When Ron Turner was sent to Haiti, he took something back with him: a new outlook on life.

“I became aware of how blessed we are as a people and a nation,” said Turner. “We don’t realize how blessed we are. I think we forget, so it was a good reminder for me on how blessed we are. We take for granted food, water and shelter.”

Turner is former Jacksonville resident and Safety Engineer/Paramedic with Westinghouse Anniston at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility at Anniston Army Depot. He was one of six Alabama 1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team members. This was the first time a DMAT team went out internationally.

The Alabama-1 DMAT was part of a 62 member team including doctors, nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and other personnel combined to form one of the Health and Human Service’s (HHS) DMAT that are part of the National Disaster Medical Service.

“The airport was pretty crazy,” said Turner. “We had to load our stuff up on a cattle truck and hop on it ourselves. We rode on this open-air cattle truck though the streets and it was pretty crazy.”

Turner said that the Haitian people were working though the wreckage.

“There was lots and lots of damage, but life went on,” said Turner. “There were people selling stuff on the street and there were people washing their cars. Some sections looked good, but you would see in the distance just whole sides of hills gone.”

The team spent about 10 days in Haiti. They set up a field hospital that treated illness and injuries from dysentery to broken bones to more serious, traumatic injuries. According to Turner, the team saw over 35,000 patents.

“I don’t know if people are ready for a big disaster like that,” he said. “If we would be able to survive ourselves. I don’t think we are prepared to take care of ourselves seven days or even three.

“We ended up stationed on top of a hill that over looks Port-au-Prince in what they call Pétionville. The 82nd Airborne was there and they were supporting as much as they could. They were doing day and night operations and moving food in as fast as they could and trying to distribute it.”

Turner said that the work was hard, but the team pushed on to give to the people who needed it most.

“It was a great experience and I wouldn’t have missed it,” said Turner. “It was tough, but it wasn’t that tough. We are blessed and we need to share our blessings with other people. The need was great, far greater than the supply.”

Turner said there is still more hardships to overcome.

“The rainy season is coming up,” said Turner. “Imagine the difference between staying under a tarp or having a tent during that time. They need a number of tents. I would ask people to try to donate. There are local churches in the area trying to collect stuff and you have all the disaster relief organizations. They are a resilient people but we need to donate as much as we can to save as many people we can.”

When it was time to go, the team got permission to leave all their medical equipment over there, in hopes the locals can continue the work. But, Turner said they left something more personal.

“We left our hearts there. We did what we could,” he said.