Alex Cottin was on the ground in Haiti in the days after the earthquake struck. Here he reflects on the experience.
My visit to Haiti was a sudden wake up call of how quickly life can be brutally turned upside down. Arriving in the chaos of Port-au-Prince, it became clear: Everyone had lost everything and nobody had a place to call home anymore. There weren’t enough doctors for an ever-growing number of injured survivors. As Merlin’s Emergency Response Team immediately got to work, one thought came back to me over and over: Nothing is more valuable than a team with extensive collective experience, ready and capable of navigating the most difficult challenges a crisis brings. And this was vital to carrying out Merlin’s live-saving mission in Haiti.
Wimbledon: A field hospital on the courts
On the ground within 48 hours, with five tons of emergency and medical supplies en route to Port-au- Prince, the Merlin team quickly and efficiently established a fully operational surgical field clinic on an abandoned tennis court. People soon heard we’d set up the field hospital and patients started flooding in. It was amazing to see a disused tennis court so quickly transformed into a life-saving operation. In short time, Wimbledon field hospital became a source of healing and hope. It has a reception area for patients to sign in, a nursing station, a fully equipped and fully operational surgical theater, a post-op area for patients to rest, 40-bed capacity for in-patients, and a storage unit for our medical supplies, food and water.
I’ve been back from Haiti for a couple weeks now, but my heart is still there. Massive trauma, extensive injuries and a shattered health infrastructure means the people of Haiti will be vulnerable for many years to come. I witnessed the heartbreaking devastation, but I also saw hope starting to emerge from the wreckage. This sealed my commitment to our Haiti Emergency Appeal, so we can follow up a strong disaster response with a comprehensive health recovery program.
Merlin’s work in Haiti not just for the emergency phase, it’s for the long term. And there is a lot of work to do. Please step up and support us.
Find out more about our work in Haiti