The impact of the devastating Haitian earthquake has affected many area residents, including two locals who survived the temblor as well as those who are responding with an outpouring of support for the earthquake victims.

 

JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Still feeling the aftershocks of the Haitian earthquake on Jan. 12, Florence Germain sprang into action. Drawing on the skills she learned as a nurse at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, she began to do all she could to help the injured at Portau Prince Airport, where she and family members had been waiting to board a flight back to the United States.

One of the injured was a man Germain encountered outside the airport, whose bones were badly broken and whose foot was attached to his leg by just a muscle, she said.

“There was nothing to do other than to ask the police for bandages,” she said during an interview on Jan. 16. “The man still had feeling in his leg. It’s such a shame that we couldn’t get him somewhere to save it.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF RIVERVIEW MEDICAL CENTER Using her quick thinking and nursing training, Germain, who is believed to have been the only nurse at the airport following the quake that leveled much of Port-au- Prince, used airport rum as an antiseptic and made makeshift tourniquets for people with severed limbs.

Next, the Eatontown resident turned her attention to a 19-month-old baby crying loudly who had sustained a broken arm and was covered in scratches. The baby’s mother was also injured.

“I grabbed iodine and cleaned their wounds. You want to do more, but you just can’t,” said Germain, a nurse in Riverview’s Stroke Unit.

At around the same time that Germain was waiting to board her plane, Lindsay Doran left her room and stopped in at the gift shop in the Hotel Montana in Port-au- Prince on Jan. 12, then headed out to the pool area, where she met up with other Lynn University students around the time the earthquake hit.

From top: Henri-Christian Louis, president of the Coalition for Haitian American Empowerment of Monmouth and Ocean Counties in Asbury Park, is organizing the relief effort in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake. Nurse Florence Germain ministered to the injured at Port Au Prince Airport. Lindsay Doran (front row, second from left) with other Lynn University volunteers at the Food for the Poor Journey for Hope warehouse and feeding center in Haiti. PHOTO COURTESY OF LYNN UNIVERSITY “My first thoughts were, this isn’t real,” she said during an interview on Jan. 16. “It’s basically a living nightmare.”

Doran, Rumson, believes that going to the gift shop likely saved her life. She and the other students remained on a grassy hill near the site of the hotel that collapsed as a result of the temblor.

The students had traveled to Haiti to work with Food for the Poor, a nonprofit that ministers in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was the second trip for Doran,

a Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School grad, who had traveled to Jamaica to work with the nonprofit last year.

 

Doran, 19, was one of 14 students and faculty members traveling from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., on a relief mission titled “Journey for Hope.”

The group arrived on Jan. 11, a day before the 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the country and demolished the Hotel Montana, where the group was staying.

Germain, who is a Haitian citizen, had returned to Haiti on Jan. 5 with her husband, son and five other family members to attend her father’s funeral.

She and family members arrived at the airport at around 3 p.m. Jan. 12 and were about to board their return flight home to New Jersey close to 5 p.m. when the ground began shaking.

“My first instinct was that a plane was crashing into the airport, then I thought it must be a bomb. I never thought of an earthquake,” she recounted.

The ceiling began to crumble, and Germain covered her 8-year-old son with her body to protect him from the falling debris. Her husband, Kency, grabbed their son and got him outside to safety.

Germain, her mother, brother, sister, nephew and niece were on the second floor of the airport during the quake’s second impact, when more of the building came crashing down.

The scene was chaotic, she said, with people pushing one another in an attempt to flee the collapsing building.

“The doors locked automatically, and people started trying to escape,” she said.

Germain’s husband made it back inside the airport to rescue his wife and trapped family members.

“Thank God he came back, because we wouldn’t have gotten out,” she said.

Once outside, Germain and her family were told by Haitian police officers to stay together for safety. They remained outside the airport until approximately 3 a.m. They saw devastation and chaos and could hear the sound of looters nearby.

“We kept hearing gunshots and watched as people pulled their family members from the debris. There were so many bodies,” she said.

Germain has worked at Riverview for eight years, first as an aide and then as a nurse, and credits that training for the care she was able to provide to victims.

“The experience there told me not to panic. I brought the skills I learned and did what I could. I’m not talking about surgery, just preventing infection and assisting, trying to get them help,” she said.

