Without a moment of hesitation, Emily reached out to Dr. Sue Haverkamp, a Pediatrician at Erie who is connected to Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH), an organization that runs orphanages throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean "When the earthquake struck, I immediately contacted Sue to find out if she was aware of any way I could help," says Emily. "Sue had the tremendous job of coordinating the medical volunteers from the United States who were heading to Haiti from the NPH." Through the financial support of friends and Erie staff, and the commitment of the Erie West Town Health Center nursing team to provide coverage while she was away, Emily was able to depart for Haiti on February 1. "Without them, it would not have been possible," she says.

Even with her field experience in the past, she had no idea what she was about to encounter once entering the country. "When I was in Haiti three years ago, I saw a desperate need for medical services," recalls Emily. "The need is even more dramatic now that living conditions and access to food and water have been severely compromised and the rainy season approaches." She witnessed destroyed buildings, tent cities, pain and suffering. This severe story was smothering every news source around the world. Yet in the midst of destruction and chaos Emily found hope when she entered St. Damien Hospital, the only financially free pediatric hospital in the Caribbean. St. Damien is located outside Port-au-Prince and sees about 35,000 children each year; but in the wake of the earthquake it started treating adult patients as well. The building was still standing, but damaged. "Large cracks in the plaster of the walls throughout the hospital served as an eerie reminder of what had brought us to Haiti," says Emily.