Haiti_FNL 2/25/10 11:58 AM Page 22
Helping Haiti
When Haiti's earthquake survivors needed medical
attention, nurses from across the United States
answered the call. BY FELICIA MELLO AND GERARD BROGAN, RN
I
t was sweltering inside the maternity tent at the
improvised hospital in Haiti's earthquake-ravaged
capital, and beads of perspiration were collecting on
the young mother's forehead. Cecelia Williams, RN,
reached out and began to wipe her face with a cloth.
"She looked into my eyes and it was like I was seeing my own daughter lying there," said Williams, an
oncology/medical-surgical nurse from Pennsylvania.
It was then that Williams broke down—over-
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whelmed by round-the-clock shifts tending maggot-infested
wounds and the sight of so many mothers giving birth with no
privacy, their babies left unwashed.
"The tears were just going down my face. I felt so hopeless,"
Williams recalled.
She staggered out of the tent and immediately ran into a twoyear-old boy with "the cutest smile." Missing an arm and a foot,
his head and stomach bandaged, the boy nevertheless struck a pose
as Williams lifted her camera to take a picture.
W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G
JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2010
