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Cranberry flight nurse volunteers
Source:
Butler Eagle
Written by:
Megan Duncan
Published:
February 17, 2010
While she learned about the spirit of the Haitian people, a Cranberry Township flight nurse said she also learned about herself during a two-week stay in the earthquake devastated country.
"I had no idea I could be so bold," Cece Peterson said.
She returned home late Feb. 4 after spending two weeks lending her medical skills to the injured victims.
"I've been a registered nurse for 30 years, and I always thought after I retire I would like to do something not-for-profit," she said. But, when she saw the images of Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake, she said she couldn't wait until she retired from LifeFlight.
"Something in me just felt drawn like a magnet," she said. She volunteered with International Medical Corps through her union, the Service Employees International Union.
She arrived 10 days after the quake hit and set to work helping in the Bolosse region of Port-au-Prince.
She immediately realized how much the Haitians had already bounced back.
"I really expected devastation, and that was there," she said. " I didn't expect to see people rebounding 10 days after an earthquake."
Children were playing soccer, vendors were selling fruits and vegetables, and women were sweeping away dust.
"I didn't expect the magnitude of their smiles," she said.
While she was there, she worked to establish a clinic and treated those who came with injuries, sometimes deciding to send the critical to a hospital.
She said the media crews there were looking for "drama, death and dying."
"The real story is the slow, steady rebuilding," she said.
She established a routine while she was there, taking a shuttle from the hotel where she stayed for a debriefing, then going to assignments. Generally, she returned to the hotel by 5 or 5:30 p.m. On Sundays, the clinic would close and the workers would take supplies out into the neighborhoods.
With regular updates on her blog, ceceinhaiti.blogspot.com, her family here could follow Peterson's progress. Most of the messages were about the people she met or her moments of relaxation and shock at the cost of beer, but sometimes she used the forum to ask, "Did the car insurance get paid?"
On the final day, she wrote about her sadness as she learned her mother died.
At the end of each message, she pleaded with people to pray for Haiti.
She said the people there take intense pride in the few possessions they have. Children came to clinics wearing their Sunday best and mothers wanted to bathe their children before seeking medical care.
In particular, she said she met a man living in the tent city who had been educated in Buffalo and spoke English well. He, his wife, and his 8-month-old child had escaped without injury, but their home was destroyed.
While she talked with the man, she learned he eventually wanted to return to the United States with his family. But, he had no plans of doing that anytime soon.
"My country needs me here," she said he told her.
Peterson said the experience was a positive one.
"I did it in the spirit of service," she said. "Maybe I made a difference."
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