LAWRENCE — When Claudeleedy Pierre was studying to be a doctor, one of her wishes was to heal the sick in Third World countries.
Now, she is just hours away from doing that.
Pierre will fly to Haiti today to help victims of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated the island country on Jan. 12.
"Out of all times, now is when I should go because of some of the skills I have. I'm looking forward to helping out," said Pierre, whose parents were born and raised in Haiti and now live in the United States.
Her fiance, Kissinger Hyppolite Fils, is a surgeon who lives in Haiti. He was not injured in the earthquake and has been working to assist the injured through Doctors Without Borders.
Pierre, a family practitioner, is just one of a dozen doctors, medical assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists from Greater Lawrence Family Health Center who will travel to the Caribbean country over the course of the next six to eight weeks. Dr. Evan Teplow, a family practice physician at the health center, is in Haiti now.
"It's difficult for anyone to truly understand the devastation on life in Haiti," said Robert Ingala, chief executive officer at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center. "Our clinicians work at GLFHC because of their dedication to caring for an underserved community. It's natural that they would want to help in a situation as grave as this. The health center feels an obligation to help both locally and on location in Haiti."
Many of the staff members are using vacation time to go on the trip, which costs $1,000.
Elane Lee, a nurse practitioner, Denise Gatchell, director of pharmacy, and Ardy Louis, a medical assistant in the high risk obstetrics department, will all be heading to Port-au-Prince next month.
As with Pierre, the trip holds special meaning for Louis. Although she was born in Boston, her parents are Haitian natives.
"The pull is so strong because of my family and cultural background," she said. "Since the moment it (the earthquake) happened, I wanted to go see the damage for myself and offer help. I want to bring them hope."
Louis studied medicine at Universidad Iberoamericana in the Dominican Republic and has worked at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center since October.
"I know what the country was like at its best, and now I'll see it at its worst," she said.
Gatchell said earthquake victims are dealing with skin infections, post traumatic stress syndrome and need help monitoring their diabetes.
"I always wanted to do something to help other countries," she said.
Her expertise in pharmacology will come in handy in Haiti, as she can help organize and compound medicine, given the lack of clean water.
"I'll be using my mortar and pestle like it was done in the old days," said Gatchell, a Lawrence native and graduate of Presentation of Mary Academy in Methuen and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston.
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