'The air was filled with suffering'

Dr. Chris Buresh of the University of Iowa used some strong words to describe the situation in Haiti in the aftermath of last month's earthquake.

Devastation.

Bizarre.

Atrocious.

But despite such conditions, Buresh said, resilience, generosity and grace beamed throughout the ravaged area of Leogane, where he spent nine days working at a makeshift portable hospital, aiding more than 3,000 injured people.

“It's pretty humbling to see the amount of suffering their people can endure, but then be so gracious,” said Buresh, 34, who returned home to Coralville this weekend.

Though his group had only Tylenol to numb the pain of countless broken bones, open flesh wounds and amputated limbs, Buresh said, somehow people managed to create a peaceable environment.

“It's unbelievable,” he said. “These people are so tough,” and no one complained.

Because of fears of aftershocks, Buresh said, homes now consist primarily of sheets or tarps held up with sticks.

“No one is living inside. Everyone is scared to go in a building,” he said. “It was kind of a great equalizer.”

Buresh, an assistant professor of emergency medicine who has made regular medical trips to Haiti for seven years, arrived just a week after the earthquake struck and said his instinct to help quickly trumped any fear.

“I haven't dealt with the emotional process,” he said. “You have to have some basic emotions, but to help, you can't let them get ahold of you - otherwise, it makes you ineffective.”

During the days, Buresh saw patients from the time he awoke until dusk. As night fell, he said, he could hear children crying because they were starving.

“The air was filled with suffering,” he said.

Since the only affordable hospital in the area where he was working no longer exists, Buresh said, people are dying because there is no place to get help. He said he hopes the mobile hospital there can someday turn into a more permanent structure, offering a piece of stability for the impoverished nation. Such a facility would cost

around $25 million to build.

Buresh plans to return in about ten days. He said tents, shoes and clothes are the most urgently needed supplies, but people who want to help should send money, which is easier to distribute than goods.

Though Buresh said it's difficult for people in the States to grasp the nature of the people of Haiti, he said their need for help remains the same.

“They are really amazing people,” he said. “It's been a real privilege.”