Alumni Spotlight
Thomas Ziegler
'85, Biochemistry
When tragedies such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile strike, many turn to their checkbooks to help. Tom Ziegler (’85) turned to his time and talent.
Arriving in Port Au Prince: Ziegler and eleven others (six medical personnel and five relief workers) from his church in Denver arrived on Jan. 27, three weeks after the quake. Ziegler was in charge of distributing medications.
“We set up a clinic to deal with injuries,” he said. The amount and severity of which were startling to Ziegler. “I’m a research scientist, not a doctor, so I’m not used to seeing all this. There were gouges on arms and legs that went down to the bone. This was three weeks after the quake so a lot of infection had set in.”
11 Days of Work: Ziegler and his team cleaned infections, set broken bones, dispensed medications, and distributed donated materials - one of the most challenging activities of the trip.
The first challenge was getting to the donations. Safety is a major issue in Haiti and Ziegler's team was constantly guarded by two Haitian men. The guards protected them when they were in the clinic, and again when they dropped them off at night.
The second challenge was acquiring the donations. Four members of the team, along with the security guards and bus driver, went to get the food. For two days they traveled to and from the airport. Because Ziegler and his team were connected to a pastor and his church and orphanage, they were able to drive the school bus onto the plane tarmac, load it with water, food, tools, diapers, and powered baby food.
"It's almost defeating to see it - all the materials sitting there and they don't know how to distribute it to the people. There are piles and piles of boxes," said Ziegler. "At the time, the U.S. was in control of the airport and the UN was in control of the supplies. There was a lot of confusion about what was there and how to get it."
The third challenge was mosquitoes. "If you hadn't treated your clothing or yourself with DEET, you had swarms of mosquitoes around you," said Ziegler.
Rewarding Experience: Despite the challenges, Ziegler and his teammates succeeded in assisting a few of the thousands struggling in Haiti. It was tough, but rewarding for him. “Seeing all the destruction and the people living in tents… I feel like there’s nothing I can do,” said Ziegler. “But the people we did help were so thankful and it was rewarding to help those with injuries.”