Doctors and nurses and providers of all stripes are needed in Haiti. There is, however, such terrible security that the Belgian team had to leave one hospital hot on the heels of a Canadian team. Make no mistake, if you go to Haiti now to provide aid you are a hero. You are going into a war zone. It is also sobering to think that whatever the death toll is right now, if cholera gets loose down there we may have only just started to count the dead. If you can, please donate to the American Red Cross and be aware that many scam sites are already up.
For those of you unfamiliar with cholera, first, thank your lucky stars, and secondly, take a look above at a cholera bed. Cholera kills by dehydration, people being unable to keep up their PO intake with the massive amount of liquid stool which is lost. A cholera-bed allows the docs and nurses to measure how much fluid is lost and to replace it both orally and intravenously. The cholera-bed along with the oral replacement solution has saved millions of lives. Simple science.
