BOISE, Idaho — Ten years after Haiti was devastated by a massive earthquake, poverty and growing medical needs for its citizens continue to rock the country, which is why a St. Luke's pediatric anesthesiologist and his wife, who is a nurse, traveled to the country on a medical mission.
The experience changed both Heidi and Scott Herd's perspective.
"It did kind of feel like a movie at times," Heidi Herd said. "They don't have any electricity or running water, their homes are so simple and so humble."
This was Dr. Scott Herd's third medical mission there and Heidi's second.
"In the particular hospital where we serve, the hospital really relies on international teams to come down and perform surgeries," Dr. Herd said. "They don't have any surgeons there, so about once a month, teams will come down and perform surgeries for a week. It's a very poor country that has sort of a troubled history, my third year going, I tend to see the same things, don't see a lot of change, it continues to be very poor and there's just a great - great need there."
The couple's most recent trip was full of uncertainty as political unrest and demonstrations in the country canceled previously scheduled medical missions. Dr. Herd explained that "there had been a gap between the month of May and December and all that time, the patients who needed surgery just had to wait. "
Fortunately, in December, the team, which consisted of 15 people - including doctors, nurses, and other volunteers -made it to Haiti and performed nearly 50 surgeries in a week.
Nelson Pettey and his wife were part of the team and were shocked at the conditions that they saw there.
"I was not prepared for the level of, I guess, poverty that we saw there initially," Pettey recalled. "When we landed, I was awestruck at the way these people were living and surviving there."
The team was helping people in need there up until they were set to fly home. On the morning of their final day in Haiti, a truck with at least a dozen passengers flipped while going down a mountain road. Six people were killed and more were injured. The team jumped in and helped those injured in the accident before they left for the airport.
"We were all grateful that we were still there when that crash occurred," Dr. Herd said.
The experience that the Herds and Petteys had on the medical mission is something that neither couple will ever forget.
"It was life-changing," Nelson Pettey described. "It really changed my outlook on a lot of things."
"Medicine is really service," Dr. Herd explained. "And at times in the environment we work in on a day to day basis, you can often lose that, you lose that sort of emotional component, but going to a place like Haiti and doing these trips, it brings it back to your roots."
If you would like to donate or know more about the foundation that these medical professionals helped people in Haiti, click here.