Even in a disaster with the magnitude of the Haiti earthquake, little things can make a big difference.

That’s why a group of employees from Genesis Health System in Davenport has partnered with community members to sew “little dresses” for needy Haitian girls.

In the occupational therapy office at Genesis, seasoned seamstresses and volunteers who had never sewn united for one common goal: To create a little joy for youngsters living in a country hard-hit by natural disaster.  And now the movement has grown to include other volunteers in the hospital and beyond.

To date, at least 200 dresses have been sewn by about 30 volunteers. Just a few days ago, the dresses were delivered to orphanages in Haiti by Genesis rehab nurse Deb Stockdale, who has made an annual medical mission trip to the country for the past 10 years.

The outpouring is far more than unit secretary Laurie Peiffer ever expected when she heard about a ministry called “Little Dresses for Africa” and went to the Web site to find out more. About the same time, news of earthquake devastation in Haiti dominated the news. She recruited occupational therapist Gretchen Cluff to help her organize a similar effort at Genesis for young girls in Haiti.

“What’s better than a little girl getting a new dress?” Peiffer said. “The dresses have a very simple design and require minimal sewing. Some are made of pillow cases and others from remnants of fabric, but they’re brightly colored and personalized.”

Owners, employees and customers from local stores donated fabric, time and talent.

Peiffer remembered a special Sunday at Genesis when volunteers came together to sew.

“We started the day with 40-50 already-completed dresses,” she said. “A couple of customers from Hancock Fabrics brought in about 25. By the end of the day, we had 136 dresses completed.”

She adds, “We want to do this on an ongoing basis — maybe get a sewing group together once a month or every other month to make the dresses.”

Of course, the sewing team cares about Haitian boys, too.

“We’re taking new T-shirts for the boys, so they’ll have something new to wear as well,” says Stockdale, who also collects other donations from Genesis employees ranging from toothpaste and toothbrushes to other sundry and medical supplies.

It takes a lot to shake up an emergency room (ER) nurse.  But for Ronda Johnson, who works at Trinity Bettendorf’s ER and volunteered to go to Haiti shortly after that country’s devastating January earthquake, the concept of “trauma” will never be the same.

“You can’t go somewhere like this and not have it change you,” said Johnson, who has been in nursing for 18 years.  “CNN and all of the other images you see on TV don’t do it justice.  They don’t even come close.”

Johnson traveled with fellow Trinity Bettendorf ER nurse Catherine Jones to Port-au-Prince in the weeks following the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12.  Johnson and Jones were two of 12 from across the country who provided aid as part of a group coordinated by international relief organization Project Helping Hands.  Johnson had heard the group’s founder, Jeff Solheim, speak at a medical conference a few years ago and was impressed with their outreach efforts in third world countries.

“I contacted him afterward and told him, ‘If you ever need help, let me know if you have a need greater than the response,’” Johnson said.  “Immediately following the earthquake there was an urgent call put out; the need was that great.”

That’s an understatement.  After paying their own way to the impoverished island and bringing only the medical supplies they could carry with them, the nurses were inserted into an area with an 80 percent mortality rate.

While there, they witnessed lines of people waiting for hours in the sweltering heat for food and care.  They encountered survivors with tuberculosis begging for a job because their starving family needed food more than they needed medical attention.  And they were overcome by the smell of 60 decaying infant bodies, crushed in the rubble near an orphanage.

Johnson shares more details in a series of video interviews posted by the hospital.

Hospitals and staff are encouraged to share more about their work and contributions to provide relief in Haiti.  

Ken Johnson, a former IHA senior vice president, collected the following information from Iowa hospitals to share with his colleagues at the Iowa chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

Health care personnel throughout Iowa were devastated by the news of the earthquake in Haiti and the destruction it caused.  The loss of life was staggering, thousands still remain unaccounted for and hundreds of thousands are still in desperate need of medical care, food and water.  As has often been the case in meeting natural disasters, Iowa hospitals, both large and small, responded quickly and effectively in providing greatly needed medical supplies, money and manpower to the victims of the Haiti earthquake.   

A group of emergency medicine physicians from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) are determined to help rebuild a better Haiti, including a new 50-bed hospital in the city of Leogane, just outside Port-au-Prince.  “If we didn’t make things better than they were then we’ve missed a tremendous opportunity,” said Dr. Christopher Buresh, an emergency medicine physician at UIHC. 

