In 2010, Haiti’s landscape would be changed forever. The devastating earthquake that rocked the country to its core eventually killed more than 316,000 people, left 1.5 million homeless and another 1.5 million injured. This week is the 10-year anniversary of the event that changed the lives of the people of Haiti as well as impacted the lives of millions around the world.

I was in Ventura, California, in 2010, attending college, when I got an email from a friend asking me if I would like to go to Haiti again to help out. Even though the earthquake was so horrendous, I was deep in student mode and hadn’t made any plans to go help, yet. Why would I go, you ask? There are a few things I need to tell you about me and Haiti.

Why Am I Involved With Haiti?

In 1984, I lived in Haiti for two years as a Mormon missionary. Thirteen years after my mission, in 1999, I was living in South Carolina and made the decision to visit Haiti while I was on the East Coast. But I didn’t want to go to Haiti as a tourist, even though there are many beautiful things to see and experience in Haiti. I also didn’t want to do another religious mission there. I wanted to do something to help Haiti and get nothing in return.

I started looking around for an organization I could get involved with. A good friend of mine told me about Healing Hands for Haiti Foundation (HHH), a rehabilitative group, who among other things, organizes medical missions to Haiti, to help the disabled there. It sounded like just the ticket for me, so I inquired when the next team would be going and started planning my trip to go with them. I would be going as a translator and cultural expert.

While living in Haiti, in the 80s, I became fluent in Haitian Creole, the language that most people speak in Haiti. I also fell in love with the Haitian people, which is why I wanted to go back someday. I knew that returning to Haiti was going to be an emotional experience for me, because of the love I had for her people and all the memories I had there. But I didn’t expect to be impacted as much as I did. Going to Haiti with an organization that did such amazing things for the people of Haiti turned me into an emotional puddle. I couldn’t even talk about it without tearing up. I ended up traveling to Haiti more than a dozen times over the next decade.

What Do You Do in Haiti on a Medical Mission?

One of the things that Healing Hands for Haiti does is help organize teams of physical rehab specialists to go on 10-day mission trips to Haiti. Physiatrists, Rehab Nurses, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Orthotists, Prosthetists, Speech Therapists, etc. While there, the team does things like help fit amputees with new prosthetic limbs, provide PT/OT services with the disabled, visit orphanages who accept disabled children and train the caregivers on how to work with the children as they dress and feed them. They also usually have a general medical clinic for people who struggle with all kinds of ailments and don’t have a clinic to go to for many reasons. Haiti hasn’t had much going on in the way of healthcare.