UI doctor to return to Haiti

A University of Iowa doctor who just returned from Haiti four days ago is trying to get back to the country to help with relief efforts.

Dr. Christopher Buresh, 34, of Coralville said he won't be able to look at himself in the mirror if he doesn't find a way to help. He made a lot of friends in Haiti since he began traveling there seven years ago, and he wonders what has happened to them.

“In emergency medicine we talk about things like this a lot, and we have disaster drills,” said Buresh, an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine. “This is not a drill.”

Buresh says even before the earthquake, conditions in Haiti were reminiscent of a disaster zone.

“You just can't count on having power or electricity, and it's always hard to get around,” he said.

Bricks and mortar aside, the doctor is most concerned about his patients. Some of the 900 or so people his team saw last week went to Port-au-Prince for more treatment.

“I don't know how they're doing, but I'm really worried about them,” he said.

For those who survived, people in poor health will face other challenges perhaps too difficult to overcome, he noted.

“People are going to get real sick,” Buresh said, adding the area soon will be inundated with mosquitoes followed by outbreaks of malaria and Dengue fever.

Less-severe problems could kill other Haitians.

“All it takes is a little diarrhea or a little cold to kill someone,” he said.

Knowing that is troublesome and adds to his determination to get to the disaster zone and do all he can to help.

Buresh hopes to join an organized medical team leaving Thursday. If he can't, his team that just returned will leave again for the region on Tuesday.

Jami Brinton, KCRG-TV