Local doctor helps in Haiti
maria arnot
Issue date: 3/10/10 Section: News
On Jan. 21 2010, Dr. Mike Kiernan stood on stage in Casella Theatre in the Fine Arts Center speaking at Castleton's convocation to a room full of attentive college students. Less than a month later though, Kiernan found himself in a very different environment, one in which he was no longer surrounded by hundreds of Castleton students, but hundreds of wounded Haitian citizens.
As the earthquake violently shook Haiti on Jan. 12 2012, just miles from the capital of Port-au-Prince, much of the city fell to ruins. Thousands of people lay trapped in the rubble and 200,000 to 250,000 were dead. Many of the assets needed to respond to such an earthquake were destroyed, including both the Habitat for Humanity's headquarters and several major hospitals. According to a study by the Inter-American Development Bank, the cost of recovery could be between $7.2 billion to $13.2 billion.
Luckily, people like Kiernan lined up to help. He raised $20,000 through his fundraiser "Porter for Haiti," for supplies to help treat patients once there.
His story began in 1990 as a fourth year medical student, when he traveled to Haiti through the "Teach for America" program.
"It was an extraordinary experience for a number of reasons," said Kiernan. "When you are a fourth-year medical student, you are about to become an MD and ahead of you is residency training. This type of experience provides you with the practice you'll need for the rest of your life."
In Haiti for the first time, while both young and inexperienced, Kiernan worked as an ophthalmologist, giving at least 600 eye exams times a day.
"A lot of people go from the halls of the academy to the halls of the hospital without ever experiencing parts of the world like Haiti, where there is extreme poverty and very little infrastructure. It was a long day and very burdensome, but a great experience," he said.
Kiernan currently owns a family practice in Middlebury, Vt., working as an ER doctor. Since 1990 he has visited Haiti sporadically, his last visit in 1997. But none of these experiences can compare to his last.
As the earthquake violently shook Haiti on Jan. 12 2012, just miles from the capital of Port-au-Prince, much of the city fell to ruins. Thousands of people lay trapped in the rubble and 200,000 to 250,000 were dead. Many of the assets needed to respond to such an earthquake were destroyed, including both the Habitat for Humanity's headquarters and several major hospitals. According to a study by the Inter-American Development Bank, the cost of recovery could be between $7.2 billion to $13.2 billion.
Luckily, people like Kiernan lined up to help. He raised $20,000 through his fundraiser "Porter for Haiti," for supplies to help treat patients once there.
His story began in 1990 as a fourth year medical student, when he traveled to Haiti through the "Teach for America" program.
"It was an extraordinary experience for a number of reasons," said Kiernan. "When you are a fourth-year medical student, you are about to become an MD and ahead of you is residency training. This type of experience provides you with the practice you'll need for the rest of your life."
In Haiti for the first time, while both young and inexperienced, Kiernan worked as an ophthalmologist, giving at least 600 eye exams times a day.
"A lot of people go from the halls of the academy to the halls of the hospital without ever experiencing parts of the world like Haiti, where there is extreme poverty and very little infrastructure. It was a long day and very burdensome, but a great experience," he said.
Kiernan currently owns a family practice in Middlebury, Vt., working as an ER doctor. Since 1990 he has visited Haiti sporadically, his last visit in 1997. But none of these experiences can compare to his last.
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