Germain and four family members lost their passports in the confusion and had to go to the U.S. Embassy in Haiti to be granted permission to return to the U.S. There they were given water and spent the day, still feeling the aftershocks.

“The embassy is the only building standing. They did a great job, and I’m very appreciative,” she said.

While at the embassy, Germain was thanked by the family of the man she had assisted the previous day, and on the plane ride home she saw the baby she had helped.

“It’s so sad. That’s why I became a nurse, to help. It’s breaking my heart, this helpless feeling,” Germain said.

She and her family members were transported to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic on Jan. 13. At midnight on Jan. 15, Germain returned to her Eatontown home.

Doran’s roommate and good friend, Brittany Gengel, 19, of Rutland, Mass., stayed behind to nap when Doran left for the gift shop. Doran guessed that Gengel was either in bed or in the shower when the quake hit.

“I’m praying that she’s going to be safe,” Doran said, fighting back tears.

Doran and seven other students survived the earthquake. Four students and two Lynn University professors were still missing as she spoke.

During an interviewarranged by the university on Jan 16, five of the rescued students said it was by chance that they found their way to the U.S. Embassy.

“By sheer luck and by sheer blessing, we came to our final destination,” said student Tom Schloemer.

The group that had waited out the quake on the hill ran into U.S. Embassy worker Angela Chaiener, who was dining at the hotel at the time of the quake, and she guided the students to the safety of a U.S. military escort.

“She had a radio and a walkie-talkie, and she became our mother for the trip,” Schloemer said.

“You can’t imagine what the ride down was like, seeing all the bodies and everybody in the streets,” said student Nikki Fantauzzi.

Doran’s group was flown to Santo Domingo on a military transport plane and eventually to Boca Raton, where they were reunited with their families.

The Doran family flew to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, where they were reunited with their daughter at the Lynn University campus at midnight on Jan. 15.

According to a statement released by the university on Jan 17, rescue efforts are ongoing.

“In Haiti this morning, as in the Dominican Republic, university agents and friends are continuing the work of combing hospital lists, embassy rolls and transportation centers for news of our missing four students and two faculty members,” university spokesman Jason Hughes wrote in an email.

The school contracted with a private company to conduct search and rescue efforts for those still missing.

During a conference call on Jan. 16, Hughes said contractors engaged by the school have been working around the clock at the site of the hotel collapse.

Although she survived unscathed, Germain remains haunted by the tragedy.

“I will never forget the things in my head, the images of bodies everywhere,” she said.

Germain spoke of the importance of helping the Haitian community.

“I would go back. I would’ve stayed if my son weren’t with me. I have family that’s still there, and help has not yet reached them. A lot of help is needed, and timing is limited. People can’t go without food and water. They need more supplies. So many people were hurt, not just those in Port-au-Prince. All of Haiti is affected,” she said.

“God gave me the opportunity to learn to help people, so that’s what I do. If I can apply what I’ve learned, I will,” said Germain.

Back at Riverview, Germain said she has received an outpouring of support from her colleagues.

“I had tons of texts and messages. I went into work on Friday just to thank everybody. I work with great people,” Germain said.

“They gave me a good opportunity here and great experience. I wouldn’t have been able to help as much if it weren’t for the training I received here.

“I’m not a hero. I didn’t do anything a good Samaritan wouldn’t do.”

Within days of the earthquake, an outpouring of support began from across different communities, and Ocean Township offered services to residents concerned about family members living in Haiti.

Much of the relief effort is being channeled to the Coalition for Haitian American Empowerment of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (CFHAE), a nonprofit community organization in Asbury Park.

Inside their office at 1310 Asbury Ave., the group is launching a movement to engage the public’s help and to rebuild Haiti.

“We have become the center for what’s going on, at least for Monmouth,” Jean Saraison, spokesman for the CFHAE, said on Jan. 15. “We are collecting blankets, clothing, nonperishable food, but the immediate needs are medical supplies, bandages, feminine products and money. Money is the first line of defense.”

So far, the response has been very positive. Food, cases of water and other supplies were stored in the back room of the office, where there is a closet full of donated items, and more continue to pour in.

