Pat's update:surgery on the Dining room table

Getting messages more often than expected so far. He is doing surgery on a dining room table.

"We have arrived in Haiti. Airport has heavy military presence and then out into chaos. We have brought over 1000 lbs of medical supplies that was over our weight allowance thus we had to cover that out of pocket ($2500). (if anyone knows rich people looking to spend money let me know). Our first plane was donated with crew from Hendricks racing team who I guess is the biggest/best nascar team. It is their personal plane.

At the airport we added a retired NYC police officer to our team for security and loading/unloading help.

The level of destruction is beyond belief. Not seeing the dead bodies in street that are being reported in news. Have jumped right in; starting 2nd surgery now in dinning room table. We have pain meds and sedatives so not like all the stories on TV. Goal for day is to set up our medical station and get some of our supplies to the physicians who have been here. Hoping to organize better tomorrow.

Update Jan 18, 10:32 PM

"Hello. Thanks for the emails and support....

This evening a truck of food bags arrived from DR. This has lead to a massive influx of people right outside our compound. We feel safe.

Sister Mary who runs this clinic made soup for us, so we did have dinner. Getting ready for bed.

More later.

How amazing is technology that I can so easily stay in touch. Pretty amazing."

Update 12:35 AM January 19

Pat met Sr. Mary, the nun they are staying with. Lo and behold she's from Buffalo! Taught at D'yuoville College. She knows of SBU and BonaResponds.

They talked Sabres, Bills, and she wants to know more about BonaResponds and will be thinking of how/when we can help.

The "Sister Mary" that Pat speaks of is, to the best of my knowledge, Sr. Mary Finnick. She is profiled in this Catholic News Service Piece. The place they are staying is the Matthew 25 House.

"Matthew 25 House, located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is a house of hospitality established in September, 2005 by The Parish Twinning Program of the Americas (PTPA). It is located in the home previously known as Visitation House and is located in the Delmas 33 area of Port-au-Prince.

The purpose of Matthew 25 House is to provide warm hospitality, comfort and assistance to visiting North Americans involved in the PTPA or other missionary and humanitarian organizations"

Here is an CNN i-report from just before the Denver team got there. It basically says they are helping many people and need supplies and money.

Here is a map of the area. It is near the center of the previous map. It is near St. Louis de Gonzague Secondare School.