True grit. Real compassion.

[JohnRN]

Did anyone catch this? I am speechless.

Touched.

60 Minutes just aired a documentary on a tiny group of 12 paramedics from NYC who took it upon themselves to travel to the earthquake devastated , most inaccessible mountain regions of Pakistan.

They were the first and ONLY help these battered and dying survivors had seen. It was unbelievable. These poor people are STILL living amongst the ruins of their town and villages, with bodies buried underneath the rubble still... dead children visible underneath the rubble everywhere.

People walking for MILES on end, days at a time, carrying thier injured and dying family members to this group's tiny "camp" - a part of a house or room still standing. At times merely blankets hung to frame and create an "emergency room". Performing procedures to save life and limb... without anesthesia.

They would then move on to the next village. By packmule, carrying what little supplies they had with them. Across crumbling ravines... impassable by any other means.

These guys are true heroes. They have saved untold numbers of lives. Infants on the brink of death (one so dehydrated they could not find a vein, and had to go cannulate the baby's shinbone to hydrate him. The baby was so cyanotic and totally unresponsive. More dead than alive. They managed to get fluids into him and he is now alive and well. They handed him back to his father, and was then air evacced to a hospital many miles away). Yes, they did make arrangements for a helicopter to fly over every so many days... or weeks, or whatever was possible.. to take the most seriously injured for further hospitalization.

This was truly the most awesome, touching thing I have seen in a long, long time.

12 simple paramedics. Going where no one else dared venture. Saving lives.

No politics involved.. just human compassion.

May their tribe increase....

[conlor]

Geez, John, that makes me want to cry! They aren't even nurses, much less doctor's, or specialists. God bless them! I hope they can continue to save people. It's a shame that help hasn't reached these people sooner. Their lives have been devestated. It's even amazing that the baby still had his father there.

Can anyone find out if they're taking donations for supplies?

[JohnRN]

Originally Posted by conlor

Can anyone find out if they're taking donations for supplies?

I dunno. Will be a good question to post on my nursing forum and hope someone there knows one of these guys and maybe we could set something up.

Or perhaps ask CBS directly?

[SherryGrace]

http://www.imcworldwide.org/loc_paki...e-100805.shtml

Please give generously to IMC’s Pakistan Earthquake Relief Fund to help us continue to provide emergency care, distribute critical supplies and save lives.

https://www.imcworldwide.org/onlinedonation.shtml

[DocDiggs]

This is such a marvelous thing. I saw the show and was truly moved by the love and caring ot these people.

Somewhere in some other thread in here I expressed the wish that the old JFK service programs...the voluntary programs of service in other countries that became so popular for quite a while, would be revived and gov supported as they used to be. People went to foreign nations with their skills and thaught the native peoples how to grow crops, find clean water, etc. Somewhere along the line, thsoe programs seem to have died. Why can't we do that again?!

These people give in that sense. Let's turn it into something wider and more inclusive. This should transend politics and be something from the hearts of the people of the world's most gifted nation. It doesn't matter which administration puts it back into effect, it just needs to be done.

[conlor]

Doc, I think they still have that program. Is it called Youth Corps? Something like that. A young man who I babysat as a newborn (many years ago) joined and went to S. American. About 5-6 years ago, he came back to the states with a wife, and his older brother also married a women from the country he was working in. I'm thinking it was Columbia? It just happened that his mom and my aunt worked together and are best friends.

[Judy Kruse]

I believe it is still the Peace Corps that was set up under President John Kennedy that is in operation today. Very strong and active. There are many groups and organizations that operate without the benefit of government funding, but they do a job that is beyond difficult, grueling, and downright miserable. They are true unsung heroes.