Blount groups answer call for help
By Melanie Tuckermelt@thedailytimes.com
Originally published: February 07. 2010 3:01AM
Last modified: February 08. 2010 9:41AM
We've all heard the cries for help from a desperate Haiti, and plenty of Blount County groups are answering back.
Take Restoration International Outreach as an example. This network of churches in this community has assembled a team of 12 who leave for the Caribbean nation on Monday. Two of RIO's families have also adopted Haitian children. Doug and Teresa Frye have two and are trying to adopt a third. Brad Houser and his wife Stacy are also adopting three Haitian orphans.
Then there's Dr. John Law, a family practitioner who grew up in Maryville. He and three other physicians and four nurses are already in Haiti where they will remain for a week. Law is the son of Shirley and Henry Law, who owned Law's Furniture for many years. He works for Summitt Medical Group.
The International Medical Alliance, which is headquartered in Knoxville and has several Blount Countians involved, first arrived in Haiti just hours after the earthquake that occurred Jan. 12. Thomas Koehl, the chief operating officer and resident of Maryville, said Dr. Mary McCroskey of East Tennessee Medical Group joined a team sent to Haiti. She is there now, working in the clinic run by IMA in Jimani on the Haitian border. She has volunteered several times with IMA, Koehl said.
“More patients are continuing to flow into the clinic, many in critical condition,” Koehl reported. “Our surgical staff is still operating 16 hours a day.”
IMA (www.IMAonline.org) is in dire need of medical volunteers and financial donations, Koehl said. The money is being used to purchase medicine and food for patients. In addition to donating time, East Tennessee Medical Group has raised over $1,000 to purchase medicine for the patients in Jimani.
On Feb. 20, Dr. Timothy McConnell and Dr. Jason Kennedy, oral surgeons in Blount County, will leave with 21 others for Haiti on another medical mission. Fifteen of them are from this immediate area. The others are from Louisville, Ky. and Atlanta. The team is composed of three surgeons, two general dentists and an orthodontist and support staff.
This story was edited for presentation on the Web. Additional information and details are available for subscribers only. If you want every word of Blount County's best news and information source you can get home delivery and e-edition subscriptions here. Nobody knows Blount better than The Daily Times, your hometown newspaper for 125 years and counting.