(26 Aug 2021) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4341193
AMID BROKEN LEGS AND HURT HANDS...
(NATS OF COPTER)…WORDS OF HEALING FIND THEIR LANDING PLACE AMONG THE WOUNDED.
SOUNDBITE (English): Cmdr. Eric Hammen, U.S. Coast Guard Chaplain:
"My prayer for everybody is that God's peace is with them…that they have his hope. That they allow his grace and mercy."
A MESSAGE DELIVERED IN PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI NEARLY TWO WEEKS AFTER A 7.2 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HIT THE COUNTRY…THE TWIN TRAGEDIES OF A NATURAL DISASTER AND A PANDEMIC…ARE WHERE U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDER ERIC HAMMEN IS CALLED.
SOUNDBITE (English): Cmdr. Eric Hammen, U.S. Coast Guard Chaplain:
"One thing that's common everywhere is that we're human and we're human. There's there's sin in the world where there's tragedy, but also there's a commonality of love and care and hope for everybody else too."
AN UNDERSTANDING LEARNED FROM HIS THREE DECADES AS A CHAPLAIN.
THIS TIME...COMMISSIONED TO UPLIFT BOTH U.S COAST GUARD SOUTHEAST CREWS AND WEARY PATIENTS WHO LAND AT THE CITY'S AIRPORT...BAGLESS...BUT HEAVY-BURDENED NONETHELESS.
SOUNDBITE (English): Hilary Powell, Associated Press:
"The patients that you see here that are being airlifted by Black Hawks have come from cities Jérémie and Les Cayes to a larger hospital here in Port au Prince, and they have had to sometimes walk on fractured limb to get here with the help of their family members just to get some of the medical attention that they seek."
SOUNDBITE (English): Dr. Stacy House, Project Medishare:
"Their families are carrying them or they're finding ways to make it to the bigger areas. These people will come here, they will get care, but they will have to go back down south and they may not have a home. They are. So they still have so much ahead of them."
THIS MONTH...COAST GUARD MEMBERS DEPLOYED TO HAITI HAVE SAVED MORE THAN 300 PEOPLE.... SHUTTLED MORE THAN 300 DISASTER PERSONNEL... BACK AND FORTH FROM FLORIDA TO CONDUCT HELICOPTER EVACUATIONS.
MANY PATIENTS HE PRAYS FOR HERE DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH…BUT HAMMEN SAYS COMPASSION STEPS IN WHERE WORDS FAIL.
SOUNDBITE (English): Cmdr. Eric Hammen, U.S. Coast Guard Chaplain:
"As a chaplain, we love everybody, regardless of a belief in God, regardless of where you come from. That love doesn't change in how are going to treat people."
HE'LL KEEP PRAYING FOR THE NEXT WAVE OF HANDS COMING TO HELP HAITI.
HILARY POWELL…THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
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