PEI

Doctor alleviating 'unnecessary' suffering in Haiti

A doctor from P.E.I. has just returned from a medical mission to Haiti.

Haitians coping with serious injuries for years

Team Broken Earth has been working in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. (Anthony Germain/CBC)

A doctor from P.E.I. has just returned from a medical mission to Haiti.

Born in Stratford, P.E.I., Dr. Paul Kelly is now is the chief resident of orthopedic surgery at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's. He works with Team Broken Earth, which came together after Haiti's 2010 earthquake, sending teams of Canadian medical professionals to help.

Kelly said he saw people who waited years to get help.

"They've been coping with what I would think would be a tremendous amount of pain and severe disability and lack of function that is unnecessary," he said.

"A lot of them we could have operated on right away and got them back up on their feet, but they had been coping with these injuries for a long time."

Kelly said the volunteers worked in a secure compound with armed guards.

Team Broken Earth has 13 mission teams for Haiti from all across the country, from Vancouver to Saskatoon to St. John's.

With files from Island Morning