An earthquake robbed many Haitians of their homes, schools and family members but it couldn't shake their spirit.

This is what Bermudian nurse Gaynell Hayward found when she visited Haiti on a mission of mercy along with several other nurses earlier this month.

Mrs. Hayward went through the charity Feed My Lambs Ministry run by Bermudian Philip Rego.

She is programme manager for Maternal Health & Family Planning at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and last year was named 'Nurse of the Year' for the second time in a row.

Moved by the devastation in Haiti, she spent eight days volunteering at Hôpital Sacré Couer Crudem, a hospital in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. Cap-Haitien is north of Port-au-Prince which received the brunt of the 7.0 earthquake on January 12. The hospital was badly in need of nurses.

"Going there was a life-altering experience," said Mrs. Hayward. "There is just so much to do there. The people are just so gracious and helpful to each other."

She said she often saw people in the hospital being cared for by friends or community members, rather than relatives.

"One father in the hospital was taking care of his son and the little boy in the next bed," said Mrs. Hayward. "The nurse asked 'is that your son?'

He said 'no, he has no one'. So the father was providing care for both boys."

Mrs. Hayward worked in a hospital with anywhere from 400 to 600 patients. The facility was built for 72 patients.

Army tents were erected to make extra wards. The authorities also commissioned a school to house around 120 paediatric patients.

Mrs. Hayward said there were many Haitians who lost limbs in the earthquake.

"I had never seen so many amputees," she said. "People of all ages, including babies and children, had lost arms and legs.

"They had crush injuries where houses had just fallen on them. There were quadriplegics, paraplegics. Most of them were fine before the event."

She felt that Haiti was desperately in need of physiotherapists and medications and a rehabilitation hospital to deal with the large number of amputees now in the community.

"How are these people going to make it on top of the poverty that is already in Haiti?" she said. "How are they going to survive?"

Mrs. Hayward said one patient she would never forget was a 63-year-old named Rita.

"She had both legs amputated as a result of being crushed," said Mrs. Hayward. "She lost her nine-year-old adopted daughter in the earthquake. She was diabetic.

"She had an infection and an injury to her back. The doctors at the hospital told her she wasn't going to make it. She looked at me and said 'I want to live'."

All Mrs. Hayward could do was give her encouragement.

"I said, 'you can live, Rita. You have a lot of faith, you have a lot of determination. You are a very strong woman. You can make it'."

Rita was still living when Mrs. Hayward left Haiti to return to Bermuda.

The American media has been criticised for its often negative portrayal of the earthquake in Haiti, often depicting people rioting and looting. But Mrs. Hayward said she saw none of that.

"I didn't feel threatened," she said. "I felt secure."

Patients were often helicoptered in from the American hospital ship, the USNS Comfort that is in Haiti to provide emergency medical care.

On one heartbreaking occasion, a little boy was sent over from the USNS Comfort without a name.

"This little boy was found wandering on the streets of Port-au-Prince," said Mrs. Hayward. "He was 18-months-old. He was admitted as 'baby boy'. He had no name, and no known parents."

When the receiving nurse took him, the little boy put his arms around her and wouldn't let go.

"The nurse said she could not in all good conscience admit him to the children's ward with no name or identity. So she named him 'Jean-Pierre'.

"The last day that I was there I went to the children's ward before I left.

"Jean Pierre was sitting on the floor with one of the Frisbees I had taken down there. I said 'hello, Jean Pierre' and he looked at me and smiled. So he was now identifying with his name. He was a person.

"I really wanted to bring him back with me. I don't know what his future holds. He was a very bright looking child."

One patient that Mrs. Hayward cared for was sent from the USNS Comfort to die.

"She had thrown herself over her children during the earthquake and was crushed," said Mrs. Hayward. "The woman was transferred to my area to die. When she came, she had the death rattle. I took her hand and prayed. I asked God to comfort her and give her peace.

"Right away her breathing changed. I had to open my eyes to make sure she was still living. I stroked the side of her face and kissed her and said 'now you may rest in peace'. A few hours later she died. That was really traumatic."

She said volunteering in the hospital was like a roller-coaster ride, it had its highs and lows.

"You were up and down in terms of emotions," she said. "Another woman I took care of was very ill not from an earthquake injury. She had a pre-existing heart condition.

"She obviously would not have had her medication. Her condition was really poor.

"She was told she was terminal. I remember her looking at me and saying 'am I going to die?'

"Another nurse, Rachel, said to her, 'that is in God's hands, but we are doing the best that we can do with what we have'. She really needed dialysis but there were no dialysis units.

"She needed some cardiac medication which eventually we did find. She had five children and didn't know where she was."

Thinking quickly, Mrs. Hayward asked the woman for the telephone number of her daughter, Cassandra.

"When we went back to the compound Rachel called the number and no one answered," said Mrs. Hayward. "Then she called it again, and Cassandra answered. Rachel said 'I am calling to tell you we have your mother here'.

"The girl was just screaming 'mummy, mummy'. She didn't know where her mother was. Rachel said to just come.

"Cassandra said she didn't have any money to come. She was about 280 kilometres away. We told her to try and borrow some money and we would try and work it out when she arrived.

"The next day there were five family members standing around the patient's bed. There were tears in the patient's eyes. In French, she said 'thank you, thank you'."

If the nursing staff hadn't found Cassandra, the patient may have died without ever seeing her family again, or them knowing what had happened to her.

"The people were very spiritual," said Mrs. Hayward. "They were singing hymns and praying and praising every single day. Then you would have groups visiting who would also be singing and witnessing.

"Their spirits were good. Even those without limbs were upbeat. In terms of what we found a lot of pain control was needed because of their massive injuries and also wound care to try and ensure they didn't get infections."

Mrs. Hayward went with a team of Bermudian nurses that included Heather Roque, Melissa Telemaque, and midwife Desiree Ford.

"Heather Roque was part of the wound care team," said Mrs. Hayward. "Heather directed the helicopters in. She is a qualified EMT and a nurse in training. She is great.

"We had doctors there from the United States, and other parts of the world and we were working together as a team along with the Haitian nurses. Heather was doing a lot of teaching with wound care to the Haitian nurses."

Mrs. Hayward said she has taken disaster management courses, but it still didn't prepare her for the situation in Haiti.

"I don't think anything you do can prepare you for that," she said. "The magnitude of the injuries was just unreal."

For more information about Feed My Lambs Ministry visit

http://www.feedmylambsministry.org/donate/.

Alternatively, E-mail feedmylambsministry@gmail.com or telephone 236-8176.

Donations to Haiti can also be made via the Bermuda Red Cross. For more information telephone 236-8253.