Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2010 / Area Catholics offer hope, healing amid sorrow in Haiti
Area Catholics offer hope, healing amid sorrow in Haiti
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 5, 2010
DETROIT — While serving the people of Haiti, Paddy Lynch saw "an unbelievable resilience and a profound gratefulness amidst the devastation," he said.
Among the people a group of Detroit-area doctors cared for in Haiti last week was a family of a husband, wife and son, about 10, all of whom had been badly burned. As the doctors re-bandaged the boy's wounds, the boy was yelling and crying in pain, remembers Lynch, 26, a funeral director at Lynch and Sons and director of youth ministry at Holy Name Parish, Birmingham. But not two minutes later, the boy was smiling, holding his dad's hand and thanking the doctors, Lynch said.
Lynch helped organize a group of two dozen doctors and medical professionals that left for Haiti late last month to help out in whatever way they could. The group worked at various hospitals in Port-au-Prince, some doctors working overnight shifts, among their many duties changing bandages, stitching wounds, administering medication, and even delivering twins. Two members of the group also traveled to the hospital in Mirebalais, to which several archdiocesan parishes have provided relief.
Lynch was also able to use his connections through the National Funeral Directors Association to help remove four decomposing bodies from the hospital, which had likely been left by someone not knowing what else to do with them. Lynch was able to get in touch with the only funeral home still standing in Port-au-Prince, get disaster pouches for the bodies, tag them and move them to the morgue downtown. "It was good for me to be able to use my professional background to assist them," he said. "I was grateful for the opportunity."
The stay wasn't without tragedy; as soon as the group arrived via plane to the Dominican Republic, where they then had to take a 10-hour bus ride into Port-au-Prince, Dominque Monde-Matthews, a physician, native Haitian and founder of the Haiti Outreach Mission, learned her husband, Roger, had died. "Obviously that was really difficult for everyone," Lynch said.
The group also brought with them more than 3,000 pounds of medical supplies for distribution to the Haitian hospitals, some struggling for supplies. On their commercial flight, each of the 28 people took two 50-pound bins with them, and paid for extras to be flown, as well. Supplies included anesthetic, painkillers, gauze, sanitizing materials, and other things.
Among the medical professionals were several Haitian-Americans, some of whom hadn't been home in decades. "For them I think it was very, very difficult," Lynch said. "I think they were grateful to be there and able to help," even though they wished they could do more.
"I think at the end of the day, the general attitude of the group was positive because so much was accomplished and so much good did come out of it — even just to do a few good things," he said. "There was a general sense that these people were trying to carry out God's work. I think anyone who's willing to take a risk going into a place like that probably believes in something bigger than themselves."
The group was able to stay at the home of Detroit Lions member and native Haitian Gosder Cherilus' parents, and his mother cooked for them: "She kept us well-fed," Lynch said. Lynch played football at Boston College with Cherilus before Cherilus was drafted into the NFL, and Cherilus sponsored the trip. Lynch spent some time after college volunteering in Haiti in 2006.
That team came together when Lynch started asking around for medical professionals to go, while Cherilus got in touch with the Haiti Outreach Mission, based out of Troy, also asking for volunteers.
Efforts to raise funds continue; Cherilus has founded the Gosder Cherilus Foundation last year to provide relief services to Haiti, among other projects; Lynch's mother, Mary Callahan Lynch, is hosting a benefit concert at Holy Name Parish at 3 p.m. Feb. 14, featuring locally known performers; and the Haiti Outreach Mission has a return trip scheduled in the next month or two for a more extensive visit.
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