Haiti: Together We Move chronicles the events that transpired in the wake of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010. The story is told in Haiti: Together We Move is about a small hospital called Haiti Adventist Hospital. This hospital served the people of Carrefour, Port Au Prince and beyond for about 30 years. Miraculously, it avoided significant damage during the events of January 12.
Dr. Scott Nelson is an orthopedic missionary who was serving as the Medical Director of the Cure International Children’s Orthopedic Surgery Hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic when the earthquake struck. Within two days he arrived in Port au Prince and began caring for the patients injured in the earthquake. During these initial weeks, he performed countless life saving orthopedic operations on hundreds of victims with the help of many orthopedic and specialty teams. Orthopedic companies generously donated millions of dollars of orthopedic implants for fracture fixation, and most of that eventually found its way to Haiti Adventist Hospital. He went well beyond caring for the earthquake victims and began treating many orthopedic cases that had been neglected for years.
Because of Dr. Nelson’s unselfish efforts, Haiti Adventist Hospital has become known as the primary orthopedic referral center for most of the country, and patients are transferred here from all regions of the country with spinal and extremity trauma. The cases cover the entire spectrum of orthopedic subspecialties. Children’s deformities, trauma, infections, tumors, spine, sports medicine, upper extremity trauma and deformities, and adult reconstruction are evenly represented. Fortunately, there are excellent, well-trained sub-specialists who are generous with their time and resources, and have participated already and continue to commit to support the work here. Dr. Terry Dietrich has taken over for Dr. Nelson at Haiti Adventist Hospital and, along with his wife Jeannie, is continuing his vision. Optimism abounds at Haiti Adventist Hospital as volunteers continue to throw themselves daily into the tasks.
