World

Man On A Mission

Local doctor returns from an emotional journey
to treat Haiti's earthquake victims.

Robin Schwartz
Special to the Jewish News

A

s the daily images of sheer dev-
astation from the earthquake
zone in Haiti flashed across his
television screen, a strong feeling came
over Dr. Todd Marcus. The 40-year-old
who owns Dr. Todd's Pediatrics in Livonia
felt compelled to leave his medical prac-
tice, his fiancé, Audrey Simon, and the
comforts of home to travel to Haiti and
volunteer.
He spent six days (Jan. 22-28) providing
medical care for earthquake victims, treat-
ing an estimated 1,300 patients during the
trip.
"There was just no way I wasn't going:'
Marcus said after the emotional journey.
"It's something I've always wanted to do.
Being there was so humbling; it makes you
appreciate everything you have."
It's one thing to see a disaster area
on television; it's another experience
entirely to stand among the ruins. When

18

February 4 • 2010

he first arrived in Port-au-Prince, where
he was the only Jewish doctor among a
group from Bedford Christian Church in
Temperance, Mich., Marcus was struck by
the enormity of the situation. The Jan. 12
earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter
scale caused countless buildings to col-
lapse — destruction was everywhere he
looked.
"I was just in awe he said. "We saw
buildings that were literally pancakes. We
had interpreters with us who pointed to
one building and told us it used to be a
seven-story building and it was completely
leveled:'
Marcus and the rest of his group trav-
eled by school bus to a compound he
describes as a "tent city in the middle of
a jungle" where they set up a makeshift
treatment area using donated medical
supplies, antibiotics and other medica-
tions.
"There was no running water, our
shower was one little dribble of water:' he
explained. "There were no running toilets;

you were lucky if you got one to flush. We
slept in tents or on the ground outside'

Lining Up For Help
Word spread quickly that the doctors from
the United States were there. Marcus says
within a short time, a line stretched for at

least a quarter of a mile.
"We were there for eight hours and we
must have seen 400 patients:' he said.
"They just lined up. We actually had to
start doing crowd control because it was
getting out of hand."
The board-certified pediatrician set

Above: Dr. Todd

Marcus, a pedia-
trician with
a practice in
Livonia, works

with patients in
Haiti.

Left: Dr. Todd
Marcus makes
friends with two

young Haitians.

