"The bad injuries had already been taken care of -- or at least the initial contact, like the amputations," Vasileff said. "There were a lot of infections, the amputations still had a lot of work to do. The way in orthopedics we treat mass casualty is put pins in."
Vasileff has volunteered in several Third World countries, but he says even that didn't prepare him for what he saw in Haiti.
"There were a few patients who really had severe injuries, and it was also children," Vasileff said.
During his stay Vasileff worked from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seeing up to 150 patients every day.
"People dying and the disabilities are just incredibly bad," Vasileff said. "But I think the volunteer organizations, you have to pat them on the back. They did a great job, even though no one is prepared for such a huge, huge disaster."
Lending a helping hand wasn't easy. Vasileff lived and worked out of a tent, and some days the clinic didn't even have running water, forcing them to work out of the U.S. Embassy.
"And that was built to withstand an earthquake of (magnitude) 9," Vasileff said. "And we actually camped out there two nights because our mass unit had to evacuate because we ran out of water, and so we didn't have any sort of water for operating or doing those sorts of things."
Vasileff says his trip to Haiti makes him see the world in a different light. He wants to spend more time working with disaster assistance teams, and maybe head back to Haiti.
"In a year or so, people will have forgotten about Haiti," Vasileff said. "So the rebuilding process is going to be very complex, and I think it will probably take a generation or so."
The broken bones are already on the mend. But for this country ripped apart by the quake, those wounds will take some more time to heal.
Contact Megan Baldino at mbaldino@ktuu.com and Jackie Bartz at jbartz@ktuu.com
