Over the last month since the massive earthquake, everyone associated with the One Five Foundation has been consumed with the logistics of getting aid to Haiti.
Because One Five already had a presence in Haiti prior to the earthquake there was never any question that we needed to rise to the occasion and provide assistance on the ground in any way we could.
In a leap of blind faith, Brad Gautney our Haiti team leader, jumped into action as soon as he learned of the catastrophe. Brad led a medical mission to Haiti and was in-country within a couple of days of the quake, traveling overland from the Dominican Republic. The team was able to get into Port au Prince and started to work in a hospital there. They encountered a chaotic situation and began impose organization. Because of their effectiveness, Team One-Five was asked to take over the management at that community hospital on an ongoing basis.
Brad and David Miller, chairman of the One Five Foundation, were on the scene with team members managing the hospital where volunteer medical teams from all over the world were working. They performed incredibly well in the face of the worst crisis anyone had ever experienced. They assisted a large number of patients every day, stabilizing people with broken limbs, dressing wounds and administering antibiotics. When they ran out of space in the building they set up large tents outside and continued their good work. On numerous times, our people were told that it was the best-run hospital in Port au Prince.
Our team could not have performed at the high level that they did without the support of the Nueterra employees and One Five volunteers who staffed the Haiti war room at the Nueterra offices. Mary Beth Jackson, our One Five Foundation administrator, and her volunteers did a phenomenal job of organizing the entire effort and obtained donations of medical supplies from our partners around the country. The One Five Foundation sent more than one million dollars worth of medical supplies to Haiti.
Other volunteer teams to Haiti had to turn around and come home because they didn’t have the logistical support at home. Our foundation has proved it can have a real impact and is nimble enough to find ways to help when others cannot.
The One Five Foundation is in Haiti now and will be in the future.