In their own words: Long Island doctors and nurses in Haiti

“The disaster occurred before this natural disaster.”
—Dr. Lambros George Angus, trauma surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, on the state of Haitian medicine

“Eat, take it easy and try not to remember.”
— Dr. Julius Garvey, surgeon from Long Island Jewish Medical Center, to an earthquake victim

“I am so sad. I am OK, but you know, I am so sad.”
—Dr. Micheline Dole, pediatrician at NUMC, gazing out the bus window at Port-au-Prince

“I don’t know the tools. I’ll just do my best. We have no choice.”
— Sabrina Jasmin, intensive-care nurse at NUMC, as she prepares to assist in an operation

“It’ll hit me when I get home. I’ve got to work, keep going. If she was in the U.S., she would have lived ... That bothers me.”
— Dr. Anthony Boutin, head of emergency department at NUMC, after the death of a woman in the emergency room tent

“I am beyond exhausted.”
— Marie Boyer, nurse with the New York State Department of Health, as she emerges from the emergency room tent

“It’s surreal being here. I was here three weeks ago for a wedding.”
— Dr. Jean-Bernard Poulard, surgeon at Queens Hospital, looking at the devastation in Port-au-Prince
 

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