Arlington Heights doctor reports from Haiti

An Arlington Heights doctor who arrived Thursday in Haiti to help those in need was overwhelmed by the lost lives and destruction.

"It looked like a war zone, difficult to describe in words, emotionally exhausting," Dr. Mildred Olivier wrote on Friday from Haiti. "On a personal side, we saw a group of 32 children who live in an orphanage and now their new home is a makeshift tent across the street. The youngest is 2 years old. They're tiny but beautiful and smiling in the pictures. Their building seemed intact, but just like everyone else in the city, they're in fear of sleeping inside homes with the frequent aftershocks."

Olivier had planned a medical mission to Haiti before the earthquakes struck the island country. She and her fellow doctors and volunteers were supposed to have left on Jan. 14, but they couldn't get a flight at the expected time and arrived on Thursday. They flew to Cap-Haitien Airport about 80 miles from the capital city and stayed mainly on the north side of the country. Despite being in the frigid mountains away from Port-au-Prince, there was still plenty of work.

The ophthalmologist is of Haitian descent and travels to Haiti regularly to deliver eye care to residents. For this trip, she received equipment donations from St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates and Sherman Hospital in Elgin. Medical supplies and resources are scarce, including antibiotics.

United Airlines donated sandwiches for the volunteers. Olivier said her group will be there about a week, and return starting Wednesday and finishing on Thursday.

A pharmacist friend who lives in Haiti took her on a truck tour of damaged areas. "She explained this was the first day that the dead bodies had been removed from the street, but the strong smell persisted as she lowered the windows in the air-conditioned truck," Olivier wrote.