By 2^nd Lt. Victoria Brayton, JFSOCC Public Affairs

Randy Rizor has been coming to Haiti for 16 years. The doctor first got involved with providing medical relief to Haiti during the embargo in 1994 when he saw how much medical aid the nation required. Ever since then, Dr. Rizor has made two to three trips back per year because he wanted to donate his time and expertise.

His assistance was exactly what was needed after the Jan. 12 earthquake.

He arrived in Haiti Jan. 23 to provide medical care to Hospital Justinian, where he has worked over the years for Eternal Hope for Haiti, a non-governmental organization based in Atlanta, Ga. The hospital is located in Cap Haitien, a city on the northern coast of Haiti.

“Medical care in Port-au-Prince is largely limited by the facilities and supplies,” Dr. Rizor said. “That’s why we’re trying to get doctors and supplies out to hospitals in other locations.”

The next day, service members from Joint Task Force-Haiti met with Dr. Rizor and informed him that the government of Haiti plans to begin bussing approximately 500 people per day to Cap Haitien to alleviate the crowding in the capital city. Their assessment of the local area and hospital showed that if the influx of additional patients continued, the hospital would not have enough supplies to provide medical care.

Offering their assistance, the service members invited him to come back with them to Port-au-Prince, where he would be put in contact with the World Health Organization’s medical warehouse to receive additional supplies.

“You have to be prepared in case there is a surge of displaced people. It’s our mission to ensure care for general and surgical needs,” Dr. Rizor said.

So he boarded the Port-au-Prince-bound UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter and linked up with Lt. Col. Jose Garcia, a Joint Forces Special Operations Component Command (JFSOCC ) medical planner currently assigned to JTF-Haiti.

Although most people do not associate special operations with disaster relief, this situation shows how one special operations element in support of JTF-Haiti can make an important contribution to the mission to help the Haitian people.

It only took a few hours to request antibiotics, IV fluids, antiseptics and other supplies and get them filled by the World Health Organization. Next thing he knew, Dr. Rizor was back in a Blackhawk, only this time he was headed to Cap Haitien with boxes full of supplies.

“It really is a collective effort,” Lt. Col. Garcia said. “We used everything we could—our logistics capabilities, air assets, planners—to support him because at the end of the day that’s what makes a difference.”

The entire effort was coordinated by JTF-Haiti service members dedicated to their mission.

“One of the important contributions that the U.S. military brings to the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission is the ability to coordinate and connect the many different units, agencies and other organizations that are providing help to the Haitian people,” said Col. Barrett Lowe, JFSOCC deputy commander. “And that’s what we did today.”