BlackFive

A good friend of mine reached out to me to get some medical supplies and doctors into Haiti.  The plan was to get the supplies, docs, and SF medics into the Dominican Republic and convoy into Haiti.  Since convoys have been attacked from the DR, you need to have security personnel who can sub as medics and medics who can sub as security personnel.

So you send experienced operators - Soldiers and Marines.

Team Rubicon on the ground in the Dominican Republic

The 5 man advance team, which includes milblogger Badger Jake from Jake's Life, hit the ground yesterday night. On Sunday they move to Port au Prince, where we will set up a triage area in the courtyard of the the Jesuit mission and assess the security situation in preparation for a follow-on medical team from Chicago.

There is one problem. The entire operation is entirely privately funded and is running low on cash, and the the logistics of getting the follow-on medical team into Port au Prince are proving difficult. They've raised over 17k in two days which has purchased much needed supplies. They're carrying thousands of dollars of burn dressings, gauze, iodine, masks, gloves, pain relievers, water filtration devices, etc, including many thousands in donated items from Chicago hospitals and medical supply companies. However, if they can't get the main medical body into Port au Prince then the mission is only partially complete. The Jesuits are telling us that they need this medical team NOW.

Jake Wood and Mark Hayward, former Marine Scout Sniper and former Army 18D, look at possible routes into Port au Prince while waiting on luggage at the Santo Domingo airport. Jesuit Jim Boynton will guide the team to the Jesuit Refugee Mission in PaP today.

We are seeking more private funding to pay for the plane tickets of a doctor and his 5 assts (3 nurses, one Army reserve combat medic, and a medical asst.) We need to get them to the airport at Port au Prince, where we will pick them up, and bring them to the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) mission.  They have a well for fresh water and food provisions, though our teams are carrying in their own.

The total cost for flying in the first med team is about $11,000.  The follow-on team is being led by doctors from Masonic Hospital. We have kindly secured thousands of dollars in medical supplies/medicine from friends in the industry.

If you would like to contribute to this mission, not tax deductible (currently), you can go to Badger Jake's site Team Rubicon and hit the Pay Pal button. We are trying to find a charity that will assist.

(like most requests I post, my family contributed to this cause before posting about it)