Caring for the four-legged
Who cares for the four-footed rescuers?
As part of the rescue efforts for the recent earthquake which devastated most of Haiti, Dr. Garry Goemann of Grand Rapids, MN and Karol Carlson of Nashwauk, MN deployed for the U.S. Health and Human Services National Disaster Medical System to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Their job was to deal with the veterinary public health issues but the mission also included caring for the US teams of search dogs.
Goemann is the team commander and Karol Carlson is the administrative officer for National Veterinary response Team 5. They have deployed to national disasters in the past, including to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This was the first time either had responded to an international disaster, or that the federal veterinary disaster response teams had been deployed to an international event.
"I've never been in an environment like that," Dr. Goemann said.
The teams worked long hours, caring for the rescue dogs who also worked long hours. The dogs would suffer cuts and abrasions on their legs and feet from broken tile that covered many of the surfaces. This tile acted like cut glass. The dogs also needed to be treated for electrolyte imbalances.
"The austere environment and suppressive heat created difficult conditions for the dogs," he said.
The veterinary team was headquartered at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. The team slept on the ground during the majority of his three weeks in Haiti, surviving the many mosquitoes and millipedes that would visit them during the night.
Carlson said that she found the Haitian people to be a very friendly, very nice people despite the conditions.
"They were trying to get by," Carlson said. "They had no food, no water - it really broke your heart."
She said that one Haitian woman who worked at the embassy was living on the street. One day, the woman broke down in tears and Carlson said it was then they learned she had a young child not even a year old and she had no food for the baby. Carlson said they found food to send with her.
"It really makes you wake up to how good we have it here," Carlson said.
Members of the response team were vaccinated in route to Haiti to combat some of the illnesses they themselves could face while in Haiti, and started on anti-malarial drugs to prevent infection.
It wasn't until soon before returning to Minnesota that they had cots and tents for sleeping quarters, he said.
Garry said he "never touched the food" while in Haiti, opting instead for warm bottles of water and meals-ready-to-eat, the same issued to military personnel. There was air conditioning in the embassy building, but team members "weren't in the offices much," he added. Local food stands received their supplies from local sources and in one instance the cafeteria had over 50 people come down with a form of food poisoning.
In addition to caring for the rescue dogs, they treated some of the dogs which belonged to embassy workers. One dog, Belfy, became a mascot for the unit working at the embassy. Belfy had suffered a serious laceration on her chest, which they were able to treat. Her owner was from Arizona and Goemann said they were successful in making arrangements to eventually send Belfy back to the United States.
Having a dog like Belfy around was important for morale.
"Petting a dog for five minutes was worth an hour of counseling," Goemann said.
Haitian society differs from American society in that Haitians don't keep pets the way Americans do. There's an estimated 500,000 dogs running loose. Most of the dogs look very similar and a dog may wander into a Haitian home and spend the night, then leave in the morning. It was a common sight to see pigs and goats roaming about, which was no different than before the earthquake.
Rabies was another concern the veterinary team needed to handle. While they were there they were able to vaccinate approximately 103,000 animals for rabies. The number of human rabies cases decrease from 13 to 6 that year
While they saw lots of animals while in Haiti, there weren't too many injuries in indigenous animals. Animals have an innate sense when something like an earthquake is about to strike and they will run away, get outside, he said.
Carlson said there is a possibility that a team may return later for more follow-up care. As the clean up and rebuilding in Haiti continues, livestock and dogs will be running in the streets again and medical conditions, both human and animal, will most likely "pop up after the fact."
Goemann said they were thankful they had the opportunity to serve, but given the magnitude of the event, they wished they'd been able to do more.