When the earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, Monica Keleher knew she wanted to help.  Keleher joined a group led by Dr. Buresh during a trip to Haiti in late March.  Fourteen people are a part of the group.  Keleher is a nurse with a background in nephrology and neonatal care at UIHC.   

Dallas County Hospital in Perry and Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona both held “jeans days,” where their staffs gave donations in exchange for the privilege of wearing jeans to work.   In addition to the money raised by Dallas County employees, the hospital donated outdated or unused medical equipment to provide medical support to the relief effort.  The money generated by Kossuth County employees was sent to an orphanage in Port-au-Prince that is run by a missionary from Algona. 

Jefferson County Health Center in Fairfield was contacted by a local veterinarian about the possibility of providing medical supplies for his daughter’s mission trip to Haiti.  In one day, the staff quickly packaged and labeled eight large cartons, totaling an estimated $5,000 of critical medical supplies. 

Amy Zoutte, a Knoxville Hospital and Clinics employee has been in Haiti doing what she can to help Haitians see.   She and her husband Alan traveled to Pignon, a town about 80 miles north of Port-au-Prince, to spend a total of 10 days working in an eye clinic.   That was their sixth trip to Haiti. 

Employees and supporters from Clarke County Hospital in Osceola held a number of fund raisers, including selling Valentine cookies to raise more than $500, which was then matched by the local Lion’s Club.   

Waverly Health Center encouraged staff members to donate earned vacation time to the International Response Fund for Haiti through the American Red Cross.  Eleven employees donated a total of $1,667. 

Hancock County Memorial Hospital employees in Britt and Garner conducted a fund drive immediately after the earthquake and raised nearly $500 for the American Red Cross. 

Mercy Medical Center in Clinton donated $5,000 in sutures and their employees donated $2,500 in cash. 

Marengo Memorial Hospital collected medical supplies and employee cash donations to send with one of its physicians, a native of Haiti, who went there on a medical mission trip.   

In Clarion, Wright Medical Center contributed medical supplies while a family practice physician, physician assistant and respiratory therapist all signed up to go on mercy missions. 

In Primghar, Baum Harmon Memorial Hospital conducted a health kit collection drive, where employees could give money for a certain number of mini health kits with a value of $2.50 each.  One of their nurses also went on a mission trip to Haiti.  

In Fort Dodge, the employees and medical staff of Trinity Regional Medical Center came together as a system to collect medical supplies, surgical scrubs and bottled water to help in Haiti.  These supplies, valued at $30,000, were delivered to Project C.U.R.E.  (Commission on Urgent Relief and Equipment) to its depot in Denver.  From there, the supplies were shipped to Haiti.  

Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, along with its fellow hospitals of Catholic Health Initiatives, and their employees made contributions to two Catholic organizations that have relief efforts near the capitol city of Port-au-Prince.  Mercy also organized volunteers to assist Meals from the Heartland, an organization which packages food for use overseas.  In addition to these relief efforts, Mercy sent Emergency Management Coordinator Brenda McGraw, RN, to Haiti to help provide direct assistance to those in dire need.  As a member of Iowa Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), McGraw and two other DMAT members from eastern Iowa were called to duty by the federal government for a two-week assignment in January. 

Iowa Health System’s (IHS) Consolidated Services oversees the ongoing program that redistributes surplus medical supplies from affiliate hospitals to countries in need.  In response to the crisis in Haiti, the hospital was able to compile a shipment of supplies valued at $30,000.  The shipment included four pallets of medical supplies, a pallet of surgical scrubs and two pallets of bottled water.  Damir Mujic from Iowa Methodist ‘s surgery department and a group of surgeons from Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons  traveled to Haiti to treat victims in need of medical and surgical care.  A number of the practice’s orthopaedic vendors donated supplies to accompany the group on their mission.

Two nurses from Alegent Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs spent a week in the Dominican Repub­lic treating victims of the Haiti earthquake.  Becky West and Michae­la Martin, both critical care nurses, returned in early February after the joint operation by Alegent Health and Creighton Univer­sity Medical Center.   

What they saw amazed them.  “They have nothing.  They have the clothes on their back, and that’s it,” West said.  “They were thankful to be alive, they were thankful to be in a hospi­tal, they were grateful to have people caring for them.  What I really hope is that people don’t forget,” she said.  “They’re going to need help in a year, in two years, in 10 years.  If I can go back and help, I will.”