Akron native Sister Judy Dohner assists at children’s hospital in Haiti
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February 5, 2010
Lindsay Huth
Despite broken ribs and a head injury, Akron native Sister Judy Dohner has continued to help at St. Damien’s Children’s Hospital, which she helped build, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
“Working helps me not have to think too much about all the horror,” Dohner said in an email to family. “[I am] blessed indeed to be able to be here and to be of help.”
The 64-year-old sister began working with migrant workers in Florida before becoming a nurse for the impoverished in the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere. She then went on to become the hospital administrator and finally moved to the mountains in Fondwa, Haiti, where she resided during the devastating earthquake.
“I headed for the door, the tremors got much stronger, the steps crashed, the wall fell down, the doors fell backward as did I,” Dohner wrote in an email. “Two volunteers were getting out of the house through the hole left from the wall falling when they saw me and pulled me out before the roof fell. My room is now pancaked under tons of rubble. I had nothing but the clothes on my back . . . which I still had three days later!”
The destruction resulted in the death of one of the novice sisters, Sr. Odile, and a baby in the orphanage in Fondwa. A funeral Mass was held for them several days afterward.
The devoted nun then trekked to St. Damien’s Children’s Hospital and directed the emergency room and surgeries.
“I am working 15-18 hour days in the emergency room and surgery,” she wrote. “We are seeing crushing injuries that are resulting mostly in amputations. We are also seeing people dying from tetanus. A young doctor said, ‘In all my years of practice, I never saw one case, and today I saw three.’”
Despite occupying herself constantly with her mission of service, the devastation has still had a tremendous effect on the experienced nun.
“I would be lying if I said I have not been terribly traumatized,” Dohner wrote. “Only time will give me some kind of balance again.”
Because Dohner’s hospital is in great need, a collection is being held to bring in cloth diapers, baby onesies, baby undershirts, baby socks and receiving blankets.
2 Responses to “Akron native Sister Judy Dohner assists at children’s hospital in Haiti”
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February 6th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Lindsay, you rock!
[Reply]
February 10th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Sister, I would like to donate cash to your mission. Please give me your E Mail address as well as Postal Mail so I may do that.
Thanks. Jim Roach 817 244 0116 ( Class of 1959)
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