Dedicated Doctor Saving Lives in Haiti

Michelle Stuhr of KPTH 44 News (Sioux City, IA) reports:





Text by Erika Thomas of KPTH:
(SIOUX CITY, IA) A powerful 6.1 magnitude aftershock rocked Haiti Wednesday, a week after the first deadly earthquake. Still, St. Luke's Emergency Room physician Rick Colwell is packing his bags for the island. The dedicated doctor who goes in as everyone else gets out.

Dr. Rick Colwell is no stranger to packing - Haiti will be his third trip abroad to help victims of devastation.

"You have kind of a sense of what, how much you can do. You always leave feeling like you didn't do enough," says Dr. Rick Colwell.

As part of IMANA - the Islamic Medical Association of North America - Dr. Colwell saved lives after the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and in Gaza last year.

"You walk away from there but they don't. Whether you help them or save them, they're still there," says Dr. Colwell.

He will now use those experiences, along with eight other IMANA doctors, to help people fighting to survive in Haiti.

"I think the hardest part will just be the great human tragedy," says Dr. Colwell. "You want to get right in there and save the world today but it doesn't generally happen like that."

A lead group returned Tuesday night after working through the initial devastation.

"But smaller, more flexible organizations can get right into the community and start helping people right away," says Dr. Colwell.

This second wave of doctors will have to fight infection to save lives.

"You try to help everyone. And you try to save the ones that you can," says Dr. Colwell.

It takes a special person to run in when everyone else is running out. but one person can make a difference, no matter how big or small.

"Everybody has something to give," says Dr. Colwell.

Dr. Colwell and his team leave Sunday and will return home on Saturday, January 30th.

For more information about IMANA or to donate to Haitian relief efforts: http://imana.org/.

Reported by Erika Thomas. You can contact her at ethomas@kmeg.com.

Friend her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ErikaThomasTV.