Haiti Helpers planning medical mission

Haitians' absolute love for one another is what hooked Brenda Cooper on the Caribbean nation, drawing her there 21 times in 10 years and convincing her to create the local Haiti Helpers organization.

"I remember one day teaching a group of children English and, at the end, asking them what they wanted me to bring them on my next trip," said Mrs. Cooper, a respiratory therapist at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga who lives in LaFayette, Ga.

"I thought they were going to ask for toys or something fun, but instead one little boy raised his hand and asked for French-English dictionaries," she said.

The excitement from those children when she said she would bring them school supplies touched her heart, she said, and she knew from that moment she needed to go back as often as possible.

Since the Jan. 12 earthquake, Mrs. Cooper and her husband and Haiti Helpers co-founder Michael Cooper, a respiratory therapist at Gordon Hospital in Calhoun, Ga., planned a medical mission trip to the city of Jacmel, south of Port-au-Prince, to help with relief efforts.

On Feb. 11, they will travel with a group of about a dozen medical professionals and deliver much-needed medical supplies and equipment, she said.

"When the earthquake struck, I just wanted to be there right that minute," Mrs. Cooper said. "It's so much worse than the four hurricanes they had in one year."

In 2008, Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike combined killed 793 people and left 310 missing and another 593 injured. But the earthquake is the costliest natural disaster in Haitian history.

Sandra Holland, a nurse at Gordon Hospital, travels to Haiti about every six months with the Coopers.

"The first time I went, I didn't know what to expect," she said. "I got over there and met the fantastic people, who were so happy with absolutely nothing."

She's going on the trip next week, hoping to help in any way she can.

"We are going to the hospital in Jacmel and (will) take medicines and medical supplies and help in the clinic during the day," she said. "And if they need us to go out to the country for people who can't go see the doctors, we'll do that."

The Calhoun Seventh-day Adventist Church and Gordon Hospital are helping to support the medical missions, which Mrs. Cooper said will be every three months starting with the Feb. 11 trip.

"What we are doing as a hospital is mainly giving them our blessing and raising some money to buy supplies, so they'll have plenty of materials to take with them," said Dave Smith, chaplain-health educator at Gordon Hospital.

Up to 30 hospital employees, including Mr. Smith, will travel to Haiti in October with the Coopers to help with rebuilding as part of their annual mission trip, he said.

"This earthquake relief is calling for the best (of us) in all different denominations," Mr. Smith said. "We are just really happy to be partners with so many different groups that are trying to come to the aid of people."