“To me, that’s a lot,” Saraison said, pointing to cases of food and water. “We just started, and we get this response … that’s amazing. The donations started late last night from individual people. We have 27 cases of water that one person gave.”

Medical aid is also in high demand. Rony Jean-Charles, the coalition secretary, and nurse Myrtha Antoine are organizing a trip to Haiti with youth members of the coalition to help earthquake victims and to rebuild the villages.

The trip will be paid for directly out of pocket, not from the coalition’s budget.

“We are paying for it with our own money, not the money we collect,” Jean-Charles said. “All the money we collect goes straight to Haiti.”

Henri-Christian Louis, president of the coalition, is arranging to ship the aid to Haiti through organizations already established in the region.

Tara Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Jersey Coast Chapter of the American Red Cross, said Friday that Monmouth County has an “enormous” Haitian population, primarily in Ocean Township, Asbury Park and Neptune.

“We have been providing mental health counseling to those people who have been notified that they have lost loved ones,” Kelly said. “We have been a resource for those who are looking for family members. We’ve had an enormous amount of foot traffic, for those looking for people, coming in, that either want to donate or volunteer. “

The 70,000-square-foot facility in Tinton Falls is one of 12 disaster hubs in the country. The Shore chapter is on standby alert, poised to ship relief supplies.

“As we get permission to bring the equipment in, we will pretty much go up the coast to different warehouses and deplete the supplies,” Kelly said.

In Port-au-Prince, communication and travel services are severely damaged. According to the Red Cross, the airport tower is unreliable, and therefore many flights are being diverted, and the cranes needed to unload boats have been damaged.

She said the streets are covered with debris, and rubble and bodies lie underneath the fallen debris.

“Bridges are out, roads are closed, and it is extremely hard to get to the affected areas, but we are doing the best we can,” Kelly said. “We’ve gotten multiple teams of people in the affected areas assessing the damage. We’ve also been asked by the U.S. Navy to supply blood. The shipment went out last night from the military base in Florida. They set up a command hospital on one of the ships outside of Guantanamo Bay, which is housing Red Cross supplies and blood.”

The Red Cross had raised $37 million nationally as of Friday, she said. Out of that number, $9 million came from text-message donations.

“It far exceeded what we saw in Katrina,” Kelly said.”

In Ocean Township, the Human Services Department is providing counseling to members of its sizeable Haitian community who are anxiously awaiting word from their loved ones living on the island nation.

“We have obviously many, many families and students that have been affected by this scenario and are currently suffering not knowing … how their loved ones are doing and what state they are in over there,” she explained. “So we are just trying to offer counseling services and support to any of the students that need it,” counselor Danielle Pfeiffer said last week.

“Anyone in the community can make a phone call and say, ‘I’m really worried about family over there. I’d like to come in for some counseling. I’m really experiencing a lot of anxiety,’ ” she said.

“They can make an appointment, they can come in, and they can receive services and counseling with any of our counselors,” Pfeiffer added.

In addition, counselors, who also work as student assistance counselors (SAC) in the Ocean Township School District, are reaching out to students in need of support.

Pfeiffer, who also heads the Township of Ocean Growing Strong (TOGS) youth group through the Human Services Department, said many students have already expressed fear for their loved ones in Haiti and a desire to provide assistance.

“Even today we’ve had students who were referred or came in on their own to talk to counselors in regard to dealing with the situation … and not knowing the status of loved ones, and wanting to get involved and try to help out,” Pfeiffer explained.

“We had a number of counselors, as well as teachers, that met with students in the schools and talked about different initiatives to try to help get the schools involved, get the community involved, in helping people who have loved ones over there that are suffering right now,” she added.

According to Pfeiffer, several student groups in the district are looking for ways to help in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, including the TOGS program and the high school’s African American Club.

Both groups, Pfeiffer said, were brainstorming ideas, including various fundraising efforts to raise money or put together care packages including food, water, clothing and hygiene products.

“The TOGS program and the African American Club I know met … and discussed different initiatives that they want to get involved in to try to put together funds and also to try to establish some drives in order to get resources out to … Haiti, and obviously any members here in our community that are affected by this situation,” Pfeiffer explained.

Those who want to access counseling services can call the Human Services Department at 732-531-2600.

Greater Media staff writers Jacqueline Hlavenka and Thomas Shortell contributed to this story.