I work for a non-profit

that gives free orthopaedic care to children, sometimes as far away as Guatamala or the Pacific. I wonder if children can be sponsored to the US for health care, depending on what would work best in their culture, cooperation among aid organisations, and our own resources?

Haiti: as gangrene sets in, the amputations begin

The earthquake did not kill Youseline Paupilaire, but gangrene nearly did. She was brought to Haiti’s only functioning children’s hospital early yesterday with a festering double fracture to her lower left leg, and anaesthetised at 10.40am.

The first smell of amputation was that of burning flesh, as an Italian surgeon cauterised the blood vessels that he had severed with a neat incision around the leg. Then he pulled back the muscle and asked a colleague to hold it steady. At 11am he cut off Youseline’s foot with a hacksaw blade.

Youseline is 11, without parents or any known relatives. She is permanently disabled in a country that can barely look after the fully fit, yet she is alive. Stefano Calderali has lost count of how many amputations he has performed since landing in Port-au- Prince last Wednesday. “Thirty-five, maybe forty,” he said. “My own saw broke after the first ten.”

The scope is so large. But perhaps some children can find the care they need. I'm sure people are working on it; we're based in Florida, where many Haitian-Americans live. I think I'll ask a few questions up the ladder.