PORT AUX BASQUES, N.L.
There are a few patients Dr. Dave Thomas still wondered about from his time spent in Haiti in 2016 as part of Team Broken Earth. Two people in particular sprang immediately to mind. The pair was riding a motorcycle that got slammed into by a car.
“They would have barely lived here and the two of them I think lived, remarkably,” said Thomas. One had his leg turned completely backwards, and his pelvis was broken so badly it proved too risky to fix and was left to heal on its own.
“He lost a lot of blood. Here he would have had a blood transfusion and he would have had multiple, multiple units of blood but you have to pay for it in Haiti, and you had to find six people to donate the blood.”
Somehow the man recovered and was smiling and chatty when Thomas bid him farewell and returned home to his family practice in Port aux Basques.
In response to the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti in 2010, Dr. Andrew Furey led a team of volunteers to provide much needed medical care. Eight years later Team Broken Earth continues to provide relief to the island nation and has also begun expanding aid into other countries, such as Guatemala.
Thomas volunteered in 2016 and in November, for the first time he would serve as lead for Team Western NL.