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More than 20 Charlotte-area health-care professionals will travel to Haiti Feb. 13 to provide medical care to victims of the recent earthquake.
The group, organized by George Collins, a physician assistant with OrthoCarolina, is sponsored by El Shaddai Ministries International. Collins connected with El Shaddai through Lisa McCloy, a friend who works with El Shaddai Ministries. She will accompany the group to Haiti.
They’ll leave Charlotte Feb. 13 on buses, heading to Atlanta. From there, they will fly to Fort Lauderdale and then the Dominican Republic. They will then travel by bus to Haiti, where they will be met by representatives from El Shaddai Ministries.
In addition to area physicians and physician assistants, the group will include eight students from the Wingate University physician assistants program – Daniel Bryan, Laura Kinsler, Nicole Manion, Stephan Rothwell, Christine Schmidlin, Angie Shepherd, Megan Smith and Moira Vaughn. Others in the PA program are collecting supplies and donations to send to Haiti with the group.
“Almost half of the class are taking a week out of their education, that they’ll have to make up,” said Collins, who mentors the students. “They have hearts that are just enormous. It’s nice that this is happening early in their careers to establish some link to giving back and doing mission work. It’s something I pray will be with them for the rest of their careers, that they’ll always have that desire to help those who are underserved.”
In addition to Collins, McCloy and the PA students, those traveling to Haiti are: Dr. Rob McBride, an orthopedic surgeon and president of OrthoCarolina; Dr. Bobby Silver, an ear nose and throat surgeon; Dr. Roy Blank, an internist and medical director of Wingate’s PA program; Dr. Ana-Marie Temple, a pediatrician; Dr. Mike Johnson and Dr. Howard Guthmann, both internists; Dr. Kevin Killian, a podiatrist; Tony Connot, Walt Rumfelt and Scot Rheinecker, all physician assistants specializing in orthopedics; Dan Manion, a physician assistant in cardio-thoracic surgery; and Bradelyn Levi, a journalist and photographer.
The team is accepting donations of bulk medical supplies, such as antibiotics, acetaminophen and ibuprofen, sterile bandages and tape. Financial donations can be sent to ESMI (El Shaddai Ministries International), in care of Lisa McCloy, 2803 Bridle Brook Way, Charlotte, NC, 28270. Write “Haiti Ortho Relief” in the memo portion of the check.
Read more on the group’s blog, More Than Medicine: .
