Matt Tincher: Making a Difference in Haiti

Less than a month after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti in January, 2010, Matt Tincher, an emergency room physician from Dickson, TN, traveled to the devastated country as part of a medical mission trip. Despite years of medical training and past experience with medical missions, Tincher was overwhelmed by the experience and shares his story.

Overwhelming chaos

Tincher arrived in Haiti on February 8 as part of 22-member micro-relief team organized through CMI Medical Missions. Because Haiti's infrastructure was destroyed by the quake and the airport was still closed, the medical team had to fly into the Dominican Republic and travel 10 hours by bus to Port-au-Prince. Once in the capitol city, they partnered with an established local group, which provided critical logistical support.

"It's by far the worst that I've ever seen," Tincher said of the destruction and suffering he witnessed in Port Au Prince. "It's chaos. All buildings were destroyed. There are piles of running garbage in the road and people digging through it and eating it. There are signs everywhere saying, 'Please help us. Need food and water.' Just overwhelmingly chaotic."

A clinic in a tent city

The CMI missions team set up a clinic in Leogane, a coastal city 18 miles west of the capitol and at the epicenter of the earthquake. "There are 3 million people and none of them are living inside because they're afraid to go live in their homes," said Tincher. "Most are currently living in makeshift tents composed of threadbare sheets and sticks. These refugee camps have sprung up all over the city, in nearly every available open space. We set up our clinic in a dirt clearing."

During the week-long stay, Tincher and his colleagues treated over 700 patients. "The medical care itself will seem familiar to any emergency department veteran," he said. "It may even be disappointing if you were looking for a heroic experience, but for every truly sick patient there are hundreds of 'walking wounded.' Many patients had lost their regular medications, and we found ourselves treating out-of-control diabetes and hypertension, which made us feel right at home."

In addition to primary-care related issues, the team treated several patients with respiratory illness, the likely result of airborne debris from collapsed structures, and one woman with tuberculosis. As expected there were many infected wounds that needed treatment. One woman's hand injury was so severe she had to be transferred to a hospital so it could be amputated. "It was crushed during the earthquake and was now rotting," said Tincher. "You could smell it all over the clinic, but she didn't want it cut off. It took a while but we finally convinced her that it would kill her if she didn't have the procedure done."

Devastation and hope

The CMI Medical Missions team came to Haiti equipped with over $8,000 worth of medical equipment and supplies to treat the physical wounds, but there was little they could do for the survivors' psychological trauma. "The people down there are devastated," said Tincher. "No one is sleeping. They don't have anything to eat. Water is scarce. Everyone is shell-shocked. Even if they are physically healthy, mentally they're very sick." He was particularly struck by one woman who believed she was possessed by a demon. "Because we are a church-based organization and working with missionaries who were down there, we were able to get them plugged in and get her some help."

But amidst the devastation, Tincher also saw hope. "The other thing you take away from this is the spirit of the Haitian people," he said. "Their response was just to do the best they can and live another day. Their spirit was really un-crushable. You saw kids with no clothes on flying kites made out of garbage bags. It's nice to see the human spirit enduring as well as it was down in Haiti."

Tincher's next mission trip is scheduled for July to Honduras with another later this year to Uganda. He expects to be back to Haiti in August of this year.

If you're interested in medical missions and would like more information about CMI Medical Missions, visit www.cmimedicalmissions.org.