Alaskan Doctor Heads to Haiti to Make a Difference

As Haiti struggles to recover after the deadly earthquake, a local physician is in the heart of the devastation after canceling his vacation so he could help out with the medical crisis in that country.

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By KTVA CBS 11
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Story Created: Feb 22, 2011 at 4:53 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Feb 22, 2011 at 4:59 PM AKDT

Original article posted Jan. 21, 2010

As Haiti struggles to recover after the deadly earthquake, a local physician is in the heart of the devastation after canceling his vacation so he could help out with the medical crisis in that country.

The local Alaskan is setting up a mobile clinic in Haiti.

Shortly after the big quake, Palmer emergency room doctor Jordan Greer called his wife Sallie, and asked her what she thought about him and their two sons heading to Haiti to help relief efforts right after the quake.

Sallie Greer said yes to the trip and more than two days later they were en route to Haiti.  The Mat-Su Valley doctor, his two sons and a friend, a retired Alaska State Trooper, made their way down to Florida with one thousand pounds of gear and supplies, waiting days to get a flight out to Haiti.
 
"When this came up it was clearly what he needed to do," said Sallie Greer of Palmer.
 
Now in Haiti, the group has been setting up a mobile clinic, treating as many earthquake survivors as they can.
 
 "The general hospital is the only one left standing in Port Au Prince and its shambles, its just chaos.  There's no way to take care of all the patients that are in the streets.  So what we've been doing is going out, trying to set up clinics near to where the people are staying and tents if you can call them that.  Mostly they are sheets spread between wood with no real protection," said Jordan Greer, an Alaskan resident helping out in Haiti.
 
Jordan Greer says even after over a week since the big quake, people in Haiti are still being treated for the first time.
 
Jordan Greer said, "We've got an old diesel van with a bunch of supplies and nurses and medics and just kind of trying to travel around and find out where the people are needing the most medical needs."
 
One of Greer's son estimates they've treated 200 people since they actually arrived in Haiti within a 60-hour span.
 
Sallie Greer said, "He (Sallie's husband) told me that there are few buildings still standing and that it's not unruly.  People are pretty calm but obviously very needy right now, you know they need shelter, food, water, you know a lot of things."
 
These Alaskans say their efforts to help out in Haiti are long term.
 
When CBS 11 News asked Jordan Greer how long he was going to stay in Haiti he replied, "as long as I can."
 
Sallie Greer explained, "They're setting up a medical clinic in the orphanage and we already have another physician and another nurse going down and they're going to try and man it if my husband has to come back at the end of the month they're going to try and keep it manned and operational so we're going to keep sending supplies."
 
The Greer family says the needs in Haiti, won't be going away anytime soon.
 
"The biggest problem we're seeing right now is infections but there's no place for them to bathe and the water that they're trying to bathe in is contaminated.  A lot of the wounds were never cleansed to start with.  A lot of them were deep.  Some of them were associated with fracture, with broken bones," explained Jordan Greer.
 
"Monetary, we need all sorts of medicines, especially antibiotics, IV type things and they also this is kind of strange but they need a lot of tents because people are living in cardboard and sheet kind of shelters now," said Sallie Greer.
 
The family says there's still a big need for medical supplies like IV-antibiotics 
 
If you would like to help out these Alaskan's medical relief efforts in Haiti, there has been an account set up at Alaska USA Federal Credit Union.  The account is under Sallie Adair Greer, account number #1502719.
 
There will also be a Haiti fundraiser Sunday, Jan. 24 at the Turkey Red in Palmer from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  The fundraiser includes live music, a silent auction, and a donation station.
 

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