Jan 19, 2010 - 02:30 PM

By Chris Hall

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PORT PERRY -- Dr. Anthony Brown barely had time to talk late Monday afternoon as he crammed a myriad of medical supplies into makeshift suitcases.

He apologized numerous times for the distractions and warned that he might have to cut a conversation short if another call came in from a medical goods supplier.

On an otherwise normal weekday in Scugog, Dr. Brown was busy carrying out last-minute preparations. But his mind was in Haiti, where he desperately wanted to be.

"It's absolute chaos there," he said of Haiti, the impoverished Caribbean nation ravaged by a massive earthquake Jan. 12.

If all went as planned, the veteran Port Perry physician hoped to be on an airplane Tuesday morning, along with an emergency doctor from the Niagara region, after which the pair were set to endure a whirlwind road trip to get to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

Catching a plane from Toronto, the physicians were to land in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo and then endure an eight-hour ride to Port-au-Prince and the devastation that awaits.

And, again if everything fell into place, waiting for them in the Haitian capital were to be a collection of 15 other medical professionals from southern Ontario, including Port Perry's Dr. Paul Puckrin, brought in on a plane chartered by the Canadian International Development Agency.

But after watching other travel plans fall apart due to air carrier cancellations, Dr. Brown reasoned he couldn't take the chance the CIDA flight will be grounded.

"I have to get there," he said simply.

The medical advisor for Feed The Children Canada, a Christian, international non-profit relief organization, Dr. Brown has seen the devastation in media reports and has heard from FTC colleagues about the death and damage.

A Feed The Children base in southern Port-au-Prince has been decimated, a complete health-care clinic lost, said Dr. Brown. On the other side of town, a Mission of Hope facility survived the tremor. It now serves as a base for Canadians who drive ambulances into Port-au-Prince to bring back survivors for treatment.

"But they're running out of medications and IV, they're really, desperately in need of help," Dr. Brown said.

He's made arrangements to purchase medications from the Port Perry hospital and has bought other supplies from a local pharmacy -- about 200 or 300 pounds in total of much-needed items he hopes will catch a ride on the Wednesday CIDA flight to Haiti.

Once on the ground, Dr. Brown and his FTC colleagues will begin to treat the survivors. An anesthesiologist, Dr. Brown plans to be on the front lines when it comes to providing care.

"Giving sedation and anesthetic and providing wound care," he said of what will be in store for him. "If I can do some procedures and get some people sorted out and just help out, that's what I'm going for.

"I hope to do a lot of the hands-on stuff."

Ironically, Dr. Brown recently returned from Haiti about six weeks ago. During that trip, he was carrying out some advance scouting ahead of an FTC trip planned for later this year through the Mission of Hope.

"I developed a lot of friendships, a lot of working relationships," Dr. Brown said. "I'm just devastated by this and I want to get back there and help."

Discussions regarding travelling to Haiti to provide aid began last Wednesday and were firmed up by Friday, he explained. The hardest part of the entire ordeal so far, he added, has been arranging transportation. And waiting.

"People are dying there, I know they're dying," said Dr. Brown, emphasizing the lack of trained medical professionals and medications are resulting in a growing casualty toll.

"We have to get there to help."

The plan, he added, is for the team to be in Haiti for a week.

"But that's sort of open-ended," said Dr. Brown. "We'll worry about getting home once we get there."

Donations to Feed The Children's relief efforts in Haiti can be made by visiting www.ftccanada.ca.