BREVARD, N.C., Jan. 21, 2010 – A Brevard pediatrician is traveling to
Haiti this week with a national team of doctors and nurses to provide desperately needed medical
care to victims of the recent earthquake.
The medical team of four nurses, two orthopedic surgeons, a family practice doctor, a
critical care doctor and Brevard pediatrician Ora Wells are going to two clinics and a
hospital that are still standing despite being at the epicenter of the recent earthquake.
Dr. Wells and a local nurse from Asheville left Western North Carolina on
Thursday for New York. The entire medical team will fly from New York City on Friday to the
Dominican Republic, then travel by ground to the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
“We will be on the ground for two weeks, returning to JFK airport on Feb.
8,” Dr. Wells said by phone from the airport on Thursday. Dr. Wells left Western North
Carolina with four large check-on bags of medicine and medical supplies provided by
Transylvania Regional Hospital and the Transylvania Medical Society. The Brevard hospital’s
pharmacy provided antibiotics and other desperately needed medicines. Local physicians and
employees of the hospital donated nearly $2,000 to purchase additional medicine and medical
supplies for Dr. Wells to take with him to Haiti. TRH employees have also set up a
Haiti-relief fund to provide financial assistance as Dr. Wells needs it to purchase additional
supplies to treat patients while he is in Haiti.
The medical team to Haiti was organized by Jodel Charles, a pastor from Denver, Colo. Both
of Charles’ parents are Haitian doctors that own and run the local hospital and clinics
just outside Port-au-Prince where Dr. Wells will work to save lives.
“These local doctors are desperate for supplies and help in providing care to the sick and
injured,” Dr Wells said.
Dr. Wells is no stranger to Haiti. He has traveled to Haiti six times over
the past several years with other local nurses and doctors through Mission Manna, an Asheville faith-based
organization that provides medical care for malnourished children in rural Haiti.
“I have fallen in love with the proud and noble people of Haiti that manage to live
day-by-day under crushing poverty,” Dr. Wells said. “I appreciate everyone’s
interest and support it making it possible for me to go to Haiti to help the earthquake
victims, especially my wife, my partners at Hendersonville Pediatrics, friends and
the medial staff and employees at Transylvania Regional Hospital.”
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