Help Us Get Ambualnces to Haiti

If you can't donate, please send our site's link to a friend so that we get the word out and keep the plight of the Haitians in the news. Thanks!

Jim Goodnow and Louis Wolf bought two old second-hand  ambulances, a 2001 diesel Freightliner and a 2003 diesel Freightliner in very fine condition on E-Bay in 2009, originally to rent to film companies or alternatively for use as a mobile billboard for public relations work. Then when the 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, we immediately took that as a sign to take the vehicles to Haiti for humanitarian purposes.

Following are two items for you - (a) photos of Jim with the ambulance, and (b) a January 28 video of the TV interview and article about the ambulance in the Fort Lauderdale] Sun-Sentinel. See both at: www.sun-sentinel.com/ambulance or at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-ambulance-haiti-20100128,0,6615698.story?page=1

Jim is temporarily in Florida with the two ambulances - see his photo with one of the vehicles, and also see the live interviews with him and read the article and see the video (links above). Though Jim does not use e-mail, his cell phone is: 432-294-3207 and he would be very glad to speak with you at any time.

Jim connected in person with Haitians and Haitian-Americans in the Miami area, nearly all of whom lost family members as a result of the earthquake. They collected more than seven pallets of new humanitarian medical supplies (mainly surgical equipment, wheelchairs, crutches,) for use in medical operations. Jim has meticulously gone through this material to make certain it is all clean, new, and not expired which could place already injured and vulnerable patients in jeopardy. This material has been loaded onto one of the ambulances.

In addition to the surgical equipment, we have six (6) wheelchairs, eight (8) walkers, and more than twenty (20) pairs of crutches aboard the ambulance, all which were contributed in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas. We would also welcome the contribution of any prosthetic or orthotic devices for delivery in Haiti together with the vehicles.

In addition, a Washington, DC dentist contributed a valuable dental      ex-ray machine which is also aboard the ambulance.

We have already spent several thousand dollars for good second-hand gurneys, installation of oxygen tanks for oxygen tanks, specialized hydraulic air hoses for inflating the ambulance tires in the likely event of flat tires from the debris left after the earthquake, plus emergency provisions to take in the ambulances (such as a special motor oil, funnels, needed tools, 4,000 pairs of rubber gloves, 1,200 face masks, paper towels, toilet paper, soap, hand wipes, and much more).


Jim is getting it ready to roll to Haiti. And we also need to budget for his roundtrip air fare from Miami to Haiti for Jim.

Please know we are accountable for each nickel spent in this endeavor, and Jim conscientiously keeps every single receipt.  Once there, Jim Goodnow and his Haitian associate intend to train a Haitian crew to use and maintain the ambulance. We have firm assurance from Haitian officials to facilitate secure delivery of the ambulance and its cargo.

We fervently hope this vehicle and its cargo of medical supplies will reach Haiti shortly, and if the mission is successful, we look to bring the second ambulance to Haiti as well, and to turn it over as well to a reliable Haitian body for humanitarian purposes.

As already indicated, we will work through a legal and reliable channel, a legally constituted 501(c)3 body so that financial and material contributions can be tax-deductible.

Until further notice, Jim Goodnow can be contacted directly here:
432-294-3207 (cell) [He does not use e-mail]. Or contact Louis Wolf or Jeffrey Long here: 202-362-1718 [Louis - louw7 at live.com or Jeffrey - dont4gethaiti at gmail.com.]

If you know anyone else who might want to contribute - perhaps someone with deep pockets, please share this with them. But with the oncoming shipping schedule, we are obviously on a very short timeline. Hopefully, folks will feel comfortable with this positive development - that their checks can be made out to and sent to a legal 501(c)3.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let Jim Goodnow know or contact one of us at the above listed contact information.

As you are aware, the reports are that people are starving now in Haiti as many are either under thin plastic sheeting or completely without tents under the hot tropical sun and with the annual rainy season underway, conditions on-the-ground are already very bad. Hurricane season is now upon them again. Last year, Haiti was slammed with four, back-to-back major hurricanes. Furthermore, the new amputees and other wounded are experiencing a lot of infections. There are many people dying every day.

Being an amputee myself and having the benefit of a functioning prosthetic leg since 2005, this mission means a great deal to me personally in light of the thousands of new Haitian amputees most of whose limbs (legs and arms) were removed entirely without the use of anesthesia due to the dire conditions after the earthquake struck Port-au-Prince. See the article "Countless Lost Limbs Alter Life in Haiti's Ruins" by Deborah Sontag, New York Times, February 23, 2010, page A1).