Aid worker Roy delivers vital supplies to Haiti
Last updated at 09:49, Friday, 26 February 2010
AN AID worker from Whitley Chapel is currently providing the only ambulance service in a town devastated by the Haiti earthquake last month.
Splitting his time between the town of Saint Marc and the Haitian capital, Port au Prince, Roy Dixon, founder of Tynedale-based aid organisation Mercy Trucks, set off to the stricken country with vital medical supplies on January 28.
He told the Courant this week: “Things are busy down here in Haiti.
“The Mercy Truck has been a real blessing as there was no ambulance at all in the town of Saint Marc and now we have another 40,000 refugees, many of them with injuries, that have migrated up from Port au Prince.”
Mr Dixon, flew to Pennsylvania with vital water purification kits, medical supplies and orthopaedic equipment for the hospital in Saint Marc, which is just 60 miles from the epicentre of the disaster.
He then collected a Mercy Truck donated by the Pennsylvania state fire department, which he drove to Miami to meet a ferry travelling to the port of Saint Marc.
But his drive through the northern states of America was a tricky one and deep snow left him facing serious delays.
However, he arrived in Haiti on February 7 and has been working alongside other volunteers to provide desperately needed medical care ever since.
He said: “The medical equipment we brought over has also been a blessing as the doctors and surgeons are able to now get going with more complicated procedures.
“It is interesting being an ambulance driver here; there are no road rules.
“We are working four days a week in Port au Prince and three days a week in Saint Marc.”
And despite the difficult conditions in Port au Prince where he is now based, Mr Dixon and the medical teams continue to focus on wound care and infection control.
“Many of the dressings have not been changed since the day they were first put on,” he explained.
“The work is hard, I am mainly sleeping in a tent and the weather is hot and the eating conditions challenging, but it is such a privilege to be here helping these resilient people.
“Many children who were pulled out from under rubble with severe injuries, a few weeks ago, get patched up and give beautiful smiles.”
Anyone wishing to support Mercy Trucks can email Mr Dixon at RoyDixon@MercyTrucks.org
First published at 06:12, Friday, 26 February 2010
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk
Have your say
What a bundle of energy Roy Dixon must be. He seems to have trucks everywhere supplying medical or dental care. Never know whether he is in Sri Lanka, Guineau Bissau, Senegal, Ukraine and now Haiti. Christian caring at its best.
Posted by John Martin on 26 February 2010 at 21:04