Deployment diary day 22: Monday 8th February

It's not often that I can use my blog for a real news scoop but I can today. This morning something of a miracle happened. Here's our official news release:

Evans Ocinia, a 28 year old man, was brought to The Salvation Army clinic after being miraculously pulled from the rubble in the Lionshead marketplace this morning. Two men, digging through the rubble, heard Evans begin to talk and call to them. He had been in the rubble for 28 days following the earthquake. The marketplace is located near The Salvation Army compound in Delmas 2 and the men knew we had a “hospital” nearby.

Evan was extremely dehydrated and has skin wounds but he didn’t appear to have any critical wounds or broken bones. He was able to hold his head up on his own and take some small sips of water from the doctor who accompanied the transport. Salvation Army personnel transported Evan to the University of Miami Hospital which is located adjacent to the airport in Port au Prince.

That's some story, eh? And it also testifies powerfully to the importance of hope, the resilience of the human spirit and the value of not giving in. It must also have some of the search and rescue teams shaking their heads in disbelief - and no small measure of reflection that the official rescue operation was brought to and end over 2 weeks ago.

The story is also another tribute to the work of our clinic and the medical teams deployed there. The lead doctor, at the moment Major (Dr. ) Ted Mahr, attends our daily morning staff briefings. Earlier this morning he had proudly reported that the clinic has delivered 8 babies since the earthquake. He told us at the end of this day that today they treated over 270 patients - and that it had been a 'hard day'.

Ted is supported by a team of doctors from an organisation called 'In His image'. Since the early days of the response this group has deployed medical teams of 12 - 14 people - rotating them in and out every 7 days. We could not have managed without them. Today I honour this fine team - the miracle of this mornings' 'find' is a fitting tribute for their commitment and dedication.