PORT ANGELES — Bryan Swanberg saw the grisly images of post-earthquake Haiti on TV last month and decided to do something about it.
But instead of cutting a check to a random relief fund, the firefighter-paramedic from Clallam County Fire District No. 3 decided to take matters into his own hands.
“We wanted to go and actually do the work,” said Swanberg, 31. “We have the skills to be able to do that.”
Swanberg — along with volunteer emergency medical technicians Jay Jacobsen and Sandy Boudrou of the Sequim-based fire district — joined the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division for nine days of humanitarian aid work.
They treated between 250 and 300 patients per day until they returned to the North Olympic Peninsula on Feb. 13. Common symptoms were malnutrition, worms, scabies and other infections.
Swanberg described utter devastation in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, where concrete buildings collapsed like pancakes in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake Jan. 12.
Utter devastation
“You can see the buildings on TV, but you have no idea what they truly look like until you’re right up in person,” he said.
“A lot of those still have bodies in them.”
Matt Newell — an 18-year veteran of Fire District No. 3 — left for Haiti on Feb. 11 and was expected to return late Monday.
“They used their own money,” said Steve Vogel, chief of Fire District No. 3.
“Not only that, their fellow firefighters covered shifts or traded with them to allow them to go.”
Each volunteer paid about $1,000 out of pocket to make the trip.
“I think it’s pretty neat that they went,” Vogel said. “I think it kind of shows these guys have a compassion for helping people.”
Boudrou spent an extra week in Haiti and plans to return later this week.
Five Port Angeles firefighters returned earlier this month after a 10-day humanitarian trip of their own.
Capt. James Mason, Lt. Kevin Denton, paramedic Mark Karjalainen, firefighter and paramedic John Hall and firefighter and emergency medical technician Bryant Kroh traveled as a mobile aid unit in and around Port-au-Prince.
All five are members of Independent Bible Church in Port Angeles.
Swanberg led a team that included a handful of nurses from the Seattle area.
New perspective
“It was a great leadership experience for me and a life-changing experience,” Swanberg said, adding that he returned with a new perspective.
“Enjoy what you have and enjoy life. You never know what’s going to happen.
“There’s people out there that have nothing compared to what we have.
“Speaking for the team, some of the things that affected the team the most was just the fact that there’s kids that are malnourished and don’t have any food and don’t know how they’re going to get food.”
The volunteers camped at a golf and tennis club on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. The camp was run by Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, who leads a humanitarian relief organization in Haiti.
“He’s got a pretty big hand in things back there,” Swanberg said.
“I didn’t know who the guy was. When I got there, I shook his hand and my whole team was like, ‘Do you know whose hand you just shook?'”
The Haitian people are living in sheet tents in makeshift cities — understandably scared to return to buildings that did not collapse.
“The rainy season is coming up in March, so when it rains its going to be another disaster within a disaster,” Swanberg said.
“The tent city that was below us was basically built on a hillside.
“So as soon as it starts raining hard its going to wash that whole tent city down into the bottom of that drainage, and there’s 100,000 refugees in that tent city where we were at.”
In Port-au-Prince alone, the population is living in an estimated 200 tent cities.
Swanberg’s team witnessed people throwing garbage and urinating in the mangled streets.
“I had never been to a Third World country, and one of the guys that was with me said, ‘You’re kind of looking at a fourth-world country,'” Swanberg said.
By the time they left, Swanberg said death toll had risen to 600,000.
“They’re are expecting that to rise over a million once they start going through the buildings,” he said.
“As you can image, when you drive by some of the buildings now, they’re starting to smell pretty bad.”
Not everything was so grim.
Swanberg said the Haitian people are beginning to rebuild some of the infrastructure in Port-au-Prince.
Markets and barber shops are springing up as the population tries to come to terms with life after the quake.
“They were very thankful we were there — very welcoming,” Swanberg said.
“You would walk down into the tent city, and the kids would just cling to you, and you’d have this pack of kids with you the whole time while you’re walking around the tent city.”
Above all else, Swanberg said the trip to Haiti reminds him to “enjoy life and help out where you can.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
