Local Doctors Help Haiti

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Four local doctors departed Walla Walla Regional Airport before dawn January 24 en route to Haiti.

The team, who visited Haiti for a week, included Drs. Ron Fleck and Scott Hutson, both from Walla Walla. Fleck is a physician and Hutson specializes in orthopedics. The other two doctors -- Raquel M. Collins, M.D. and Jacqueline Tracey, M.D. – are general surgeons at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla.

The team was accompanied by John McGhee, a public health expert from Seattle and Eddie Wickward, a diesel mechanic from Spokane. Both McGhee and Wickward met up with the four doctors at Seattle International Airport, before heading to Miami, Florida and then on to Haiti.

Before departing Walla Walla, about a dozen people, consisting of friends and family members met with the four doctors to wish them well and pray for their safety. Fleck then took extra time to clear security as he personally hand-carried medicine for the Haitians in a carry-on suitcase.

Fleck says the group represented the Adventist Medical Evangelism Network, a grassroots movement of Seventh-day Adventist physicians and dentists focused on medical evangelism.

by Dan Thesman, Blue Mountain Television