalmic surgeons, optometrists, ocularists, technicians, and nurses.

The team is associated with an organization called Northwest Haiti Christian Missions, which has been around for about 28 years. The trip itself included two airplane flights, a bus drive, and a short walk that took a total of nineteen hours.

Photo courtesy of Mike Asher

Each of the four students paid their own way, at a cost of around $1,310. They primarily helped the elderly, though all ages were seen while they were in Haiti. "This year the team assessed over 770 patients and provided 118 eye surgeries," said Asher.

With an obvious love for the Haitian people, Asher told about the world he had stepped inside. "We usually started at about 6:30 in the morning and usually went till about 7:00 at night. We didn't start surgeries till about 8:00 AM so we could get the pre-op area ready and to get patients staged, ready to start surgery."

The weather was in the low 90s at the beginning of the week, and for the last three days it was overcast and rained. One can imagine the team working under those conditions with no air conditioner. "We just had three fans going," they explained.

The conditions of the facility were extremely poor. "In the birthing center the conditions there are equivalent to about a 1920 era. As far as our sleeping conditions, we all slept in tents. One of the nurses actually slept out in the open. She got chewed up [by mosquitoes] pretty good," Asher said. Luckily, all members of the team had been taking anti-malaria medication.

The approximately 25,000 citizens in St. Louis du Nord, where the mission was located, earn an average annual income of $270. Asher explained, "Many homes are concrete block walls with dirt floors and a corrugated tin or thatched palm-leaf roof. There is little infrastructure with no running water, electricity, or a sewage system. The city is without a hospital or clinic and fifty percent of children die before age five, primarily from disease caused by unsanitary living conditions and the lack of health care."

photo courtesy of Mike Asher

Asher said that long lines formed and the nurses and doctors did various surgeries. "We had people that had traveled over a day away by foot to get to the mission. Responsibilities for the student nurses included managing patient flow, admission, patient assessment and prep, documentation, and discharge."

One of the nurses also got to help with the interesting job of manufacturing artificial eyes. In the actual pre-op room "we had three beds for surgery going at one time," Asher said.

Outside the operating room the team walked to the city market "which was positioned next the river on the east end of town," Asher explained. "Vendors placed their goods on blankets on a large gravel bar stretching several hundred yards in a maze of meats, produce, dry goods, used clothing and various other wares for sale. The appearance was more of a large yard sale or flea market, but functioned as the primary opportunity to buy and sell almost anything you would need." 

The team members also attended a Haitian church service on Sunday morning in "an open air church overlooking the Caribbean Sea."

Out of the group of about 70, 42 went on a sailboat made by hand and manned by a crew of three to the Island of Tortuga, which lies approximately nine miles off Haiti's northern shore. The trip was about an hour long and caused many people to turn a lovely shade of green while rocking back and forth in the two, twenty-foot-long sailboats.

The trip was Bingham's, Downing's, and Bond's first experience in Haiti, while Asher had previously visited Haiti three times.

Asher he said he would like to travel to Haiti again. "Although the medical experience and diverse cultural experiences were each wonderful opportunities for growth, the greatest experience was serving the Haitian people. Comparing it to ourselves when we have so much, they are a very warm, welcoming, happy people," he said.

"All the team members agreed that this kind of experience is impossible to duplicate in the U.S. [It] had an impact that changed lives for many of the patients who regained their lost sight and for the team members who have helped a country that has so little hope."

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