You are doing such brilliant work, Peter. We all miss you at SWLSTG though! Keep safe and keep going.

All of the sudden the dimensions of the Haitian disaster became so much closer seen through the eyes of the psychiatrist colleague...Thank you for sharing your experiences and many good wishes for this harrowing work, stay safe. Maria Eyres, Locum Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, ELFT

Dear Peter,

I wish you well and strength in your work. Take good care; I will be following your blog.

All the very best

Vanessa

Dear Peter,

I wish you well and strength in your work. Take good care; I will be following your blog.

All the very best

Vanessa

Dear Peter
Fantastic work to be doing, which is the talk of the Trust! Well done, and keep safe.
Nigel

Dear Peter,

i wishe you all the best & thank you for the hard work. well done.

Thanks Peter for your clinical work there, and for the vivid picture you paint on a subject which, as Karen says, is disappearing from our news but still very much in our thoughts.

Your blog is a powerful reminder (on Ash Wednesday, for me) of the fragility of all that we are and do. I look forward to future postings.

Dear Peter
Well done for the great work. I hope you have alll the help and support you need to carry on.
Keep safe
Tehmine

Great work Peter
An Oxford surgeon just returned from Port au Prince - Chris Bulstrode - was on the radio this am. I hadnt realised how bad & widespread it all was till I heard his account & read your posts. The surgeon agreed with your sentiments, saying this disaster dwarfed all others he had been involved with. Look after yourself (too). Mark

Dear Peter, Like Mark I heard Chris Bulstrode on the radio saying that there are more casualties than after the atomic bomb was dropped. Your blog also helps keep Haiti in the news. What amazing work you are doing in such terrible conditions.
Look after yourself.
Siobhan

Thank you for the wonderful work you are doing.
God Bless
Mona

Dear Peter,
I read with great interest your account of the work in Haiti and feel proud of your great work out there.It is very courageous of you and I hope you are getting the help to continue this amazing work.
Take care of yourself,
Radha

This has such resonance for me as I have extended family in Haiti - well some now dead or injured. My brother in law, dug out after 2 days surrounded by bodies of his colleagues, and only then because his daughter, a nurse in the Dom Rep, got in a landrover with some friends and went to find her Dad. Despite the huge aid effort it really does seem to be about individuals making a difference. One of the worst things we talk about in the family is the number of amputations, and the dreadful cultural stigma that holds in Haitian society.

You are doing a great thing.

Liz

I am a trainee psychiatrist and I was in Port au prince from the 28th of Jan till the 10th of Feb. I don't know but you might find helpful contacting Quisqueya Crisis center (near canadian ambassy). They coordinate logistically, medical teams. Provide accomodation, food, transport and security on site. Number is 3773-4664. I worked at the haitian community hospital.
take care and God bless you
enio

Great work.
I was in Sri Lanka on holiday at the time when the Asian tsunami hit so know a little about what it is like. I saw the news report about psychiatric patients in a terribly neglected state. Hopefully things are better now.
Best wishes.
Bob

people like you are inspiration to others to do good. I wish you all the best

Parenting Plus - February 26, 2010
Written by Andrew Malekoff Wednesday, 24 February 2010 11:48

Red Dot in Haiti, Tear Drops on Long Island by Andrew Malekoff Email: Anjru@aol.com ; amalekoff@northshorechildguidance.org

Ludmyard Charles, 16, said that when she got home the phone rang. It was her father. He told her to get a glass of water. Then he asked her if she was sitting down. Next, he shared the heartbreaking news that her aunt, Ludmyard, was killed in the earthquake. The aunt she was named after who was pregnant, had lost her life when the earth opened up. The girl’s eyes filled up and she said of her aunt - “We were like sisters.”

A few days ago, I had the privilege of meeting Ludmyard and six of her fellow Westbury High School students, all of whom have roots in Haiti. I asked them about the emotional aftershocks of the Jan. 12 earthquake that toppled national landmarks and shantytown homes and killed and injured untold hundreds of thousands of people in and around the capital city Port-au-Prince.

Each one of the four girls and three boys learned about the earthquake when they arrived home after being together in an after-school program led by North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center. Eighteen-year-old Vayola Justinian recalled, “When I got home my mom was crying. The TV was on. When I looked at the screen I saw a map of Haiti. There was a red dot.”

I asked the students about the media coverage and they said that it was both good and bad. “It was good to have updates,” said 18-year-old Joes Paraison, “but bad to see pictures of the dead and injured.” The others nodded and Joes said, “By the second day it felt like my family was going crazy” watching television. He said that the faces on the screen were hard to see clearly, leading them to wonder if anyone of them was a family member. Joes then recalled a most troubling of images - “a truckload of dead children.” Seeing such devastation from afar, including pictures of people buried underneath rubble, added to their feelings of helplessness and their wish to be there to help.

Their counselor Pascale Beaubrun, a native of Haiti, who is based at the Guidance Center’s Leeds Place in Westbury, later said that they turned their sorrow into action by collecting money and contributing to the Yéle Haiti Earthquake Fund, a charity initiated by Grammy award-winning musician and producer, Wyclef Jean.

Myriam Jerome, 18, reasoned that it was better that the earthquake happened in the afternoon when everyone was out and about. Had it happened in the late evening when they were asleep in their homes, she explained, there would have been an even greater human toll.

Unwinding from a day at school, Michael Belizaire, 17, played a video game, while the youngest in this group, 15-year-old Policia Jean, turned on MTV. Both were later alerted by family members to tune in to CNN. In a short time they, too, saw the red dot in Haiti. Michael told us that his family’s house in Haiti was near the National Palace in Champs de Mars. He worried about his father and uncle who, he later learned, had survived.

Joes said that he tried to “move on” and had discovered that it was not as easy as it sounded. “Each day when I go to school, I try to forget, but every day when I get there, someone else is crying.”

“How do you cope?” I asked. They turned to one another and gestured in a manner that emphasized their deep connection to one another. They talked about the support offered by groups of Haitian youths in school and in the community.

Camy Pierre, 16, said that it was important “to comfort one another and don’t do anything reckless or lose control.” I asked Camy what he meant by that. He said that some of their peers were insensitive and said hurtful things about Haiti. Michael chimed in and stated how important it was to always “think positive.”

I asked about what they did when friends alone were not enough. One of the girls said that she was worried about a girlfriend who was so distraught that she thought she could hurt herself. When she realized that more than friendship was needed, she advised a trusted school counselor. All of them said that they were aware of where and who to go to for more specialized support in school and in the community and found support in that as well.

Expressions of helplessness and grief quickly turned to frustration and anger as they talked about disturbing phone calls from Haiti and learning about mass graves and rampant lawlessness and rape. I said that it must be unbearable to sit with such news. Joes emphasized the importance of talking and not allowing one’s feelings to get “all bunched up.”

Long after we said goodbye, I was left with a feeling of abiding respect and pride for this group of thoughtful and deeply empathic young people. They are, without a doubt, among the finest of Haiti’s - and Long Island’s - sons and daughters. Let us never forget them.

Peter, you are an inspiration and a credit to your profession.
With best wishes
Beverley

Thanks Peter! Would you use earthquakes and earthquake extortion to maintain your secret of spirit channel CANNIBALISM to stay as close to omnipotent as you could get? Billionaire; media majority propriety, prime minister, in the spirit capitol of the religion overseeing the most property and the most powerful armed forces. Let's get real, dreams adjacent sleep are from other sources. Don't be so sure that spirit channeling earthquakes isn't possible. You believe the hydrogen bomb and that's only spinning a bit of gas. Yours Truly, Cures