Nursing in Haiti

Trauma, troops
and recovery

Montreal nurse and veteran street activist
Scott Weinstein returns from Haiti and
reports that despite enormous challenges,
a resilient people are carrying on

 

TENTS AS WARDS: Weinstein (R) with volunteer nurse
Martha Lolangne (L), Dr. Fritz Lolangne and patient Jean-Pierre Paris

by MATT JONES

After two weeks toiling in the trauma tent of a makeshift emergency ward in Port-au-Prince, Montreal nurse and long-time activist Scott Weinstein heads home today, moved by the resilience of the Haitian people. The Mirror spoke to him over the phone from his lodgings in Haiti.

“They’re really tough,” Weinstein says. “All the Europeans and North Americans were shaking our heads at the lack of pain being expressed by the folks here and the lack of pain medication we’re being asked to give—I mean, we offer it and often people refuse. It’s just a different culture.”

Weinstein, who has lived in Montreal since 1965, travels frequently to his native Washington D.C. to work as a freelance nurse in the strained public health system. He had just arrived there on Jan. 12, when the 7.0 earthquake hit the Haitian capital. He got in touch with Partners in Health (pih.org) and bought himself a ticket on a flight to Port-au-Prince.

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