PEP, March 2010: Saving lives in Haiti: Members join global relief teams

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

When disaster struck in Haiti, four members of District Council 37 were among the first to respond.

Two EMS officers and two Paramedics were deployed to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince as part of the international effort to aid victims of the earthquake that rocked the Caribbean nation on Jan. 12. The 7.0 magnitude quake killed 230,000 Haitians, injured 300,000 and left 1 million people homeless.

In a whirlwind week on the devastated island, Lt. Ian Swords and Lt. Ralph Goyenechea of Local 3621 and Paramedics Ricardo Quintero and Marco Girao of Local 2507 saved Haitian lives and provided vital health care for rescue forces.

They served on New York Task Force One, a highly trained squad of police, firefighters and EMS first-responders who specialize in perilous rescues where concrete and heavy steel structures have collapsed. The city group is part of the elite federal Urban Search and Rescue Team, one of 28 emergency response groups under the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“Whatever the catastrophe, public employees answer the call quickly and bravely,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. “We can’t let cutbacks and layoffs weaken our ability to respond in times of need.”

The city team took off from Newburgh, N.Y., with 60 tons of medical equipment, four vehicles and four rescue dogs. Delayed only by the overflowing traffic at Port-au-Prince’s tiny airport, they landed in the devastated Caribbean capital Jan. 17.

International cooperation

As part of a team of medical specialists, Lts. Swords and Goyenechea played a crucial role in setting up a triage center near the Port-au-Prince airport to get the most seriously injured victims to doctors’ attention first.

The 76 members of their rescue crew were working 20-hour shifts searching for earthquake victims and digging them out of the rubble in the sweltering tropical heat. Dehydration was a constant danger. The DC 37 medics monitored vital signs, administered fluids and provided malaria prevention drugs.

Paramedic Ricardo Quintero, from Station 20 in the Bronx, was the first to administer life-saving intravenous fluids to a brother and sister who had been trapped for eight days under a collapsed four-story building. Eight-year-old Kiki and 10-year-old Sabrina emerged from the wreckage extremely dehydrated. “But they had the biggest smiles on their faces that you’ve ever seen,” said Quintero, who was deeply moved by the mission.

“I never expected to see anything like that. What you saw on television or in the newspapers, that was nothing compared with being there,” he said. “It was heartbreaking.”

How you can help quake victims

In January, DC 37 contributed $10,000 and its national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, contributed $25,000 to the Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers fund of the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts is also a co-chair of the NYC Central Labor Council Haitian Disaster Relief Fund.

DC 37 urges members to mail checks directly to either of the funds, which are listed below, not to DC 37, or to give online through the AFSCME Web site, www.afscme.org. Please write “Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers” in the check’s memo line.

The international rescue effort provided food and water for many of the victims.

Solidarity Center Education Fund
888 16th Street, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20006

NYC Central Labor Council Haitian
Disaster Relief Fund
275 Seventh Avenue, 18th floor
New York, NY 10007

Swords and Goyenechea also went into the city after their shifts to search for victims. They saw close up the total destruction of the city’s infrastructure and worked with other team members to save the lives of six people who were trapped beneath collapsed buildings and rubble. When they arrived they were greeted by a multitude of Haitians who gave them the thumbs-up sign.

“We never felt threatened at all by the Haitian people,” said Lt. Goyenenechea. “We ran into people who had family in New York and Miami, and spoke English.”

“The people were so appreciative, it made everything worthwhile,” said Swords, an 11-year veteran. “It was a life-changing experience. It really put things in perspective,” he added.

The four DC 37 members were part of an international crew that bought together teams from Israel, Spain, Brazil and many other nations. “It was very impressive the way everyone worked so well together,” said Swords.

The New York team returned from Haiti on Jan. 24 and on Jan. 26 received commendations at City Hall. “We are glad to have the members of our Urban Search and Rescue Team, who worked on the front lines of the global rescue effort in Haiti, back home safe and sound,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at the ceremony.

“These medics are excellent examples of the commitment, professionalism and compassion of our EMS workers,” said Pat Bahnken, president of Uniformed EMTs and Paramedics Local 2507. “These are some exceptional members,” said Vincent Variale, president of Uniformed Emergency Medical Service Officers Local 3621. “We’re proud to have been there for the Haitian people to help them with this tragedy.”

Why is Haiti so poor?

The powerful earthquake hit Haiti Jan. 12, but the nation’s crushing poverty and the incredible weakness of its physical and governmental infrastructure that made rescue and recovery efforts so difficult were a legacy of centuries of outside domination.

Why is Haiti so poor? History provides the answers, but they are hard to hear for Americans who believe their country can do no wrong.

European colonizers exterminated the native Indian population and met their need for cheap labor by importing Africans under the most brutal system of slavery in the history of that inhumane institution.

The eastern part of the island, governed by Spain, later became the Dominican Republic, and the western one-third, owned by France, became Haiti. The coffee and sugar wealth extracted from Haitian slaves built the great cities of France.

Inspired by the ideals of freedom and democracy espoused by the Europeans, the brilliant political and military leader Toussaint L’Ouverture led a slave revolt that ultimately defeated huge French armies and let Haiti proclaim its independence in 1804.

Haiti’s freedom and self government by people of African descent struck fear into European elites and U.S. slaveholders. The wealthy countries undermined the upstart nation with economic embargoes and supported a small ruling class that monopolized the vast profits from Haiti’s crops, turned the lush island into a deforested land with plantation agriculture, and created the conditions for centuries of under-development and economic failure.

With U.S. help, a long line of dictators made the government a tool for oppression. U.S. Marines invaded and occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934, trained the Haitian military and paved the way for the brutal “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son, “Baby Doc,” who ruled from 1957 to 1986.

When the Haitian masses twice elected populist priest Father Bertrand Aristide as president, U.S.-supported forces removed him from office under Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Misrule, rape of the land and exploitation of the population continue. The generosity of the American people will help in the current crisis, but only a political turnaround can give the Haitian people a brighter future.

— Jane LaTour