“All We Could Give Them Was Tylenol”
By Jami Brinton, Reporter
The University of Iowa’s Dr. Chris Buresh, 34, of Coralville, shows photographs from his recent trip to Haiti. He returned this weekend from nine days working in a makeshift hospital. (Anna Lothson/The Gazette)
By
Aaron Hepker
Story Created:
Feb 1, 2010 at 1:51 AM CST
Story Updated:
Feb 1, 2010 at 2:07 AM CST
CORALVILLE — While Dr. Chris Buresh is no stranger to the destitute conditions in Haiti, he wasn’t prepared for what he saw during his recent medical mission there. Pancaked buildings he said were “stacked like flapjacks” and makeshift villages built in the middle of the road.
“People would construct these houses out of mostly bed sheets and sticks,” explained Dr. Buresh.
The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics emergency medicine physician traveled to the region about 11 days ago to help provide medical relief to those Haitians suffering from injuries sustained during the earthquake. He describes the air as “thick with suffering.”
The images of bodies strewn throughout the countryside are something he wished he would not have seen. “Pretty bad smells,” said Dr. Buresh. “Bodies trapped under the buildings and everybody was wearing masks — people would shove toothpaste up their nostrils or tea leaves of orange rinds.”
At night, Dr. Buresh and his medical team awakened to the sounds of children whimpering. He calls it “the cries of starvation.” Some of those children became his patients when they were run-over while trying to chase down a food truck. “The injuries were really pretty atrocious,” Dr. Buresh admitted.
Dr. Buresh is amazed by the Haitians grace amid tremendous suffering, even when they amputated limbs and could only offer Tylenol. “No, they never complained,” Dr. Buresh said. “Kids were still flying kites. People would start singing at 4 a.m. right outside our wall.”
It’s the Haitian’s humble spirit that fuels Dr. Buresh’s quest to continue helping them for years to come. “Every time I go down there I think I get so much more out of the experience than the Haitians do,” said Dr. Buresh. “This time I’d say it’s the same thing though ten times over.”
Dr. Buresh is working to set up a permanent hospital in Haiti. He will travel back to Haiti in two weeks to help set up that facility. It will be staffed by Iowans and Buresh’s friends from around the country for the next six months.
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