Central Lakes College has raised nearly $3,500 for Project Haiti

Students and employees at Central Lakes College, Brainerd and Staples, have raised $3,472.55 as of Monday for medical supplies for the Project Haiti medical team from this area. Project Haiti volunteers are part of the earthquake relief effort in Haiti, and their mission at the charity hospital in Pignon has provided medical service to a remote region of the country for many years.

A number of the CLC Foundation Board members along with others from the area have financially supported a number of projects, including the construction of schools, orphanages and an airstrip.

Among the contributions from CLC are nursing students and faculty and students in a natural disasters course taught by Pam Pruitt.

At the final regular-season, home basketball games of the season Friday and Saturday, the CLC Student Senate will dedicate admission and concession ticket sales for additional donations to Project Haiti.

CLC nursing graduate 'thankful'

Dustin Voss, a graduate of the Central Lakes College nursing program, recently contacted Connie Frisch, director of nursing programs at CLC, with a report on the effort to help the people of Haiti.

"We need to help these people in desperate need," he said.

He and a colleague cared for surgical patients following limb amputations and the re-setting of compound fractures. "We provided care in a make-shift hospital that was originally a church but now has the floors lined with foam mattresses. There were 40-60 patients who ranged in age from 3 to 50.

"We primarily did wound care, unfortunately without the use of narcotic pain medications. This was heart-wrenching to say the least, and I am still attempting to process the work which we were involved in.

"I just wanted to write a brief 'thank you' to you and the CLC nursing faculty for providing the education and skills, which enabled me to serve in this capacity.

"Let your students know that their education is preparing them with skills which enable them to put their hands on displaced, desperate patients around the world."