Thu, 04/08/2010 - 17:06 — myrnag

  

(P-O-P-S) Not every enterprise can be measured in terms of financial success. Sometimes competence in relieving injury and saving lives is what we celebrate, especially in helping those in the most dastardly of circumstances. Ian Rawson, the managing director of Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti (HAS) in Deschapelles, Haiti, not only lead his hospital through one of the most awful disasters in Haitian history, but continues to meet the needs of an increased population in the Artibonite Valley resulting from the January 12th earthquake in Port-au-Prince. This is no small feat considering the earthquake devastation increased the hospital’s service population by 50%, from 300,000 to more than 450,000 and totally shut down Port-au-Prince hospital facilities.

 Founded by Ian’s stepfather Larimer Mellon and mother Gwen Mellon on a calling to help one of the poorest nations on earth receive decent medical care, this 80 bed facility 90 miles from the disaster treated and performed “ten times the normal number of surgeries in the two weeks following the earthquake” and continues to host “inpatient levels at double normal capacity,” many of whom require complex surgical procedures. (“Update from Hôpital Albert Schweittzer” March 26, 2010)

Dr. Rawson immediately started a blog to let the outside world know the surviving hospital’s needs so they could  help meet the increased patient flow and surgical demands of the Haitian population to whom he continues to dedicate his life. His was a genius move made in response to a failure of other means of communication. The on-going blog truly highlights the value of articles publicity at its very best.
These posts helped get his hospital supplies, medical aid and media attention from the slew of reporters and TV crews that were already on the island but who had to use ingenuity to get the camera crews out to his place.  This coverage helped get the attention of the world at large. He cried on camera when ABC interviewed him, a great bear of a man expressing the pain he felt for all these innocent victims whom he worried he could not help quickly enough. He expressed shame at having recently let go some staff because the hospital funding was not up to par during the economic slow down that was taking place worldwide. Still, he trudged on until the hallways of his hospital were cleared and everyone who showed up on his doorstep had been treated. 
Treatment often included conservative amputations that ultimately saved many peoples lives. These types of operations were told about by returning physicians from competent U.S. medical hospitals, often emotionally scarred by the massive need for this sort of do or die medical procedure.
 And still he blogged on daily. In two posts, he told of an elderly lady rescued by her son from debris in Port-au-Prince on her daughter’s wedding day. Unable to find care in the city, she instructed her sons to drive her home and came looking for “the American lady” who had been so kind to her in the past when she needed medical attention at HAS. Ian Rawson making his rounds visiting patients informed her that “the American lady” was his mother and that although she was gone she had taught him how to care for patients.  Ultimately, this elderly patient offered to be his “Mammy” and paid him for his service with a “beatific smile,” he reported in his understated, humble fashion.

 Indeed, Gwen Mellon would have assumed that her son could keep the hospital functioning despite the unbelievable trials, and would have predicted his innate compassion and concern for these people whom she taught him to respect. She, herself, was an astounding lady whom I had the pleasure of meeting more than a decade ago at a book signing art auction held in New York City on behalf of her beloved Hôpital Albert Schweitzer.  While Dr. Mellon was deceased by then, she marched onward – alert, well-spoken and championing the cause that became the raison d’etre for her adult life. 

While other catastrophes seize our headlines daily, Ian Rawson continues to explore methods that will enhance the lives of all the amputees in his current Haitian community.  He recently has accepted help from two organizations that use hospital patients as a prosthetic laboratory on a turnkey basis, recognizing that this need will be ongoing for years to come in this population. He continuously meets with those involved in restoring the medical infrastructure to Haiti to help this island and this culture survive.
 Speaking at  commencement exercise 2008 for the Tulane School of Public Health and Medicine where Dr. Larimer Mellon received medical training,  he explained that fulfillment in life came to those who find out how to serve.  Upon the death of his beloved mother, Rawson stated clearly: "We learned to see [our mother] as something other than a mother, but as a role model as well." 

 He writes in his blog of the “dignity and patience” of the Haitian population, two adjectives that are a truly apt description of himself as well. Clearly he has found his own purpose. A man of compassion and concern well-equipped to perform the role he has been assigned, his name will be chanted in the Artibonite Valley long after they stop knowing the names Gwen and Larry.