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Omaha Volunteers Remember Mission to Haiti

Jonathan Athens

OMAHA (KPTM)--The bells at St, John's Catholic Church rang at 4:53 p.m. today.

They rang 1,000 times as a remembrance of the more than 220,000 Haitians killed and 300,000 injured in a devastating earthquake that took place at 4:53 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2010.

Creighton University today held a special mass to reflect on that tragedy that left 1.3 million Haitian homeless.

"It was like being in the inner circle of hell," said Dr. Brian Logge who led a team of local medical volunteers to the Caribbean. They set up a field hospital in the nearby Dominican Republic.

He described conditions that were chaotic and barbaric--before foreign aid could arrive, some doctors were performing amputations without anesthetic.

"You can't but walk away from this a better person," said Theresa Keef, a nurse who was with that mission. Keef said the experience changed her life, giving her a new appreciation for the power of faith to overcome tragedy.

Logge and other volunteers reflected on the mission of mercy. They put at the alter some artifacts to remind others. A rock from a field, photos, the drawings of a Haitian boy who was rescued from the rubble after his four brothers and sisters were killed.

While international humanitarian efforts in Haiti continue, the small country has recently been wracked with a cholera outbreak and political corruption that further erodes its ability to fully recover.